The T5 Q&a Thread

[The Grim Reefer]

Our local forum was debating this new unit....and got a response from the company...which is local.

Quote:
Originally Posted by R-3
What is the difference between the Elite and the old ones? Is it just a fan, 3 % more reflectiveness and a new paintjob?? Later

Not exactly. These fixtures have been engineered to have the correct ambient temperature around each lamp. If you question the output, feel free to contact Sylvania or any other major T5 manufacture for a graph of the output vs temperature. Massive output differences will occur based on the ambient temperature around each lamp. T5 lights have a "hot end" and a cold end, you actually want to cool the hot end and warm the cold end. The Tek Elite blows air across the ballasts (keeping them cool, which extends the life) and blows this air around one end of the fixture (sealed end) across the lamps and out the other end. This in turn achieves exactly what T5 manufactures recommend.

yes, it also has a 98% reflective material and a new "paint job", that is just gravy, the real difference here is the output achieved by running each lamp at the correct temperature.

Simply throwing in a fan into a Tek light (as seen on RC) does very little, these fixtures are truly engineered, not just with a fan slapped in them. Feel free to open one up and have a look (and void your warrantee) they are not the same.

Much of the delays of this fixture has been due to adjusting many different facets of these fixtures to get the correct temperature. SLS tries very hard to be sure everything is correct prior to releasing it.

The 36" Tek Elite, and the 48" 8 lamp are both still being worked on to achieve the correct temperature.

48" 4 and 6 lamp Tek Elite fixtures started shipping today. Only about 5-6 dealers in the nation currently have these available to sell, most of which have them pre-sold.

As more of these fixtures are built (IN washington State, NOT china) they will become available by the masses.


Keep an eye out regarding the Marine Aquarium Expo in OC April 10-11, other technology will be announced by Sunlight Supply at the show.

:dance:My new Elite arrives today!!!!! I'll keep y'all posted on my thoughts!!

If they were so well engineered why are they having to make all these tweaks at the last minute :lolspin:

Hope they work well, damned shame they decided to go with Workhorse ballasts though. If they went cheap there it's gotta make you wonder where else they went cheap.

 

[Rook]

Hi Grim,

Quick question; sorry if its been asked, this super long thread is tough to sift through.



I have a 90 gallon tank (though really a 75 with the 4 inch sand bed). I'm switching from two 250 watt DE Phoenix 14k bulbs to four 54 watt T5 lamps on an Icecap 660 (already have the 660). What bulbs would you recommend to keep the look close to that of the Phoenix but have a high light output, and also given that these will be run off the 660. Any general comments would be great also.

Thanks.

 

[delphijoel]

150 marineland cube

150 marineland cube

Grim, Just picked up this aquarium. Measures 36x36x27 and am looking at 2-6 bulb ATI sunpowers or a 10 bulb ATI powermodule. Mostly SPS and zoas. Which would you recommend and which bulb combination? Thanks in advance!!!

 

[The Grim Reefer]

Hi Grim,

Quick question; sorry if its been asked, this super long thread is tough to sift through.



I have a 90 gallon tank (though really a 75 with the 4 inch sand bed). I'm switching from two 250 watt DE Phoenix 14k bulbs to four 54 watt T5 lamps on an Icecap 660 (already have the 660). What bulbs would you recommend to keep the look close to that of the Phoenix but have a high light output, and also given that these will be run off the 660. Any general comments would be great also.

Thanks.

Make sure you have a fan to cool one end of the lamps,

Front
ATI Blue Plus
KZ Fiji Purple
ATI Aquablue
ATI Blue Plus

 

[The Grim Reefer]

Grim, Just picked up this aquarium. Measures 36x36x27 and am looking at 2-6 bulb ATI sunpowers or a 10 bulb ATI powermodule. Mostly SPS and zoas. Which would you recommend and which bulb combination? Thanks in advance!!!

Sunpower

Front
ATI Blue Plus
UVL Actinic White
ATI Blue Plus
GE 6500K Daylight
ATI Blue Plus
ATI Blue Plus
GE 6500K Daylight
ATI Blue Plus
UVL Actinic White
ATI Blue Plus

 

[Lyfey]

Grim, Got my bulbs from reefgeek. 4 Blue plus, 1 Atinic white, 1 GE 6500. I have an Aquatinics Solar Power. Unfortunetly Bulb 2 and 5 are the low light option. My current set up, B+, AW, B+, GE, B+, B+. I was suprised that this wasnt bluer. I do like it.
Can you suggest a sequence where I hac\ve B+ in slot 2 and 5. Or shoiuls I just get a Fiji purple, or a different bulb for slot 2

Thank you
Marty

Doing a little backreading.. I really like the Fiji Purple and Blue + for D/D. I think it looks better when the FP is in front of the B+. Just my .02c

-Chris

 

[The_Uga]

Just a quick question to anyone:

Planning lights for my new 150x50x50cm tank and want to use t5 this time. Ive noticed many 150cm owners use 8x54w but i notice it makes each end of the tank dark. I was looking into getting 6x80w instead, would this be a better choice?

 

[kels]

Hi grim sorry for all the questions I am just trying to pick a fixture. Could you tell me the diffrence between sunpower and powermodule? Also would a 6 bulb or 8 bulb be better because I am on a budget my tanks is 29" tall thanks again

 

[Rook]

Make sure you have a fan to cool one end of the lamps,

Front
ATI Blue Plus
KZ Fiji Purple
ATI Aquablue
ATI Blue Plus

I have a 4" clip on fan that I run diagonally across the canopy; will that be sufficient? Does this help to extend the life of the bulbs when driven on the 660?

 

[The Grim Reefer]

Hi grim sorry for all the questions I am just trying to pick a fixture. Could you tell me the diffrence between sunpower and powermodule? Also would a 6 bulb or 8 bulb be better because I am on a budget my tanks is 29" tall thanks again

Powermodule has better fans. If the tank is more than 18" front to back you really need more than 6 lamps. What you may need to consider is keeping some high light stuff on the rock and stick to softies on the bottom and use a Tek light instead if the ATI isn't in your budget. A standard Tek with an external fan blowing over the top of the fixture does a lot better than even the Nova Pro and the price is comparable.

 

[The Grim Reefer]

Just a quick question to anyone:

Planning lights for my new 150x50x50cm tank and want to use t5 this time. Ive noticed many 150cm owners use 8x54w but i notice it makes each end of the tank dark. I was looking into getting 6x80w instead, would this be a better choice?

If you don't like the faded look or want high light corals to the ends yes.

 

[The Grim Reefer]

Doing a little backreading.. I really like the Fiji Purple and Blue + for D/D. I think it looks better when the FP is in front of the B+. Just my .02c

-Chris

Yep, I did it with the UVL 75/25 in front and it made the tank look like the lower level was sorta white with a hint of purple and as you moved up it got more blue.

Hoping to be able to pull off the same effect with LED's.

 

[The_Uga]

If you don't like the faded look or want high light corals to the ends yes.

So there isnt really any reason why most people would choose 8x54 instead of 6x80 on a 5 foot?

Wattage is pretty much the same, less bulbs to keep replacing and 6x80w can get me a SunPower where 8x54 has to be a PM which will save me alot of money.

 

[The Grim Reefer]

So there isnt really any reason why most people would choose 8x54 instead of 6x80 on a 5 foot?

Wattage is pretty much the same, less bulbs to keep replacing and 6x80w can get me a SunPower where 8x54 has to be a PM which will save me alot of money.

Better selection of 54 watt lamps and they are less expensive.

 

[Lyfey]

Grim I took your advice, I posted this in Kangym's thread.

Hey fellow ATI / T5 owners!


I finally set up my 8x54w PM over my 75RR. I was getting anxious about setting it up and I knew I wouldnt be able to hang it for a while so I took a trip to Home Depot and I bought 2x 2"x3"x8 foot beams, and had them cut down to 22" pieces. I taped 4 of each 22" section together with masking tape and then taped on the top blue shop paper towels for a little padding on the fixture. The fixture is roughly 10" above the tank water, fans are running at 9v and D/D is on for 10 hours with the daylight/blue bulbs on for 4 hours.

I used the oldest bulbs I had so once they are done acclimated I will just toss most of them away. The fans are running 24/7 at the moment, until I free up some space for the timer. I am using like every electric slot that I have, I need to set up my Reefkeeper lite for the light timers, I am only using it right now as a 100$ thermometer.

I plan on after a week lowering the fixture down another 2 inches (by removing a board from each side) and another board the following week. I will also increase the time of the daylights by an hour each time half way during the week inbetween the board changes.

I plan on doing this slowly, this fixture puts out alot of light!! I noticed that my splash guard only had acrylic protection on one side of the splash shield and it was a little scratched from the reflectors on the other side (inside) and looked like it had bird poo on it. I had to use goo-gone to get it off lol.

Its all set up and I know this is going to make a huge difference on our reef and I cant wait til this weekend when I can actually watch my tank a little and see the changes. I set it up on Friday afternoon and I plan on doing a water change tonight (take the carbon and GFO reactor offline for a few days, then switch out the media. Probably thursday I will up the time of the day lights to 5 hours. Critique? Thanks guys, you have been a great help already and I admire your tanks!!

-Chris

 

[xxscoobiixx]

Hey Grim So I have a 75 gallon 60x18x20.I was wondering the difference on using 48" versus 60 " lighting. I plan on getting a tek set 8 x 54 vho lights unless LED's really wow me after MAX. Is using a 60 incher overkill or even necessary or will a 48 be enough to sufficiently light my tank since I plan on keeping most of my corals in the middle sections of my tank. I also have a 1/8th center glass piece in the tank used previously as a tank lid that's siliconed to the top of the tank itself. I was wondering if this would have a major effect on adequate lighting being recieved by the corals.

 

[Lyfey]

isnt 60x18x20 100 gallons? cause my 48x18x21 is 75 gallons. Either way go with the 48" fixture but you dont need any more than 6 bulbs.

 

[sigpialx]

Grim,

I am in a similar state as the person above....I have an acrylic tank 60x19x20 with a canopy. I was thinking of going with the IceCap retrofit 48" 4x54 from Reefgeek or the IceCap 60" 4x54 from MarineDepot. Would that be enough light for a mixed reef tank or do I need to go with 6x54. Thanks.

 

[xxscoobiixx]

isnt 60x18x20 100 gallons? cause my 48x18x21 is 75 gallons. Either way go with the 48" fixture but you dont need any more than 6 bulbs.

The tank is older than me. Supposedly its approx is 30+ years. My grandfather told me it's 75 gallon so that's what I assumed it was. I never filled it to spec either. I guess I should sometime lol.
Thanks for the input I was thinking overkill with 8 lights.

 

[beckerjm]

So, I've been disappointed with the T5 set-up I bought last summer. Here's the follow-up. I bought a 48" Nova Extreme Pro set-up - 6 bulbs, individual reflectors. Unit was set up early July. And I promptly went and bought some SPS. Well they weren't growing so I reviewed the posts here and followed the advice on switching out some of the bulbs. In October I switched out 4 of the original bulbs (3 of the blue, and 1 white) for 4 ATI Blue Plus. Its been 6 months and still no growth. So I'm wondering what to try next??????

My water paramaters are all good, with one possible exception. My PH usually stays around 8.0. I think that I might have read somewhere that although 8.0 is acceptable, that SPS may do better with PH around 8.2 or 8.3.

So I'm wondering do I need to get the PH up higher??? Or do I need to switch the other 2 bulbs out?? I know the recommendation on the other two bulbs are for UVL Actinic white and the GE 6500. I did purchase the UVL Actinic when I bought the ATI Blue Plus (but haven't used it yet - thought I would use the stock bulb for a while). And unfortunately I can't find the GE 6500 locally.

So I guess the question is any thoughts on which action to try next - raising the PH or changing bulbs - or something else?????