The T5 Q&a Thread - split

[creefer01]

It doesn't matter if you run only 6500k bulbs if your phosphates/water quality is good.
Like I said before you need GFO or more of it more often. New bulbs will help but there is a water issue at hand also if its as bad as you make it sound.
I had the same thing happen, I dropped my GE6500 bulb for an actinic, didn't help much, these are 4 month old bulbs at the time.
More blue, less red spectrum, less hours, new bulbs, more GFO should slowly help. Removing a red spectrum bulb will not help much unless you take care the underlining water issue.

I understand your point, Mike. I found it strange that as soon as I put the 6000k mid day in, brownish HA showed up. I have not run GFO is quite some time and the algae issue is very minor. As all of us know, it's not well liked regardless of its severity. Also, the algae is in recession....just not happening as quickly as I would like. The reason I came to the lamps as a partial conclusion is that I run biopellets, have a moderate bioload, and skim heavily. In fact, the water became so clean that SPS began to suffer a bit however that's been resolved via reduced flow through the pellet reactor.

I appreciate your opinion and will continue to look at water quality. Strangely, nitrates and phosphates are nearly nonexistent. In any case, SPS growth has been good recently.

 

[asonitez]

Hey guys I'm running the following combination not sure what the actual COLOR representation is lol but its OK.. I wish it was a little blue'er and less pink/purple. I'm thinking the Coral + and the Purple + are outdoing the other Bulbs?

My fixture is a ATI Dimmable Sun Power 8X54w

Kz Super Blue
Coral Plus
Ati Blue +
ATI Purple +
ATI Blue+
Coral Plus
KZ Super Blue


All the bulbs are brand new. I think I just need to give them some time to Burnin. Mayb e Take out the Purple + and add in another ATI Blue +?

 

[biecacka]

I'll keep my current LEDs the nova a4 I have 3. Will try to find a fourth or switch out to new units
Corey

 

[Michigan Mike]

I understand your point, Mike. I found it strange that as soon as I put the 6000k mid day in, brownish HA showed up. I have not run GFO is quite some time and the algae issue is very minor. As all of us know, it's not well liked regardless of its severity. Also, the algae is in recession....just not happening as quickly as I would like. The reason I came to the lamps as a partial conclusion is that I run biopellets, have a moderate bioload, and skim heavily. In fact, the water became so clean that SPS began to suffer a bit however that's been resolved via reduced flow through the pellet reactor.

I appreciate your opinion and will continue to look at water quality. Strangely, nitrates and phosphates are nearly nonexistent. In any case, SPS growth has been good recently.

Yes those 600-6500k bulbs do wonders for growth, even unwanted growth!lol

 

[asonitez]

To get back to a more 20,000K Look. Some one suggested swapping out a Coral + for a ATI Blue+ What Yall think?

Kz Super Blue
Coral Plus
Ati Blue +
ATI Purple +
ATI Blue+
Coral Plus
KZ Super Blue

 

[rtparty]

Hey guys I'm running the following combination not sure what the actual COLOR representation is lol but its OK.. I wish it was a little blue'er and less pink/purple. I'm thinking the Coral + and the Purple + are outdoing the other Bulbs?

My fixture is a ATI Dimmable Sun Power 8X54w

Kz Super Blue
Coral Plus
Ati Blue +
ATI Purple +
ATI Blue+
Coral Plus
KZ Super Blue


All the bulbs are brand new. I think I just need to give them some time to Burnin. Mayb e Take out the Purple + and add in another ATI Blue +?

I'd try using a coral plus in place of the purple or removing one coral plus for a blue plus.

Sent from my Galaxy S3

 

[Michigan Mike]

To get back to a more 20,000K Look. Some one suggested swapping out a Coral + for a ATI Blue+ What Yall think?

Kz Super Blue
Coral Plus
Ati Blue +
ATI Purple +
ATI Blue+
Coral Plus
KZ Super Blue

I think your missing a bulb.lol

 

[asonitez]

I'd try using a coral plus in place of the purple or removing one coral plus for a blue plus.

Sent from my Galaxy S3

What about removing the Purple + and adding in a Blue+ or Should I keep the Purple + and swap out the Coral +?

I'm going to go and buy 2 New Blue+ Bulbs today.

Right Now I run 3 Blue+ and 1 Purple + on my Frag Tank. The Corals under that light look pretty frickin awesome. I guess I want to re-create the same effect in my Display tank. I'm going to clean up and then head out to go and get 2 more bulbs. Just need to know what bulbs I should try out. Ultimately having the extra bulbs is not an issue because when It comes time to switch out new bulbs I'll have extras on hand. Someone mentioned a GE 6500 Bulb. Not sure what impact this bulb has.

 

[rtparty]

What about removing the Purple + and adding in a Blue+ or Should I keep the Purple + and swap out the Coral +?

I'm going to go and buy 2 New Blue+ Bulbs today.

Right Now I run 3 Blue+ and 1 Purple + on my Frag Tank. The Corals under that light look pretty frickin awesome. I guess I want to re-create the same effect in my Display tank. I'm going to clean up and then head out to go and get 2 more bulbs. Just need to know what bulbs I should try out. Ultimately having the extra bulbs is not an issue because when It comes time to switch out new bulbs I'll have extras on hand. Someone mentioned a GE 6500 Bulb. Not sure what impact this bulb has.

Well if you like 3 blue and 1 purple for 4 bulbs, run 6 blue and 2 purple for 8.

Sent from my Galaxy S3

 

[kelp47]

I would greatly appreciate bulb suggestions for my setup. I don't want an overbearing blue cast, more toward white (but not yellow), but I still want my colors to pop. Here are my specs:

Tank is 48x18x20 and is viewable from BOTH sides.
Fixture is ATI 36" 6x39W Dimmable SunPower, would also like to use ATI bulbs.
Mixed reef.

Since my tank is viewable from both sides, it would be great if you could suggest bulb placement as well.

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[Pprice01]

I'm in a similar situation to Kelp, but with a smaller tank and light (36" aquaticlift 4-bulb) - but I also want to have a "less-blue" look to the tank.

I'm trying to run little to no green-colored coral, with more pinks/oranges/reds/blues/etc.

Can anyone recommend a good color-combination? I've read quite a bit, but have gotten a little overwhelmed.

Thanks,

Paul

 

[asonitez]

Well if you like 3 blue and 1 purple for 4 bulbs, run 6 blue and 2 purple for 8.

Sent from my Galaxy S3

Yea but that is such a FRAG TANK color. lol. I'd rather something with a little more white in it. Almost like a Radium 20K + 4 54w T5's (ATI Blue+)

I think I'll try removing the ATI Purple+ First to see what happens when I swap In a Blue + and then I'll try removing a Coral + and see what happens when I swap in a Blue +

This Guy is using the following Combo

ATI blue plus,
KZ NG coral light,
KZ fiji purple,
ATI aquablue spezial,
KZ NG coral light,
ATI blue plus,
ATI aquablue spezial,
ATI actinic blue,
KZ NG coral light,
ATI blue plus.

Not sure how to translate that into ATI branded bulbs.. At my Disposal I have

2 Purple Plus
2 KZ Fiji Purple
2 ATI Blue+
2 ATI Coral Plus
3 KZ Super Blue(Like the ATI Blue+)

-Running out to buy 1 or 2 more ATI Blue+

 

[Pprice01]

Between the following configurations, what would the main difference be?

2 Coral +
1 Blue +
1 Puple +

or

2 Coral +
2 Blue +

Thanks,

Paul

 

[stevedola]

Good fixture for a 48/48/24 cube maybe top 3-4 fixtures out
Corey

Many of the posters bring up valid points in regards to the number of bulbs being replaced yearly but you could definitely have a very healthy mixed reef with 2 fixtures of 8 bulbs. 6 bulbs for just softys and some LPS carefully placed because of the coverage of the fixtures (6 bulb width compared to 8 bulb width). It just a lot of bulbs to replace regardless of the fixture being 48" long or 36" long. My friend had a 4x4x2 tank and she lit it with 2 MH in nice big reflectors on a motorized rail that moved the large reflectors along the tank's width. Nice but a lot of moving parts and its big.

FOR a tank 4x4x2 I wouldnt use DIY LEDs. I dont like that idea at all. Its a difficult tank to light but LEDS would be my last choice to solely light the tank.

 

[stevedola]

Heres my next list of bulbs for my 8 bulb fixture.
1 KZ purple
1 ATI Super Actinic
2 KZ NG Coral
1 ATI AB special or something else that catches my eye---not the biggest fan of the AB spec
3 ATI B+

 

[Michigan Mike]

I'm in a similar situation to Kelp, but with a smaller tank and light (36" aquaticlift 4-bulb) - but I also want to have a "less-blue" look to the tank.

I'm trying to run little to no green-colored coral, with more pinks/oranges/reds/blues/etc.

Can anyone recommend a good color-combination? I've read quite a bit, but have gotten a little overwhelmed.

Thanks,

Paul

You and kelp could try a GE6500 in either 4 or 6 bulb configs.
I have a 4 bulb unit and have added a 2 bulb unit with blue pluses and get good results either way.

2 blue plus,1 KZ purple, 1 Ge6500
Adding a couple more blue plus bulbs doesn't make it much more blue, I really liked it for a long time, GE is a awesome growth bulb.
Here's another pic

 

[Michigan Mike]

Many of the posters bring up valid points in regards to the number of bulbs being replaced yearly but you could definitely have a very healthy mixed reef with 2 fixtures of 8 bulbs. 6 bulbs for just softys and some LPS carefully placed because of the coverage of the fixtures (6 bulb width compared to 8 bulb width). It just a lot of bulbs to replace regardless of the fixture being 48" long or 36" long. My friend had a 4x4x2 tank and she lit it with 2 MH in nice big reflectors on a motorized rail that moved the large reflectors along the tank's width. Nice but a lot of moving parts and its big.

FOR a tank 4x4x2 I wouldnt use DIY LEDs. I dont like that idea at all. Its a difficult tank to light but LEDS would be my last choice to solely light the tank.

If you think outside the norm or have experience in horticulture you can easily have a halide or two in parabolic reflectors on a rail, not everyone would want that but for a leather/softy dominate tank you defiantly don't need 4 250w halides or dual 8 bulb T5 fixtures.

 

[rtparty]

Yea but that is such a FRAG TANK color. lol. I'd rather something with a little more white in it. Almost like a Radium 20K + 4 54w T5's (ATI Blue+)

I think I'll try removing the ATI Purple+ First to see what happens when I swap In a Blue + and then I'll try removing a Coral + and see what happens when I swap in a Blue +

This Guy is using the following Combo

ATI blue plus,
KZ NG coral light,
KZ fiji purple,
ATI aquablue spezial,
KZ NG coral light,
ATI blue plus,
ATI aquablue spezial,
ATI actinic blue,
KZ NG coral light,
ATI blue plus.

Not sure how to translate that into ATI branded bulbs.. At my Disposal I have

2 Purple Plus
2 KZ Fiji Purple
2 ATI Blue+
2 ATI Coral Plus
3 KZ Super Blue(Like the ATI Blue+)

-Running out to buy 1 or 2 more ATI Blue+

That tank is pretty white to me. You may enjoy the aquablue special because it isn't quite as pink as the coral plus.

I saw a tank with 5 blue plus and 3 coral plus that looked really good.

Sent from my Galaxy S3

 

[rtparty]

Between the following configurations, what would the main difference be?

2 Coral +
1 Blue +
1 Puple +

or

2 Coral +
2 Blue +

Thanks,

Paul

The first would be super pink looking.

Sent from my Galaxy S3

 

[Michigan Mike]

Its pretty safe to day to majority of us have learned @ least half the bulbs must be blue or its not satisfactory.
The blue color grows on you, I remember when I first added an actinic bulb & thought "no! To purple, I'm lost my nice pink coralline algae, lol!
I understand it I've been in the natural & deep blue camp for a minute now. The only reason I like low K bulbs is the growth, 6500-10000k bulbs have insane PAR, especially with halides(no doubt there).