The T5 Q&a Thread - split

[sahin]

KZ does like its secrets...I can't see how publishing spectrums would be harmful to business in any way. I have seen German aquarium sites that show the plots for all kinds of bulbs that were run by the sites themselves, I need to see if there are other plots for the Fiji Purple that would confirm the one I posted.

Pacific Sun actually used a spectrometer a while ago and produced spectral plots of both the KZ Fiji and ATI Purple+ tubes.

That supposed image that everyone posts of the KZ Fiji is not correct.

Here is the correct plot:

KZ

ATI

Images have been resized and uploaded by me from here:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2315500&page=13

Note there are spectral plots of most of the T5 tubes in that thread...

I have also verified the plots with a completely seperate Chinese website and hobbyist who carried out spectral measurement with a different spectrometer. The plots look about the same as the ones PacSun produced.

There is a good reason why I stick with ATI. KZ tubes are virtually the same, but they choose to price it higher in the UK.

 

[Montireef]

There is a good reason why I stick with ATI. KZ tubes are virtually the same, but they choose to price it higher in the UK.

I agree, me too. However I've been told that KZ tubes last a whole year and ATI ones should not be used for over a 9-10 month period. That's something it doesn't make any sense to me.

 

[mhucasey]

I found this by a UK Bulb MFG that makes a purple bulb that competes with the others - it purports to show a Fiji Purple spectrum:

I also found that the KZ Fiji purple is quite the darling of the pot growing community - apparently it lines up nicely with both the Chlorophyll A & B Absorbtion points:lol:

As for which mix has too much red for your liking, obviously its personal taste. If you like less red and more blue than there is nothing wrong with that. If you have to err, err on the side of blue. There have been studies that have shown too much red light can impede coral growth, while corals pretty much can't get enough blue light(oversimplification, but pretty well true).

 

[mhucasey]

That supposed image that everyone posts of the KZ Fiji is not correct.

I stand corrected - and it makes sense. To my eye there seems to be a tad less red in the KZ bulb - maybe its a slightly higher NM red or the overall mix that results in that.
Anyhow, thats my 2cents on the Fiji Purple - If I talk too much more about them than I will sound like I'm selling the darn things

 

[mhucasey]

I agree, me too. However I've been told that KZ tubes last a whole year and ATI ones should not be used for over a 9-10 month period. That's something it doesn't make any sense to me.

Thats funny - I remember reading somewhere about the KZ show tank that said something about them changing the bulbs every six weeks. They didn't say that the customer had to do that or anything, but there must be some drop-off of spectrum or par after the break-in period. They obviously don't push that one year mark.

I wouldn't be surprised if the cost of MFG is very low if they can afford to burn through bulbs like that.

 

[sahin]

I found this by a UK Bulb MFG that makes a purple bulb that competes with the others - it purports to show a Fiji Purple spectrum:

I also found that the KZ Fiji purple is quite the darling of the pot growing community - apparently it lines up nicely with both the Chlorophyll A & B Absorbtion points:lol:

As for which mix has too much red for your liking, obviously its personal taste. If you like less red and more blue than there is nothing wrong with that. If you have to err, err on the side of blue. There have been studies that have shown too much red light can impede coral growth, while corals pretty much can't get enough blue light(oversimplification, but pretty well true).

I stand corrected - and it makes sense. To my eye there seems to be a tad less red in the KZ bulb - maybe its a slightly higher NM red or the overall mix that results in that.
Anyhow, thats my 2cents on the Fiji Purple - If I talk too much more about them than I will sound like I'm selling the darn things

There might be SLIGHT differences in the formulation, but more or less the same.

Like I said above;

I have:

1. KZ Fiji Pink

2. ATI Purple+

3. ATI Purple+ (bought at least 1.5years before the other two)

1 and 2 look identicle. 3 looks different. Not because its been used more (which it hasnt), but the formulation must have been changed slightly.

I agree, me too. However I've been told that KZ tubes last a whole year and ATI ones should not be used for over a 9-10 month period. That's something it doesn't make any sense to me.

I dont buy that. Especially with the tubes being made from the same factory, the purity of the formulations would be about the same.

 

[Montireef]

That's what I believe, Sahin.

 

[sahin]

As for which mix has too much red for your liking, obviously its personal taste. If you like less red and more blue than there is nothing wrong with that. If you have to err, err on the side of blue. There have been studies that have shown too much red light can impede coral growth, while corals pretty much can't get enough blue light(oversimplification, but pretty well true).

I think upto 30% Purple+ tubes are ok. One of the best combos I have come across is this:

Front:
ATI Blue+
ATI Blue+
ATI Blue+
ATI Purple+
ATI Coral+
ATI Blue+
ATI Purple+
ATI Blue+

Member Yariel told me to use this combo in the exact same configuration and I am having very good results for far.

This is his tank using the same combo. Yes, water quality has a lot to do with SPS colours but he mentioned that he didnt get good colours until he messed around with his combos and stuck with that combo.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?p=21974215

A video of his tank:


Its a nice combo which I like loads, and will be sticking with it for now.

 

[apuhl20]

Between an ati purple plus and a coral plus, which would you pair with a blue plus for a small sps frag tank??

 

[Dapg8gt]

I just replaced 1 coral + with a purple + and to my eye it's a lot better than two c+.. The temperature is really close to my 14k Phoenix on my frag tank.. Think I found my bulbs for a while..

All ATI bulbs.
Front
Actinic
Blue +
Blue+
Coral+
Blue+
Purple+
Blue+
Actinic

When and if my tank requires more light I'll swap and try Sahin's recommendation above but for now I still have really high par and I like the color.... Finally lol..

 

[sahin]

Between an ati purple plus and a coral plus, which would you pair with a blue plus for a small sps frag tank??

Blue+ and Coral+ would be perfect.

 

[Av8bluewater]

Sure would be nice to try the bulbs before ya buy. I think I'll stick with the ATi purple. I bought a giessman actinic to compare to ATI. It looks about the same but did seem slightly whiter and brighter. In the end I prefer the ati actinic.

 

[TropTrea]

A while back I ran Spectrum plots. While I did not run the 40 or 50 different bulbs available out there I did run several of the same type from the same manufacturer. My experience with both the blue plus bulbs and purple plus bulbs was from different batches the differences were more pronounced than the differences people are posting between the Fiji and ATI Purple bulbs. The big difference was that older batches of the ATI bulbs had there peak for their blue closer to 460nm while the newer bulbs had the peak closer to 470nm. On the ATI Purple plus there was also a change in the intensity of the peak around 620nm by roughly 5% between the two bulbs.

Knowing manufacturing specs this does not surprise me. With comparison to others spectrum's of the Fiji Bulbs these bulbs could be made to extremely similar manufacturing specs and just differences between batches of production accounting for any differences.

In all reality FOR OUR USE I would say there is no real difference between these bulbs. True if you put them next to each other in a fixture you might be able to detect a slight difference in hue but in a combination with other bulbs and looking at the end results they are so similar that price and availability are the two things that may preference anyone to either bulb over the other more than spectrum.

 

[MarksReef]

I'm running
Front
ATI Blue+
ATI Blue+
ATI Blue+
ATI Purple+
ATI Coral+
ATI Blue+
ATI Purple+
ATI Blue+
Back
These are really blue. It is not as blue as the pictures but still so blue I can't get a cheap shot with my iPhone.
Should I move the coral closer and add another inplace of a Blue+ or Purple +
They are breaking in if that matters.

 

[sahin]

I'm running
Front
ATI Blue+
ATI Blue+
ATI Blue+
ATI Purple+
ATI Coral+
ATI Blue+
ATI Purple+
ATI Blue+
Back
These are really blue. It is not as blue as the pictures but still so blue I can't get a cheap shot with my iPhone.
Should I move the coral closer and add another inplace of a Blue+ or Purple +
They are breaking in if that matters.

You can replace one of the Purple+ with a Coral+ and that will brighten up the appearance. The combo you have is fine for SPS/LPS etc.

If you prefer more 14K look then change one of the Blue+ for a Coral+.

 

[mhucasey]

The important thing is whether YOU like how blue it is. If you think its too much than Sahin's suggestion is a good one, bringing the coral plus closer to the front might also do the trick. You could also try swapping either the purple or coral+ with an Aquablue special or KZ new generation.

If you like it than you have more than enough par to grow whatever you want and the corals prefer the blue light.

 

[mhucasey]

OK. I'm a bulbaholic. ReefGeek sends me a 25% off sale notice and I buy more bulbs. I think I have bulbs to last through 2015 now. I need help....or a bigger tank.

 

[sahin]

OK. I'm a bulbaholic. ReefGeek sends me a 25% off sale notice and I buy more bulbs. I think I have bulbs to last through 2015 now. I need help....or a bigger tank.

Lucky guy. I would order bulbs to last me till end of 2015. By which time LED's would be so good they are better than Radium+VHO Actinics (Yeah right...)

 

[rtparty]

Lucky guy. I would order bulbs to last me till end of 2015. By which time LED's would be so good they are better than Radium+VHO Actinics (Yeah right...)

The disturbance in the force is great with this one...

 

[TropTrea]

I'm running
Front
ATI Blue+
ATI Blue+
ATI Blue+
ATI Purple+
ATI Coral+
ATI Blue+
ATI Purple+
ATI Blue+
Back
These are really blue. It is not as blue as the pictures but still so blue I can't get a cheap shot with my iPhone.
Should I move the coral closer and add another inplace of a Blue+ or Purple +
They are breaking in if that matters.

Actually your bulb combination is as blue as you can really go without hurting the corals from lack of other light. If you look close you can also see the shadows from the purple plus giving a purple or pinkish tint on your walls.

From your comments I take it you want to go brighter. or slightly less blue. The first thing I would try is replacing one of the purple plus bulbs with another coral plus bulb. If you still want to go even brighter you can replace the other purple plus with a third coral plus. And the next jump to get it brighter would be going with the Aqua Blue Special, 1 Purple Plus, and the rest blue plus.

Note with 5 Blue Plus Bulbs even a GE will not bring it up to a true 14K level. You would still be in the 18K range to 20K range. But the 5 blue plus are the key for good coral growth.