The T5 Q&a Thread

[FranktheTankTx]

Grim -

Thought came across my head. If I run a 10x54w HO T5 - it will come with 5 x Accustart Triad ballasts, & if I'm utilizing a RKL w/ 8 outlets... I don't really want to consume 5 outlets with T5 lights. Can say 3 ballasts be combined into an extension cord/??? of somesort to be plugged into one power outlet? Thus one outlet controls 3 ballasts. I don't see why not & assume most fixtures are done this way in some fancier way.

Agree or have better suggestions?

 

[The Grim Reefer]

Grim -

Thought came across my head. If I run a 10x54w HO T5 - it will come with 5 x Accustart Triad ballasts, & if I'm utilizing a RKL w/ 8 outlets... I don't really want to consume 5 outlets with T5 lights. Can say 3 ballasts be combined into an extension cord/??? of somesort to be plugged into one power outlet? Thus one outlet controls 3 ballasts. I don't see why not & assume most fixtures are done this way in some fancier way.

Agree or have better suggestions?

Yeah, you can get a short (about 6") heavy duty pigtail at Lowes that will have 2 plugs on one side and one on the other like regular lamp type extension cords but these are the orange heavy duty ones like you would use outdoors. Home depot has them too but I think they are about 2 feet long, they will work too. Called tri tap extension cords.

 

[SpankythePyro]

what is the website again with the pictures of all the bulbs?

 

[The Grim Reefer]

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1159820&highlight=t5+lamp+pictures

 

[kc350twin]

Front
ATI Blue Plus
ATI Blue Plus
UVL Actinic White
Blue Plus
GE 6500K Daylight
Blue Plus
Blue Plus
ATI Aquablue

About 15K Replace the Aquablue for more blue, add an Aquablue in the front slot for less bluee.

Hey Grim

My tank is a peninsula tank. How important is it to balance the bulbs from side to side? Will they blend well from 8-12" above the tank?

 

[The Grim Reefer]

Hey Grim

My tank is a peninsula tank. How important is it to balance the bulbs from side to side? Will they blend well from 8-12" above the tank?

If you want it to be exact

Front
Aquablue
Blue Plus
Blue Plus
Actinic White
GE daylight
Blue Plus
Blue Plus
Aquablue

Going to be about as close as you can get.

 

[kc350twin]

Thanks Grim

Just received my bulbs and playing around with the combos

Currently

Blue+
AquaBlue Special
Blue+
Fiji Purple
GE 65k
Blue+
AquaBlue Special
blue+

Ordered plenty of bulbs to play.


Thanks
Kc3

 

[MyBoxOfWater]

Anyone have any experience with the UVL 454 Lamps?

 

[GrimReefer82]

OK, well I decided to go with 6 48" bulbs and 4 24" bulbs and plan to stagger them. The reason I chose 48's and 24's is so it would cover the whole 72" of the tank instead of 60" bulbs which are a foot short. I also didn't like the 36" bulbs because of the gap in the center. I may add 2 more of each if I need more. What would be a good lighting combination? If I keep the lights 5-6 inches off the water can I keep clams in the top of the 125? I really want a maxima clam as a center piece right at the top.

 

[The Grim Reefer]

Anyone have any experience with the UVL 454 Lamps?

Same look as the Blue Plus with a little less PAR.

 

[The Grim Reefer]

OK, well I decided to go with 6 48" bulbs and 4 24" bulbs and plan to stagger them. The reason I chose 48's and 24's is so it would cover the whole 72" of the tank instead of 60" bulbs which are a foot short. I also didn't like the 36" bulbs because of the gap in the center. I may add 2 more of each if I need more. What would be a good lighting combination? If I keep the lights 5-6 inches off the water can I keep clams in the top of the 125? I really want a maxima clam as a center piece right at the top.

You could probably keep a Maxima on the sand as long as it's not a baby.

Before you go writing off 60" lamps this is a 125 with 6 60" lamps centered with an Ice Cap at each end which blocks some light near the top coming off the ends. The lamps were also just under 3" above the water which is a little low. The shadows you see aren't as obvious as they look in the picture. If you look at the sand you can see quite a bit of light is getting to the ends.

 

[bshumake]

Hey Grim. God knows how many splits ago you hooked me up with an 8 bulb color/placement design and i'm about to replace my bulbs. my tank is 24" deep. the lights are 6" off water. So 30" total to penetrate. I'm wanting to get the best POP on my corals color and enough par to keep my clam (and any others to follow) happy. Can you do me another design using Geisman bulbs and their alternate ATI's please sir?
Thanks,
B

 

[bshumake]

Oops. My tank is predominately SPS (like superman, sunset monti, purple haze) and zoas.

 

[Adam76]

Hey Grim what are the differense gonna be between a Actinic White and Fiji Purple? Thanks

 

[The Grim Reefer]

Oops. My tank is predominately SPS (like superman, sunset monti, purple haze) and zoas.

Stick with ATI Lamps if you want max PAR
Front
Blue Plus
Blue Plus
Gmann Midday
ATI Blue Plus
Gmann Midday
ATI Aquablue
Blue Plus
Blue Plus

If you have to use all Giesemann then use Actinic Plus in place of Blue Plus and their Aquablue in place of the ATI one.

 

[The Grim Reefer]

Hey Grim what are the differense gonna be between a Actinic White and Fiji Purple? Thanks

Fiji Purple is more subtle in the red it adds, more purple which is closer to blue than the pepto pink of the UVL lamps but if you have enough blues running I prefer the UVL.

 

[bshumake]

Stick with ATI Lamps if you want max PAR
Front
Blue Plus
Blue Plus
Gmann Midday
ATI Blue Plus
Gmann Midday
ATI Aquablue
Blue Plus
Blue Plus

If you have to use all Giesemann then use Actinic Plus in place of Blue Plus and their Aquablue in place of the ATI one.

Thank you very much!

 

[dixiedog]

Holy cr@p, GrimReefer.

I followed your advice on your new website and decided to raise my TEK fixture a couple inches, and run it without the splash shield.

The increase in PAR is definitely very real, and substantial. I thought it was just my imagination until I noticed a couple corals bleaching!

My fixture is a 4x24, and I run the blue plus/fiji purple/aquasun/blue plus combo, which I really like a lot.

Thanks for all your help!!

 

[Adam76]

Thanks Grim, so if I am gonna run 3Blue+ and 2Aqua Blue then go with the Actinic White. Thanks

 

[causeofhim]

Grim, Based upon your input, I set up my 150 gallon mixed tank last year using only 3 80watt overdriven T5 bulbs with icecap reflectors: 1 GE and 2 ATI Blue Plus lamps. Everything (softies, LPS, SPS and RBTAs) is growing wonderfully. My only complaint is that I do not have any Actinic "pop". I understand that it is hard to get exactly what I want with only 3 bulbs, but do you think I would be able to get more actinic without loosing my PAR if I changed bulbs a bit?

Thanks for all of your help!