The T5 Q&a Thread

[Mattmike]

So I purchased two 36 inch wavepoint t5 fixtures for my 180 gallon tank. I was thinking about adding 2 more 36 inchers or a 24 incher. Any input?

 

[Chiefsurfer]

Ok, got the Aquaticlife 24" 4x25 t5HO fixture. Actually seems pretty good. Only thing that worries me is chances of the digital controllor going bad, and if it does, price to replace. Now on to my question. With the 420/460 that come with it, it is pretty good looking with just the actinics on, but with the 700+ full-spectrum lamp on, it really drowns out the blue. I have only tested this fixture without water, will wait on final decision til I get LR and water in the tank. The 700+ is a decent looking bulb, but it might be a LITTLE orange/yellow look. I was thinking replacing the 700's with 1 14,000K and 1 10,000K. Then replacing one of the 420/460's with the superblue, and one with the fiji purple.

The tank is a 20 Tall, and I want to have some zoa, sps, doubtful, but POSSIBLY an anemone that stays put in the sandy substrate. You think that would work Grim? If not, you have a good reccomendation for this set-up?

 

[creepdogg]

Ice Cap, Aquactinics, Aqua Illumination reflectors, whichever you can get the best deal on. Reefgeek will make retro packages minus the ballast if you call them.

Front
ATI Blue Plus
UVL Actinic White
ATI Blue Plus
ATI Aquablue
ATI Blue Plus
ATI Blue Plus

If you want to mess with wiring up 3 ballasts use one 430 for the first 2 blue plus, the other 430 for the second 2 and the 660 for the actinic white and Aquablue so you can do 2 stage dusk/dawn. Otherwise do the first 2 blue plus on the 430 and the other 4 lamps on the 660.

Got my lamps in yesterday, now need to get a spare day to take my canopy down, remove, rewire, and fit in some cooling.

I plan to run all 3 ballasts like you suggested

Few questions

1. Cooling, I plan to install a panel on the rear of my canopy that isnt there now, with two 120 mm noctua fans pushing into canopy on the rear panel pointed into the end caps on both sides, then in the center rear panel also install another 120mm pulling air out. I reall dont want to cut into my sides or top. Will this provide enough cooling? I could likely dial down the 2 side 120's and let the center pull at 100 % that way there isnt a positive pressure in the canopy.

2. Would it be wise to construct a curving piece of lumber for both sides to mount my end caps too? This way it has a minor curviture similar to some retail units? My t12's are about 6 inches or so above the water now, this may let me get a little closer to the water too, not sure if it is necessary.

3. Ballast mounting, mine are currently under my tank in the stand, never had an issue, they dont even break a sweat, is this still possible with the t5's ?

Thanks man

 

[The Grim Reefer]

Grim, Holy Cow! Read all 76 pages; got three pages of great notes, but unfortunately didn't find the answer to all my questions. You are a font of great info - thanks in advance for your time.

Setting up a frag system consisting of two 33 x-tra long tanks (4' long, 12" deep, 12" wide). Each tank will have a 4" DSB. Currently have a two bulb Current Nova Extreme for one of the tanks.

1. What is the best two bulb combo for a frag tank growing primarily zoas and ricordia (want to maintain and show good color, but get good growth).

Second tank currently has no light fixture.

1. Can you recommend a good fixture or DIY set-up for this size/depth of tank?

2. Are two t5s enough or should I consider a four bulb fixture?

3. Best bulb combo?

TIA

UVL Actinic White and ATI Blue Plus for the 2 lamp system.

For the second one if you want to take on higher light critters I would probably go with a 4 lamp Nova with 2 Blue Plus, GE 6500K and Actinic White, otherwise I would do the same 2 lamp Nova setup.

 

[The Grim Reefer]

Sorry for the dumb question but what is a 14K vs 20K look? Is the 20K just bluer? If there less growth at 20K? Thanks.

Pretty much, going from a blue tint to a blue light. . 20k halide lamps don't have nearly the PAR a 10K does but that doesn't hold true with T5 lamps. The Blues have as much PAR as the daylights.

 

[jbob]

hey grim, got a question.
i'm about to order new bulbs for my 36" NEP and i was wondering what you use to decide between the actnitic white and the fiji purples? i was thinking about going
4 blue plus
1 ge 6500
1 fiji purple.
what would be the benefit of going with the actnitic? tanks a 40br.
thanks in advance

 

[elekamit]

Hey Grim!
My tank is 80x80x60cm, LPS dominated with 2 clams on top.
Fixture is an ATI sunlight 6x39 watt.
This are the bulbs at my disposal:
3 x ATI blue plus
3 x ATI blue special
2 x UVL super actinic
2 x ATI pro color
And the entire D&D giesmann roster.
I want a blue look that will make my corals pop!, I don't care about growth, just color.

Any suggestion concerning bulb combo?

 

[The Grim Reefer]

I am setting up my first tank, it will be a 6 x 2 x 2 zoas garden.
I have a 8 x 80w T5 unit.

I was thinking of running

2 x 6000K
2 x 11000K
2 x Blue Plus
2 x Fiji Purple

After looking at this thread I have noticed that most people run a lot more blue globes.
Would mine be too white? and are most people sacrificing growth for color?

Would I be better off with

2 x 6000K
4 x Blue Plus
2 x Fiji Purple

Or can you suggesr something better.

Thanks in advance.

Grant.

Your second listing with the 4 blue plus will do better for you.

 

[The Grim Reefer]

Thanks for the advice Grim. I used this setup and lets just say, it was a little too blue for my taste. Felt sorta like a smurf. I changed out the Blue Plus in the first slot to an AquaBlue. That calmed the blue hue down. Would you have any other ideas to offer that may be better than an AquaBlue or BluePlus in the front. What about another daylight or perhaps an Actinc? Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Another Daylight would be the best choice. Might be better to put a blue plus back in front and replace one somewhere else in the mix with a second daylight.

 

[The Grim Reefer]

Im setting up a 24"x24"x12" frag tank with a 4 bulb fixture. It will be mainly lps.

Can someone give me a recommendation which bulbs to use? I don't want to bright at all (these are all low light corals), I want my lps to florescence the most. Thanks!

2 ATI Blue Plus, 1 UVL Actinic White and a UVL Super Actinic.

 

[The Grim Reefer]

So I purchased two 36 inch wavepoint t5 fixtures for my 180 gallon tank. I was thinking about adding 2 more 36 inchers or a 24 incher. Any input?

Not really, I don't know anything about that particular fixture other than you probably want 8 rows on lamps over that tank.

 

[The Grim Reefer]

Ok, got the Aquaticlife 24" 4x25 t5HO fixture. Actually seems pretty good. Only thing that worries me is chances of the digital controllor going bad, and if it does, price to replace. Now on to my question. With the 420/460 that come with it, it is pretty good looking with just the actinics on, but with the 700+ full-spectrum lamp on, it really drowns out the blue. I have only tested this fixture without water, will wait on final decision til I get LR and water in the tank. The 700+ is a decent looking bulb, but it might be a LITTLE orange/yellow look. I was thinking replacing the 700's with 1 14,000K and 1 10,000K. Then replacing one of the 420/460's with the superblue, and one with the fiji purple.

The tank is a 20 Tall, and I want to have some zoa, sps, doubtful, but POSSIBLY an anemone that stays put in the sandy substrate. You think that would work Grim? If not, you have a good reccomendation for this set-up?

You want 2 Blues that arent actinics, Probably that 1 700 lamp if it looks yellow/orange and 1 Aquablue or Koral Light assuming you are looking at KZ lamps

 

[The Grim Reefer]

Got my lamps in yesterday, now need to get a spare day to take my canopy down, remove, rewire, and fit in some cooling.

I plan to run all 3 ballasts like you suggested

Few questions

1. Cooling, I plan to install a panel on the rear of my canopy that isnt there now, with two 120 mm noctua fans pushing into canopy on the rear panel pointed into the end caps on both sides, then in the center rear panel also install another 120mm pulling air out. I reall dont want to cut into my sides or top. Will this provide enough cooling? I could likely dial down the 2 side 120's and let the center pull at 100 % that way there isnt a positive pressure in the canopy.

2. Would it be wise to construct a curving piece of lumber for both sides to mount my end caps too? This way it has a minor curviture similar to some retail units? My t12's are about 6 inches or so above the water now, this may let me get a little closer to the water too, not sure if it is necessary.

3. Ballast mounting, mine are currently under my tank in the stand, never had an issue, they dont even break a sweat, is this still possible with the t5's ?

Thanks man

Mount that center fan as high as you can. Dialing the end fans back a notch would be a good idea, just don't go too far. Ballasts under the stand should still be OK. Curving piece of wood isn't going to make any difference. You can angle the reflectors slightly and do the same thing without going to all that trouble.

 

[TonyV]

Grim, do you have any experience with Aquaticlife 10K bulbs? It seems a bit white/yellow for my taste. Their graph for the bulb is located on their site.

Is an ATI Aquablue or a Blue+ going to produce a bluer look?

 

[TonyV]

Hey Chiefsurfer I think we have the same fixture and both are having the same results.

 

[The Grim Reefer]

hey grim, got a question.
i'm about to order new bulbs for my 36" NEP and i was wondering what you use to decide between the actnitic white and the fiji purples? i was thinking about going
4 blue plus
1 ge 6500
1 fiji purple.
what would be the benefit of going with the actnitic? tanks a 40br.
thanks in advance

The Actinic White is more in your face about adding red. Either will work in your mix but I would lean more toward the Actinic White.

 

[The Grim Reefer]

Hey Grim!
My tank is 80x80x60cm, LPS dominated with 2 clams on top.
Fixture is an ATI sunlight 6x39 watt.
This are the bulbs at my disposal:
3 x ATI blue plus
3 x ATI blue special
2 x UVL super actinic
2 x ATI pro color
And the entire D&D giesmann roster.
I want a blue look that will make my corals pop!, I don't care about growth, just color.

Any suggestion concerning bulb combo?

Front
ATI Aquablue
ATI Blue Plus
Pro color
Aquablue
Blue Plus
Blue Plus

 

[The Grim Reefer]

Grim, do you have any experience with Aquaticlife 10K bulbs? It seems a bit white/yellow for my taste. Their graph for the bulb is located on their site.

Is an ATI Aquablue or a Blue+ going to produce a bluer look?

the ATI's will be more blue than lamps labeled 10K.

 

[Chiefsurfer]

Yeah tony, only thing is that I don't think the 700+nm are NOT 10,000K bulbs. They are full-spectrum daylight. I might be mistaken about this, but nowhere did it say anything about a Kelvin rated lamp.

I am going to try and figure out how NM relates to 10K, and see if anyone in person is nearby with different light set-ups. This way I don't have to run around like a chicken with my head chopped off for lighting combination.

 

[TonyV]

Yeah tony, only thing is that I don't think the 700+nm are NOT 10,000K bulbs. They are full-spectrum daylight. I might be mistaken about this, but nowhere did it say anything about a Kelvin rated lamp.

I am going to try and figure out how NM relates to 10K, and see if anyone in person is nearby with different light set-ups. This way I don't have to run around like a chicken with my head chopped off for lighting combination.

I have the spec sheet for their bulbs, I am just not smart enough to figure what it all means. What I do know is this fixture is dialed for the money.