The T5 Q&a Thread

[TropTrea]

I have found that 1 6,500K even in an 8 bulb fixture shifts the overall color yellow as well as increases my cyno-bacteria growth. Using a 10,000 K in its place will gig you a moderate change with less yellow and still great coral growth. Since you already have a purple bulb you should have enogh red but other options for the 6,500K would be either a White + Atinic, or a blue + Atinic depending on how blue you want to go.

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

 

[iwishtofish]

I have found that 1 6,500K even in an 8 bulb fixture shifts the overall color yellow as well as increases my cyno-bacteria growth. Using a 10,000 K in its place will gig you a moderate change with less yellow and still great coral growth. Since you already have a purple bulb you should have enogh red but other options for the 6,500K would be either a White + Atinic, or a blue + Atinic depending on how blue you want to go.

Thank you, Dennis. Without a specific bulb, I'm not sure what you mean by the White/Blue + Atinic (I know nothing, haha), but I'll do some digging!

 

[The Grim Reefer]

He's talking Aquablue style lamps.

I personally have never had an issue of a 6500K lamp causing cyano.

 

[iwishtofish]

He's talking Aquablue style lamps.

I personally have never had an issue of a 6500K lamp causing cyano.

I understand, now - thanks. No cyano yet here, but no nutrients, either...

 

[TropTrea]

Thank you, Dennis. Without a specific bulb, I'm not sure what you mean by the White/Blue + Atinic (I know nothing, haha), but I'll do some digging!

For the Blue + Atinic I use.
<http://www.reefgeek.com/lighting/T5_Fluorescent/Bulbs/54_Watt/54W_Blue_Plus_T5_HO_Fluorescent_by_ATI>
For the White + Atinic I a bulb that used to be listed as White + but I no longer see it as available. The closest would be this one.
<http://www.reefgeek.com/lighting/T5_Fluorescent/Bulbs/54_Watt/54W_Actinic_White_12000K_T5_HO_Fluorescent_by_UV_Lighting>

 

[TropTrea]

I personally have never had an issue of a 6500K lamp causing cyano.

I can only talk from my experience 3 years ago. I was running on my dawn to dusk circuit 2 pure Atinics and two Blue plus Atinics, And on my mid day circuit I was running 2 10,000K and 2 White Plus Atinic 12,000K bulbs. I had a very minimal cyano bactera issue. Upon someone advise he they told me that if switched out one of the 10,000K bulbs with a 6,500K bulb I'd have much better coral growth. After doing so my cyano bacter slowly started exploding. All phosphates, nitrates, and nitrites measured 0 so I tried replacing the 6,500K bulb with a Blue plus atinic. The cyano bacteria slowy started decreasing and within 2 months was completly gone.

On a side not with the 6,500K bulb in there it seemed to make everything look yellowish when the mid day lights were on. Yes the 6,500 K did give me noticably faster growth on my SPS corals. Perhaps it was the combo of the 6,500K and 10,000K that produced to much light at 565nm which is the wave lenght cyano bacteria likes the most.

 

[Fsurocks99]

I have a 40 breeder with a 6-bulb ATI PM. My bulb combo right now is and has been for the last year as follows:

Left to Right:
Blue +
Purple +
Blue +
Blue +
Purple +
Blue +

I'm looking for a small change. I want a more 14-15K look. Maybe 4 Blue +, 1 Purple +, and 1 Aqua Blue Special? Or 4 Blue +, 1 Purple +, and 1 New Gen 14k. Any suggestions?

 

[TropTrea]

I have a 40 breeder with a 6-bulb ATI PM. My bulb combo right now is and has been for the last year as follows:

Left to Right:
Blue +
Purple +
Blue +
Blue +
Purple +
Blue +

I'm looking for a small change. I want a more 14-15K look. Maybe 4 Blue +, 1 Purple +, and 1 Aqua Blue Special? Or 4 Blue +, 1 Purple +, and 1 New Gen 14k. Any suggestions?

If I read yuou correctly you have 2 Blue plus bulbs and 1 purple plus on both your dawn to dusk and mid day circuits.

I personaly would replace the purple+ an your dawn to dusk with a pure atinic. Then on the Midday circuit replace one of the blue plus bulbs with an aqua blue Special. This would give you a bluer tank in the dawn to dusk time but lighten it up and spike coral growth considerably in the mid day period.

But the thing to also remember is a lot of apearance is personal preference. The basic thing to remember is you need good qauntities of light at the four key wavelenghts that corals rely on for photosynthesis.

 

[Fsurocks99]

If I read yuou correctly you have 2 Blue plus bulbs and 1 purple plus on both your dawn to dusk and mid day circuits.

I personaly would replace the purple+ an your dawn to dusk with a pure atinic. Then on the Midday circuit replace one of the blue plus bulbs with an aqua blue Special. This would give you a bluer tank in the dawn to dusk time but lighten it up and spike coral growth considerably in the mid day period.

But the thing to also remember is a lot of apearance is personal preference. The basic thing to remember is you need good qauntities of light at the four key wavelenghts that corals rely on for photosynthesis.

Thanks TropTrea. I think I have the dawn-dust and midday circuits messed up. One circuit fires up four bulbs while the other circuit fires up two. The first circuit that turns on for me is the four bulb which is made up of the 4 Blue +. Then, one hour later, the other circuit fires up with the 2 purple +.

 

[wesleyforbes2]

Yep just switch timers.

Sent from Wesley's Moto Atrix 4G using Tapatalk

 

[TropTrea]

In the case you mention with 4 bulbs in dawn to dusk I would then use 2 100% Atinic bulbs on that circuit with 2 Blue Plus bulbs. Then for the two mid day bulbs I'd probably keep on of the purple plus and complement it with either an aqua plus or even a 10,000K bulb depending upon how blue you want the tank to look in oposition to how much coral growth your looking for.

Note the 10,000K would give you more coral growth but would nuetralize a majority of the blue now compared to the aqua blue plus.

Thanks TropTrea. I think I have the dawn-dust and midday circuits messed up. One circuit fires up four bulbs while the other circuit fires up two. The first circuit that turns on for me is the four bulb which is made up of the 4 Blue +. Then, one hour later, the other circuit fires up with the 2 purple +.

 

[Fsurocks99]

Yep just switch timers.

Sent from Wesley's Moto Atrix 4G using Tapatalk

In the case you mention with 4 bulbs in dawn to dusk I would then use 2 100% Atinic bulbs on that circuit with 2 Blue Plus bulbs. Then for the two mid day bulbs I'd probably keep on of the purple plus and complement it with either an aqua plus or even a 10,000K bulb depending upon how blue you want the tank to look in oposition to how much coral growth your looking for.

Note the 10,000K would give you more coral growth but would nuetralize a majority of the blue now compared to the aqua blue plus.

Thanks guys. I'm going to switch the bulbs around so I have the correct circuits at the correct times.

My tank is a peninsula tank so here is the new bulb sequence:
Left to Right
Blue +
Blue +
Purple +
Blue +
Blue +
Purple +

I like the idea of having 1 actinic, 3 Blue +, 1 Purple +, and 1 Aqua Blue Special. And increased growth is always a plus!

 

[Jamesus]

I have a 3ft frag 11in deep frag tank thank I'm running a 4 bulb tek fixture on and its time to replace bukbs. Tank is zoas and chalices.

I can get ATI bulbs cheap from a friend so I just want to use those. What 4 bulb comb should I go with? 3 blue + with a purple +. Or two blue +, purple +, and a aquablue? Or something else?

Thanks

 

[krshlln300]

I would also consider using a KZ blue + or a KZ new Gen. They provide higher output than the aquablue special and have better (more natural) looks as far as color goes imo

 

[Ogitrev]

Hi all,

I'm planning a new tank... 120G (60x18x26) and am looking for T5 lighting.

Should I go 4 bulb, or 6 bulb?

Also, I was wondering if 48" fixture would work to give a little bit of fall off on the edges of the tank?

I'm planning on keeping softies and fish in this setup.

Thanks!
::Tom

 

[The Grim Reefer]

I have a 3ft frag 11in deep frag tank thank I'm running a 4 bulb tek fixture on and its time to replace bukbs. Tank is zoas and chalices.

I can get ATI bulbs cheap from a friend so I just want to use those. What 4 bulb comb should I go with? 3 blue + with a purple +. Or two blue +, purple +, and a aquablue? Or something else?

Thanks

3 blue and 1 purple is what I'd do. Should make things glow.

 

[The Grim Reefer]

I would also consider using a KZ blue + or a KZ new Gen. They provide higher output than the aquablue special and have better (more natural) looks as far as color goes imo

Your PAR meter and mine would have a MAJOR disagreement on that statement.

 

[The Grim Reefer]

Hi all,

I'm planning a new tank... 120G (60x18x26) and am looking for T5 lighting.

Should I go 4 bulb, or 6 bulb?

Also, I was wondering if 48" fixture would work to give a little bit of fall off on the edges of the tank?

I'm planning on keeping softies and fish in this setup.

Thanks!
::Tom

Do a 6x48 fixture. 4 lamps would work if you stick to softies but 6 will give you a better mix of lamps. I use 6x48 over a 60" tank and it lit things up fine. You could see the ends weren't as bright but not a lot of difference.

 

[RadReefer]

I have 3-ATI Blue + 2-KZ New Gen 14000K and 1-ATI Purple + coming in the mail from reef geek, I'm still not sure I'm sold on this combo but I was back and fourth quite a bit during decision-making. What order should I place these in my fixture from front to back? Is this combo too blue? And how will growth be with this combo?

 

[A_Z]

I was just giving a general idea of the color I am aiming for a nice sharp purple-ish I really like.

the bulb combo that was used was

ATI Blue +
ATI Purple +
ATI Blue +
ATI Actinic

pretty much the suggested one minus the KZ New Generation. If I did do the KZ New generation what color spectrum would this look like? more purple or more white?

also what is the a good bang for buck fixture? ATI? TEK? Coralife? aquaticlife?