The T5 Q&a Thread

[dbc1717]

Hey guys-
I have had an ongoing algae growth problem that does not seem to be cyclic, i.e. worn out bulbs. I am using an 2 x Icecap 660 with t5's and reflectors on 6 60" bubs.

Should I replace my 6500k bulb with a 10 or 12K?

 

[animaladam]

Alright grim. Have a 48l x 30w x 24h tank with a ati 8 x 54watt pm. Will be 80percent lps with the other 20percent being sps. What bulbs do you think to really make the pop?. Was thinkin something like 3 x blue plus 3 x pro colour and 2 blue specials. You think this would be to blue and red?. What order do you think?. Thanks mate.

 

[kmu]

Well the sunpowers are back in stock, grim what do you think about this combo for a 6x54 sunpower over a 48x18x18 what would the color turn out to be?

Dawn and dusk
1 UVL Super Actinic
1 UVL 75/25

Daylight
2 ATI Blue Plus
1 UVL Super Actinic
1 UVL 50/50

Im gonna order a spare ATI Blue plus for mixing colors..

 

[rtparty]

Grim,

My Sunpower will be here in the next couple weeks. Just wanted to confirm my thoughts with you.

I am going from the stock lighting on a nano cube to a 6x24W Sunpower. I will be upgrading tanks soon and this light will go over that also.

Bulb Combo:

ATI Blue Plus
UVL 75/25
ATI Aquablue or Blue Plus
KZ Fiji Purple
UVL Super Actinic
ATI Blue Plus

Will that combo be purple at all? I want zero purple look in the end.

I also plan to run the fixture about 10" over the tank for the first week or son and lower it over time. I will also be running the lights for only 4 hours or so to help everything acclimate.

Any advice?

 

[Surfacer]

Hey Grim, I am looking for advice on bulbs for my Current Nova Extreme Pro (6 bulbs)hanging over a 90g. I have owned the light fixture for one year now and have now been looking to upgrade the bulbs since I have heard the current bulbs that come with it are just ok and I would like to keep some more light demanding/par demanding sps and lps. I have been reading nothing but good things about ATI and Giesemann bulbs. I have looked at a bunch of pics and love the crisp blue look. Since I have a mixed reef would this setup work:
2 blue+, 2 blue special, 2 pro color
or
Any combination of bulbs of your choice since you seem to be the best at it.

I am open to anything and I mainly just want everything to grow well, pop in color, with a nice crisp blue. I hope six bulbs is enough to achieve something like this.
Thanks for the help

 

[rtparty]

Hey Grim, I am looking for advice on bulbs for my Current Nova Extreme Pro (6 bulbs)hanging over a 90g. I have owned the light fixture for one year now and have now been looking to upgrade the bulbs since I have heard the current bulbs that come with it are just ok and I would like to keep some more light demanding/par demanding sps and lps. I have been reading nothing but good things about ATI and Giesemann bulbs. I have looked at a bunch of pics and love the crisp blue look. Since I have a mixed reef would this setup work:
2 blue+, 2 blue special, 2 pro color
or
Any combination of bulbs of your choice since you seem to be the best at it.

I am open to anything and I mainly just want everything to grow well, pop in color, with a nice crisp blue. I hope six bulbs is enough to achieve something like this.
Thanks for the help

4 ATI Blue Plus, 1 UVL Actinic White or KZ Fiji Purple and 1 GE 6500K should do the trick.

 

[The Grim Reefer]

Grim,

Getting tx5 for my 75G mix reef 48LX18WX21H. I have SPS on back, and LPS and zoos at front.

The bulbs I ordered include blueplus, aquablue, and 1 fiji purple, I am thinking of following combo:

1)
Front
blueplus
aquablue
blueplus
fiji purple
blueplus

2)
Front
blueplus
aquablue
blueplus
aquablue
blueplus

Which one you like better? I prefer 1) but will it be too red?

1 but I would put the Fiji in the number 2 slot so it's closer to the front.

 

[lukinrats]

Hey Grim

I have an opportunity to get a Fauna Marin Ultra Solaris 6 x 54W unit. Please tell me that would be awesome!!!


Thanks
NathanS

 

[The Grim Reefer]

Hey guys-
I have had an ongoing algae growth problem that does not seem to be cyclic, i.e. worn out bulbs. I am using an 2 x Icecap 660 with t5's and reflectors on 6 60" bubs.

Should I replace my 6500k bulb with a 10 or 12K?

Check your water parameters and go through all the other steps for algae control before assuming a lamp is the culprit. It is possible you got a bad lamp in the mix somewhere that is helping algae to grow but if the water is good you shouldn't have much of an issue.

Make sure your magnesium level is right too. Running it at the upper end of the safe zone can help get rid of algae too.

 

[The Grim Reefer]

Alright grim. Have a 48l x 30w x 24h tank with a ati 8 x 54watt pm. Will be 80percent lps with the other 20percent being sps. What bulbs do you think to really make the pop?. Was thinkin something like 3 x blue plus 3 x pro colour and 2 blue specials. You think this would be to blue and red?. What order do you think?. Thanks mate.

Yuck! Don't do that. They don't make the pro color anymore so forget about that.

I would do 5 ATI Blue Plus, Giesemann Midday, KZ Fiji Purple and 1 ATI Aquablue. You could order a spare Aquablue but I think the 5 to 1 ratio of blue to "white" lamps will look good.

 

[The Grim Reefer]

Well the sunpowers are back in stock, grim what do you think about this combo for a 6x54 sunpower over a 48x18x18 what would the color turn out to be?

Dawn and dusk
1 UVL Super Actinic
1 UVL 75/25

Daylight
2 ATI Blue Plus
1 UVL Super Actinic
1 UVL 50/50

Im gonna order a spare ATI Blue plus for mixing colors..

Don't use the UVL 50/50 and the 75/25 together unless you want a lot of purple in your look. I would use the GE 6500K Daylight in that mix, would give you a strong 14K kinda look, maybe a little more blue.

 

[The Grim Reefer]

Grim,

My Sunpower will be here in the next couple weeks. Just wanted to confirm my thoughts with you.

I am going from the stock lighting on a nano cube to a 6x24W Sunpower. I will be upgrading tanks soon and this light will go over that also.

Bulb Combo:

ATI Blue Plus
UVL 75/25
ATI Aquablue or Blue Plus
KZ Fiji Purple
UVL Super Actinic
ATI Blue Plus

Will that combo be purple at all? I want zero purple look in the end.

I also plan to run the fixture about 10" over the tank for the first week or son and lower it over time. I will also be running the lights for only 4 hours or so to help everything acclimate.

Any advice?

You might want to try that and see. For sure use the blue plus in the third slot and get a spare Aquablue. You may end up needing to use the Aquablue in place of the 75/25 or Fiji lamp. I can't say what will be purple to your eye but I spect this, while looking pretty damned cool is going to have a little bit of a purple look to it.

 

[The Grim Reefer]

Hey Grim

I have an opportunity to get a Fauna Marin Ultra Solaris 6 x 54W unit. Please tell me that would be awesome!!!


Thanks
NathanS

New style or the old, retrofit looking thing. The old one is sweet if you throw away the reflectors and use Aquactinics reflectors in it. You do need to make a slight reflector tweak to account for the cooling ducts in the fixture but it isn't hard to do.

 

[The Grim Reefer]

Hey Grim, I am looking for advice on bulbs for my Current Nova Extreme Pro (6 bulbs)hanging over a 90g. I have owned the light fixture for one year now and have now been looking to upgrade the bulbs since I have heard the current bulbs that come with it are just ok and I would like to keep some more light demanding/par demanding sps and lps. I have been reading nothing but good things about ATI and Giesemann bulbs. I have looked at a bunch of pics and love the crisp blue look. Since I have a mixed reef would this setup work:
2 blue+, 2 blue special, 2 pro color
or
Any combination of bulbs of your choice since you seem to be the best at it.

I am open to anything and I mainly just want everything to grow well, pop in color, with a nice crisp blue. I hope six bulbs is enough to achieve something like this.
Thanks for the help

4 ATI Blue Plus, 1 UVL Actinic White or KZ Fiji Purple and 1 GE 6500K should do the trick.

What RT said

 

[lukinrats]

New style or the old, retrofit looking thing. The old one is sweet if you throw away the reflectors and use Aquactinics reflectors in it. You do need to make a slight reflector tweak to account for the cooling ducts in the fixture but it isn't hard to do.

This one!

<a href="http://s184.photobucket.com/albums/x10/lukinrats/?action=view&current=ultrasolaris2.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x10/lukinrats/ultrasolaris2.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

 

[The Grim Reefer]

This one!

<a href="http://s184.photobucket.com/albums/x10/lukinrats/?action=view&current=ultrasolaris2.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x10/lukinrats/ultrasolaris2.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

The reflectors are crap, other than that it is a pretty sweet retrofit, very quiet and has pretty decent output with good reflectors on it. You do have to leave the top unobstructed for the air duct so if you mount it in a canopy keep that in mind. 3" hole saw cures that issue.

 

[jauld]

hey guys.

I have a 37 gallon (30" x 12" x 22") mixed reef tank that i want to put a clam and some sps. I currently have 1 150w MH coralife clamp on fixture that is being replaced by a 6x24 catalina t-5 fixture. I tried searching through the thread a little, but it has split more than 7 times...lol

This is the bulb set-up that I am thinking of running
3 x t5ho aquablue plus Giesemann
2 x t5ho actinic plus Giesemann
1 x t5ho pure actinic Giesemann

Are there better bulbs that I should consider? what would you guys recommend for highest par + coral growth? what par numbers should I expect from this fixture at say 5", 10", and 20" deep?

Thanks for your input and help!

 

[lukinrats]

The reflectors are crap, other than that it is a pretty sweet retrofit, very quiet and has pretty decent output with good reflectors on it. You do have to leave the top unobstructed for the air duct so if you mount it in a canopy keep that in mind. 3" hole saw cures that issue.

I feel like this will be better than what I have, just because the build quality is better. I have the Ice Cap SLR reflectors. Would those work?

Do you know of any par testing that I could look at? I would hate to get the thing and find out I am getting better Par with what I have

Thanks,
NathanS

 

[The Grim Reefer]

I feel like this will be better than what I have, just because the build quality is better. I have the Ice Cap SLR reflectors. Would those work?

Do you know of any par testing that I could look at? I would hate to get the thing and find out I am getting better Par with what I have

Thanks,
NathanS

I didn't bother to write down the numbers when I did it but it wasn't equal to a Sunpower but it was in the same Zip Code. You have to use the Aquactinics reflectors, the others are too wide.

This is the test against the original Sunpower Fixture which isn't as good as the new version. This was with the crappy fauna marin reflectors.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1117651&highlight=wars

 

[The Grim Reefer]

hey guys.

I have a 37 gallon (30" x 12" x 22") mixed reef tank that i want to put a clam and some sps. I currently have 1 150w MH coralife clamp on fixture that is being replaced by a 6x24 catalina t-5 fixture. I tried searching through the thread a little, but it has split more than 7 times...lol

This is the bulb set-up that I am thinking of running
3 x t5ho aquablue plus Giesemann
2 x t5ho actinic plus Giesemann
1 x t5ho pure actinic Giesemann

Are there better bulbs that I should consider? what would you guys recommend for highest par + coral growth? what par numbers should I expect from this fixture at say 5", 10", and 20" deep?

Thanks for your input and help!

You need to put a 3 or a 4 in front of that 7

I wouldn't try a clam on a 22" tall tank with the lower end T5 fixtures. I would want to see a Tek light at a minimum on that.