The T5 Q&a Thread - split

[GroktheCube]

Hmm, perhaps I should just run blues for a bit. I have a bit of long red from 660nm LEDs.

My guess is that part of the problem is that it's such a new tank. Not much competition for anything, and the majority of the non hitchhiking CUC animals have only been added in the past week or two. I'm hardly pulling my hair out over it, I just wanted to nip it in the bud in case it's the dreaded Dinos. There isn't much at all in the way of nutrients going into the tank, other than what would be leaching out of rock (unsurprisingly, the majority of it is growing on dry marco rock), but there also isn't much in the way of things to consume them in such a new tank. PO4 is undetectable with both Red Sea and Hanna, but given most of the growth is on dry marco rock, the stuff may be sucking up all the leached PO4 before it even gets into the water column.

 

[Alex240]

If anyone is interested... I just ordered a 8x80w ATI Sunpower fixture and a WIDE assortment of bulbs to work with.

5 ATI Blue+
5 KZ Super Blue
2 ATI Purple+
1 GE 6500
1 KZ New Gen
1 ATI Coral+
2 ATI True Actinic
1 Giesemann Pure Actinic

So 18 bulbs to mix around. I will be able to compare the KZ super blue to the latest ATI Blue+ and many of the other questioned combos. I will do my best to take pics and post them for all.

In the plans to test... Feel free to post and recommendations. Should have fixture monday.

5 Super Blue
1 GE
1 Purple
1 Actinic

5 Ati Blue+
1 GE
1 Purple
1 Actinic

5 Blue
1 GE
1 Coral
1 Actinic

5 Blue
1 Actinic
1 KZ
1 Purple

Ect...

 

[tegee]

My vote would be, fwiw, (4) Super Blue, (1) New Gen, (1) Coral +, (1) Purple+ and (1) Actinic. I personally would scrap the GE.

I have running on a 10 x 80w PM: (6) Blue+, (2) Coral+ and (2) Purple+. I run (2) Blue's on 3 & 8 Dawn/Dusk. I plan on pulling a Coral+ and replacing with a NG.

HTH

 

[TropTrea]

Hmm, perhaps I should just run blues for a bit. I have a bit of long red from 660nm LEDs.

My guess is that part of the problem is that it's such a new tank. Not much competition for anything, and the majority of the non hitchhiking CUC animals have only been added in the past week or two. I'm hardly pulling my hair out over it, I just wanted to nip it in the bud in case it's the dreaded Dinos. There isn't much at all in the way of nutrients going into the tank, other than what would be leaching out of rock (unsurprisingly, the majority of it is growing on dry marco rock), but there also isn't much in the way of things to consume them in such a new tank. PO4 is undetectable with both Red Sea and Hanna, but given most of the growth is on dry marco rock, the stuff may be sucking up all the leached PO4 before it even gets into the water column.

With a new tank there is part of the cycle that ocassional does sprout cyno bactera. But if not gotten under control can become a prolonged issue and get extreme. I know I fought it for months and if I do not regularly chage out my bulbs will start seeing it return even with regular water changes.

Right now I'm doing loads of changes on my system. I have a lot of fear something new will pop up on me. The biggest change now is modifing my 70 gallon refugium, as well as some lighting changes.

 

[Michigan Mike]

Alex I'm tempted to say...
5 blue of your choice
1 purple
1 coral or GE
1 new gen

I'm sure you'll have fun playing with many combos if you ever get more bulbs
I'm interested in the GEISSEMAN lagoon blue bulb.

 

[DragonWarriorPo]

I bought a 8 bulb ATI sun power fixture for a 75 gal. I want more color pop than a bunch of Blue+, especially during dawn/dusk mode. What ATI bulb combination will give me best color pop?

 

[Michigan Mike]

I bought a 8 bulb ATI sun power fixture for a 75 gal. I want more color pop than a bunch of Blue+, especially during dawn/dusk mode. What ATI bulb combination will give me best color pop?

If true actinic isnt your thing you pretty much have to move to LEDs.

 

[toofrigginswt]

I bought a 8 bulb ATI sun power fixture for a 75 gal. I want more color pop than a bunch of Blue+, especially during dawn/dusk mode. What ATI bulb combination will give me best color pop?

I took everyone's advice and added actinics and it's the best bulb combination I have yet. I used two UVL Super Actinics.

 

[DragonWarriorPo]

I took everyone's advice and added actinics and it's the best bulb combination I have yet. I used two UVL Super Actinics.

So use actinics instead of purple? Any suggestion on an 8 bulb configuration for ATI?

 

[Michigan Mike]

So use actinics instead of purple? Any suggestion on an 8 bulb configuration for ATI?

The UV / L Super Actinics are the highest PAR actinic bulb out of all the actinic T5HO bulbs. It may be what your looking for.

What combos have you used before? You want a deep blue look so corals flouresce?

 

[DragonWarriorPo]

The UV / L Super Actinics are the highest PAR actinic bulb out of all the actinic T5HO bulbs. It may be what your looking for.

What combos have you used before? You want a deep blue look so corals flouresce?

Im inexperienced with T5s. Looking for suggestions.

 

[GroktheCube]

I bought a 8 bulb ATI sun power fixture for a 75 gal. I want more color pop than a bunch of Blue+, especially during dawn/dusk mode. What ATI bulb combination will give me best color pop?

In my limited experience, both blue plus and superblue lamps wash out reds and purples a fair amount. They really bring out blues and greens. Actinics don't seem to wash out reds and purples nearly as much. Purple plus bulbs make purples ans even more so reds pop amazingly well. My scarlet hemits almost look like they're glowing under a purple plus bulb. However, at least for me, it has too much yellow in it, especially when combined with my LEDs, which is kinda surprising to me. I just got a coral plus bulb in the mail today that I have yet to try.

 

[TropTrea]

In my limited experience, both blue plus and superblue lamps wash out reds and purples a fair amount. They really bring out blues and greens. Actinics don't seem to wash out reds and purples nearly as much. Purple plus bulbs make purples ans even more so reds pop amazingly well. My scarlet hemits almost look like they're glowing under a purple plus bulb. However, at least for me, it has too much yellow in it, especially when combined with my LEDs, which is kinda surprising to me. I just got a coral plus bulb in the mail today that I have yet to try.

Wow the piurple plus has too mych yellow for you? I use the purple plus to remove the yellow tint from GE 6500 bulbs. I think 2 purple plus to one GE makes a good balance for white. Then I add the Blue Plus to bring out the florescense more, and help coral growth.

The coral plus is fairly close to the purple plus only it has an added small green spike that makes it a little whiter. Blue + Red + Green in equal proportions makes White. The Purple plus is like 3 parts blue and two of red so it comes out a purple. Add a part green for the coral plus and just brightens things slightly.

 

[Michigan Mike]

I guess the coral plus is 15k & the purple plus is closer to 18k ?

 

[GroktheCube]

Wow the piurple plus has too mych yellow for you? I use the purple plus to remove the yellow tint from GE 6500 bulbs. I think 2 purple plus to one GE makes a good balance for white. Then I add the Blue Plus to bring out the florescense more, and help coral growth.

The coral plus is fairly close to the purple plus only it has an added small green spike that makes it a little whiter. Blue + Red + Green in equal proportions makes White. The Purple plus is like 3 parts blue and two of red so it comes out a purple. Add a part green for the coral plus and just brightens things slightly.

Hmm, maybe I should give the bulb a chance to burn in more... The particular spots on the rock it was shining might have been a factor too.

 

[akitareefer]

I'm setting up a 8 bulb t5 fixture and trying to plan out which combination to use. I'd like to keep the first grouping of 4 actinic blue and purple and the other grouping of 4 between 10-15k. I don't want my lighting super blue except for dawn and dusk. I also don't want to lose any colors such as the yellow or reds. I plan on using ATI, Giesemann or a mixture of them both. Any thoughts or ideas would be appreciated. I'm making the big switch from MH

 

[stancfii]

Which one is better, the UVL Actinic or ATI true actinic?

 

[Michigan Mike]

Hmm, maybe I should give the bulb a chance to burn in more... The particular spots on the rock it was shining might have been a factor too.

If you have a hanging fixture you can raise it a little bit and move the overbearing bulb, my rocks are high up near the back so I cannot put low kelvin bulbs in the rear or it makes color banding unless I raise the fixture a bit then its not so noticeable.
It depends on a lot of factors- tank width, rock scape, fixture height etc..

 

[GroktheCube]

Thanks for the pointers. Moving the purple bulb to one of the middle positions and raising it a few inches helped a lot. Still not sure what the ideal combo for me is, but I'll figure it out!

 

[TropTrea]

I'm setting up a 8 bulb t5 fixture and trying to plan out which combination to use. I'd like to keep the first grouping of 4 actinic blue and purple and the other grouping of 4 between 10-15k. I don't want my lighting super blue except for dawn and dusk. I also don't want to lose any colors such as the yellow or reds. I plan on using ATI, Giesemann or a mixture of them both. Any thoughts or ideas would be appreciated. I'm making the big switch from MH

Here are some estimated Plots of the spectrum with several 8 bulb combo's. The combo with a GE is bluer than a 10K but not as blue as 15K. In your case I would run 3 Blue plus and 1 purple for the dawn to dusk than pull the rest in on the mid day cycle.