The T5 Q&a Thread - split

[Bobbofin]

Dear Grim Reaper,

First of all thank you for what you do here on RC. I spent several hours going through this thread looking for an answer before deciding to post my questions. 108 pages is a bit much to digest.

I have a 24x24x24" mixed reef with a few SPS bird nest and a green slimer at mid level and zoas, acans, ricordia down low. I currently have a Radion Gen 1 fixture. I like the fixture but all my once red acans look orange. The tank looks muted compared to when I had a 14k mh and two ATI blue plus bulbs on it.
I am about pull the trigger on an 24" ATI 6 bulb fixture and would like bulb recommendations.
I am looking for a 16-18k look that has a good mix of color & growth with nice deep blue at sunrise and sunset. I know am am going to loose the shimmer of MH or LEDs but I want my red acans to pop again and get rid of this muted look.
Thank for your time and what you do.

 

[Bobbofin]

Thank you

 

[rtparty]

Dear Grim Reaper,

First of all thank you for what you do here on RC. I spent several hours going through this thread looking for an answer before deciding to post my questions. 108 pages is a bit much to digest.

I have a 24x24x24" mixed reef with a few SPS bird nest and a green slimer at mid level and zoas, acans, ricordia down low. I currently have a Radion Gen 1 fixture. I like the fixture but all my once red acans look orange. The tank looks muted compared to when I had a 14k mh and two ATI blue plus bulbs on it.
I am about pull the trigger on an 24" ATI 6 bulb fixture and would like bulb recommendations.
I am looking for a 16-18k look that has a good mix of color & growth with nice deep blue at sunrise and sunset. I know am am going to loose the shimmer of MH or LEDs but I want my red acans to pop again and get rid of this muted look.
Thank for your time and what you do.

Blue
Actinic
Purple
Coral plus
Blue or actinic
Blue

If you want to keel PAR up, go with the blue in slot 5. I am actually setting up a 60 cube right now an using a six bulb Sunpower as well. I'm really hoping to sell mine though and find an eight bulb.

 

[Josh_84]

Time for new bulbs! running a 6 bulb aquatic life fixture over a 120g (4x2x2) I like a bluer look that will bring out a good range of colors in all the corals. Keeping mostly lps. Wgen you guys post the bulbs you reccomend, do you list them front to back or back to front?
Thanks!

 

[coltreef]

Hello,

I am setting up a 120 gal. reef tank (SPS, LPS, Mushrooms, Soft corals, Polyps). I have a 6 bulb Tek-light fixture and am looking at putting ATI Bulbs (Aqueblue Special, Coral Plus, Blue Plus, Actinic, Purple Plus ( http://www.atiaquaristik.com/de/t5-leuchtstoffroehren ))

I would like feedback on the setup and how you would arrange them.
I have some options that I was thinking of and listed them below.

1.
Blue+
Blue+
Purple+
Aqueblue
Blue+
Blue+

2.
Aqueblue
Blue+
Purple+
Aqueblue
Blue+
Blue+

3.
Blue+
Coral+
Blue+
Actinic
Coral+
Blue+

4.
Blue+
Purple+
Aqueblue
Actinic
Aqueblue
Blue+

5. (This is what ATI says to use)
Blue+
Aquablue
Purple+
Blue+
Aqueblue
Blue+

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I would like to see the corals to pop & grow and for the Livestock to also pop with color.

Thanks again

 

[kissman]

After owning my T5 HO 6x54w fixture for 3 years I learned about the "cold spot" and that it should be at the end where the fans are. Has anybody done a PAR reading before and after the bulbs were turned around? I know I have read that running them CORRECTLY can increase PAR and LIFE. I am just curious if anybody has noted the difference? I don't have a PAR meter wich I did or knew some one in Virginia I could borrow one from.

 

[DiscusHeckel]

I checked out the air temperature leaving my Sunpower today and it hovered between 108F and 110F. The fans were set at 9V and the room temperature was 66F.

I will continue to use 9V fan speed as normal.

Thank you for your help.

Further to my post above, I decided to carry out more rigorous tests to find out the most efficient fan setting using a quantum sensor and a lux meter. Note that I already had this equipment in my toolbox.

I do not bore you with numbers, but what I did was to place both my lux meter and quantum sensor at a fixed position under the lights. I used a horizontal platform placed over my tank and measure the light intensity and PAR at the same time of the day with full lights on with different fan settings (i.e. Day 1 at 9V, Day 2 at 7.5V, Day 3 at 6V and so on).

What I found is that the lower the fan speed the brighter my tubes get. I have just taken measurements when the fan speed set at 3.5V and I obtained the highest lux and PAR readings. How can this be possible? My expectation was that as the tubes run hotter their intensity and therefore PAR output should drop. There are two other explanations: 1. I am making a mistake in my measurements; 2. I have been running my tubes too cool.

Can you spot any mistakes in my methodology? Please scrutinise it, so that I can perhaps repeat my experiment?

Thanks in advance...

 

[Cruezn]

I'm fairly new to reef keeping and have 6 54 watt T-5's in my fixture. I want to replace all the bulbs with the proper setup from front to back. It has the stock bulbs in it now, and I know it can look better. I have researched this for days, and after reading all the posts, I'm probably more confused than ever. My tank is a standard 48" 75 gallon aquarium with softies (zoas, shrooms, devils hand) and acans down low. LPS and SPS in the midrange, and SPS up higher. I also have on Maxima clam. My fixture has the ability to control the front three and back three bulbs separately. What would be your recommendation(s) for bulb selection, placement, and while we are at it, the number of hours per day? Sorry for all the questions, but I really want my tank to look its best (feel like I owe it to my animals), and you guys are the experts. I appreciate your time and response. Thanks

 

[jermahin]

How would this look?

How would this look?

I am contemplating, attempting to mimic the color that Krystopf Tyrc (sp?)had in his TOTM article back in 2010.
Unfortunately I have a 6 x 80W sunpower fixture as opposed to a 10 lamp fixture he was using at the time.

Here is what I am considering:

2 ATI Blue Plus
2 KZ NG Coral
1 ATI Aqua Blue
1 ATI Actinic

Here is what he had:

3 Blue Plus
3 KZ NG Coral
2 Aqua Blue
1 KZ Fiji Purple
1 ATI Actinic

Here is what I am using now. Which seems a little bright and overly white. I have a 150 gallon tank - 27" tall. and I have to use screening over the tank to bring the light levels down. I have a canopy, and the light fixture sits anout 6" above the water line. Unfortunately moving the fixture up just isn't an option.

4 ATI Blue Plus
1 ATI Coral Plus
1 GE 6500K

Thanks for the help.

 

[Bobbofin]

Just bought a ATI 6x24" dimmable Sunpower. Wow! here's the bulb combo. I love the actinics on 2 & 5 channel for dusk to dawn, nice effect compared to blues. The shop owner talked me out of three blue plus and getting one aquablue special. It's a nice 16k look, not too blue, not too white.

blue+
actinic
coral+
aquablue special
actinic
blue+

 

[tegee]

Blue
Actinic
Purple
Blue or coral
Coral or blue
Blue

Ryan......

Can I ask a real dumb questions.....what is the order of these bulbs front to back? Installing the bulbs this weekend.

Thx.....

 

[rburns24]

The first bulb listed is always the front bulb.

 

[reeferlover]

Hey guys. I recently bought a aquatic life fixture its a 6 bulb 48 " it came with 4 aqua blue + 1 65k and 1 purple plus. I don't like the purple plus. I can see the pink/purple hue in some coral and I just don't like it. I replaced the purple with a blue plus. I like the color. The tank was pretty white before. Like 12k. Now it's a 14k. Am I going to hit the full spectrum I need. I have a 75 gal sps dominated. Lots of blues greens pinks purples. Basically I don't want to be limited. So any help would be greatly appreciated. Here's what I got

B+
B+
6500k
B+
B+
B+

Should I add a white for one b+ or will the red and pinks get what they need from the one 6500k. What about a coral + like this

B+
B+
6500k
Coral+
B+
B+

Tganks!

 

[rtparty]

I am contemplating, attempting to mimic the color that Krystopf Tyrc (sp?)had in his TOTM article back in 2010.
Unfortunately I have a 6 x 80W sunpower fixture as opposed to a 10 lamp fixture he was using at the time.

Here is what I am considering:

2 ATI Blue Plus
2 KZ NG Coral
1 ATI Aqua Blue
1 ATI Actinic

Here is what he had:

3 Blue Plus
3 KZ NG Coral
2 Aqua Blue
1 KZ Fiji Purple
1 ATI Actinic

Here is what I am using now. Which seems a little bright and overly white. I have a 150 gallon tank - 27" tall. and I have to use screening over the tank to bring the light levels down. I have a canopy, and the light fixture sits anout 6" above the water line. Unfortunately moving the fixture up just isn't an option.

4 ATI Blue Plus
1 ATI Coral Plus
1 GE 6500K

Thanks for the help.

3 blue plus, 1 actinic, 1 purple plus and 1 aquablue.

Just bought a ATI 6x24" dimmable Sunpower. Wow! here's the bulb combo. I love the actinics on 2 & 5 channel for dusk to dawn, nice effect compared to blues. The shop owner talked me out of three blue plus and getting one aquablue special. It's a nice 16k look, not too blue, not too white.

blue+
actinic
coral+
aquablue special
actinic
blue+

great setup :thumbup:

Ryan......

Can I ask a real dumb questions.....what is the order of these bulbs front to back? Installing the bulbs this weekend.

Thx.....

I always list front to back.

Hey guys. I recently bought a aquatic life fixture its a 6 bulb 48 " it came with 4 aqua blue + 1 65k and 1 purple plus. I don't like the purple plus. I can see the pink/purple hue in some coral and I just don't like it. I replaced the purple with a blue plus. I like the color. The tank was pretty white before. Like 12k. Now it's a 14k. Am I going to hit the full spectrum I need. I have a 75 gal sps dominated. Lots of blues greens pinks purples. Basically I don't want to be limited. So any help would be greatly appreciated. Here's what I got

B+
B+
6500k
B+
B+
B+

Should I add a white for one b+ or will the red and pinks get what they need from the one 6500k. What about a coral + like this

B+
B+
6500k
Coral+
B+
B+

Tganks!

If you don't like the purple I would use 3 blue, 1 actinic, and 2 coral plus. The coral plus will add in the needed red.


Sent from my Galaxy S3

 

[rtparty]

Time for new bulbs! running a 6 bulb aquatic life fixture over a 120g (4x2x2) I like a bluer look that will bring out a good range of colors in all the corals. Keeping mostly lps. Wgen you guys post the bulbs you reccomend, do you list them front to back or back to front?
Thanks!

Front to back.

Blue
Actinic
Purple
Blue
Coral plus
Blue

Hello,

I am setting up a 120 gal. reef tank (SPS, LPS, Mushrooms, Soft corals, Polyps). I have a 6 bulb Tek-light fixture and am looking at putting ATI Bulbs (Aqueblue Special, Coral Plus, Blue Plus, Actinic, Purple Plus ( http://www.atiaquaristik.com/de/t5-leuchtstoffroehren ))

I would like feedback on the setup and how you would arrange them.
I have some options that I was thinking of and listed them below.

1.
Blue+
Blue+
Purple+
Aqueblue
Blue+
Blue+

2.
Aqueblue
Blue+
Purple+
Aqueblue
Blue+
Blue+

3.
Blue+
Coral+
Blue+
Actinic
Coral+
Blue+

4.
Blue+
Purple+
Aqueblue
Actinic
Aqueblue
Blue+

5. (This is what ATI says to use)
Blue+
Aquablue
Purple+
Blue+
Aqueblue
Blue+

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I would like to see the corals to pop & grow and for the Livestock to also pop with color.

Thanks again

Number 3 but replace the front coral plus with a purple plus.

After owning my T5 HO 6x54w fixture for 3 years I learned about the "cold spot" and that it should be at the end where the fans are. Has anybody done a PAR reading before and after the bulbs were turned around? I know I have read that running them CORRECTLY can increase PAR and LIFE. I am just curious if anybody has noted the difference? I don't have a PAR meter wich I did or knew some one in Virginia I could borrow one from.

It does make a difference but I don't have the link with me.

Sent from my Galaxy S3

 

[DiscusHeckel]

Fan speeds- again

Fan speeds- again

I have a dilemma. I hope you can help.

When I set the fan speed at 9V and measure the temperature in the cooling vent just above the tubes, I get 33.4 C.

On the other hand, if I set the fan speed at 7.5V, I measure 37.3C.

Shall I run my tubes slightly too cold or too hot? Neither seems to be ideal.

Moreover, I discovered that the third tube from the front seems to run 2.2C too cold compared to the other tubes. Interesting ....

Thank you in advance.

:beer:

 

[rtparty]

I have a dilemma. I hope you can help.

When I set the fan speed at 9V and measure the temperature in the cooling vent just above the tubes, I get 33.4 C.

On the other hand, if I set the fan speed at 7.5V, I measure 37.3C.

Shall I run my tubes slightly too cold or too hot? Neither seems to be ideal.

Moreover, I discovered that the third tube from the front seems to run 2.2C too cold compared to the other tubes. Interesting ....

Thank you in advance.

:beer:

9v is your correct setting. With the shield in place it should raise the temp slightly as some heat will be trapped in.

I wouldn't worry about the small temp difference on tube 3. It won't change anything in the long run.



Sent from my Galaxy S3

 

[TropTrea]

I will be pulling the plug on an ATI 6 bulb sunpower. I am looking for a 16-18k look. Any recommendations for the type of bulbs needed to acheive this look. Also I am not impressed with the purple plus bulbs. A friend of mine is running the same fixture I am looking to purchase and his line up goes like this;

Blue+
Blue+
Purple+
Coral+
Blue+
Blue+

He has been running this for a month now and along with me he sees no difference in Reds and Pinks popping compared to the SOL Blues he ran. He has a Pink Squared Anthias that now looks orange colored? Forgot to add that I will be running a FOWLR and down the line adding some softies and maybe sone easy to keep LPS but no SPS this time. Don't feel like setting my cal reactor back up and everything else needed for SPS. Trying to keep it simple this time.

First off all the bulbs you have have a strong blue component in them. Your only source of red light is very limited from two bulbs mainly the purple plus, and the coral plus. As far as the orange color instead of pink think of it this way red plus yellow creates an orange look. While most people seem happy with a GE 6500 to be fairly equal spectrumed it is stronger in the yellow range than most other bulbs. Therefore it will not solve the orange problem. What you realy need to do is kick up the amount of red light.

Some people will go with two purple plus bulbs to kick up the red. so that is a very good option for you. Another thought is that if you look at the ATI and GE family of lights that cover the full spectrum you have
1. GE 6500K that is 100% full spectrum
2. Aqua Blue Special that is 50% blue and 50% full spectrum
3. Coral Plus which is 75% blue and 25% full spectrum.
4. Purple plus which is 75% Blue and 25% red.

I have not seen any complaint that your tank is too blue which is a matter of personal preference so I would not make a drastic move to brighten up the tank. Your only complaining about the lack of red so I would look at simply picking up rour reds. The easiest way to do this would be replacing ne of the blue plus bulbs with another purple plus. then arrange you bulbs from front to back
1. Blue Plus
2. Purple Plus
3. Coral Plus
4. Blue Plus
5. Purple Plus
6. Blue Plus

From there if you want to brighten things up more you can add either another Coral Plus, Aqua Blue Special, or a GE 6500. dependent how bright you want to kick it. Pull the blue plus in position 4 and mover the purple from position 5 to 4 and then add the new bulb into position 5.

 

[TropTrea]

After owning my T5 HO 6x54w fixture for 3 years I learned about the "cold spot" and that it should be at the end where the fans are. Has anybody done a PAR reading before and after the bulbs were turned around? I know I have read that running them CORRECTLY can increase PAR and LIFE. I am just curious if anybody has noted the difference? I don't have a PAR meter wich I did or knew some one in Virginia I could borrow one from.

There are many variables here. The biggest is what fixture you are running and how the fans are set up. But even from the best situation to the worst your only looking at very minimal difference. Par reading probably under a 5% difference with most situations being at the most 1%. Bulb life will depend on the manufacturer as some are identical on both ends other than the marking itself. So again probably 0 to 3%.

 

[SDonkey]

Hello,

I am setting up a 120 gal. reef tank (SPS, LPS, Mushrooms, Soft corals, Polyps). I have a 6 bulb Tek-light fixture and am looking at putting ATI Bulbs (Aqueblue Special, Coral Plus, Blue Plus, Actinic, Purple Plus ( http://www.atiaquaristik.com/de/t5-leuchtstoffroehren ))

I would like feedback on the setup and how you would arrange them.
I have some options that I was thinking of and listed them below.

1.
Blue+
Blue+
Purple+
Aqueblue
Blue+
Blue+

2.
Aqueblue
Blue+
Purple+
Aqueblue
Blue+
Blue+

3.
Blue+
Coral+
Blue+
Actinic
Coral+
Blue+

4.
Blue+
Purple+
Aqueblue
Actinic
Aqueblue
Blue+

5. (This is what ATI says to use)
Blue+
Aquablue
Purple+
Blue+
Aqueblue
Blue+

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I would like to see the corals to pop & grow and for the Livestock to also pop with color.

Thanks again

I have been having this dilemma for while and i think I finally got what I like. Its pretty close to what everyone else seems to be saying. Keep in mind the built in timers are on slots 2 and 4, and 1,2,5,6.

B+
B+
C+
B+
P+
B+