The T5 Q&a Thread - split

[terri_ann]

Since Reef Geek is backordered on the GE 6500K, what bulb do I want to substitute for it for growth/SPS? The other bulbs are 4 ATi Blue+ and 1 ATI Purple+. Thanks!

 

[TropTrea]

Since Reef Geek is backordered on the GE 6500K, what bulb do I want to substitute for it for growth/SPS? The other bulbs are 4 ATi Blue+ and 1 ATI Purple+. Thanks!

My first choice for a substitution to a ge6,500K would be the KZ 10,000K Coral Light and my second Choice would be the KZ 14,000K New Generation.

 

[TropTrea]

Aqua sun dual 54watt on 55 gallon

2 10000k

ok for mushrooms leathers zoathinds and a well feed duncan coral?

Four bulbs would be much better. But if your trying to work with just two I would replace one of them with an ATI Blue Plus. You realy need to build up the bloe end of the Spectrum. If budget allows replace the other 10,000K with an ATI Coral Plus.

 

[TropTrea]

What order should I move the Aqua blue ? Can you tell me the order tank.

So like this.........?

Front
Blue +
GE 6500k
Blue +
Blue +



Hows that?

That should work good. Depending on your coral placement under the fixture either of the two center positions for the fuller spectrum bulb.

 

[TropTrea]

Awesome! Thanks a lot for the advice! I will change my bulbs once I get home and start the rotation schedule. So the Mid-day will give me a little more blue than the 6500k? if I wanted to change it around?

The GE is a 6,500K bulb
The G Mid Day is closer to a 10,000K bulb
The Aqua Blues are 14,000K roughly

The higher the K temp is above 7,200K the Bluer the effect will be.
The Lower the K temp is below 7,200K the reder the effect is.

The yellowish look of the 6,500K is a combination of red and green light. Simulat to red and green on a color monitor creating yellow. However with enough Blue Light added to the mix the yellow in the 6,500K bulb is unnoticed.

 

[TropTrea]

Need a suggestion/recommendation.....

I have a 90G Oceanic Tech tank and I'm running a 4 x 54W T5 retro on an IceCap 660. SPS dominated and while I've seen decent growth and color, I've been reading lately that the IceCap is too strong for the bulbs and kills them faster.

So, I'm deciding on an ATI fixture, but the Tech tanks have a 3" border all around the top rim of the tank, so the area for light to penetrate is really only 42" by 11".

Due to this, should I get the 6x39 ATI or a 4x54 ATI? Would a 4 bulb ATI fixture be enough on my tank? It seems fine now with the Icecap ballast and I've seen bleaching when moving corals from a MH tank to my T5 one.

I would not worry about the 3 inch rim on the sides since the bulbs are 46" long. and you would only be loosing 2" on each side. Where I am concerned is, I think you would much happier with a 6 X 54 fixture, but these are 13.5" wide and your opening is only 11" wide. Will the 1 1/4" on each side give you a noticable light loss?

 

[kevin32]

The GE is a 6,500K bulb
The G Mid Day is closer to a 10,000K bulb
The Aqua Blues are 14,000K roughly

The higher the K temp is above 7,200K the Bluer the effect will be.
The Lower the K temp is below 7,200K the reder the effect is.

The yellowish look of the 6,500K is a combination of red and green light. Simulat to red and green on a color monitor creating yellow. However with enough Blue Light added to the mix the yellow in the 6,500K bulb is unnoticed.

Where do Purple + fall under? How many K is it?

 

[TropTrea]

Where do Purple + fall under? How many K is it?

The purple plus simular to the blue plus and many other bubs cannot be rated by the K scale. The Purple plus basicly produces a lot of blue light and a nominal amount of red light. Since the eye seels red and blue with no green it regesters it in our brain as purple.

The K scale in dirived by a three dimensional graph with red, green and white each having there specific axis. Then a piece of black iron is heated and as the temperature increases it changes color. When it is 2,800 degrees Kelvin the light it emits is evaluated on this three dimensional scale. Then it is heated to a higher temp and ploted again. When you get over 7,200 degrees the change in the pot becomes less and less at things get hotter. There is very little difference after 20,000K.

No light bulbs fall perfectly on this charting but are generaly called by the closest point on the chart they come to. Here is compressed rendering of the color chart as it relates to Kelvin temperature.

 

[kevin32]

The purple plus simular to the blue plus and many other bubs cannot be rated by the K scale. The Purple plus basicly produces a lot of blue light and a nominal amount of red light. Since the eye seels red and blue with no green it regesters it in our brain as purple.

The K scale in dirived by a three dimensional graph with red, green and white each having there specific axis. Then a piece of black iron is heated and as the temperature increases it changes color. When it is 2,800 degrees Kelvin the light it emits is evaluated on this three dimensional scale. Then it is heated to a higher temp and ploted again. When you get over 7,200 degrees the change in the pot becomes less and less at things get hotter. There is very little difference after 20,000K.

No light bulbs fall perfectly on this charting but are generaly called by the closest point on the chart they come to. Here is compressed rendering of the color chart as it relates to Kelvin temperature.

Very informative, thanks.. :bum:

 

[bennr]

I have an ati dimmable sunpower 8 - 54w t5 fixture over my mixed reef tank......I was encouraged by my Lfs to go with 4 ati blue plus and 4 ati blue special.....I am not overly happy with this combo.....I find it is maybe too bright white....I think it is affecting my corals too....I am looking to change out all bulbs in march and want to go with a diff combination.....was thinking of trying an actinic, more blue plus, or maybe a 6500.....I am looking for suggestions.....also I want input on the new ati coral plus, is it similar to the blue special? I have mostly sps in my 75g.

 

[TropTrea]

I have an ati dimmable sunpower 8 - 54w t5 fixture over my mixed reef tank......I was encouraged by my Lfs to go with 4 ati blue plus and 4 ati blue special.....I am not overly happy with this combo.....I find it is maybe too bright white....I think it is affecting my corals too....I am looking to change out all bulbs in march and want to go with a diff combination.....was thinking of trying an actinic, more blue plus, or maybe a 6500.....I am looking for suggestions.....also I want input on the new ati coral plus, is it similar to the blue special? I have mostly sps in my 75g.

You have the same thing I had the first time I bought ATI bulbs and yes I hated the look as well. I do a regular rotation on my bulbs changing one bulb roughly every other month. This makes any changes more fradual and the corals like it.

1. 4 Aqua Blue Specials is too much white light, so start off by replacing two of them with Blue Plus bulbs.

2. You will still be fairly white so the next step will be to replace another of them with Purple Plus. This will cut the level of green light from where your at and add some red which are shy on with the Agua Blue Specials.

3. At this point your tank will not be overly white but it will still lack a little of the pop from the reflective colors in your tank. So for that you end up replacing the last Aqua Blue Special with a GE 6,500K. This bulb has a better balance between red and green which gives a slight yellow hue. But with the 6 Blue Plus bulbs this gets balances out very nicely.

4. Finaly replace the old original Blue Plus bulbs with the same.

 

[killakam]

Hello guys, just found out about this sub-forum. I really need help with this, I have 17 bulbs and only need 6 for my Red Sea Max 250 (39w). I was willing to buy new ATI bulbs but found a local reefer who was selling 11 bulbs so just bought some from him to see different spectrum's, I am still open to buying new bulbs like the ATI blue+.
My tank has mostly softies and LPS, one carpet anemone as well. I am trying to achieve a 20k type of look or something similiar ( I do realize that the bulb combination cant achieve that without further supplements).
Right now I am running 3 rsm actinic with 3 ATI aquablue special. Please advise and thanks in advance:
Red Sea Max 10k x 3 - 3 months used
Red Sea Max Actinic x 3 - 3 months used
Wave Point Tropical Wave x 4 - new
ATI Aquablue special x 3 - less than 6 months
ATI pro color x 1 - less than 6 months
UV super actinic x 2 - less than 6 months

 

[bennr]

@troptrea

Thank you for your advice! I am going to replace two blue specials with blue plus bulbs next weekend......my Lfs stocks ati all the time. How would you recommend I arrange the bulbs in the fixture?. And I can turn on bulbs 3 and 6 separate from the other six so how should I switch them?

 

[TropTrea]

@troptrea

Thank you for your advice! I am going to replace two blue specials with blue plus bulbs next weekend......my Lfs stocks ati all the time. How would you recommend I arrange the bulbs in the fixture?. And I can turn on bulbs 3 and 6 separate from the other six so how should I switch them?

Im not sure how your fixture is set up. But if you have two cords then two bulbs will work on one timer and the other 4 bulbs on another timer.

With what you have put two ATI Blue Plus bulbs in the slots that work off of one timer.

Now for the other bulbs you want one of your aqua Blue special bulbs be close to center probably the 3rd slot in your case. If you get a purple plus then it should go in the 2nd slot from the front and the aqua blue special in the 4th slot from the front.

 

[TropTrea]

Hello guys, just found out about this sub-forum. I really need help with this, I have 17 bulbs and only need 6 for my Red Sea Max 250 (39w). I was willing to buy new ATI bulbs but found a local reefer who was selling 11 bulbs so just bought some from him to see different spectrum's, I am still open to buying new bulbs like the ATI blue+.
My tank has mostly softies and LPS, one carpet anemone as well. I am trying to achieve a 20k type of look or something similiar ( I do realize that the bulb combination cant achieve that without further supplements).
Right now I am running 3 rsm actinic with 3 ATI aquablue special. Please advise and thanks in advance:
Red Sea Max 10k x 3 - 3 months used
Red Sea Max Actinic x 3 - 3 months used
Wave Point Tropical Wave x 4 - new
ATI Aquablue special x 3 - less than 6 months
ATI pro color x 1 - less than 6 months
UV super actinic x 2 - less than 6 months

Wow loads of pet store bulbs.

For starters I'd get four Blue Plus bulbs. Then every other week swap out one of them for what your running now. I do not advocate big sudden changes in lighting that could shock the corals rather than giving them to adjust.

1st dump a rsm atinic
2nd dump one Aqua Blue Plus
3rd dump another rms atinic
4th dump both Aqua Blue Plus Bulbs and replace them with the 10,000K and another Blue Plus
5th you can dump the other rms atinic for an ATI Purple Plus.

 

[bennr]

@troptrea

Ok so if I put the two aqua blue plus bulbs on one dimmer slot then those are spots 3 and 6
I will put the remaining two aqua blue specials in the center....spots 4 and 5? Then leave all other remaining spots with aqua blue plus?

I.e.

Front
Aqua blue plus
Aqua blue plus
Aqua blue plus
Aqua blue special
Aqua blue special
Aqua blue plus
Aqua blue plus
Aqua blue plus

Then like you said I can later replace the spot 2 bulb with a purple? When do I replace my aqua blue specials in spots 4 and 5? Sorry for so many questions.....thank you for your help.

Ben

 

[TropTrea]

@troptrea

Ok so if I put the two aqua blue plus bulbs on one dimmer slot then those are spots 3 and 6
I will put the remaining two aqua blue specials in the center....spots 4 and 5? Then leave all other remaining spots with aqua blue plus?

I.e.

Front
Aqua blue plus
Aqua blue plus
Aqua blue plus
Aqua blue special
Aqua blue special
Aqua blue plus
Aqua blue plus
Aqua blue plus

Then like you said I can later replace the spot 2 bulb with a purple? When do I replace my aqua blue specials in spots 4 and 5? Sorry for so many questions.....thank you for your help.

Ben

first off if we are thinking the same bulbs it is a Blue Plus and an Aqua Blue Special. There is no Aqua Blue Plus made by ATI at least.

From Front to back
1. Blue Plus
2. Aqua Blue Special or Purple Plus
3. Blue Plus>dawn to dusk
4. Blue Plus
5. Aqua Blue Plus or GE 6500
6. Blue Plus> dawn to Dusk
7. Blue Plus or Purple Plus
8. Blue Plus

 

[bennr]

@troptrea

Ok yes you are correct......in spot 5 did you mean to say an aqua blue special or ge 6500.....because you said aqua blue plus or ge 6500.....sorry I just want to get this right......and also why do you recommend two purple plus but no actinics.......you don't think I should use an actinic?

 

[mightymizz]

Almost have it narrowed down. 6 bulb T5 fixture.

Will have 4 Ati Blu Plus
1 Ati Purple Plus

and either 1 Coral Plus, Aqua blue special, or GE6500.

Not Sure which of the last three bulbs, or things to think about in color differences.

Thanks guys

 

[wcharon]

Hi Grim...

I have read a lot and wowwww so much great ideas, so i will try to go directly to my confusion...

I have upgraded from a 80 gal. with 2 MH 10K and 2 96 actinic (48") retrofit kit to a 125 gal. (72x18x22) and will be upgrading the lights to T5 HO retrofit kit. My main concern are which route i should go:
1. (72") 8 x 54 wt.
2. (60") 4 x 80 wt.
3. 2 units of 36" with either of the above.

I will have it with full blast with SPS and LPS.

Thanks in advance...