The T5 Q&a Thread - split

[Michigan Mike]

Hey Mike and Dennis do you think I will have enough purple/red with these lineups?
Front
blue+
coral+
blue+
ge 6500k
blue+
blue+
purple+
blue+
back
or if I don't like the ge 6500k
Front
blue+
blue+
blue+
coral+
blue+
blue+
purple+
blue+
back
Its on a 120 gallon sps dominate tank 48x24x24 with nova fixture but getting ati sunpower very soon. Looking for good color and growth with blue look. Thanks

I like a blue tank but I would go for the first combo with the GE bulb for an SPS tank but do the reverse front to back bulb placement. This combo also has more red spectrum in it. The color will change a bit when switching from Current to Supower, in a good way.:thumbsup:

 

[DiscusHeckel]

Changing to a aquablue spec won't be as much of a change but a coral plus will be more blue.

Thanks.

Has anyone compared coral + and aquablue special in terms of their PAR output? I have looked at the usual threads in RC but could not find this information.

FWIW, I bought an Aquablue special tube yesterday instead of coral +. The reason why I moved away from the 6500K spectrum is that I felt that 6500K encourages too much zooxanthellate and thus cause some of my corals, which are directly under this tube, to look rather brown. I am hoping that these corals' colours will improve, but time will then if I made the right decision.

 

[jdraider75]

Thanks Mike And Dennis.

 

[DiscusHeckel]

The sylvenia bulb used to be extremly close to a GE 6,500. If you change it out to a Coral Plus You will get more of blueinsh purle tint. If you cange in for a an Aqua Blue Plus you will bet more of an aqua blue effect, That is with your other bulb combination.

Thanks.

I purchased an Aquablue special, and with my other bulb combination it looks less warm and more of aqua blue, as you said.

It may take a while for my eyes to get used to this new look.

 

[Michigan Mike]

Thanks.

Has anyone compared coral + and aquablue special in terms of their PAR output? I have looked at the usual threads in RC but could not find this information.
.

If I remember correctly the ge6500 & aquablue are about equal @ lower 340's area while the coral plus is mid 320's, I think.
Blue plus is 310'ish but people say its really higher than that, IDK.

 

[TropTrea]

If I remember correctly the ge6500 & aquablue are about equal @ lower 340's area while the coral plus is mid 320's, I think.
Blue plus is 310'ish but people say its really higher than that, IDK.

Tou also want to keep in mind that PAR equaly evaluates the entire spectrum. Yet Corals do not utilize the entire spectrum equally. You can have a lot of red and green in the bulb that boosts the PAR reading but very less Blue hawaver the corals will use all the bue you give them but only a small amount of that red and green.

 

[dadummy]

hey guys,

can't believe this thread is still going...awesome.. Was looking for some T5 info and no better place to ask.

I have a std 150g, with 28 cw, 56 rb an14 blue LEDS and been running them over a year. Some sps, mille especially did not grow well but colors were good. . I added two 80w blue plus several months ago to the front of the tank and now all sps are all growing with great color. I am thinking of adding two more 80w T5 to the back of the tank, tight fit but think they will make it.

I tried a Fiji purple and blue plus on front of the tank and did not like the pink look.

For growth and color would I be ok adding two more blue plus, or should I add an aquablue or coral plus 3:1?


thanks for your help

 

[SneekaPeek]

Can anyone throw some pictures up of the bulb combo 4 blue plus and 2 coral plus? Im interested in this combo and having a hard time finding pictures online.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Michigan Mike]

hey guys,

can't believe this thread is still going...awesome.. Was looking for some T5 info and no better place to ask.

I have a std 150g, with 28 cw, 56 rb an14 blue LEDS and been running them over a year. Some sps, mille especially did not grow well but colors were good. . I added two 80w blue plus several months ago to the front of the tank and now all sps are all growing with great color. I am thinking of adding two more 80w T5 to the back of the tank, tight fit but think they will make it.

I tried a Fiji purple and blue plus on front of the tank and did not like the pink look.

For growth and color would I be ok adding two more blue plus, or should I add an aquablue or coral plus 3:1?


thanks for your help

Add more blues and move the purple bulb to the rear, or replace with a KZ new gen if you want a whitest bulb with less red spectrum.

 

[dadummy]

Add more blues and move the purple bulb to the rear, or replace with a KZ new gen if you want a whitest bulb with less red spectrum.

cool man, thanks for the help, will check out the kz new gen. After the post I realized there's a bunch of old bulbs in the garage. Can mess around and see what combo looks best

 

[TropTrea]

hey guys,

can't believe this thread is still going...awesome.. Was looking for some T5 info and no better place to ask.

I have a std 150g, with 28 cw, 56 rb an14 blue LEDS and been running them over a year. Some sps, mille especially did not grow well but colors were good. . I added two 80w blue plus several months ago to the front of the tank and now all sps are all growing with great color. I am thinking of adding two more 80w T5 to the back of the tank, tight fit but think they will make it.

I tried a Fiji purple and blue plus on front of the tank and did not like the pink look.

For growth and color would I be ok adding two more blue plus, or should I add an aquablue or coral plus 3:1?


thanks for your help

The pink look is caused by the combo of Cool White LED's, Royal Blue LED's, and the added Fiji Purple. The leds are strong in the 440 to 450 nm range which is slightly violet compared to a true blue at at about 470 nm. Now you add the Fuji Pulrple giving another spike in the red range with the old color mix of red plus blue = purple.

Moving the Purple to the back will lessen it as well as adding more blues. I like t idea of adding more T-5's to your set up as they have a wider color spectrum than the LED's in the Blue Range.

Not knowing what Wattage and brand your leds are I wonder if you have enough total light? You have 98 LED's but dependent on which nes and how they are run will make a big difference. On 350 ma drivers you barely have 98 Watt's with a 700 ma your a hair over 200 watts, with a 1000ma driver your well over 300 watts.

 

[warnutts]

Can you guys suggest a bulb combo for me? I have an 8 bulb 4' fixture.

I'm looking for a crisp blue/white with all colors to really pop. It's a mixed reef tank. Here are the bulbs to play with.

6x B+

Kz purp

2 x ati P+

1x coral +

6500k ge

2 x aquablue special

Giessman super actinic

Thanks for all the help!!

 

[dadummy]

The pink look is caused by the combo of Cool White LED's, Royal Blue LED's, and the added Fiji Purple. The leds are strong in the 440 to 450 nm range which is slightly violet compared to a true blue at at about 470 nm. Now you add the Fuji Pulrple giving another spike in the red range with the old color mix of red plus blue = purple.

Moving the Purple to the back will lessen it as well as adding more blues. I like t idea of adding more T-5's to your set up as they have a wider color spectrum than the LED's in the Blue Range.

Not knowing what Wattage and brand your leds are I wonder if you have enough total light? You have 98 LED's but dependent on which nes and how they are run will make a big difference. On 350 ma drivers you barely have 98 Watt's with a 700 ma your a hair over 200 watts, with a 1000ma driver your well over 300 watts.

thanks for the info. running 28 Cree CW XP-G @1050ma (80 deg. optics/few without), 56 RB (60 & 80 opt) + 14BL XT-E (no optics) @700ma. Heatsink is 6' X 6" around three inches above the water. Took out the T5 and ran LED for a little over a year. Some acropora did not grow well or very little at all, while others did great. Tried different placement on some to see if would help growth and had no success. Montipora, clam, lps all did well under the LED.
Added the two 80w Blue Plus T5 to the front of the tank, and the millepora that would not grow have all taken off. Have more growth in three months than had in a year under LED.
The back of the tank is lacking now, so have ATI 80w ballast and reflectors on the way. Thinking of redoing the LED and going T5-Led-T5-Led... across the tank, since space is definitely an issue

 

[TropTrea]

thanks for the info. running 28 Cree CW XP-G @1050ma (80 deg. optics/few without), 56 RB (60 & 80 opt) + 14BL XT-E (no optics) @700ma. Heatsink is 6' X 6" around three inches above the water. Took out the T5 and ran LED for a little over a year. Some acropora did not grow well or very little at all, while others did great. Tried different placement on some to see if would help growth and had no success. Montipora, clam, lps all did well under the LED.
Added the two 80w Blue Plus T5 to the front of the tank, and the millepora that would not grow have all taken off. Have more growth in three months than had in a year under LED.
The back of the tank is lacking now, so have ATI 80w ballast and reflectors on the way. Thinking of redoing the LED and going T5-Led-T5-Led... across the tank, since space is definitely an issue

Okay so here is roughly wah you have
28 Cool Whites at 3 watts each = 84 Watts
56 Royal Blues at 2 Watts each = 108 Watts
14 Blues at 2 Watts each = 28 Watts

this is more than enough total light however I see two gliches in the spectrum. The First is that LED's are very pooe in the 480nm to 500 nm range. The second is that the Cool Whites produce very little light above 580 nm.

The addition of two Blue Plus bulbs would realy bring up the spectrum both below 420 nm as well as that 480 nm to 500 nm gap.

As far as the longer wave lenghts I personaly use less whites but use the neutral whites that gove off a bit more on the red side of the spectrum. I would suggest changing out at some of your Cool Whites for Neutral Whites. DO not change them all though as that will give you to much RED.

Another option you could try is adding a Purple Plus and an Atinic on the T-5's without changing your LED's.

 

[TropTrea]

Can you guys suggest a bulb combo for me? I have an 8 bulb 4' fixture.

I'm looking for a crisp blue/white with all colors to really pop. It's a mixed reef tank. Here are the bulbs to play with.

6x B+

Kz purp

2 x ati P+

1x coral +

6500k ge

2 x aquablue special

Giessman super actinic

Thanks for all the help!!

Start with what I'm running
Front
1 ATI Blue Plus
2 ATI Blue Plus
3 ATI Purple Plus
4 GE 6,500K
5 ATI Purple Plus
6 ATI Blue Plus
7 ATI Blue Plus
8 ATI Blue Plus
Rear

Some people would move the Purples to position 2 and 6?

 

[Michigan Mike]

Can you guys suggest a bulb combo for me? I have an 8 bulb 4' fixture.

I'm looking for a crisp blue/white with all colors to really pop. It's a mixed reef tank. Here are the bulbs to play with.

6x B+

Kz purp

2 x ati P+

1x coral +

6500k ge

2 x aquablue special

Giessman super actinic

Thanks for all the help!!

I'd start with 5 blue pls, 1 ge600, 1 purple, 1 coral. See what you think.
B
Blue
Blue
Ge6500 channel 1
Blue
Kz Purple
Coral channel 1
Blue
Blue
F

Try it, if too white remove the GE for a coral plus or purple, at least this will give you an idea of what you may want to change. If your not picky about dawn/dusk you can rearrange the bulbs to your liking.

 

[ilikefish34]

Looking for suggestions for my upcoming 225 (72x24x30). I would like to have softies, lps, RBTA, easy sps (monti and such) and would love to be able to throw a clam in there but it's not a deal breaker if I can't. Also, I was looking into the ATI Power Module but couldn't find an 8 bulb unit in the 60'' size... do they make one? I do like my blues and I'm looking for lighting that will show off the fish as much as the inverts. Any and all help would be much appreciated.

 

[TimeConsumer]

ATI has discontinued the powermodule and replaced it with the new LED powermodule. If you have the cash, I think it's one of the best fixtures on the market right now.

Otherwise you can get a 8x80w Sunpower.

 

[Michigan Mike]

Looking for suggestions for my upcoming 225 (72x24x30). I would like to have softies, lps, RBTA, easy sps (monti and such) and would love to be able to throw a clam in there but it's not a deal breaker if I can't. Also, I was looking into the ATI Power Module but couldn't find an 8 bulb unit in the 60'' size... do they make one? I do like my blues and I'm looking for lighting that will show off the fish as much as the inverts. Any and all help would be much appreciated.

Just get the 8x80w Sunpower or a used powermodule or Sunpower. Just my opine.

 

[SirReefer]

I wanted to see if anyone with more knowledge can help me out a bit. I currently have an ati 8 bulb but have noticed my green,purple a bit washed out. Wanted to see if you guys think its due to the lighting. I have a 75g standard and bulb combo from front to back is
Blue+
Ge6500
Coral +
Blue +
Ge6500
Coral +
Blue+
Blue+
Maybe if I change them around or change bulbs it might help with my colors. Let me know what you guys think I have another GE bulb and one purple + left over if you guys think I should swap out. I do have the fixture raised a bit over a foot because it is a 18in height tank. Need opinions so I can start ruling things out.

Was looking at troptrea's posting about the percentage of color in each lighting I myself would say it has a lot of blue but tank itself does not look blue to me here is the quote below

GE would be 30% Blue 35% green 35% Red
Aqua Blue Special 45% Blue 45% Green 10% red
Purple Plus or Fugi Purple is 50% blue 50% red
Coral Plus is 70% blue 5% Green 25% red
Blue Plus is 80% blue 20% Green
KZ Blue is 85% blue 15% green