The T5 Q&a Thread

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Tek is way better. The IceCap fixtures are very sub-par.

Ok, good to know. Thanks for the info.

On a separate note, how is the 8 bulb tek separated with two power cords for dusk/dawn. Is it two bulbs and 6 bulbs or is it 4 and 4 ?
 
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Help me decide on lights. Tank dimensions are 84x24x30 deep. Right now just running 3x6ft vho bulbs on Fowlr. I'd like to step into t5s and keep soft coral. Can I get away with two 4 bulb 36 " fixtures? Or do I need more light? And what bulb configuration would you do? Thanks a lot!
 
Help me decide on lights. Tank dimensions are 84x24x30 deep. Right now just running 3x6ft vho bulbs on Fowlr. I'd like to step into t5s and keep soft coral. Can I get away with two 4 bulb 36 " fixtures? Or do I need more light? And what bulb configuration would you do? Thanks a lot!

As long as you are ONLY doing soft corals Tek fixtures will work but do 6 lamps instead of 4. You'll be glad you did.
 
Help me decide on lights. Tank dimensions are 84x24x30 deep. Right now just running 3x6ft vho bulbs on Fowlr. I'd like to step into t5s and keep soft coral. Can I get away with two 4 bulb 36 " fixtures? Or do I need more light? And what bulb configuration would you do? Thanks a lot!

Wow that sounds like a nice tank roughly 260 gallons. But with the 7' dimension your just short of being able to use 2 48" slight or slightly long for 2 36" lights. From your note on wanting to keep soft corals which are fairly light forgiving however if your like 80% of the people you will eventualy want to step up to at least LPS corals that need more light.

If you can suspend a fixture overhead than I would initially go with a 48" 8 bulb fixture that will give you loads of light in the center but you will have fall out on the ends. This will give you more than enough light to keep your softies on the ends and yet in the center you can actualy go with basicly anything you want.

If the fall out on the ends turns out unexcaptable you do have that tank lenght where you can add additional fixtures on each side perpenduclar to your main light in the future to help you around the fall out issue on the ends.

The aproach I'm using is to help you avoid what I have seen so often n the business. Individuals try to save a $ by buying the least expensive lights that will make there present needs but do not plan ahead. They basickly start with a $250 light to keep just fish, than a year larter decide they want some live rock and softies so get a $500 fixture. Than next year they decise they want SPS corals and have to buy another $700 fixture. In reality they invested $1450 in lights over a 2 year period where they could have gotten away with spending $700 initialy.

Just looking at some quality fixtures 2, 6 bulb 36" fixtures would set you back roughly $1,100 and for 8 bulb fixtures $1,400. all at once. But with the 48" 6 bulbs will cost you under $650 and 8 bulbs will cost you about $800.00. With the savings of about $500 you can later go with two less expensive 4 bulb 24" fixtures for close to what your saving now.

the big difference being if you want to spend the money now or spend it in the future? For many people it is easier to spend the $800 now and the added $600 a year from now than spending $1,400 now. But either the two 36" lights or the single 48" light will alow you keep your soft corals now.
 
I will receive my 6 bulb ATI Powermodule tomorrow. It is replacing a 4 bulb Powermodule. I am going with 3 ATI Blue Plus, 2 ATI Aqua Blue Special, and 1 ATI Purple Plus. How should I configure the bulbs.

Also should I shorten the photo period now that I have the two extra bulbs. If so, what do you suggest?

Thanks,
Ken
 
I will receive my 6 bulb ATI Powermodule tomorrow. It is replacing a 4 bulb Powermodule. I am going with 3 ATI Blue Plus, 2 ATI Aqua Blue Special, and 1 ATI Purple Plus. How should I configure the bulbs.

Also should I shorten the photo period now that I have the two extra bulbs. If so, what do you suggest?

Thanks,
Ken

Keep the dusk dawn the same and lower the daylight period down to maybe 4 hours then just expand it an hour a week or so.

Front
Aquablue
Blue Plus
Purple Plus
Blue Plus
Blue Plus
Aquablue
 
I've got an Dimmable Sunpower(8x54) that I just finally hung, and I'm getting the bulbs burnt in... tank is going in place this weekend. Was looking for optimal temp ranges it should be running at. Want to make sure i'm in the correct range. After it's on 100% for 3 or 4 hours I seem to top out at 38C/100F. Is this right? Fans seem to be working fine and venting correctly, but I couldn't find any actual temp specs.
 
I've got an Dimmable Sunpower(8x54) that I just finally hung, and I'm getting the bulbs burnt in... tank is going in place this weekend. Was looking for optimal temp ranges it should be running at. Want to make sure i'm in the correct range. After it's on 100% for 3 or 4 hours I seem to top out at 38C/100F. Is this right? Fans seem to be working fine and venting correctly, but I couldn't find any actual temp specs.

Idoubt that you will find any temperature specs at all unless you could get a hold of the bulb manufacturers spec sheets which are often considered pripority information. But genneraly speaking the lower the actual temperature on the bulbs the longer they will last. if your exhaust temperature is at 100F I would say you should not have anything to worry about.

As a side note on this yu can always replace the fans with units of simular size that actualy give you more air flow. Having been in the business I have found that the biggest complaint from customers on there lighting fixtures was that the fans did not last forever, regardless of the brand name. True some brands using better fans than others but in a salt water enviroment the bearing do wear slowly.
 
I've got an Dimmable Sunpower(8x54) that I just finally hung, and I'm getting the bulbs burnt in... tank is going in place this weekend. Was looking for optimal temp ranges it should be running at. Want to make sure i'm in the correct range. After it's on 100% for 3 or 4 hours I seem to top out at 38C/100F. Is this right? Fans seem to be working fine and venting correctly, but I couldn't find any actual temp specs.

If you have a selectable voltage for the fans run them at 9 volts. You want the metal endcap on the lamps under 120 degrees so you would be better to try to take a reading off that than the air.
 
Thanks for the info guys... I'm actually not sure where that temperature reading is coming from. The numbers I'm using are what shows up on the controller, so I assumed it was an internal temp and not the exhaust, but not positive. And I'll have to see if I can get in to the fan settings. I think I read that somwhere that it's possible with this model, but I'm guessing it's some weird combination of buttons to push to get at it. Off to google to search...
 
Keep the dusk dawn the same and lower the daylight period down to maybe 4 hours then just expand it an hour a week or so.

Front
Aquablue
Blue Plus
Purple Plus
Blue Plus
Blue Plus
Aquablue

Thanks for the comments. I have the sunrise and sunset at 30 minutes each. It is not dimmable but i have two bulbs on with the 4 bulb fixture. total photoperiod is 12 hours. So are you saying to have just a total of 5 hours of light a day 4+1?

Thanks,
Ken
 
Thanks for the info guys... I'm actually not sure where that temperature reading is coming from. The numbers I'm using are what shows up on the controller, so I assumed it was an internal temp and not the exhaust, but not positive. And I'll have to see if I can get in to the fan settings. I think I read that somwhere that it's possible with this model, but I'm guessing it's some weird combination of buttons to push to get at it. Off to google to search...

Any instructions? It might mention in them. If the fan is adjustable it would be nice to get a hold of even a lux meter so you can adjust to maximum output. You actually want to run the fans a little faster than what gets the max, the lamps will last longer
 
Thanks for the comments. I have the sunrise and sunset at 30 minutes each. It is not dimmable but i have two bulbs on with the 4 bulb fixture. total photoperiod is 12 hours. So are you saying to have just a total of 5 hours of light a day 4+1?

Thanks,
Ken

No, you runs the dusk/dawn how many hours a day you are now, 11~13 hours IMO and then start your daylights out at 4 hours and work your way up to where you want that to be, again just my opinion but 5 to 10 hours.
 
Any instructions? It might mention in them. If the fan is adjustable it would be nice to get a hold of even a lux meter so you can adjust to maximum output. You actually want to run the fans a little faster than what gets the max, the lamps will last longer

The instructions aren't great. Nothing in them about the fan speeds... They ramp up as the temp goes up, but I thought I came across a thread somewhere that said someone called support and a tech walked them through how to get to some fan settings... Could've been a different fixture though. As long as it's staying in the 100 degree area I won't worry too much.
 
I need to replace my bulbs in my 8x24w t5ho fixture. Last time I replaced them I was told to go with 7 blue plus and 1 GE 6500. I like the way that looks and am thinking of going with it again but I've heard some buzz about the aquablues and purple plus and some of the other "new" bulbs and was just wondering what the general thoughts on these are. I obviously like the 14k to 20k look.

Thanks for any advice
 
I am setting up my 20g Long with a 4bulb T5 HO fixture. I want to grow some SPS and LPS in the tank.

Bulbs I am thinking are:

2x ATI Blue+
1x Fuji Purple
1x aquablue

What would you reccomend?

Thanks

Brad
 
No, you runs the dusk/dawn how many hours a day you are now, 11~13 hours IMO and then start your daylights out at 4 hours and work your way up to where you want that to be, again just my opinion but 5 to 10 hours.

Ok, thanks. I have to check and see how many bulbs are on with each plug. So then one group will be on all 12 hours and the other group I start with 12 hours or so and work my way up.
Ken
 
Hi, I am thinking of getting a sunpower when it's time for bulb replacement. I have a 56g, 30x18x24. Would a 6 bulb or an 8 bulb x24w be appropriate for mostly SPS with a few LPS towards the bottom? Also, what is a good combo for what you recommend? Thanks for the asdvice.
 
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