The T5 Q&a Thread - split

[The Grim Reefer]

Oh well...guess i messed up...i really wanted to get something this weekend and i did go and order the coralife 4 bulb fixture. I wanted something that i could just set up right out of the box. Am i still going to be able to change the bulbs to put something in besides the stock lights or am i stuck? I have no idea what alternate/better bulbs would fit inside this fixture. Where can i get that information? THANKS!

As long as it's the HO T5 fixture you should be fine with any of the other lamps.

I'd do 2 ATI Blue Plus, 1 Purple Plus and 1 KZ New Generation.

 

[The Grim Reefer]

Hey Grim,

First up thanks for being such a great resource, I tried finding my answer on my own, but I either missed it or the question has not been asked.

I have a 72"x18"x16" tank. I originally wanted to go FOWLR, but considering how much corals add to the look I want to add in a few fast spreading softies.

What kind of lighting would you do for zoas, GSP and mushrooms? I'm just looking for decent growth and color while saving as much coin as possible. The coral is secondary to the fish.

Thanks a lot!
Aaron

There are 4x80 watt fixtures that are 60" long that would work. Tek and U think Aquatic life build them for sure. One of those would be fine.

 

[The Grim Reefer]

Thanks for replying, the marine whites are marketed as 14k but look like pinkish to me.
This wagon the websiteof Arcadia for marine whites

I'll be getting some Marine blues

The mixed white and blue is not available but the LFS here has some china aqua blue knock offs. I'm just not sure if it's any good. My fixture originally contained ATI bulbs but it's no longer available here
http://reefcentral.com/forums/images/smilies/headwally.gif

Do you think these bulbs would work? Or should I go Change to MH entirely?

The marine Blues with a couple of the whites should look pretty good

 

[TropTrea]

I'm assuming budget is why are not considering an ATI, Tex, or IceCap 6 bulb fixture. Yes the Nova fixture with 6 bulbs will give you more light than any of the 4 bulb fixtures. You would have to have a loss of 33% more light with the 6 bulb fixture to fall behind with the extra bulbs. Now if your comparing 8 bult to 6 bulb fixtures it is only a 25% loss to equalize out and between the cheapest and the best with individual reflectors for each bulb come very close to that difference.

Grim,

I'm sorry to pile on another question! I am considering my options for lighting my standard 55 gallon (48L x 12W x 21H). I would like to be able to keep pretty much anything in it. A power module is out of my reach so here are the candidates:

Nova Extreme Pro 48 in, 6x54 (I would change out the stock bulbs one at a time)
Tek 48 in, 4x54 with ati bulbs
Ice Cap 48 in, 4x54 retro kit with a 660 ballast (I already have a canopy)

I was leaning towards the Nova because it will fit perfectly and has six bulbs. Will the crappy reflectors offset the benefit of two extra bulbs? I can't hang a fixture, so I'd have to get the mounting legs for the Tek. I'm a little worried about salt spray damage to the reflectors if I go with the Ice Cap, and I would have to change out the bulbs more often. So much to consider! I think the cost of each would come out about the same (around $400) so it's really a matter of what would work best. I have learned so much from your website, but I was hoping to get your expert opinion. Thanks for all your help!

 

[The Grim Reefer]

I finally received my 6 bulb Powermodule that took the place of my 4 bulb one in my predominantly SPS tank.

I am running back to front (with #2 and #4 being dawn/dusk):

Blue Plus
Blue Plus
Purple Plus
GE 6500
Blue Plus
Blue Plus

Looks very nice when running 6 bulbs. When running only four bulbs it takes on a different color with Blue Plus, Purple Plus, GE 6500, Blue Plus.

I run it for a few hours a day with 4 bulbs and a few with 6 bulbs for now until everything is acclimated.

A couple of questions.

1. Is the PAR and spectrum good enough when running those 4 bulbs?
2. Should I keep it that way or move the Purple Plus to the #2 position and make that part of the dawn/dusk 2 bulb combo. This will then give the 4 bulb combo of 3 Blue Plus and one GE 6500?

Thanks,
Ken

Spectrum is fine. Try the PP in the dusl/dawn and see what YOU think. I personally like the look but it isn't for everyone.

 

[The Grim Reefer]

Grim & Ryan -

Short & sweet -

(8) 54w T5 Retro fit

Front
Blue Plus
True Actinic
Purple Plus
Blue Plus
GE 6500k
Blue Plus
KZ New Gen
Blue Plus

Nice color, PAR & bulb placement? Of course I can wire it to have the bulbs paired correctly for timer function. Assuming I will get between 14-20k with this set up depending on when the 6500k bulb comes on. Might even play with the combination with a few extra bulbs... Maybe swap out the 6500k for a 2nd New Gen. I'll grab a few extras...

Mainly questioning the bulb placement for consistent color. Sound good?

Looks good to me.

 

[The Grim Reefer]

Grim,

I'm sorry to pile on another question! I am considering my options for lighting my standard 55 gallon (48L x 12W x 21H). I would like to be able to keep pretty much anything in it. A power module is out of my reach so here are the candidates:

Nova Extreme Pro 48 in, 6x54 (I would change out the stock bulbs one at a time)
Tek 48 in, 4x54 with ati bulbs
Ice Cap 48 in, 4x54 retro kit with a 660 ballast (I already have a canopy)

I was leaning towards the Nova because it will fit perfectly and has six bulbs. Will the crappy reflectors offset the benefit of two extra bulbs? I can't hang a fixture, so I'd have to get the mounting legs for the Tek. I'm a little worried about salt spray damage to the reflectors if I go with the Ice Cap, and I would have to change out the bulbs more often. So much to consider! I think the cost of each would come out about the same (around $400) so it's really a matter of what would work best. I have learned so much from your website, but I was hoping to get your expert opinion. Thanks for all your help!

Tek with 4 lamps will have better output than a 6 lamp Nova BUT not if you have to run a splash shield. That thing kills the output of the tek. Check out a 4 lamp Aquaticlife fixture. They have a splash shield and while the cooling isn't great it does run fans so the output is decent.

 

[TropTrea]

First may I ask where your at that you have such limited supply?

Looking at your plots The so Called MArine Blue looks to like a 420 nm Atinic bulb. While it is hard to see in those liitle pictures It appears to me that spectrum is between 380 nm and about 460 nm with little peaks around 410 nm and 430 nm. If Im reading this correctly then chances are you not get a lot of PAR from these bulbs.

You mentiond an Aqua Blue bulb. I would definatly suggest adding one of these to your mix as it shold be able to add more blue for you in the 460 nm area as well as even the aqua area around 520 nm.

Thanks for replying, the marine whites are marketed as 14k but look like pinkish to me.
This wagon the websiteof Arcadia for marine whites

I'll be getting some Marine blues

The mixed white and blue is not available but the LFS here has some china aqua blue knock offs. I'm just not sure if it's any good. My fixture originally contained ATI bulbs but it's no longer available here
http://reefcentral.com/forums/images/smilies/headwally.gif

Do you think these bulbs would work? Or should I go Change to MH entirely?

 

[gibbus123]

The marine Blues with a couple of the whites should look pretty good

Thanks mr Reefer!

 

[gibbus123]

First may I ask where your at that you have such limited supply?

Looking at your plots The so Called MArine Blue looks to like a 420 nm Atinic bulb. While it is hard to see in those liitle pictures It appears to me that spectrum is between 380 nm and about 460 nm with little peaks around 410 nm and 430 nm. If Im reading this correctly then chances are you not get a lot of PAR from these bulbs.

You mentiond an Aqua Blue bulb. I would definatly suggest adding one of these to your mix as it shold be able to add more blue for you in the 460 nm area as well as even the aqua area around 520 nm.

I'm in Manila right now. My fixture originally had ATI and Korllen bulbs but it's been 9 months and I need to replace bulbs. I didn't realize that there was no local distributor. So now I'm choosing to either go with the only branded bulbs available or some unknown HK/China brands. Which have aquablues available.

Halides are easier to source here as well as LEDs.

 

[ken6217]

Spectrum is fine. Try the PP in the dusl/dawn and see what YOU think. I personally like the look but it isn't for everyone.

Thanks. Btw, it should have read #2 and #5 for dawn/dusk.
Ken

 

[vermonter310]

Okay, been reading for two hours on this and various other threads but can't seem to find the answer to this so figure I'll ask... I'm running a 6 lamp Nova Extreme Pro over a 72g bowfront. It's a FO with a few shrooms so I'm more concerned with highlighting fish color. I'm currently running 3 10k's and 3 460 actinics in this order:

Front
460
10k
460
10k
460
10K

The first and fifth are on a switch by themselves and used at dusk and dawn. All are on for daylight.

I'm contemplating:

ATI Blue Plus
ATI Aqua blue special
ATI Blue Plus
ATI Aqua blue special
ATI Blue Plus
ATI Aqua blue special

I'm worried about daytime color being to blue and wonder if an ATI Purpleplus in the #4 position would help balance that.

What do you think Grim?

 

[JCareyETexas]

After sifting through multiple pages of info it seems that very seldom do two people have a similar situation and can use the same bulb recommendation.....
As such I am wondering what bulb selection you lighting gurus suggest for my particular setup.

I've got a 48" aquaticlife 6-bulb fixture illuminating a mixed reef in a 25" deep tank.

Any suggestions?

 

[dmpeyton]

I'm assuming budget is why are not considering an ATI, Tex, or IceCap 6 bulb fixture. Yes the Nova fixture with 6 bulbs will give you more light than any of the 4 bulb fixtures. You would have to have a loss of 33% more light with the 6 bulb fixture to fall behind with the extra bulbs. Now if your comparing 8 bult to 6 bulb fixtures it is only a 25% loss to equalize out and between the cheapest and the best with individual reflectors for each bulb come very close to that difference.

Thank you for your helpful input! You are correct in assuming that budget is an issue, but I considered the width of the tank as well. Many of the other six bulb units are wider than 12 inches and are designed to be hung rather than sit on the tank. Unfortunately I definitely can't hang anything above the tank. I like the look of my canopy, but I could only fit 4 bulbs in it and that would be a squeeze. Do you think that overdriven ATI bulbs in the 4 bulb ice cap retrofit could compete with the nova 6 bulb fixture? Or should I just ditch the canopy and get the nova 6 bulb fixture? Also, do you think that the nova could support sps and clams in a 21 inch deep tank if I switched the stock bulbs for one of grim reefer's setups? Thank you for lending your experience to my newbie questions!

 

[The Grim Reefer]

Okay, been reading for two hours on this and various other threads but can't seem to find the answer to this so figure I'll ask... I'm running a 6 lamp Nova Extreme Pro over a 72g bowfront. It's a FO with a few shrooms so I'm more concerned with highlighting fish color. I'm currently running 3 10k's and 3 460 actinics in this order:

Front
460
10k
460
10k
460
10K

The first and fifth are on a switch by themselves and used at dusk and dawn. All are on for daylight.

I'm contemplating:

ATI Blue Plus
ATI Aqua blue special
ATI Blue Plus
ATI Aqua blue special
ATI Blue Plus
ATI Aqua blue special

I'm worried about daytime color being to blue and wonder if an ATI Purpleplus in the #4 position would help balance that.

What do you think Grim?

Run a GE 6500K in 4 instead. It will give you a more sunshine effect.

 

[The Grim Reefer]

After sifting through multiple pages of info it seems that very seldom do two people have a similar situation and can use the same bulb recommendation.....
As such I am wondering what bulb selection you lighting gurus suggest for my particular setup.

I've got a 48" aquaticlife 6-bulb fixture illuminating a mixed reef in a 25" deep tank.

Any suggestions?

4 Blue Plus, 1 Purple Plus and a KZ New Gen for a more 20K look or a GE 6500K for a more 14K look

 

[The Grim Reefer]

Thank you for your helpful input! You are correct in assuming that budget is an issue, but I considered the width of the tank as well. Many of the other six bulb units are wider than 12 inches and are designed to be hung rather than sit on the tank. Unfortunately I definitely can't hang anything above the tank. I like the look of my canopy, but I could only fit 4 bulbs in it and that would be a squeeze. Do you think that overdriven ATI bulbs in the 4 bulb ice cap retrofit could compete with the nova 6 bulb fixture? Or should I just ditch the canopy and get the nova 6 bulb fixture? Also, do you think that the nova could support sps and clams in a 21 inch deep tank if I switched the stock bulbs for one of grim reefer's setups? Thank you for lending your experience to my newbie questions!

Don't waste your time with the Ice Cap fixture, no cooling. I've actually measured PAR on the Nova Pro's and they are slightly less than a 4 lamp Tek. The reflectors make a huge difference and Nova's aren't great.

 

[JCareyETexas]

4 Blue Plus, 1 Purple Plus and a KZ New Gen for a more 20K look or a GE 6500K for a more 14K look

Thanks Grim! The 20K look is the "bluer" deeper water look, correct?

 

[scunfcu]

Five T5 combo using ATI?

Five T5 combo using ATI?

Using TX5 with five T5, what are best combo and order to get more pop? SPS and LPS corals, I think I like darker 20k look pop instead of growth? Don't need actinics?

Maybe this:

Blue plus
Blue Plus
AquaBlue
Blue Purple
Blue Plus

 

[The Grim Reefer]

Thanks Grim! The 20K look is the "bluer" deeper water look, correct?

yes