The T5 Q&a Thread - split

New light mix

New light mix

Hi guys, it's that time of year again and I'm looking to create more a 20k look and don't want to sacrifice growth as I had to restart my tank due to a sever snowstorm we had in October.

Here's what I'm thinking:

(1) Blue Plus
(3) Purple Plus
(2) Blue Plus
(1) Aquablue Special
(2) Blue Plus
(3) Purple Plus
(1) Blue Plus

Switch two is my dusk dawn effect. How's my placement? Should I subtract one of the Purple for an Aquablue or Coral plus or Blue Plus?

Thanks in Advnace.
 
lazyrhino said:
It's time to replace the 4x54W T5 bulbs under individual Miro-4 parabolic reflectors on my 75g LPS/softie reef.

Currently I have:
1 x KZ Fiji Purple
2 x ATI Blue Plus
1 x ATI Aquablue Special

I would like to shift to something just a little bit more blue. What would you recommend?

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

You have several options.
The Fiji Purple to an ATI Purple Plus
Or the Aqua Blue to an ATI Coral Plus

Either of these bulbs would bive a stronger Blue without pulling out to much of the monotone effect that you would get with all Blue Plus Bulbs. If you want a considerable more blue Shift than repace them both, as mentioned.
 
Avgou said:
Hi guys, it's that time of year again and I'm looking to create more a 20k look and don't want to sacrifice growth as I had to restart my tank due to a sever snowstorm we had in October.

Here's what I'm thinking:

(1) Blue Plus
(3) Purple Plus
(2) Blue Plus
(1) Aquablue Special
(2) Blue Plus
(3) Purple Plus
(1) Blue Plus

Switch two is my dusk dawn effect. How's my placement? Should I subtract one of the Purple for an Aquablue or Coral plus or Blue Plus?

Thanks in Advnace.
Click to expand...

If you want to go more Blue replace one of the Purple Plus bulbs with an ATI Blue Plus, and replace the Aqua Blue Special with an ATI Coral Plus.
 
A few questions....

I'm setting up a rimless tank with 40B dimensions. I want to use T5 as the primary light source supplemented by LED for some shimmer. The primary reason for this is that I have a hell of a time with my current LED getting the color I desire from my coral. The plan is to get a 6 lamp fixture that I'll use for a while until I get the plan finalized on removing a lamp and modding the fixture with an LED strip. The tank will be SPS dominant. That having been said, I have the following questions.

  1. Is it better to go with a 36" fixture or a 24" fixture?
  2. I have a line on a nearly new 36" aquatic life 6 lamp T5. Any thoughts on pros and cons to this fixture?
  3. What is the best lamp configuation for a tank like this considering I prefer a more blue look to a tank?

Thanks in advance.
 
60G Cube mixed Reef but want the 20K look getting and ATI Sunpowered fixture 8 bulb just looking for the right combo for coloration pop and growth... :-) let me know

Thanks
Frankie
 
creefer01 said:
A few questions....

I'm setting up a rimless tank with 40B dimensions. I want to use T5 as the primary light source supplemented by LED for some shimmer. The primary reason for this is that I have a hell of a time with my current LED getting the color I desire from my coral. The plan is to get a 6 lamp fixture that I'll use for a while until I get the plan finalized on removing a lamp and modding the fixture with an LED strip. The tank will be SPS dominant. That having been said, I have the following questions.

  1. Is it better to go with a 36" fixture or a 24" fixture?
  2. I have a line on a nearly new 36" aquatic life 6 lamp T5. Any thoughts on pros and cons to this fixture?
  3. What is the best lamp configuation for a tank like this considering I prefer a more blue look to a tank?

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

36 inch fixture. That particular one is fine for a 40. 4 ATI Blue Plus, 1 Purple plus and a KZ New Generation for lamps
 
sneaton said:
if too many p+ bulbs are bad what would i notice? how long would it take to see affects? what type of corals would be most affected? thanks for all the help....ive had the 3b+ 3p+ on my 75 since May and nothing has died or bleached...i did have some recession on some favia and a couple sps but i didnt do a water change for 6 months so i attribute that to water chemistry....ive been doing water changes every week for the last 3 weeks and dosing and ive noticed my corals are doing really well..(sps grew a 1/2 inch in the 3 weeks)

i just switched a purple out with a aquablue,will that be ok? do i need to watch things still?
Click to expand...

On a personal preference making drastic changes in a short period of time gets me very nervious since the corals can adjust to thing slowly. The change from a purple to an Aqua Blue Special is not a drastic change since they both have a lot of Blue in them. Your also getting the red from your other purple plus bulbs so it is only slightly decreases. You should gain by a little from the added cyan and greens the Aqua Blue special adds.

Whater Chemestry is just as important as lighting for coral growth. Going months without water changes or dosing will drop the neccessary chemcal level of the tank to almost zero. If it stays there too lokng corals will perish.

As far as telling when your bulbs should be replaces is very difficult to the nacked eye. The florescing chemicals inside the bulbs usualy phosphate compoinds slowly deterioriate. This is a very gradual process and results in less light being emitted as well as color spectrum slowly shifting to longer wave lenghts. With the naked eye looking at a tank everyday this is very hard to detect.

I try to make it a habit to change at least 2 of my 8 bulbs every three months. With only 1/4 of the effected by any change. That way changes are never drasticly noticable. I also know that none of my bulbs have been there for more than a year which is close to the maximium life expectancy of a T-5 bulb.
 
The Grim Reefer said:
KZ New Gen in place of the aquablue
Click to expand...

Time to order bulbs again.

Current setup is 4x54w (front -> back):

ATI Blue+
KZ Purple
ATI Aquablue
ATI Blue+

I don't like it.

Tank is too pink/purple. Seem to be missing blue colors, greens don't "pop" and reds seems washed out and appear orange.

I've used UVL75.25 and KZ Purple - think they've been the problem and overpowered a 4 bulb system.

Ideas?

-Eric
 
llebcire said:
Time to order bulbs again.

Current setup is 4x54w (front -> back):

ATI Blue+
KZ Purple
ATI Aquablue
ATI Blue+

I don't like it.

Tank is too pink/purple. Seem to be missing blue colors, greens don't "pop" and reds seems washed out and appear orange.

I've used UVL75.25 and KZ Purple - think they've been the problem and overpowered a 4 bulb system.

Ideas?

-Eric
Click to expand...

3x ATI blue plus
1X GE 6500k
 
40 Breeder Lighting Combo

40 Breeder Lighting Combo

I feel like my 40 breeder needs a little more pop in the lighting. I currently have the following combo from front to back:

Aquablue Special
Blue Plus
2 x 150 watt 14k Phoenix
Blue Plus
Aquablue Special

I don't want too much more blue look to the tank. A little will be fine. Any suggestions as to bulb replacement?
 
nanoreef16g said:
I feel like my 40 breeder needs a little more pop in the lighting. I currently have the following combo from front to back:

Aquablue Special
Blue Plus
2 x 150 watt 14k Phoenix
Blue Plus
Aquablue Special

I don't want too much more blue look to the tank. A little will be fine. Any suggestions as to bulb replacement?
Click to expand...

Blue Plus
Purple Plus
Halides
Blue Plus
Blue Plus
 
Getting a new fixture (aquaperfekt photon plus) for my new tank (60x30x18) which has 2x250w DE HQI MHs and 6x54w T5s. I will plan to run the MHs 4 hrs a day, so I'll need the T5s to run 8-10 hrs.

Any recommendations? I am ordering from SOS, so the options are ATi, Giesemann, Hagen, Hexarc and UV. Part of me was thinking 2 of each, Hexarc 460 Blue, Oceanic Blue and True Actinic, but I'm worried that may be too blue. I like a 15k tank. I could throw in an AquaSun or something similar. The T5s are on either side of the MHs, so I might need a pair of whiter lamps.
 
GSMguy said:
Replace the AB special to a Blue+.
Click to expand...

The Grim Reefer said:
KZ New Gen in place of the aquablue
Click to expand...

TropTrea said:
You have several options.
The Fiji Purple to an ATI Purple Plus
Or the Aqua Blue to an ATI Coral Plus

Either of these bulbs would bive a stronger Blue without pulling out to much of the monotone effect that you would get with all Blue Plus Bulbs. If you want a considerable more blue Shift than repace them both, as mentioned.
Click to expand...

Thanks for all the suggestions guys. I'll look into each of these options.

This is such a great thread, thanks for all the work everyone puts into it. You've created quite the resource here.
 
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