The T5 Q&a Thread - split

[toofrigginswt]

Darn!!!! I just tested an LED fixture above my tank and put it to 100% blue. All the corals popped like crazy! I really miss that effect. My T5's at times feels washed out. Unfortunately, I cannot run LEDs anywhere because it's an open top and the ATI Powermodule is suspended from the ceiling. I was on Marine depot and saw a Wavepoint Super Violet O3 Actinic. That wouldn't be deeper blue either?

 

[arbee]

I have the old Constellation 72" 14 bulb light . Anything new in bulbs out there? Getting ready to replace bulbs. Mostly SPS.
Also, what to put in each socket and switch and lighting times would be great. (I had that noted on my old computer that crashed). Prefer more of a blue look. Hoping to not get my post buried
Thanks,

 

[Michigan Mike]

Thanks for the advice. I think I may just go with the ATI fixture. Doing a little more reading, it does seem like it is THAT much better, and would probably pay itself off in the long term, or even medium term.

Also, based on my reading, going with 4 bulbs it seems that 2x blue+ or kz superblue, 1x actinic, and 1x purple would be a good way to add light in the 410-440 range, balance out the fairly white LEDs, and add some extra pop/contrast. Is my thinking correct?

I'm using 2 Ati blue plus, 1 KZ purple, 1 ATI actinic in my Sunpower.(avatar)

Sounds colorful!:love2:

 

[GroktheCube]

That is both a yes and a no answer.

If your looking at florescent pop to the tank there is nothing that matches a combination of 450 to 460 nm LED's. These are tighter spectrumed and do not give you a lot of light over 480nm which starts masking the florescent pop in corals.

I like a combination of Blues and Whites in my LED's. The Blues to push that extra pop and the neutral whites used very sparingly to bring out the reflective colors in the coras and fish. A ratio of 1 neutral white to between 4 and 6 Blue LED's is about right dependent on a persons color taste using just LED's. With the T-5's the ratio can be more in the range of 1 neutral white to 2 or 3 Blue LED''s.

Note from your above combination I would not use the purple plus if your using neutral white LED's. They both have a considerable red component and you could easily get a overly purple or pink tank. If you use Cool White LED's this won't be an issue.

I'm using 6500k for the white LEDs, so on the cooler side of neutral, and I have 660nm LEDs in the fixtures to make sure I have enough on that end of the spectrum. The primary place I'm missing light with the LEDs is between my 400nms and my 450nms. I have a pretty big hole there. The overall color is also just a little less blue than I'd like.

I'll try to steer clear of bulbs with a lot of red in them.

In that case, what would be a good replacement for the purple in a 4 bulb setup? Another blue? Something like an aquablue? I feel like I have most of the spectrum over 450 fairly well taken care of, and actinics and blue+ bulbs seem like they'd do a good job of giving me enough light in that important area, and giving me the visual look I like, I just wasn't sure if going all blues and actinics would wash things out. The LEDs should be be a good bit brighter than even 4 T5s, so I don't think they'll be completely overwhelmed, I just have absolutely no experience with this, and it's kinda tough for me to judge how things will look based on looking at spectral output graphs .

In short, I'd like a 15k+ MH look, and a good amount of light in the 400-440 range. I'm currently at a ~10-12k look, with very little light (only what is produced by 6500k whites) over 405 or under 445.

I appreciate all the advice from everyone, and I'm sorry for all the noobie questions. I'm trying to search through all the information in this and other threads as best as I can, but there's a lot of it and it's a little tough to find exactly what I'm looking for.

 

[Michigan Mike]

Do you like a purple bulb?

4 blue
2 coral plus
1 purple

Lots of growth & enough color to get a good idea anyway.

I posted 4 coral & 3 blue a page back but I would like this combo better. The blue plus & coral plus have high PAR.

 

[GroktheCube]

I'm using 2 Ati blue plus, 1 KZ purple, 1 ATI actinic in my Sunpower.(avatar)

Sounds colorful!:love2:

The colors in your avatar look fantastic. I think VERY slightly more white than that would be perfect for me, which I THINK is where I'd end up with those bulbs in combination with my LEDs. I just have absolutely no experience in this area, so it's very tough for me to guess how a given bulb would look in combination with other kinds of light.

 

[tekjunkie28]

I have a aquaticlife 6 tube fixture with moonlights and timer. Would it be worth it get a sunpower fixture?

Sent from my SCH-I605

 

[Michigan Mike]

I have a aquaticlife 6 tube fixture with moonlights and timer. Would it be worth it get a sunpower fixture?

Sent from my SCH-I605

If over a 90g (24"+ high) with lots of SPS, maybe...if you can get decent money out of the Aquaticlife fixture.

I personally dont like the Aquaticlife fixtures. When you favor in you will want good bulbs anyway if you buy a Aquaticlife fixture your only around $100-150 more for an ATI Sunpower.

 

[tekjunkie28]

If over a 90g (24"+ high) with lots of SPS, maybe...if you can get decent money out of the Aquaticlife fixture.

I personally dont like the Aquaticlife fixtures. When you favor in you will want good bulbs anyway if you buy a Aquaticlife fixture your only around $100-150 more for an ATI Sunpower.

Its on a standard 75. I got it used from a local store almost a year ago. I'm getting ready to replace my wave point lights with ati's.
Also how much longer or long should the t5's in a ati fixture last?

Sent from my SCH-I605

 

[GroktheCube]

Thanks for all the advice everyone! Just ordered a 4x54w ATI Sunpower, 2 Blue+ bulbs, 2 Actinics, and 1 Purple +. I figure I'll experiment with the bulbs to see what combination looks best to me.

 

[rtparty]

Darn!!!! I just tested an LED fixture above my tank and put it to 100% blue. All the corals popped like crazy! I really miss that effect. My T5's at times feels washed out. Unfortunately, I cannot run LEDs anywhere because it's an open top and the ATI Powermodule is suspended from the ceiling. I was on Marine depot and saw a Wavepoint Super Violet O3 Actinic. That wouldn't be deeper blue either?

The kz superblue is deeper blue than the ATI blue plus. It's nothing like blue LEDs though, that color will never be achieved with just T5s. There is too much green.

I'm rigging up two panorama actinic strips from Ecoxotic on my ATI sunpower for this exact reason. Blue LEDs can not be beat for fluorescence.

 

[toofrigginswt]

The kz superblue is deeper blue than the ATI blue plus. It's nothing like blue LEDs though, that color will never be achieved with just T5s. There is too much green.

I'm rigging up two panorama actinic strips from Ecoxotic on my ATI sunpower for this exact reason. Blue LEDs can not be beat for fluorescence.

Ryan... I'm thinking about rigging mine up too. I want to remove the two center T5's of my powermodule and making it like the new hybrid version. I've see someone do it before but I can't seem to find that thread. I don't want to lose the slim factor of this fixture either.

 

[rtparty]

Ryan... I'm thinking about rigging mine up too. I want to remove the two center T5's of my powermodule and making it like the new hybrid version. I've see someone do it before but I can't seem to find that thread. I don't want to lose the slim factor of this fixture either.

You will have to totally rewire that fixture and that is a b***h! Reefbrites can be added fairly easily and look pretty good.

 

[TropTrea]

I'm using 6500k for the white LEDs, so on the cooler side of neutral, and I have 660nm LEDs in the fixtures to make sure I have enough on that end of the spectrum. The primary place I'm missing light with the LEDs is between my 400nms and my 450nms. I have a pretty big hole there. The overall color is also just a little less blue than I'd like. .

The 6,500K bulbs can use a nice little boast in red. However I would look more into the 620 nm range than than the 660 nm Range.

As far as the lack of light in the 400 to 450 range this is touch and go with LED's. There are 430 nm led out there and when combined with 450 will give you more than enough between 420 and 460 alone. But there is a lot of question on how much if any do you need under 420 nm. Thuis is where the T-5's Atinic, and ATI Blue plus KZ's Blue Plus take the doubts away. But if you overpower with these bulbs the super florescense from the LED's also starts washing out. You need a happy medium and that point varies with different peoples opinion.

In that case, what would be a good replacement for the purple in a 4 bulb setup? Another blue? Something like an aquablue? I feel like I have most of the spectrum over 450 fairly well taken care of, and actinics and blue+ bulbs seem like they'd do a good job of giving me enough light in that important area, and giving me the visual look I like, I just wasn't sure if going all blues and actinics would wash things out. The LEDs should be be a good bit brighter than even 4 T5s, so I don't think they'll be completely overwhelmed, I just have absolutely no experience with this, and it's kinda tough for me to judge how things will look based on looking at spectral output graphs .

In short, I'd like a 15k+ MH look, and a good amount of light in the 400-440 range. I'm currently at a ~10-12k look, with very little light (only what is produced by 6500k whites) over 405 or under 445.

I appreciate all the advice from everyone, and I'm sorry for all the noobie questions. I'm trying to search through all the information in this and other threads as best as I can, but there's a lot of it and it's a little tough to find exactly what I'm looking for.

Not knowing exactly the combination of your LED's and the wattage it is hard for me to give a good answer. But the ideal would be in my mind would be using the T-5 to cover the blue spectrum uniformly. This would be combinations of the three bulbs I mentioned before.

Then your LED';s should be thought of in two seperate groups.
Group A to make that florescense in the Corals pop which are LED's in the 450 to 460 nm Range.

Group B to brighten things up and bring out your reflective colors. This is where your 6,500K with a red kicker works or my 4,500K LED's.

A little warning on color temperature. Even a 20,000K light source is not predominantly Blue. If you look at some of the combination anylisis programs out there if you add a single cyan (505nm)LED to a 4,500K white your kicking the K to around 8,500. Substitute a 470 nm for the 505 and you beyound the infinity point on the K scale. The higher the K rating is the closer the color balance is to a Blue Green color not a Blue which is beyound the K scale.

 

[arbee]

Do you like a purple bulb?

4 blue
2 coral plus
1 purple

Lots of growth & enough color to get a good idea anyway.

I posted 4 coral & 3 blue a page back but I would like this combo better. The blue plus & coral plus have high PAR.

If that post is directed at my question, then I thank you. Will try this combo for my 14 bulb fixture.

 

[GroktheCube]

Thank you much for the advice Dennis. I'll keep it in mind as I play with bulb combinations. If 620 is where the 6500k LEDs really fall flat, I may play with the purple to see what that does for color rendition.

As for the LEDs I have (on each of the two strips) 24 6500k, 4 400nm, 16 450nm, 8 470nm, 4 525, 4 660.

I feel like I have most of what's above 450 pretty well covered (though based on what you said, I may be missing some in the 610+ range too). I'm looking forward to see how it looks with those gaps filled in.

 

[Michigan Mike]

As promised, a week ago...the pics.
6 bulb- 1 GE,2 kz purple,3 blue plus

6 bulb- 1 GE, 1 KZ purple, 4 blue plus

I prefer not having 2 purple bulbs in a 6 bulb combo.

 

[Michigan Mike]

4 bulb combos
.
2 blue plus & 2 KZ purple

My combo, 2 blue plus,1 KZ purple, 1 ATI actinic

3 blue plus & 1 KZ purple

 

[Michigan Mike]

Sorry not the best pics, manual focus wasn't good but hope it helps.
After doing this I was digging on 3 blue plus & 1 KZ purple for the strong flourescence.

 

[tegee]

I'm rigging up two panorama actinic strips from Ecoxotic on my ATI sunpower for this exact reason. Blue LEDs can not be beat for fluorescence.

Very interesting.....please keep us updated. As I think this is what I am missing on my ATI PM. I love the switch from MH to T5's 3-months ago, but I think I am missing one element and it may be the addition of 1 or 2 LED strips to kick it up a notch.