The T5 Q&a Thread - split

[The Grim Reefer]

Aloha Grim

Need your wisdom and advice. I'm changing out my t5 bulbs with ATI and Korallen I know colors are ones preference but do you think the color will look good and is the location fine?



Front
ATI Blue+
ATI 12000k Aquablue Special
Korallen Fiji purple
ATI blue+

yes and perhaps, I'd swap the position of the Aquablue and Purple and see what you think

 

[Joe0813]

Typical 5 lamp mix. 4 ATI Blue Plus, 1 Purple Plus and a Coral Plus. Will look a tad more blue than your stock lamps.

I'm new with saltwater tanks, so this might be stupid but what about the daytime lights... aren't they supposed to be whites?

 

[lemec]

Ok, what is a good bulb order on a 6 bulb powermodule 24watt system? I bought new bulbs but want to make sure they are stacked in the right order from front to back:
4 x Ati blue plus
1 x KZ Fiji Purple
1 x GE 6500K Daylight
Thanks

 

[Da Maui life]

yes and perhaps, I'd swap the position of the Aquablue and Purple and see what you think

Mahalo!

 

[TropTrea]

I'm new with saltwater tanks, so this might be stupid but what about the daytime lights... aren't they supposed to be whites?

Yes the daylight bulbs should add more white to the tank. But if you have just daylight bulbs that are white in your daylight spectrum you get the tank overly white and low in the blue spectrum that the corals use the most off.

On a total spectrum with 6 or 8 bulbs usualy one white bulb in the daylight is all you need. If your going with 8 or 10 bulbs you can consider 2 White Bulbs.

 

[Joe0813]

Yes the daylight bulbs should add more white to the tank. But if you have just daylight bulbs that are white in your daylight spectrum you get the tank overly white and low in the blue spectrum that the corals use the most off.

On a total spectrum with 6 or 8 bulbs usualy one white bulb in the daylight is all you need. If your going with 8 or 10 bulbs you can consider 2 White Bulbs.

Oooh OK... thanks for the answer

 

[The Grim Reefer]

I'm new with saltwater tanks, so this might be stupid but what about the daytime lights... aren't they supposed to be whites?

Not blue lamps instead of white. In this case the purple and coral plus.

 

[The Grim Reefer]

ok, what is a good bulb order on a 6 bulb powermodule 24watt system? I bought new bulbs but want to make sure they are stacked in the right order from front to back:
4 x ati blue plus
1 x kz fiji purple
1 x ge 6500k daylight
thanks

bp
fp
bp
ge
bp
bp

 

[lemec]

bp
fp
bp
ge
bp
bp

Thanks!

 

[DiscusHeckel]

I have an ATI Sunpower unit (6 X 39W). Following your advice, I am using the following ATI tube combination:

front
Blue plus
Purple plus
Blue plus
6500K
Blue plus
Blue plus

I am happy with this combination.

I started the unit 6" above the water surface. It is now 5" above the surface. My tank is 18" high.

My questions are:

1. Shall I lower the unit down to 4"?
2. How long should I leave all six tubes for?

Although the growth is great. I am not entirely happy with the coloration of my SPS corals.

Thanks

 

[Joe0813]

Im buying the bulbs today.... what order should i put them in from front to back?

 

[TropTrea]

I have an ATI Sunpower unit (6 X 39W). Following your advice, I am using the following ATI tube combination:

front
Blue plus
Purple plus
Blue plus
6500K
Blue plus
Blue plus

I am happy with this combination.

I started the unit 6" above the water surface. It is now 5" above the surface. My tank is 18" high.

My questions are:

1. Shall I lower the unit down to 4"?
2. How long should I leave all six tubes for?

Although the growth is great. I am not entirely happy with the coloration of my SPS corals.

Thanks

With your tank only being 18" tall you should be alright with the lights even 6" above the water.

This will vary by what you have in your tank. I run dawn to dusk 10 hours and full lighting 7 hours a day. But this you will have to adjust for your particular coal needs. Keep in mind you also want at least 8 hours of near total darkness.

On your SPS coloration tell us a little more what you do not like? Different corals even though they may be SPS look differently in slightly different light. Are they lacking color? Is is a reflective color they seem to lack? or a florescing color they are lacking?

 

[smleee]

Long story, but I am experimenting with lighting, going through a lighting change and will get a new fixture soon. One ballast in my Nova Extreme 4x54 went down - so I'm on 2 bulbs. Mostly softies, with a couple LPS here.

What 2 bulbs should I use for now?

 

[seriousdude5]

Hey I'm replacing the bulbs in my t5 fixture soon. I came to you for advice when I first bout the fixture and bulb config. Perhaps you maybe changed it up a bit. What would you suggest for a 48" 6 bulb over a 90. Thanks.

Forgot to add currently I have sps, Lps, softies

 

[SKurj]

ATI Lamps

Blue Plus
Purple Plus
Coral Plus
Blue Plus

10 to 12 hours with duskdawn pair on with the daylights on 6 to 10 hours.

I took your advice Grim, the bulbs came in today, and all i can say is wow what a difference. The aquaticlife bulbs the fixture came with did the tank no justice at all. In fact the 2 actinics the fixture came with, even though they have been installed for maybe 6 weeks, were being overpowered by the moonlights they were so bad.

First time around I have gone with: (Front to Back)

Purple+
Blue+
Coral+
Blue+

This puts the 2 blues on the Dusk/Dawn set with the coral and purple on daylight set.

Thanks!

 

[pwoller]

Will this combo give it a 20k look?

Front:
-Blue +
-Purple +
-Blue +
-Blue +
End:


Or would Coral Plus make it look more 20k along with the 3x Blue plus?

I run this setup X 2! The colors on my acros are great.

 

[RebelReef]

blue plus
purple plus
blue plus
coral plus
blue plus
purple plus
blue plus
blue plus

Hit the nail right on the head. Thank you.

 

[Richocet83]

Hey Grim (or anyone else who wants to chime in),

I've got a 4 bulb (54w) T5 retro kit over my 75 and picked up four different color bulbs per the recommendation of my LFS....

Front of tank
Geisemann Pure Actinic
Geisemann AquaBlue+
Geisemann Midday
Geisemann Actinic+
Back of tank

So far, I like the color I'm seeing from this placement but do you have a better recommendation for position/location?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Jeff_NJ]

Hey Grim et all,

I am building a new 150 - 48x24x30. I am planning on using a T5 / LED hybrid system. I do plan on SPS, but will try to keep any SPS in the top half of the tank.

If I ran an 8 T5 TEK Retrofit and 24 Cree RB's..... ( I hope to have enough room in the canopy for the following config - or something like it)

FRONT
-----------------T5-----------------
-----------------T5-----------------
-----------------T5-----------------
-----------------T5-----------------
---LEDs---LEDs---LEDs----LEDs------
-----------------T5-----------------
-----------------T5-----------------
-----------------T5-----------------
-----------------T5-----------------
BACK

Would this work out and if so, what bulbs would you select and in what order?

The Cree's will be controlled by an ALC on my RKE. Here I will take care of sunrise / sunset.

Edit: I would be looking for coloration similar to a 14K Phoenix with Actinic supplementation.

Thanks for any feedback!

 

[TropTrea]

Hey Grim et all,

I am building a new 150 - 48x24x30. I am planning on using a T5 / LED hybrid system. I do plan on SPS, but will try to keep any SPS in the top half of the tank.

If I ran an 8 T5 TEK Retrofit and 24 Cree RB's..... ( I hope to have enough room in the canopy for the following config - or something like it)

FRONT
-----------------T5-----------------
-----------------T5-----------------
-----------------T5-----------------
-----------------T5-----------------
---LEDs---LEDs---LEDs----LEDs------
-----------------T5-----------------
-----------------T5-----------------
-----------------T5-----------------
-----------------T5-----------------
BACK

Would this work out and if so, what bulbs would you select and in what order?

The Cree's will be controlled by an ALC on my RKE. Here I will take care of sunrise / sunset.

Edit: I would be looking for coloration similar to a 14K Phoenix with Actinic supplementation.

Thanks for any feedback!

If I were doing this system myself I would put the LED's in the front and back with the LED's angled to the oposite side of the tank to give a deep shimmer effect from them. I also would run the 6 Royal Blues and 6 Blues on each of these runs for a nicer color effect in dawn to dusk.

Then for your T-5's put an ATI blue Plus and ATI Purple Plus on one circuit. the other 6 bulbs for mid day I'd go with one more Purple Plus, 1 GE 6,500K and 4 more ATI Blue Plus bulbs.