The T5 Q&a Thread - split

Time to replace bulbs again. mostly lps with some sps mixed in

current set up all ati bulbs

aquablue
blue plus
purple plus
blue plus
blue plus

questions:

would you use the new coral plus to replace the aquablue?

or keep the aquablue and replace the purple plus with the coral plus?

how much PAR would I lose if I replaced the blue plus in 2nd slot with true actinic?

any other combo you would use?

Thanks

Unless you are wanting a different look the combo you have is good. Using a Coral Plus in place of the aquablue would make thing slightly more blue without losing much PAR. You could also play with the lamp positions to change the look as well.
 
Just a quick thank you to everyone that's contributed to this thread. I read the majority of it and wound up purchasing a Tek elite 6 bulb fixture for my 40 breeder. I went with 4 blue +, purple +, and an aquablue special. Plan to have a majority of SPS, with LPS and softies scattered. Ordered the fixture and bulbs from reekgeek (who did a great job with the order, highly recommended).

Anyways, thanks for all the advice. I'm very happy with the fixture and bulb selection.
 
hey im planning on getting a tek 4 by 24 watt fixture. i was thinking of usiong 2 ati blue plus,ati purple plus, and a ati coral plus. any comments would be appreciated. by the way this will be over a 29 gallon 30 x 12 x 18
 
hey im planning on getting a tek 4 by 24 watt fixture. i was thinking of usiong 2 ati blue plus,ati purple plus, and a ati coral plus. any comments would be appreciated. by the way this will be over a 29 gallon 30 x 12 x 18

Sounds good to me. But for personal preference keep in mind some people like the Coral Plus for a bluer effect close to 20,000K others prefer the aqua blue plus for a brighter look closer to 14,000K, or even the GE 6,500K if they do not want want much of a blue look more like a 11,000K. So you have the three options for your personal taste. But definalt keep the 2 ATI Blue Plus and the Purple Plus.

For dawn to dusk also some prefer the two Blue Plus bulbs for a deep blue look other prefer the combo of a Blue Plus and a Purple Plus for a little more accent on there reflective red in the dawn to dusk time frame.
 
Just got a 24" Aquatinics TX5 for a 10" deep frag set up. Looking for a good bulb arrangement to not only display the corals well for pics but to also get good growth. Any suggestions?
 
I've got a standard 120(4x2x2) currently lit by two Kessil A150 10000k Sky Blue. Its a 12-14k look IMO. I want to supplement them with 4 54w T5's. I will have two bulbs in front of the Kessil's and two behind. The distance between the two sets of t5's will be about 4". I want to keep the look of the tank the same while boosting PAR a bit. After reading through this thread I was debating between 2 Blue+/2 GE 6500k or 2 Blue+/ 2 Aquablue special. Opinions?

One additional question. With the 4" separation between the lamps will i have issues blending color if didn't have the same combo in each fixture?
 
I've got a standard 120(4x2x2) currently lit by two Kessil A150 10000k Sky Blue. Its a 12-14k look IMO. I want to supplement them with 4 54w T5's. I will have two bulbs in front of the Kessil's and two behind. The distance between the two sets of t5's will be about 4". I want to keep the look of the tank the same while boosting PAR a bit. After reading through this thread I was debating between 2 Blue+/2 GE 6500k or 2 Blue+/ 2 Aquablue special. Opinions?

One additional question. With the 4" separation between the lamps will i have issues blending color if didn't have the same combo in each fixture?

The two GE 6,500K will make it look more whiter or possibly even give it a little yellow touch.

Going with 4 Blue Plus will kick it slightly Bluer but give you a big PAR boast.

Going with the 2 Aqua Blue and 2 Blue Plus would brobably be your best comprimise between PAR and keeping the Same color look. But even better might be 1 purple plus, 1 aqua blue, and 2 blue plus.
 
Just got a 24" Aquatinics TX5 for a 10" deep frag set up. Looking for a good bulb arrangement to not only display the corals well for pics but to also get good growth. Any suggestions?

How many bulbs 5?

Front to back
Blue Plus
Purple Plus
Blue Plus
GE 6,500K
Blue Plus

if it is 6 bulbs add an additional Blue Plus in the back.
It it is 4 Bulbs replace the GE with an Aqua Blue Plus and eliminate the back Blue Plus.
If it is 8 bulbs then add a Blue Plus and Purple Plus in the back of a 6 bulb set up.
 
TropTrea; said:
But even better might be 1 purple plus, 1 aqua blue, and 2 blue plus.

Just to clarify if I go with this combo will the 4" gap impact the blending? I could tilt both fixtures towards eachother a bit if that would make a difference. Thanks for your help.
 
T5 HO's for a 40 Breeder

T5 HO's for a 40 Breeder

I'm sure the answer to my question is somewhere in this thread, but I can't find it.
Here is the setup. I have a 40 Breeder with 2x65W 10000K PC's and 4x39W Coralife Actinic 420nm T5 HO's. I am going to keep softies and some LPS. With 4 actinics, I thought the tank would be more blue, but it's not. The T5's are only ~1 month old. What combination of T5 HO's would you recommend to make the tank pop and be more blue?

Thank you in advance for your assistance,
Tom
 
i have a standard 90g. 48x18x24

I am currently running some LEDs which I am not loving too much at all, there were bought used and DIY, anyway. If I can sell these I would be looking at moving to T5.

From reading a load of build threads, I always love the ones using T5 lighting because the colors are fricking amazine. However, I also like the blue LED insane flourescents.

So essentially I would like something with largely T5 and some supplemental blue, such as a blue reef brite strip.

I am thinking a 6x54 + 1 blu reefbrite would do the trick. Is that correct thinking?

Also it seems that either ATI or Tek Elite is the way to go due to the bulb life being much longer? It looks like the ATI has all the programmability built into it so I don't have to worry about a seperate controller, am I right on that?

Thanks for any info.
 
I'm sure the answer to my question is somewhere in this thread, but I can't find it.
Here is the setup. I have a 40 Breeder with 2x65W 10000K PC's and 4x39W Coralife Actinic 420nm T5 HO's. I am going to keep softies and some LPS. With 4 actinics, I thought the tank would be more blue, but it's not. The T5's are only ~1 month old. What combination of T5 HO's would you recommend to make the tank pop and be more blue?

Thank you in advance for your assistance,
Tom

Dump like 3 of the actinics and replace them with Blue Plus. It will be much more blue and give you more pop.
 
I have an 8 bulb ATI with Reefbrite LED strips connected to each side. I am wanting to get my dusk/dawn quite a bit more blue when the LEDS and my 2 Blue plus bulbs are on. I also feel as though Im missing my reds and greens during this time. I think I have enough light to sacrifice a bit of par so Im wondering what one or 2 Super Actinic bulbs would do for me (or any other bulb for that matter)

Thanks
 
i just ordered the tek 48 inch4x54w fixture for my 55 gal mixed reef with

ATI Purple plus
ATI Aquablue special
2xATI Blue plus

just wanted to know in what order they should be arranged for the best efficiency and look that would support all kind of corals and their growth
 
I have a 56g column tank that is 30" w x18" d x 24" H. Right now I have a dual lamp T5 and want to upgrade to a Quad lamp fixture. I have only a few corals right now; a frogspawn, duncan and another one I don't remember the name of. What would be a good fixture for my tank? I would ideally not like to spend over $300. Thanks for the help.
 
I have a 56g column tank that is 30" w x18" d x 24" H. Right now I have a dual lamp T5 and want to upgrade to a Quad lamp fixture. I have only a few corals right now; a frogspawn, duncan and another one I don't remember the name of. What would be a good fixture for my tank? I would ideally not like to spend over $300. Thanks for the help.

I know it's more than you wanted to spend but this would be the besy light for you.


http://www.reefgeek.com/lighting/T5...nPower_T5_High-Output_Fixture_w!_Bulbs_by_ATI
 
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