The T5 Q&a Thread

[The Grim Reefer]

Have you heard anything about the aquatic life 2x24w? they have great prices and a nice timer built in. I would swap them out for the bulbs you recommended.

You get what you pay for. If they are really inexpensive I would have to assume the reflectors are made from cheap material and that is a deal breaker for me.

 

[Ricunger]

You get what you pay for. If they are really inexpensive I would have to assume the reflectors are made from cheap material and that is a deal breaker for me.

True. Thanks Grim!

 

[TonyV]

You would get good growth and have a blue look but not 20K blue.

The lighting thing relates to former occupation slightly. I used to have to dial in color laser printers and copiers back in the early days. You had to know how colors mixed and what photons are and all kinds of other fun stuff to be trained. Not that it really had jack squat to do with the task at hand but they drove a lot of extra stuff down your throat during training. Made learning about the Aquarium lighting pretty easy.

Cool thanks. What difference would there be between what I am going to use vs. the sugested setup on your homepage for a 4 bulb setup? (Blue Plus, Super Actinic, Aquasun, Blue Plus)

 

[steve bridgend]

grim from the t5 bulbs you recomend wich are available in the uk dont expect you to know but worth a try i know we can get ati,d and d and korralin zucht could you recomend witch tubes i could use for my 6x80 sunpower with tubes in the uk

 

[epicentyr]

Are Icecap the only ballasts that will overdrive HO bulbs? Workhorse 8 does not say anything about overdriving lamps. Is the workhorse a good ballast for a DIY setup? I cannot afford 3 icecap 440's to run my 12 lamps.

 

[steve bridgend]

grim have you tested the newer kz tubes coral light superblue and coral light new gen how do they compare to the ati tubes

 

[Newreeflady]

Tek or Nova Extreme SLR - any real difference?
They both have single lens reflectors. Is one really better than the other? What output difference is there with the two reflectors?

The former has 3 cords, the latter has two switches for a 4x 24w fixture.

As far as I'm concerned, neither come with bulbs since the bulbs for NE are supposed to be sub-standard.

There is a price difference, considering a sale on both and shipping differences, is only about $50.

I own a 24w x 2 bulb NE SLR fixture and it is OK, but not sure if it is really providing enough light and the spread is not too good because I have it directly on the aquarium, not raised up.

-A

 

[ldallen95219]

There must be an easy way to find answers to one's question but I don't know how to do a search for that. Anyway, my question is (I am sure it has already been answered in all these pages) but how soon should one change their bulbs? I have 6 T5s (4 ATI Blue Plus; 1 12000K ATI Aquablue Special and 1 UVL Actinic White 12000K. I put them in in August 21st.

 

[ldallen95219]

Changing T5 bulbs

Changing T5 bulbs

There must be an easy way to find answers to one's question but I don't know how to do a search for that. Anyway, my question is (I am sure it has already been answered in all these pages) but how soon should one change their bulbs? I have 6 T5s (4 ATI Blue Plus; 1 12000K ATI Aquablue Special and 1 UVL Actinic White 12000K. I put them in in August 21st.

 

[Newreeflady]

Considering 4 bulb fixture. Have 2 bulbs that came with an old fixture (the nova extreme) and have two bulbs that I just bought (Blue Plus, and Aquablue from ATI.)

I am considering a change from the current fixture because it isn't raised up enough from the tank to get to spread, and also, the two bulbs I got (blueplus and aquablue) honestly just seem a bit too washed out blue for my taste all by themselves.

I want some white back, and want more umph in the reds and yellows.

Recommend what other two? I am guessing the stock bulbs from the old fixture are kinda substandard anyhow. This is a 24" long 20g high tank.

Was thinking maybe the UVL Actinic White and a pure 03 actinic? Will this highlight reds and yellows better?

All together that would be:

Geisseman pure actinic
UVL Actinic White
ATI Blue Plus
ATI Aqua Blue

tx!
-A

 

[The Grim Reefer]

Cool thanks. What difference would there be between what I am going to use vs. the sugested setup on your homepage for a 4 bulb setup? (Blue Plus, Super Actinic, Aquasun, Blue Plus)

Not huge, just a more mellow look, slightly bluer than with the Aquasun.

 

[The Grim Reefer]

grim from the t5 bulbs you recomend wich are available in the uk dont expect you to know but worth a try i know we can get ati,d and d and korralin zucht could you recomend witch tubes i could use for my 6x80 sunpower with tubes in the uk

Front
D&D Actinic Plus
KZ Fiji Purple
Actinic plus
D&D Midday
D&D Aquablue
Actinic Plus

 

[The Grim Reefer]

Are Icecap the only ballasts that will overdrive HO bulbs? Workhorse 8 does not say anything about overdriving lamps. Is the workhorse a good ballast for a DIY setup? I cannot afford 3 icecap 440's to run my 12 lamps.

The 430 can only run 2 T5's, 660 will run 4 (only 3 of the 80 watt lamps). I wouldn't try overdriving with any other ballast.

 

[The Grim Reefer]

grim have you tested the newer kz tubes coral light superblue and coral light new gen how do they compare to the ati tubes

The New generation is slightly bluer than the ATI Aquablue with lower PAR. Havent tested the superblue but if they are still priced 10 bucks higher than the other lamps I wouldn't use them anyway.

 

[steve bridgend]

Front
D&D Actinic Plus
KZ Fiji Purple
Actinic plus
D&D Midday
D&D Aquablue
Actinic Plus

grim we can get ati to

 

[The Grim Reefer]

Tek or Nova Extreme SLR - any real difference?
They both have single lens reflectors. Is one really better than the other? What output difference is there with the two reflectors?

The former has 3 cords, the latter has two switches for a 4x 24w fixture.

As far as I'm concerned, neither come with bulbs since the bulbs for NE are supposed to be sub-standard.

There is a price difference, considering a sale on both and shipping differences, is only about $50.

I own a 24w x 2 bulb NE SLR fixture and it is OK, but not sure if it is really providing enough light and the spread is not too good because I have it directly on the aquarium, not raised up.

-A

They both have reflectors that wrap the lamps. The difference is tek uses good reflector material and the nova doesn't. You can add an external fan to the Tek and get an additional 25% output. On the other hand you can sit the nova right on the tank because it uses a splash shield on it.

 

[The Grim Reefer]

There must be an easy way to find answers to one's question but I don't know how to do a search for that. Anyway, my question is (I am sure it has already been answered in all these pages) but how soon should one change their bulbs? I have 6 T5s (4 ATI Blue Plus; 1 12000K ATI Aquablue Special and 1 UVL Actinic White 12000K. I put them in in August 21st.

10 to 18 months depending on your setup and what you are raising. If you have a tall tank full of SPS and don't cool the lamps them 10 months. If you have softies 18 months. 12 months is about the best rule of thumb.

 

[The Grim Reefer]

Considering 4 bulb fixture. Have 2 bulbs that came with an old fixture (the nova extreme) and have two bulbs that I just bought (Blue Plus, and Aquablue from ATI.)

I am considering a change from the current fixture because it isn't raised up enough from the tank to get to spread, and also, the two bulbs I got (blueplus and aquablue) honestly just seem a bit too washed out blue for my taste all by themselves.

I want some white back, and want more umph in the reds and yellows.

Recommend what other two? I am guessing the stock bulbs from the old fixture are kinda substandard anyhow. This is a 24" long 20g high tank.

Was thinking maybe the UVL Actinic White and a pure 03 actinic? Will this highlight reds and yellows better?

All together that would be:

Geisseman pure actinic
UVL Actinic White
ATI Blue Plus
ATI Aqua Blue

tx!
-A

The Actinic White will give you the reds and yellows. I would do the actinic or another blue plus for the 4th lamp.

 

[The Grim Reefer]

grim we can get ati to

Then use the ATI Blue Plus and Aquablue in place of the Giesemann Aquablue and Actinic Plus.

 

[steve bridgend]

sory but then i would have fiji purple and aquablue as dawn dusk light