The T5 Q&a Thread

[meehan209]

hey grim a friend of mine told me that you are the t5 setup master. i have a 125 and i am puting 2 3' fixtures 6 lamp fixtures and want to be able to grow LPS and SPS what would be good to run

 

[yoccm]

hey grim - this thread is awesome!!! so helpful. thanks for all the great advice.

i am looking to set up a 72x30x26 tank and want to go with t5s. i want to have mixed reef with some easier sps and a few clams. what fixture would you recommend and what type of light setup?

 

[The Grim Reefer]

Grim...

What T5 fixture footprint and bulb layout do you recommend for a 60x18x29 130g tank for LPS, SPS, clams mixed reef.

60" or 48" fixture, 6, 8 or 10 bulbs (10 would be wider than the tank though)?

Thanks for your help




...And light layout and selection?

Front
ATI Blue Plus
KZ Fiji Purple
ATI Blue Plus
GE 6500K Daylight
ATI Blue Plus
ATI Aquablue
ATI Blue Plus
ATI Blue Plus.

 

[The Grim Reefer]

hey grim a friend of mine told me that you are the t5 setup master. i have a 125 and i am puting 2 3' fixtures 6 lamp fixtures and want to be able to grow LPS and SPS what would be good to run

Fixture wise? 2 ATI 6x39 watt Sunpowers would be great.

 

[The Grim Reefer]

hey grim - this thread is awesome!!! so helpful. thanks for all the great advice.

i am looking to set up a 72x30x26 tank and want to go with t5s. i want to have mixed reef with some easier sps and a few clams. what fixture would you recommend and what type of light setup?

Almost gotta go with a 8x80 watt ATI Powermodule. Its only 60" long but if you keep the high light stuff away from the ends it will do fine.

 

[kkil4life]

hi Grim,
my lights are almost ready, they will be mounted in a suspended (hanging) canopy approx 10-12 inches higher than the water level.
The canopy will have 4x39w t5 and 2x150w 12k mh
the bulb combo was what you suggested a couple of pages ago, my question now is, do you think 12 inches above water level is ok or not?
I would like to have some space to do some work in the tank if I can.
What is the maximum that I can go without effecting the corals. currently I just have a few shrooms, frogspawn and torch, but might do clams and sps later.

 

[yoccm]

Almost gotta go with a 8x80 watt ATI Powermodule. Its only 60" long but if you keep the high light stuff away from the ends it will do fine.

Thanks Grim - the tank will be built into the corner of the wall with one of the sides showing as well as the front. I was a little worried that the 60" might not show enough light on the end that is showing.

Do you think the aquatinics constellation 72" 14 bulb would work or is that not enough light?

Also was wondering what you thought about the IceCap LED Lunar lights - I was thinking of putting some on the sides of my fixture to get some moonlight effect?

 

[papania]

Hey grim -
We had to do an emergency upgrade yesterday when our 44g corner sprung a leak. We had a 250w DE MH pendant, which obviously isn't going to work for a 55g 48in tank.

The livestock includes soft and LPS corals right now. We're thinking about doing 4X54w T5s. Does this sound sufficient, and what brands do you prefer?

Thanks for the feedback!

 

[The Grim Reefer]

hi Grim,
my lights are almost ready, they will be mounted in a suspended (hanging) canopy approx 10-12 inches higher than the water level.
The canopy will have 4x39w t5 and 2x150w 12k mh
the bulb combo was what you suggested a couple of pages ago, my question now is, do you think 12 inches above water level is ok or not?
I would like to have some space to do some work in the tank if I can.
What is the maximum that I can go without effecting the corals. currently I just have a few shrooms, frogspawn and torch, but might do clams and sps later.

If you do clams drop the light down to about 6 inches, you need to get more light to the bottom for them.

 

[The Grim Reefer]

Thanks Grim - the tank will be built into the corner of the wall with one of the sides showing as well as the front. I was a little worried that the 60" might not show enough light on the end that is showing.

Do you think the aquatinics constellation 72" 14 bulb would work or is that not enough light?

Also was wondering what you thought about the IceCap LED Lunar lights - I was thinking of putting some on the sides of my fixture to get some moonlight effect?

The IC LED's Look good but don't depend on them for additional PAR. The Constellation isn't going to get a ton of light to the sand over that tall of a tank. I would be worried about clams on the bottom with that fixture.

 

[The Grim Reefer]

Hey grim -
We had to do an emergency upgrade yesterday when our 44g corner sprung a leak. We had a 250w DE MH pendant, which obviously isn't going to work for a 55g 48in tank.

The livestock includes soft and LPS corals right now. We're thinking about doing 4X54w T5s. Does this sound sufficient, and what brands do you prefer?

Thanks for the feedback!

Yeah, a 4x54 watt Tek light would be plenty for what you have now, even some SPS on the rock.

 

[PUParrothead]

Thinking about changing my lighting setup

Thinking about changing my lighting setup

Hello All,
Looking for some advice here...bought a 10-bulb 54W Powermodule last May and have been running it since, great fixture! On the advice of the board and Grim I went with the following setup

Front
ATI Blue Plus
KZ Fiji Purple
GE 6500K Daylight
ATI Blue Plus
ATI Pro Color
ATI Blue Plus
GE 6500K Daylight
KZ Fiji Purple
ATI Blue Plus
ATI Blue Plus
Back

I want to stage my bulb replacement over the next couple months so I'm starting to look into getting new bulbs. While this setup has great par and a very balanced white look, I've decided I'd like to try something that will make the colors on my corals pop more even at the cost to the par. Does anyone have suggestions on changes that would bring out colors more?

Thanks!

 

[The Grim Reefer]

Hello All,
Looking for some advice here...bought a 10-bulb 54W Powermodule last May and have been running it since, great fixture! On the advice of the board and Grim I went with the following setup

Front
ATI Blue Plus
KZ Fiji Purple
GE 6500K Daylight
ATI Blue Plus
ATI Pro Color
ATI Blue Plus
GE 6500K Daylight
KZ Fiji Purple
ATI Blue Plus
ATI Blue Plus
Back

I want to stage my bulb replacement over the next couple months so I'm starting to look into getting new bulbs. While this setup has great par and a very balanced white look, I've decided I'd like to try something that will make the colors on my corals pop more even at the cost to the par. Does anyone have suggestions on changes that would bring out colors more?

Thanks!

A UVL 75/25 in place of the Pro Color would be good. Little less red and some more actinic kick

 

[King Nine]

OK, I have a 72" Nova Extreme coming this week or next for the 125. Can I use any of the bulbs that come with it or do I need to switch all 6 rows? I know they aren't the favorite fixture on here but I've been watching the LFS for the past 4 months since the switched to these and the colors and growth from their corals are sooo much better now. They had a similar set up to mine before with the Phoenix MH and actinic suplementation. (btw, I know they switched out some bulbs as well but I'm not sure which ones. I don't think they switched them all either)

 

[The Grim Reefer]

OK, I have a 72" Nova Extreme coming this week or next for the 125. Can I use any of the bulbs that come with it or do I need to switch all 6 rows? I know they aren't the favorite fixture on here but I've been watching the LFS for the past 4 months since the switched to these and the colors and growth from their corals are sooo much better now. They had a similar set up to mine before with the Phoenix MH and actinic suplementation. (btw, I know they switched out some bulbs as well but I'm not sure which ones. I don't think they switched them all either)

Replace all the Blues with ATI Blue Plus, replace one row of 10K's with UVL Actinic Whites.

 

[King Nine]

Replace all the Blues with ATI Blue Plus, replace one row of 10K's with UVL Actinic Whites.

Thanks,
any certain order you would put them in? Will this give close to the look of the phoenix 14k? I like that look or a smidge bluer.

 

[tcp316]

Grim
I just got a Finnex 48" 6 bulb fixture. i have a 90 gallon tank. I want a mixed reef. What bulbs would be best for growth but have a nice blue look?

 

[The Grim Reefer]

Thanks,
any certain order you would put them in? Will this give close to the look of the phoenix 14k? I like that look or a smidge bluer.

Blue Plus first 5th and 6th with one between the other 2 lamps. It should be a bit bluer than a Phoenix

 

[The Grim Reefer]

Grim
I just got a Finnex 48" 6 bulb fixture. i have a 90 gallon tank. I want a mixed reef. What bulbs would be best for growth but have a nice blue look?

4 blue plus, 1 UVL Actinic White and a ATI Aquablue or GE 6500K Daylight for a slightly less blue look.

 

[mudguard2005]

SPS tank (60x24x20) tank

SPS tank (60x24x20) tank

Hi Grim, If i want to reuse 48" 2x 250 DE Phoenix HQI, what 2 T5 would go well w/ this combo? Probably more color pop with additional PAR.

Thanks in advance