The T5 Q&a Thread - split

I just started a 75 gallon tank after being out of the hobby for 20 years. I'm looking at keeping mostly mushrooms, some brain coral and an anenome in the tank. I am going to stick with t5's. My tank has a wooden canopy so the lighting needs to sit on the glass canopy over the tank. I was told by the lfs that a 2 tube fixture would be enough but I am kind of skeptical about that. Can you recommend some economically priced reliable units?
 
Sailmaven said:
I just started a 75 gallon tank after being out of the hobby for 20 years. I'm looking at keeping mostly mushrooms, some brain coral and an anenome in the tank. I am going to stick with t5's. My tank has a wooden canopy so the lighting needs to sit on the glass canopy over the tank. I was told by the lfs that a 2 tube fixture would be enough but I am kind of skeptical about that. Can you recommend some economically priced reliable units?
Click to expand...

Why not do a retro fit by LET Lighting @ Reefgeek? 4-6 bulbs will be fine.
 
rtparty said:
According to Oliver Pritzel, president of ATI, dimming doesn't effect them either way. It used to hurt them but no longer does. There are a few companies still spreading falsehoods about that but I trust Oliver more than any other company.
Click to expand...

This is realy hard to say. Your taliking different brands of bulbs out there and Olivers main concern is the ATI product line including the ATI bulbs. So while this may be ture for ATI bulbs it moght not be the same for other lines of bulbs.

From working in the industry however I will say that bulbs are designed to work most effeciently at a said voltage and current. If you run them at a higher level you will get more light from them but also shorten there light. The increase is not proportunate to the added power as you may add 15% more power and only see 5% or at the most 10% more light. Increasing power increases heart and therefore shortens the life of the bulb.

Decreased power also works against the effeciency of the bulb. If you devrease the power by 10% you are probably decreasing the light output by somewhare around 20%. But this also reduces the heat generated by the bulb. Logicaly with less heat one would expect a longer life expectancy.

Now if we are looking at maintaining a constant light spectrum you start running into other issues though. The T-5 bulbs we use use a combination of at least several diffent phosphate compounds that actualy radiate the light. Each of these phosphate compounds have effeciency differences which change when curent run through them changes. So One phosphate could run at 80% effeciency, another at 70& effeciency and a third at 60& effeciency wen we reduce the power to 85%. As a result the spectrum might end up looking considerabley different.

Now we also have a new issue that cropped up in the last few weeks to my attention. I have two individuals ask me questions about dimmable drivers not mentioning brand names that were causing issues with there home built controlers.

Case 1 when someone dimmed or increased there lights they received a overtemperature warning from there controler. Case 2 when there dimmable T-5 lights were on the pH sensor regestered a 0.4 increase in there pH compared to when the lights were off. Having worked on MRI systems in the past this is not surprisng. Dimmable comntrols even for incardescent lighting have been known to cause electrical interference detectable by MRI systems. Could these home built controlers be super sensative do to the lack of there shielding? Or are we seeing low cost parts in some lighting fixtures that are not completly complient with FCC regulations?
 
TropTrea said:
This is realy hard to say. Your taliking different brands of bulbs out there and Olivers main concern is the ATI product line including the ATI bulbs. So while this may be ture for ATI bulbs it moght not be the same for other lines of bulbs.

From working in the industry however I will say that bulbs are designed to work most effeciently at a said voltage and current. If you run them at a higher level you will get more light from them but also shorten there light. The increase is not proportunate to the added power as you may add 15% more power and only see 5% or at the most 10% more light. Increasing power increases heart and therefore shortens the life of the bulb.

Decreased power also works against the effeciency of the bulb. If you devrease the power by 10% you are probably decreasing the light output by somewhare around 20%. But this also reduces the heat generated by the bulb. Logicaly with less heat one would expect a longer life expectancy.

Now if we are looking at maintaining a constant light spectrum you start running into other issues though. The T-5 bulbs we use use a combination of at least several diffent phosphate compounds that actualy radiate the light. Each of these phosphate compounds have effeciency differences which change when curent run through them changes. So One phosphate could run at 80% effeciency, another at 70& effeciency and a third at 60& effeciency wen we reduce the power to 85%. As a result the spectrum might end up looking considerabley different.

Now we also have a new issue that cropped up in the last few weeks to my attention. I have two individuals ask me questions about dimmable drivers not mentioning brand names that were causing issues with there home built controlers.

Case 1 when someone dimmed or increased there lights they received a overtemperature warning from there controler. Case 2 when there dimmable T-5 lights were on the pH sensor regestered a 0.4 increase in there pH compared to when the lights were off. Having worked on MRI systems in the past this is not surprisng. Dimmable comntrols even for incardescent lighting have been known to cause electrical interference detectable by MRI systems. Could these home built controlers be super sensative do to the lack of there shielding? Or are we seeing low cost parts in some lighting fixtures that are not completly complient with FCC regulations?
Click to expand...

When I ran halides in the past, the reading on my Temp probe for my GHL Profilux would fluctuate fairly rapidly. I had to locate the probe wire well away from the Halide unit. With my new ATI LED Powermodule, it causes NO interference at all. The wires are all in a messy bundle behind my tank.

I tried the dimming a few times and it had no effect on any other equipment as far as I could tell.
 
sahin said:
When I ran halides in the past, the reading on my Temp probe for my GHL Profilux would fluctuate fairly rapidly. I had to locate the probe wire well away from the Halide unit. With my new ATI LED Powermodule, it causes NO interference at all. The wires are all in a messy bundle behind my tank.

I tried the dimming a few times and it had no effect on any other equipment as far as I could tell.
Click to expand...

Please note these individulas are using hoime built controlers that I mentioned prior. I also did not mention the brands of there dimmable light fixtrues but will say they are two different brands not the same. I believe that with proper electrical shoilding both of these individuals will have there issues fixed. On is working with the manufacturer of there lights and is suposedly getting a new fixture in the mail over this issue. The other individuial is truying several shoelding ideas out as there fixture is 2 years old and the manufacturer claims it is out of warantee.
 
TropTrea said:
Please note these individulas are using hoime built controlers that I mentioned prior. I also did not mention the brands of there dimmable light fixtrues but will say they are two different brands not the same. I believe that with proper electrical shoilding both of these individuals will have there issues fixed. On is working with the manufacturer of there lights and is suposedly getting a new fixture in the mail over this issue. The other individuial is truying several shoelding ideas out as there fixture is 2 years old and the manufacturer claims it is out of warantee.
Click to expand...

No problem. And I wasnt trying to say you were implying that ATI's unit may be an issue. I merely replied just in case anyone else wondered about the ATI units - since this is a T5 thread etc. :)
 
Anyone know if there is a picture available of all the t5 bulbs and their actual color while turned on? I thinking a t5 fixture turned on its back and each bulb being labelled..
 
jimrawr said:
Anyone know if there is a picture available of all the t5 bulbs and their actual color while turned on? I thinking a t5 fixture turned on its back and each bulb being labelled..
Click to expand...

Doesn't work. The camera can't capture the true colors and there are 1000 factors that come in to play with all the different settings.
 
jimrawr said:
Anyone know if there is a picture available of all the t5 bulbs and their actual color while turned on? I thinking a t5 fixture turned on its back and each bulb being labelled..
Click to expand...

Here are a few links with T5 photos like you are after with description of each...

1. http://www.spsholic.com/entry/T5-bulb-change-Coral-light-fiji-purple

2. http://www.salt-city.org/showthread.php?16775-vho-454-vs-ATI-blue-for-halide-supplement&p=171135&viewfull=1#post171135

3. http://www.ultimatereef.net/forums/showpost.php?p=3585902&postcount=6

4. http://www.aquaticcollection.com/blog/?p=207

You get an idea, but as Ryan says, camera settings can make a white T5 bulb look blue etc.
 
First, thanks to everyone here who faithfully reads the same 10 questions asked over and over and over again, and still respond with a happy attitude. I have read and read and read but cant find exactly what I'm looking for so here goes:

tank: 120g 4x2x2
system: sps dominated mixed
light: 6 bulb t5 aquatic life fixture 4ft (324 watts)

Channel/Bulbs:
1.Blue+
2.Coral+
1.Blue+
2.Coral+
1.Blue+
1.Blue+

Schedule:
08:00-20:00 Channel 1 which is 4 bulbs
12:00-17:00 Channel 2 which is 2

Livestock:
Around 15 small acro colonies/frags in upper 1/2 of tank. Several monti's all around. Some lps including hammer, duncan, and acans almost or on sand bed. Several zoa's on sand bed. Derasa on sand

OK, so my question is regarding what channel to start with and which to add for the short period during the day. I am aware that the convention is to have the channel with 2 bulbs on for the long period during the day but I have deviated because I would like to have as much light on the sps as possible during the day. Am I missing something or is this acceptable since I'm on the lower middle end of sps lighting? I would like to have an 8 bulb fixture or ideally (if money and heat were no concern) 2 250w radium fixtures. Would you guys do anything differently? Everything in my tank looks happy, but as is expected the zoas, and acans look a little ****ed cuz of so much light I think. Thank you very much for the help in advance. Have a good one and keep this amazing resource of a thread (WHICH SHOULD BE STICKY!!!!!!!) trucking
 
Dolmo5000 said:
First, thanks to everyone here who faithfully reads the same 10 questions asked over and over and over again, and still respond with a happy attitude. I have read and read and read but cant find exactly what I'm looking for so here goes:

tank: 120g 4x2x2
system: sps dominated mixed
light: 6 bulb t5 aquatic life fixture 4ft (324 watts)

Channel/Bulbs:
1.Blue+
2.Coral+
1.Blue+
2.Coral+
1.Blue+
1.Blue+

Schedule:
08:00-20:00 Channel 1 which is 4 bulbs
12:00-17:00 Channel 2 which is 2

Livestock:
Around 15 small acro colonies/frags in upper 1/2 of tank. Several monti's all around. Some lps including hammer, duncan, and acans almost or on sand bed. Several zoa's on sand bed. Derasa on sand

OK, so my question is regarding what channel to start with and which to add for the short period during the day. I am aware that the convention is to have the channel with 2 bulbs on for the long period during the day but I have deviated because I would like to have as much light on the sps as possible during the day. Am I missing something or is this acceptable since I'm on the lower middle end of sps lighting? I would like to have an 8 bulb fixture or ideally (if money and heat were no concern) 2 250w radium fixtures. Would you guys do anything differently? Everything in my tank looks happy, but as is expected the zoas, and acans look a little ****ed cuz of so much light I think. Thank you very much for the help in advance. Have a good one and keep this amazing resource of a thread (WHICH SHOULD BE STICKY!!!!!!!) trucking
Click to expand...

4 tubes at 12 hours is a lot of light for T5's. This is likely why your zoas and acans arent happy.

I'm not familiar with the tube setup on that fixture, but basically this is what I recommend:

2 Tubes: Can run 12 hours. Eg 8am to 8pm

4 Tubes: Run max 7-8 hours. Eg 11am to 7pm

Most people run the main set (eg the greater number of set of tubes) for around 5-8 hours. With the 2 other tubes slightly longer at 1-2 hours either side of the main tubes.

As long as your corals get at least 6-7 hours of all the tubes then that is sufficient light hours for most corals.
 
Dolmo5000 said:
First, thanks to everyone here who faithfully reads the same 10 questions asked over and over and over again, and still respond with a happy attitude. I have read and read and read but cant find exactly what I'm looking for so here goes:

tank: 120g 4x2x2
system: sps dominated mixed
light: 6 bulb t5 aquatic life fixture 4ft (324 watts)

Channel/Bulbs:
1.Blue+
2.Coral+
1.Blue+
2.Coral+
1.Blue+
1.Blue+

Schedule:
08:00-20:00 Channel 1 which is 4 bulbs
12:00-17:00 Channel 2 which is 2

Livestock:
Around 15 small acro colonies/frags in upper 1/2 of tank. Several monti's all around. Some lps including hammer, duncan, and acans almost or on sand bed. Several zoa's on sand bed. Derasa on sand

OK, so my question is regarding what channel to start with and which to add for the short period during the day. I am aware that the convention is to have the channel with 2 bulbs on for the long period during the day but I have deviated because I would like to have as much light on the sps as possible during the day. Am I missing something or is this acceptable since I'm on the lower middle end of sps lighting? I would like to have an 8 bulb fixture or ideally (if money and heat were no concern) 2 250w radium fixtures. Would you guys do anything differently? Everything in my tank looks happy, but as is expected the zoas, and acans look a little ****ed cuz of so much light I think. Thank you very much for the help in advance. Have a good one and keep this amazing resource of a thread (WHICH SHOULD BE STICKY!!!!!!!) trucking
Click to expand...

You have a wide range of light needs and demands on your corals from the Duncans that will almost survive in the dark to the Acros and Clam that need a lot.

For lighting I would run 2 Blue Plus for 12 hours per day. Then the rest for somewhere between 4 and 8 hours a day. The mid day cycle is variable by watching how the corals react to the midday lighting. Longer cycle will result in more growth of the high light demanding corals but shorter cycle generaly gives better color.
 
MJNTWise said:
Will a 48" fixture with 8 54w bulbs work over my 60" tank? and If so what bulbs should I use.

Thanks
Click to expand...

Don't put the corals on the ends of the tank and you should have enough light for the highest demanding corals even. Also the higher in the tank the corals are the more light they will get.

As far as bulb selection with the ATI BLue Plus.
From there it is a mater of Personal Preference
2 Purple Plus and 1 GE 6500 for the brightest
1 purple plus and 1 Aqua Blue Special for a little bluer look.
3 Coral Plus for even bluer
Then less Coral Plus if you like it even bluer.
But the rest of the bulbs should be all Blue Plus.
 
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