The T5 Q&a Thread

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Grim, need your help again, sorry this is probably my fifht question on this thread.

I had my mind set on a sunpower 6x54 for my 48x18x18 but just found out its on backorder.

Would the 4x54 powermodule be enough or would it not give me the par and flexibility of the 6 bulb sunpower?

Im looking for a 20k look
 
Hi Grim,

I have a few questions about T5 lights and ballasts. These are probably basic, but I'm new to this.

Some one gave me a T5 retro kit without the bulb and I want to know how to figure out what wattage bulb to get for it, or, for any other retro kit I will be getting. The ballast is a work horse 2 and from what I understand it puts out 35 watts. How do I figure out how to match the bulbs to the ballasts? For this one I figure I need a 35 watt bulb. Would that be correct?

My next question is on over driving the bulb. From what I understand, you can give the bulb more wattage than what it is rated for and get more light, but, that will shorten the life of the bulb due to excess heat. How do I figure out how much I can over drive the bulb and with which ballast? I recall reading one of your posts about not over driving a bulb with a work horse ballast because of the way it starts. What are the characteristics of a good ballast one should be looking for?

Thanks.

Chris
 
Grim,

We are currently setting up a small wholesale coral business and I would be grateful for your opinion. We will be using fiberglass vats with 10" of water that measure 8' long by 2' wide. We will be running 2 vats side by side and 4 vats in length. Each row will have 8 vats.

The sketch shows Plan View and Profile View. I've been reviewing your thread and I'm highly interested in your suggestions. We will have 2 systems, essentially one is for LPS and one is for SPS.

What type of lighting would you recommend? We are leaning towards T5 on the LPS. T5 and MH on the SPS.

What type of fixture or ballast do you recommend?

How high can the fixtures be mounted above the water? We would like to mount the fixtures 3' above the water to making working and viewing easier.

How much loose in PAR can be expected from the bulb to the surface of the water?

Thank you very much for your time and suggestions.
 

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DetroitCrow said:
Thank you so much for your time Grim..
Since you didn't say no for either post of mine about the corals and clams, I'll take it that this setup is enough light for soft/hard corals aswell as clams.. :thumbsup:
Click to expand...

Yeah, just make sure you place the clams below the reflectors
 
kmu said:
Grim, need your help again, sorry this is probably my fifht question on this thread.

I had my mind set on a sunpower 6x54 for my 48x18x18 but just found out its on backorder.

Would the 4x54 powermodule be enough or would it not give me the par and flexibility of the 6 bulb sunpower?

Im looking for a 20k look
Click to expand...

It would work but I would rather have 6 lamps.
 
So Im still finishing my canopy with 8 overdriven T5's. Im going to use 2 icecap 660's. I know the output of wattage that will go to the bulbs but how many watts do they draw from the electrical plug?
 
kmu said:
Grim, need your help again, sorry this is probably my fifht question on this thread.

I had my mind set on a sunpower 6x54 for my 48x18x18 but just found out its on backorder.

Would the 4x54 powermodule be enough or would it not give me the par and flexibility of the 6 bulb sunpower?

Im looking for a 20k look
Click to expand...

I ran a Tek 8 bulb T5 light system on that exact tank with great success.
 
Rhodes19 said:
Hi Grim,

I have a few questions about T5 lights and ballasts. These are probably basic, but I’m new to this.

Some one gave me a T5 retro kit without the bulb and I want to know how to figure out what wattage bulb to get for it, or, for any other retro kit I will be getting. The ballast is a work horse 2 and from what I understand it puts out 35 watts. How do I figure out how to match the bulbs to the ballasts? For this one I figure I need a 35 watt bulb. Would that be correct?

My next question is on over driving the bulb. From what I understand, you can give the bulb more wattage than what it is rated for and get more light, but, that will shorten the life of the bulb due to excess heat. How do I figure out how much I can over drive the bulb and with which ballast? I recall reading one of your posts about not over driving a bulb with a work horse ballast because of the way it starts. What are the characteristics of a good ballast one should be looking for?

Thanks.

Chris
Click to expand...

It depends how long a lamp you want to use. All the good T5 lamps are T5 HO so the only T5 that ballast would run is the 24" 24 watt lamp or the Normal Output T5's which would limit you to coralife brand lamps as far as I can think of right now. As far as overdriving you just use an Ice Cap ballast to run the lamps and use fans for cooling and it doesn't effect lamp life a whole lot.
 
Hi Grim, let me say thank you first for this VERY informative thread, but after a couple of hours of reading, I am SO confused.lol I just bought a used 4 bulb t5 fixture with new bulds, 7 bulbs came with it because he was using it for actinics and he was playing with the colors. So what I have is Giesmann- 2 actinic+, 2-aquablue, ATI 1-aquablue special,1-blue plus, UV 1-super actinic. What would you recommend on the layout and order? I'm not opposed to getting other bulbs either like a fiji purple or something, I just want it to be "right". Thanks so much.
 
bychance said:
Grim,

We are currently setting up a small wholesale coral business and I would be grateful for your opinion. We will be using fiberglass vats with 10" of water that measure 8' long by 2' wide. We will be running 2 vats side by side and 4 vats in length. Each row will have 8 vats.

The sketch shows Plan View and Profile View. I've been reviewing your thread and I'm highly interested in your suggestions. We will have 2 systems, essentially one is for LPS and one is for SPS.

What type of lighting would you recommend? We are leaning towards T5 on the LPS. T5 and MH on the SPS.

What type of fixture or ballast do you recommend?

How high can the fixtures be mounted above the water? We would like to mount the fixtures 3' above the water to making working and viewing easier.

How much loose in PAR can be expected from the bulb to the surface of the water?

Thank you very much for your time and suggestions.
Click to expand...

I'd built a green house and let nature do the job.

T5's would work for both but trying to place any light source 3 feet off the water aint going to work unless you use 1000 watt halides.

What I would do is order cheap T5 fixtures and keep them lower over the vats with a way to raise them up quickly to service the vats.

You might contact these people

http://www.nulite-lighting.com/catalog/TH/TH Brochure.pdf

Keep in mind they are somewhat local to me. You would need 2 lights per vat so it would be a pretty significant order. I think they would be more than willing to let me come up and throw a PAR meter under a fixture.
 
WILLIAM2 said:
So Im still finishing my canopy with 8 overdriven T5's. Im going to use 2 icecap 660's. I know the output of wattage that will go to the bulbs but how many watts do they draw from the electrical plug?
Click to expand...

306 watts per ballast when I checked them.
 
landers96 said:
Hi Grim, let me say thank you first for this VERY informative thread, but after a couple of hours of reading, I am SO confused.lol I just bought a used 4 bulb t5 fixture with new bulds, 7 bulbs came with it because he was using it for actinics and he was playing with the colors. So what I have is Giesmann- 2 actinic+, 2-aquablue, ATI 1-aquablue special,1-blue plus, UV 1-super actinic. What would you recommend on the layout and order? I'm not opposed to getting other bulbs either like a fiji purple or something, I just want it to be "right". Thanks so much.
Click to expand...

Front
Actinic Plus
Super Actinic
Blue Plus
Gmann Aquablue change out for UVL Actinic White
Actinic Plus
Aquablue, either brand.
 
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