The T5 Q&a Thread

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The Escaped Ape said:
I'm in the slightly unusual position of being in Japan, so unable to access the range of T5 bulbs that people in the US can (they're not much used here). Thankfully, my LFS stocks them because it sells the Giesemann Infiniti fixtures, but as a result only stocks the Giesemann bulbs. I currently have 2 x Aqua Pinks and 2 x Actinic Plus that came with the fixture.

I'm about to replace the 4 x 24w T5s for my Infiniti fixture, in which I'm running a Radium 150w DE bulb. I'd like to increase fluorescence in my LPS and zoas in particular, so I'm considering either the Giesemann Actinic Plus or Giesemann Pure Actinic.

I'm not sure whether to go 100% one or the other or do half and half. The Radium bulb is pretty powerful (and I have a shallow tank - only 18", with a 4" sand bed), so I'm not that bothered about par from the T5s, but neither do I want coral round the edge of the tank (mostly LPS like chalices, frogspawn, hammers, Acans) being under-powered.

Grim and others, what would you recommend?
Click to expand...


I would go with 2 Actinic Plus, 1 True Actinic and 1 AquaPink
 
rtparty said:
I would go with 2 Actinic Plus, 1 True Actinic and 1 AquaPink
Click to expand...

Thanks Ryan. I hadn't considered keeping one Aqua Pink in the mix, but you recommending it has reminded me that it will help highlight a pink softie and pink encrusting monti I have at the back of the tank.

Thanks for the advice. :)
 
I will realy have to agree with the Grim Reaper on this. Having worked in the lighting industry I learned that Florescent tubes are tuned to produce light using a set current and amount of chemical compounds in them. by changing any aspect you start changing the charactistics of the light that they produce.

Generaly speaking reducing the output through dimming will aso cause shifts in the light spectrum to longer wave lenghts. The more drastic the dimming the more drastic the shift. Simularlyy when one tries to overdrive a bulb it will also cause a shift to the shorter wave lenghts. Fortunatly overdriving is not as drastic a shift as most bulbs are already tuned close the maximium withoiut causing premature burn out.


The Grim Reefer said:
I am not big on dimming over long periods, I don't care what people claim about it not harming lamps.

When in doubt go with more tubes, it gives you better options for a mix of lamps.
Click to expand...
 
You realy need to push both ends of the spectrum.
I'd go with one 6,500K, 2 Blue plus Atinic, and one pure Atinic.
If you get excessive Algea growth then switch the 6,500K to either a 10,000K or White plus Atinic.


wreck said:
i have a standard 55 gallon long tank, with a tek elite 4 bulb t5 fixture. could i have opinions on the best bulb combo and placement from front to back. thanks
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rtparty said:
I would use an ATI BLue Plus and an ATI Purple Plus. The Purple will add in some reds that you are going to be missing.

You don't need to use 10k bulbs or more T5's. Hundreds of people use 20k halides with great success. If I were to ever use MH again, I would only use Radiums or Phoenix bulbs. Anything whiter than a Phoenix is just too yellow for me and colors usually suffer.
Click to expand...

I got the purple and blue + today (still waiting on MH bulbs). Does bulb placement matter? Which would you put in the front and back?
 
Since the last time I followed the thread I see that the recommendation for a 6 bulb fixture has changed slightly. The recommendation now includes an TI Purple plus in place of the UVL Actinic/white. I'm curious as to why the change and what color difference one would expect to see?
 
Oops that was suppose to be ATI Purple plus in the previous message.

Also getting a small 2 bulb fixture for a 15gallon tank. I know I can't get much color control there, but wondering what the recommended bulbs would be. ?? Also just attended MACNA and got a small (14-16") blue LED fixture that they gave out to Banquet attendees that I'll probably put on this tank. Don't know that it will make much difference either way.
 
beckerjm said:
Since the last time I followed the thread I see that the recommendation for a 6 bulb fixture has changed slightly. The recommendation now includes an TI Purple plus in place of the UVL Actinic/white. I'm curious as to why the change and what color difference one would expect to see?
Click to expand...

UVL bulbs have gone downhill in terms of quality and performance. ATI is a much better value overall.

For your 2 bulb, I have no idea. If it is 24" then go with an ATI Blue Plus and ATI Aquablue. If it is one of the 18" fixtures, you have very limited options as none of the good companies make T5s that short.
 
I have a 75 gallon, 4ft and I believe about 18-20 inches deep. So far its empty but my goal on this build is for a mixed reef in the long run.

I plan to purchase either 48" 4x54 or possibly 6x54 let miro-retro kit from reefgeeks.. Should I go ahead and do the 6 bulbs now or is there not much to be gained by that on this tank? I'm probably looking at mounting 4 or 5 inches from water surface with a plexi splash shield since I have a smallish canopy. I plan on a fan too since the space is snug. Any issues with mounting this close? Any chance that is too much light due to source to water distance?

Bulb recommendations (ati) for a beginner?
Also interested in opinions on bulb timing (light schedule).

Thanks for the help and this thread... I did learn a lot more about t5's by reading a ton of it...but wow this thread is overwhelming!
 
Last edited:
The Purple Plus in order to see purple what your actualy seeing is a combination of blue and red. Red is a color that is is used by some photosynthesis chemical that is generaly lacking in most bulbs other than warm white and 6.5K bulbs. The warm shites would result in a very yellow cast on the aquarium so for simple austetics thay are not seriously considered. In my personal opinion the purples are great if one if your bulbs is not a 6,500K as it will fill in that red gap in the spectrum without effecting the blue predominance.

As far as the Atinic whites are concerned I liked these bulbs from day one and still do. What I see as a big factor here is the personal preference of how blue or how white you prefer your tank to look. The White plus Atinics produce more of a nuteral white look compared to the Purple plus Atinics. With my Bulb araingment I think the Purple plus Atinincs would give me to blue of a tank.

I'm presently using from back to front

White plus Atinic
Blue Plus Atinic
10,000 K
Pure Atinic 420nm
6,500K
Pure Atinic 420 nm
White Plus Atinic
Blue Plus Atinic

On my next Bulb change I might try replacing the 6,500K with a purple plus Atinic to reduce some of the yellow while still getting hopefully enough light in the red spectrum.



beckerjm said:
Since the last time I followed the thread I see that the recommendation for a 6 bulb fixture has changed slightly. The recommendation now includes an TI Purple plus in place of the UVL Actinic/white. I'm curious as to why the change and what color difference one would expect to see?
Click to expand...
 
Will like to ask if my combination is ok for keeping only ZOA in a 3 x 1.5 x 1.5 tank

4 tube combi
ATI Blue +
ATI Blue +
ATI Actinic
ATI Blue +

Or 3 tube will be enough
ATI Blue +
ATI Actinic
ATI Blue +

Will it burn my zoa if they are just 1 ft under water? BTW, my light is 1ft above water.

Should is swap 1 blue + for fuji purple?

Thanks!
 
Hi Grim,
I have a 6 x 18" T5 Nova Extreme Pro. It has 3 drivers -- each drives 2 of the T5s.
I want to replace 1 bulb with LEDs leaving the other bulb on the driver. The fixture would have 5 T5s and a string of LEDs. Is it ok long term to have a driver just driving 1 bulb?
Thanks
 
Tian85 said:
Will like to ask if my combination is ok for keeping only ZOA in a 3 x 1.5 x 1.5 tank

4 tube combi
ATI Blue +
ATI Blue +
ATI Actinic
ATI Blue +

Or 3 tube will be enough
ATI Blue +
ATI Actinic
ATI Blue +

Will it burn my zoa if they are just 1 ft under water? BTW, my light is 1ft above water.

Should is swap 1 blue + for fuji purple?

Thanks!
Click to expand...


With the lights hung that high you should be fine. I would buy an extra bulb just so you can play with color combination. Zoa's are weird, some will like extremely high light and some will like the shade. Its a play it by ear with them imo
 
Hello Everyone,

Started up our 56 gallon Column tank about 6-7 months ago and everything is going along well.

Last week my wife and I decided to pick up a couple corals, a Frogspawn and a Duncan. We current have a SolarMax T5 HO when we purchased the Tank.

The SolarMax came with a 10,000K Daylight Lamp and Actinic 3 Lamp. We were told we would need to get another strip if we wanted to get more Corals.

I was going to pick up another SolarMax and my question is what bulb set-up would you all recommend or perhaps a different brand strip. I was looking at the LED strips but they seem to be out of my price range.

Thank you in advance for any feedback
 
New 120g T-5 setup

New 120g T-5 setup

Just a quick question to anyone willing to give me some input. I am on the downhill slop of setting up my 120g mixed reef with a t-5 fixture. I had purchased an IceCap Reef Illumination system a bit ago, in when I decided to start my upgrade. I have an idea of the lights I might use, but wanted to see what you all thought.

Shooting for a bit of a blue hue, this is what I was thinking.

3 Blue Plus from Geisman
1 super Actinic from UVL
1 midday sun
1 Fiji purple

The system also has 2 led t-5 bulbs that are blue (about 460nm)

Let me know what you guys think about the bulb selection and also what order I should arrange them.

Thanks
 
forced4 said:
I have a 75 gallon, 4ft and I believe about 18-20 inches deep. So far its empty but my goal on this build is for a mixed reef in the long run.

I plan to purchase either 48" 4x54 or possibly 6x54 let miro-retro kit from reefgeeks.. Should I go ahead and do the 6 bulbs now or is there not much to be gained by that on this tank? I'm probably looking at mounting 4 or 5 inches from water surface with a plexi splash shield since I have a smallish canopy. I plan on a fan too since the space is snug. Any issues with mounting this close? Any chance that is too much light due to source to water distance?

Bulb recommendations (ati) for a beginner?
Also interested in opinions on bulb timing (light schedule).

Thanks for the help and this thread... I did learn a lot more about t5's by reading a ton of it...but wow this thread is overwhelming!
Click to expand...

6 lamps are better but 4 can work..

Front
ATI Blue Plus
ATI Purple Plus
ATI Blue Plus
GE 6500K
ATI Blue Plus
ATI Blue Plus
 
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