The T5 Q&a Thread - split
- Thread starter eagle9252
- Start date
Hey Grim,
I am replacing my deep blue 4 bay 36" and upgrading to a Tek light 6 bay 36". I am currently running 2 aqua blue and 2 actinic+. My tank is a 65 gallon 36"x18"x24". I am still new to reef tanks. Right now I only have 2 polyps and a mushroom. I want to get a BTA and expand to other corals. What would be a good bulb selection for growth, color pop, and future additions? Looking to go with all new bulbs. Thanks for all the help.
I am replacing my deep blue 4 bay 36" and upgrading to a Tek light 6 bay 36". I am currently running 2 aqua blue and 2 actinic+. My tank is a 65 gallon 36"x18"x24". I am still new to reef tanks. Right now I only have 2 polyps and a mushroom. I want to get a BTA and expand to other corals. What would be a good bulb selection for growth, color pop, and future additions? Looking to go with all new bulbs. Thanks for all the help.
Hey Grim,
I am replacing my deep blue 4 bay 36" and upgrading to a Tek light 6 bay 36". I am currently running 2 aqua blue and 2 actinic+. My tank is a 65 gallon 36"x18"x24". I am still new to reef tanks. Right now I only have 2 polyps and a mushroom. I want to get a BTA and expand to other corals. What would be a good bulb selection for growth, color pop, and future additions? Looking to go with all new bulbs. Thanks for all the help.
I am replacing my deep blue 4 bay 36" and upgrading to a Tek light 6 bay 36". I am currently running 2 aqua blue and 2 actinic+. My tank is a 65 gallon 36"x18"x24". I am still new to reef tanks. Right now I only have 2 polyps and a mushroom. I want to get a BTA and expand to other corals. What would be a good bulb selection for growth, color pop, and future additions? Looking to go with all new bulbs. Thanks for all the help.
The Grim Reefer
Ready for some NOBALL!!!
The Grim Reefer
Ready for some NOBALL!!!
4 Blue Plus 1 Purple Plus and 1 Coral Plus.
RebelReef
New member
Thanks again!
Hello and thank you for being such a great resource!!
I am getting ready to purchase an 6 bulb ATI sunpower dimmable and bulbs. I was planning to go 4 blue +, 1 purple +, and 1 coral +. OR 3 blue +, 1 purple +, 1 coral + and 1 true actinic.
Seems like you don't recommend true actinics very much. What is the reason for that? Which combo do you think would be better?
I am getting ready to purchase an 6 bulb ATI sunpower dimmable and bulbs. I was planning to go 4 blue +, 1 purple +, and 1 coral +. OR 3 blue +, 1 purple +, 1 coral + and 1 true actinic.
Seems like you don't recommend true actinics very much. What is the reason for that? Which combo do you think would be better?
bryman
Aquascape Destroyer
Hello T5 Gurus,
It's about time for me to replace my bulbs again, and with the Black Friday sales I might take the plunge. Right now I am running front to back in my 6 bulb Sunpower:
- Blue Plus
- Blue Plus
- Fiji Purple
- Coral+
- Blue Plus
- Blue Plus
My PAR levels are really good and I keep the fixture 8" above the tank. I am at the color temp that I like, but it seems as though some of my colors are a bit washed out by all the blue. Also, I wonder if I am missing spectrum down low and up high. I was thinking of changing things out a bit and doing this:
- Blue Plus
- Blue Plus
- Fiji Purple / Purple+
- Aquablue Special
- Blue Plus
- ATI True Actinic
I am hoping that I would end up with about the same color temp appearance but with better color rendition, as I'd get wider spectrum from the Aquablue up high and the True Actinic down low. I know I won't get as much PAR, but I can always lower the fixture a bit. What do you think?
It's about time for me to replace my bulbs again, and with the Black Friday sales I might take the plunge. Right now I am running front to back in my 6 bulb Sunpower:
- Blue Plus
- Blue Plus
- Fiji Purple
- Coral+
- Blue Plus
- Blue Plus
My PAR levels are really good and I keep the fixture 8" above the tank. I am at the color temp that I like, but it seems as though some of my colors are a bit washed out by all the blue. Also, I wonder if I am missing spectrum down low and up high. I was thinking of changing things out a bit and doing this:
- Blue Plus
- Blue Plus
- Fiji Purple / Purple+
- Aquablue Special
- Blue Plus
- ATI True Actinic
I am hoping that I would end up with about the same color temp appearance but with better color rendition, as I'd get wider spectrum from the Aquablue up high and the True Actinic down low. I know I won't get as much PAR, but I can always lower the fixture a bit. What do you think?
The Grim Reefer
Ready for some NOBALL!!!
The blue plus lamp has actinic output so there is really no point using actinic lamps other than using one for a more subdued dusk/dawn look. I'd use the first mix.
The Grim Reefer
Ready for some NOBALL!!!
Use your current mix and instead of Coral Plus use a GE 6500K
Chaka
New member
So I am all for reading; however, 94 pages to see if someone has asked this question was not on my list to do. My question is, does water depth decrease the light required for sps. I am looking to purchase a tank 16 inches deep. How many watts would this require? fixture would sit 4-6 inches off water. Fixture would be using 80w bulbs so how much you fellas think I would need?
M Woodhill
New member
Hey Grimm, once again thanks for your last combo for me:
F---->B
ATI Blue+
GE 6500k
ATI Blue+
ATI Blue+
ATI Blue+
GE 6500k
ATI Purple+
ATI Blue+
I'd like to add a lil more red into it, can i replace one blue with kz fiji purple?
F---->B
ATI Blue+
GE 6500k
ATI Blue+
ATI Blue+
ATI Blue+
GE 6500k
ATI Purple+
ATI Blue+
I'd like to add a lil more red into it, can i replace one blue with kz fiji purple?
GSMguy
New member
My recent experience with ATI actinic is good, I wanted more pop than the blue plus bulbs were giving during dawn to dusk so I pulled a blue plus out of my 6 bulb and added an ATI actinic.
Current combo
#1 Blue+
#2 Actinic ( was blue plus previously)
#3 Purple plus
#4 Blue plus
#5 Blue plus
#6 Coral +
One of the issues I was having is that under only blue + my pink birdsnest looked more grey blue than pink. I placed the ATI true Actinic in the #2 spot and the result was incredible. When only #2 and #5 bulb slots are on the birdsnest which is directly under the actinic bulb is much deeper red. All the corals under the actinic look great.
I would reccomend trying the actinic for anyone not worried about PAR.
Current combo
#1 Blue+
#2 Actinic ( was blue plus previously)
#3 Purple plus
#4 Blue plus
#5 Blue plus
#6 Coral +
One of the issues I was having is that under only blue + my pink birdsnest looked more grey blue than pink. I placed the ATI true Actinic in the #2 spot and the result was incredible. When only #2 and #5 bulb slots are on the birdsnest which is directly under the actinic bulb is much deeper red. All the corals under the actinic look great.
I would reccomend trying the actinic for anyone not worried about PAR.
Josh125
Member
Hi, thinking about switching to T5s given I'm not thrilled with my coral coloration with LEDs. The tricky part is I have an 18" cube and I don't really see much in that length. Is a 20" fixture as small as most mfg's go? If so, I'm not seeing many options for bulbs in that length. Am I missing anything?
TropTrea
New member
The old T-8 did have 12" and 16" bulbls that were offered in a very limited color selection. However I doubt you could get enough light from these with these to realy suport any corals.
I personaly love the LED's and think they they are an improvement over the T-5's. The big thing is they do allow you to custom balance the light to make the corals happy as well your personal color taste, when you do these as a do it yourself project. The comercial LED fixtures however fall in a wide spectrum of what I consider garbage to a little better than good dependent on the LED combination they use and what power they are driving them at.
My personal taste building a fixture for LED's would be in the range of 24 to 30 3 Watt LED's on an 18" cube. I would start with 8 Royal Blue LED's, 8 Blue LED's, and 4 cyan or green LED's then add enough neutral whites to balance it to your personal color taste. I would start with 4 Neutral whites giving you basicly a 4 blue to 1 white ratio or if you like a whiter brighter tank you can gi as far as 10 neutral whites for a nearly a 2 blue to 1 white ratio. Note that the neutral whites brighten the tank up much more so than than the cool whites and other high K whites.
You third option could be using a single small Metal hide.
TropTrea
New member
this is interesting as I have two different varieties of pink birdsnest. I have tried swapping around Bulbs to make them look better as they both seem to like different light. One with sharp points is a lighter pink color but I have found that the GE 6,5000K makes it much pinker than the Aqua Blue Special and Im getting fantastic growth with the GE bulb on that coral. The other Birdsnest is much deeper colored red with round tips and seems to look deeper red under the more blue light of the Aqua Blue Special.
This shows that different corals react differently under different lighting. You can balance your tank to make one coral look fantastic however will you makeing another coral loose some of attractiveness?
GSMguy
New member
That's pretty much it, there is no one combo that works for every tank. The birdsnest in my tank that I was trying to improve is a pointy tip Hystrix.
reeferlover
New member
Everyone here is such a great resource and there are a couple new bulbs from ati since i was in the reef game. I recently bought a used 8 bulb TEK and like the legs so I picked those up to. Now this will be on a 75 gal all sps or mostly sps. I can only have fixture about 6 inches about the water so that im not blinded by the light. What are my options. I want to be able to view my tank as long as possible. should i just run 6 bulbs? and I want to have the best colors and grwoth so.......
HELP!!!
F------>B??
I love the blue look too. But not too blue not washed out. My favorite was the phoenix 15k
HELP!!!
F------>B??
I love the blue look too. But not too blue not washed out. My favorite was the phoenix 15k
GSMguy
New member
Front to back for the pheonix look
Blue+
Blue+
Actinic
Coral +
Blue +
Blue +
Coral plus
Blue plus
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