The T5 Q&a Thread

[The Grim Reefer]

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!

4 tubes and a Purple in place of the actinic. If you want a crazy blue subdued look you could try a UVL 75/25 instead. It adds the red but it's more subtle.

 

[The Grim Reefer]

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

Depends on the ballast. A "real" T5 ballast wont allow you to do that. I probably would do 2 rows of LED's. It's possible if you just run one lamp on a ballast meant for two you will overheat the ballast and or lamp.

 

[The Grim Reefer]

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

What are the dimensions of the tank? 2 lamps isn't much light and your dealing with a fixture that's Bozo to begin with so if the tank is more than 18 inches tall you are in trouble.

 

[The Grim Reefer]

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

4 ATI Blue Plus, 1 Midday or GE 6500K and a Fiji Purple and even then that isn't much light for a 120 so be careful. I would add a fan at the back of the tank blowing across the fixture, don't direct the airflow at the lamps. It's better if the air strikes the housing so only indirect air current will reach the lamps.

 

[DXHippie]

Setup

Setup

Grim,

You mentioned that it is not a lot of light. Can I get clarification? Just in the bulb choice or in overall fixture? Also, if the bulb choice isn't great what would you recommend instead?

Also, forgot to mention in the first post the tank is 4'x2'x2'


Thanks

 

[The Grim Reefer]

Grim,

You mentioned that it is not a lot of light. Can I get clarification? Just in the bulb choice or in overall fixture? Also, if the bulb choice isn't great what would you recommend instead?

Also, forgot to mention in the first post the tank is 4'x2'x2'


Thanks

With only 6 lamps you have a lesser area of high PAR. The Ice Cap fixture doesn't have cooling which hurt the output big time. Using a 4th Blue Plus instead of an actinic will help some. If you plan on clams on the sand you are going to have issues

I threw a 6 lamp Aquatic Life fixture over my 120 and it would do PAR in the 140's or so which is about what you should see with the Ice Cap unit. Thats enough PAR to grow SPS up on the rocks but it isn't a wide enough spread from to back to allow anything that needs a lot of light outside the sweet spot which will be the area below the center 4 reflectors. As you move away from that 10" band of high light PAR drops pretty fast.

 

[A_Z]

hello

what bulb combo will give me gorgeous colors for a 4 bulb T5 fixture. I really like a blue/purple look
the fixture I am looking at is an aquatic life with stock bulbs. 48 inch fixture.

75g standard size 48 x 18 x 20. Mixed softie tank only.


thank you

 

[rtparty]

hello

what bulb combo will give me gorgeous colors for a 4 bulb T5 fixture. I really like a blue/purple look
the fixture I am looking at is an aquatic life with stock bulbs. 48 inch fixture.

75g standard size 48 x 18 x 20. Mixed softie tank only.


thank you

2 ATI Blue Plus, 1 ATI Purple Plus and 1 KZ New Generation.

 

[A_Z]

2 ATI Blue Plus, 1 ATI Purple Plus and 1 KZ New Generation.

Hi thanks for the reply, is the KZ the actinic bulb? Would an ATI Actinic + produce the same color?

 

[rtparty]

Hi thanks for the reply, is the KZ the actinic bulb? Would an ATI Actinic + produce the same color?

No it is not an actinic bulb. It is the KZ New Generation 14000k bulb.

 

[TropTrea]

First off Id have one of your bulbs as a white+atinic or purple+atinic to add a little to the red end of the light spectrum. Your choice between these would depend on how blue you like your tank to look.

Secondly different zoos have different light requirements. But with 4 tubes you would risking bleaching out some near the top of the tank if they did not have greater light requirements. So I would make my decission between 3 or 4 tubes based on the past lighting that these zoos flourished under.

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

 

[DXHippie]

Thanks

Thanks

Thanks for all your input Grim. It is appreciated.

 

[A_Z]

thanks

would it look like this?

pic from
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1917666&page=9

and credit for RC member Lynnmw1208.

 

[iwishtofish]

Well, it's been 6 months burning my bulbs:

ATI Aquablue Special (1)
ATI Blue Plus (3)
GE 6500k Daylight (1)
KZ Fiji Purple (1)

and I want to change them out a bit early and go with something more along the lines of the 14k look. The ones I'm using now give more of a 10k look.

Would eliminating the GE 6500k bulb do this for me, or would I have to make more elaborate changes? Are there any fancy new ATI bulbs out there that are all the rage now? Adequate coral-growing qualities of the combination is a big consideration for me.

Thanks

 

[RadReefer]

I have a TEK elite 48" 6 bulb and I want to change my bulbs a bit. Would this be a good bulb combo or would it be too white?

3 KZ superblue
2 KZ new generation 14000K
1 KZ fiji purple

Or should I go with:
4 KZ super blue
1 new gen 14000
1 fiji purple.

Is there any other bulbs that would be recommended as opposed to the all KZ line up, such as ATI, and would the PAR be strong with these lineups? I want my tank to look really good, thanks for the help.

 

[rtparty]

thanks

would it look like this?

pic from
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1917666&page=9

and credit for RC member Lynnmw1208.

Pictures are completely pointless. There are 99 variables that go into picture taking and what we see on our screen. If you put my computer next to yours, we would see the picture differently.

 

[rtparty]

Well, it's been 6 months burning my bulbs:

ATI Aquablue Special (1)
ATI Blue Plus (3)
GE 6500k Daylight (1)
KZ Fiji Purple (1)

and I want to change them out a bit early and go with something more along the lines of the 14k look. The ones I'm using now give more of a 10k look.

Would eliminating the GE 6500k bulb do this for me, or would I have to make more elaborate changes? Are there any fancy new ATI bulbs out there that are all the rage now? Adequate coral-growing qualities of the combination is a big consideration for me.

Thanks

Are you changing all bulbs or just some? The Aquablue is what is giving you the 10k look. Where is it placed? I would go with 4 ATI Blue Plus instead of three was well.

In the end I would look at running 4 BLue Plus, 1 ATI Purple Plus and 1 GE 6500k. You can also replace the GE with another Purple if you want a more purple/blue look.

 

[rtparty]

I have a TEK elite 48" 6 bulb and I want to change my bulbs a bit. Would this be a good bulb combo or would it be too white?

3 KZ superblue
2 KZ new generation 14000K
1 KZ fiji purple

Or should I go with:
4 KZ super blue
1 new gen 14000
1 fiji purple.

Is there any other bulbs that would be recommended as opposed to the all KZ line up, such as ATI, and would the PAR be strong with these lineups? I want my tank to look really good, thanks for the help.

I think ATI are better than KZ. They seem to have better PAR and ATI doesn't hide everything like KZ does. Not to mention that KZ thinks their stuff is made of gold.

I would go with 4 ATI Blue Plus, 1 ATI Purple Plus and 1 GE 6500k. If you want more blue replace the GE with a KZ New Generation. If you want more white then replace a Blue Plus with a KZ New Generation.

 

[RadReefer]

Ryan, If I replaced the GE 6500K with the KZ new gen would that decrease my PAR value much? Is the KZ New Gen a white spectrum bulb?

 

[The Grim Reefer]

thanks

would it look like this?

pic from
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1917666&page=9

and credit for RC member Lynnmw1208.

It would look at least similar.