The T5 Q&a Thread - split

On my 8 bulb I've got on the way I've got the following combo picked for max growth.
Aquablue
Coral +
True Actinic
Aquablue
Coral +
True Actinic
Aquablue
Coral +
 
StrikerKratos said:
On my 8 bulb I've got on the way I've got the following combo picked for max growth.
Aquablue
Coral +
True Actinic
Aquablue
Coral +
True Actinic
Aquablue
Coral +
Click to expand...

Wow, that is a lot of light - It will certainly work but you may find it too yellow. If you do I'd swap out Aquablue specials and replace them with blue plus.
 
mhucasey said:
Not that I know of - functionally they should work the same, its really a visual preference only. The Coral Plus has slightly higher PAR.
Click to expand...

I used to run 6 blue + and 2 coral+loved the color for acans and red lps but wasn't a huge fan of the pinkish look the coral plus gave my wrasses and clowns, so I swapped them for ati aquablue specials to see if they were as bad at washing out as people said. They definitely don't give the reds and oranges as much pop as the coral + but they are much much brighter white bulbs and I prefer the more natural look they give slightly over the coral +. It would be interesting to see the growth differences. I've stuck with this combo for a while now.
 
mhucasey said:
Wow, that is a lot of light - It will certainly work but you may find it too yellow. If you do I'd swap out Aquablue specials and replace them with blue plus.
Click to expand...


For display purposes I would have gone with some blue plus, but this is for a SPS frag tank and chosen for growth purposes only.
 
Looking at buying an ATI 8x80w fixture for my 30-inch deep 220g build. My plan is to supplement it with Kessil LED's at some point as well, possibly taking out the 2 center bulbs to make room for the Kessil's.

So, my question would be what would a good bulb combo be? I'm completely new to T5's. I am partial to a blue look but I've always had LED's and might be a little spoiled by that.

Livestock will be a mixed reef. SPS, LPS, and softies will all be present.

Any advice is appreciated. Thanks!
 
RedStangGA said:
Looking at buying an ATI 8x80w fixture for my 30-inch deep 220g build. My plan is to supplement it with Kessil LED's at some point as well, possibly taking out the 2 center bulbs to make room for the Kessil's.

So, my question would be what would a good bulb combo be? I'm completely new to T5's. I am partial to a blue look but I've always had LED's and might be a little spoiled by that.

Livestock will be a mixed reef. SPS, LPS, and softies will all be present.

Any advice is appreciated. Thanks!
Click to expand...

The best combo to start out with would be 5 Blue plus, 2 Coral Plus, one Purple plus(Or Fiji Purple, which is a better purple).
 
silvernblackr35 said:
The only KZ bulb i've tried was the KZ coral light new gen, it was comparable with the aquablue special as far as color and brightness to the eye.
Click to expand...

I think you may be thinking of the standard Coral Light. It is similar to the ABS. The New Gen is much whiter and higher K white bulb - closer to a Coral plus with less red and very close to an Aquablue Azure by Giesemann. Its a quality bulb with a ton of PAR.

The KZ Fiji Purple is the original and Best Purple Bulb, and is the one Bulb KZ makes that is better than their competitors.
 
mhucasey said:
I think you may be thinking of the standard Coral Light. It is similar to the ABS. The New Gen is much whiter and higher K white bulb - closer to a Coral plus with less red and very close to an Aquablue Azure by Giesemann. Its a quality bulb with a ton of PAR.

The KZ Fiji Purple is the original and Best Purple Bulb, and is the one Bulb KZ makes that is better than their competitors.
Click to expand...

You are right, it is the coral light. My mistake.
 
Ok, so I have a 48/48/24 cube tank that is being lit by 4 rapidled DIY Aurora pucks. They have the same diode layout as the the radion does. Question, if I want to incorporate led into these, how many bulbs do you recommend?
And how many bulbs would you suggest for the tank if I ditch the LEDs?

Thanks,
Corey
 
biecacka said:
Ok, so I have a 48/48/24 cube tank that is being lit by 4 rapidled DIY Aurora pucks. They have the same diode layout as the the radion does. Question, if I want to incorporate led into these, how many bulbs do you recommend?
And how many bulbs would you suggest for the tank if I ditch the LEDs?

Thanks,
Corey
Click to expand...
If you ditch the LEDs:

If you want to grow SPS in there and get good coverage - that is, light at high levels at every point in the tank, 2 8x54 watt fixtures. Those are 48" and would go right to the edge.
I know you are not an SPS junkie and So for excellent coverage you could go with the 36" 39watt fixtures. 2 8x39Watt fixtures is 624 watts when all 16 bulbs are on. That will let you grow All kinds of corals almost everywhere in the tank, just slightly lower par near the edges.

I have a 36"X 48" reef with an 8 bulb and a 6 bulb 39 watt sunpowers and that combo covers nicely with both fixtures touching. Two more bulbs and a little gap between the fixtures will handle 48x48 with even par across the whole tank.

If you go with LPS and very easy SPS you may get away with 2 6X39 watt fixtures but I think you would regret not getting the 8 bulb fixtures later.
 
Last edited:
I have an ATI Sunpower 6X54W light and am getting ready to swap out the bulbs. I am debating between 2 bulb configurations. Can someone give me some insight into which one might be better or if either of them seem like a disaster waiting to happen?
This is over a 90 gallon mixed reef.

1. ATI aqua blue
ATI blue +
ATI aqua blue
ATI blue +
ATI aqua blue
ATI blue +

2. ATI Blue +
ATI Blue +
ATI Coral +
ATI Purple +
ATI Blue +
ATI Coral +
 
Last edited:
Matt, thank you for the advice. :). I think I am coming into the SPS realm. I'm slowly dropping my nitrates in my LPS/softy tank. Going to go sps/LPS. So I'm open to suggestion. Not sure if I'll ditch the leds or not. I'm not completely opposed of the idea.
It's an open top tank with rock in a "U" shape with the open end at the front of the tank. Would 36 inch fixtures work?

Corey
 
dahc1979 said:
I have an ATI Sunpower 6X54W light and am getting ready to swap out the bulbs. I am debating between 2 bulb configurations. Can someone give me some insight into which one might be better or if either of them seem like a disaster waiting to happen?
This is over a 90 gallon mixed reef.

1. ATI aqua blue
ATI blue +
ATI aqua blue
ATI blue +
ATI aqua blue
ATI blue +

2. ATI Blue +
ATI Blue +
ATI Coral +
ATI Purple +
ATI Blue +
ATI Coral +
Click to expand...
The second would look better IMO but both will grow coral very well:)
 
biecacka said:
Matt, thank you for the advice. :). I think I am coming into the SPS realm. I'm slowly dropping my nitrates in my LPS/softy tank. Going to go sps/LPS. So I'm open to suggestion. Not sure if I'll ditch the leds or not. I'm not completely opposed of the idea.
It's an open top tank with rock in a "U" shape with the open end at the front of the tank. Would 36 inch fixtures work?

Corey
Click to expand...

Yep 36" fixtures will give you good coverage. If I were you I'd ditch the LED. Four Aurora pucks covering 16 square feet is so underpowered it's ridiculous, and adding them to T5s will just add a confusing element to dialing in the light. With T5, you hang fixture 10 inches above the water to start and turn it on for 12 hours for the 2 bulb circuit, 6-8 hours all bulbs on. It's pretty foolproof.

I'd go with 8X36" non dimmable sunpowers. The 8 bulb circuit layout would let you take out two bulbs on either end if you like to essentially make them a 6 bulb light - you could run that way at the start but have the option to add two more bulbs to increase coverage and par.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

M
Can't find 60"VHO Actinics anymore... LED recommendations
2
Replies
23
Views
869
griss
griss
S
Jumping Back In
Replies
0
Views
9
Saltygram
S
xclusive252
Kessil help please
Replies
4
Views
391
wvned
wvned
griss
Talk to me about Hydros
2 3
Replies
42
Views
1K
wvned
wvned
Guygettnby
Nyos 220 on a 120g?
Replies
8
Views
433
Guygettnby
Guygettnby
Back
Top