The T5 Q&a Thread

[mdavis735]

Grim,i have a 90 gallon sps dominant tank i will be setting up soon.I purchased a used tek 6 54 watt bulb fixture.The current bulbs are only 3 months old.I would like to know what bulb combo you'd recommend.I will replace 1 or 2 at a time so they are staggered.Can you tell me what final combination you'd use and which bulbs you'd change at which time to get the best use out of whichever of these are decent bulbs.position 1 and 6 are on the "actinic" switch.
front
uvl 454
uvl 75/5
uvl super actinic
uvl 454
uvl actinic white
uvl 454
back

 

[adam1980]

Hey Grim great thread you got here, I have a 100 gallon tank 4 foot long by 24 high. I am running a used t5 light fixture that i bought a year ago, it is a 4foot long fixture and holds 8 bulbs. It curently has 4 actinic and 4 50/50 that is what it came with. I am going to replace all of the bulbs this week and would like to know what you would recomend me to buy such as how many actinics-how many 50/50s. I dont know anything about lighting so i would really apreciate the help. Also what brand should i purchase? The tank right now is all lps and i probally have 10 large anenomones. I am going to start doing some sps soon though. Thanks so much grim-you rock!

 

[bmanzie]

Grim as with the rest I need some help. I bought some cheap VHOs from hellolights awhile back and now I am looking to change them out for better ones. Can you make a recomendation? I don't plan on having coral so what I have now is fish and live rock. I would like to have a nice crisp look with a nice blueish that will bring out the colors on my fish. I have a 96"L x 30"D x 24"W tank. Currently have a set of 4 lamps on each side of the tank. The ballasts I have are Hellolights Very High Output T5 ballast (15% overdrive). Thanks for your help.

 

[irocz2280]

Hey Grim hope you can give me an idea on what i should do. I have a nova extreme 8 bulb 48" t-5 fixture over my 120 mixed reef now im noticing my corals color is not as vibrant as it used to be and thought it was the lighting being that my params are fairly good The bulbs in the fixture are now after reading not very good they are all current bulbs that came with the fixture 4 actinic and 4 10k daylights

My params. are
8.2 ph.
1375 mag.
phos. 0.02 hanna mini photometer reading
calc. 480
alk. 8.4 Slowly increasing by dosing b ionic 2 part
Nitrates undetectable prob. < 5ppm

 

[bryman]

Time to change the bulbs - 48" Sunpower

Time to change the bulbs - 48" Sunpower

Hi Grim and T5 gods,

It's time to change my bulbs after about 11 months. I've been really happy thus far with my Sunpower over my Tech 90G tank. Here's what I currently run - can't remember the exact order:

4 ATI Blue Plus, ATI Aquablue and a GE 6500K Daylight

I think the color is pretty good, and I favor a little more blue than white. I guess my only complaint is that I'd like a little more actinic 'pop'. I've heard there are some fancy new bulbs out though now but don't know anything about them. Can someone recommend what I should go with for the next set? Thanks!

 

[The Grim Reefer]

One more time bump for Grim's advice. Thanks.

2 6700K's with 6 Blue Plus would look fine.

 

[The Grim Reefer]

Grim,

Time to change out the bulbs on my 48" constellation.

Currently running:

Front
ATI BluePlus
UV Actinic White
ATI BluePlus
UV 75-25
ATI BluePlus
ATI AquaBlue Spezial
ATI BluePlus

With all the new bulbs coming out, I wanted to ask if there is a combination which would be better. Just added a few SPS to my mixed reef.

Thanks in advance.

Blue Plus
Purple Plus
Blue Plus
GE 6500K Daylight
Blue Plus
Purple Plus
Blue Plus

You could try arranging the lamps so you get a blue plus and a purple plus for dusk/dawn.

 

[The Grim Reefer]

I am setting up my first reef and have researched about all I can absorb for the moment. I will need to learn the rest OJT. I would like to touch base on my lighting, I realize it may not be optimal, it just needs to be a reasonable starting point.

I like a blue white color like you would see snorkeling at 10 to 15 ft in Florida or Hawaii. I ultimately would like to try SPS and clams.

50 Gal breeder - 36" x 18" x 18"
Tek 36" 8 bulb fixture (with 10% corroded reflectors)

Front to back:
ATI Blue Plus
ATI True Actinic
ATI Aqua Blue 12K Special
ATI Blue Plus
ATI True Actinic
UVL 10K AquaSun
Korallen Zucht Fiji Purple
ATI True Actinic

Let me know where I stand. Also, how would you cycle the two sets of 4 lamps as far as photo-period?

Thanks!

ATI True Actinic
Fiji Purple
Blue Plus
Aquablue
True Actinic
Aquasun
Aquablue
Blue Plus
True actinic

Assuming you already have the lamps bought.

Also hit the reef club section here at RC, there are two active clubs here in the Denver area and a WHOLE lot of really helpful folks who can give you advice on how to set your system up.
Assumom

 

[The Grim Reefer]

Grim, how does the TEK Elite fixture compare to the ATI Sunpower or ATI Powermodule? I see the six bulb 54 watt TEK Elite uses three fans, the ATI Sunpower uses two fans and the Powermodule uses three fans.

While I havent tested the Tek Elite the reflectors aren't as good and they don't use as good a ballast.

 

[The Grim Reefer]

Grim,i have a 90 gallon sps dominant tank i will be setting up soon.I purchased a used tek 6 54 watt bulb fixture.The current bulbs are only 3 months old.I would like to know what bulb combo you'd recommend.I will replace 1 or 2 at a time so they are staggered.Can you tell me what final combination you'd use and which bulbs you'd change at which time to get the best use out of whichever of these are decent bulbs.position 1 and 6 are on the "actinic" switch.
front

uvl 454 to ATI Blue Plus
uvl 75/5 to ATI Purple Plus first
uvl super actinic to ATI Blue Plus
uvl 454 to ATI Blue Plus
uvl actinic white to ATI Aquablue first
uvl 454 to ATI Blue Plus

I marked the first two I'd change out, doesn't much matter after that.

 

[The Grim Reefer]

Hey Grim great thread you got here, I have a 100 gallon tank 4 foot long by 24 high. I am running a used t5 light fixture that i bought a year ago, it is a 4foot long fixture and holds 8 bulbs. It curently has 4 actinic and 4 50/50 that is what it came with. I am going to replace all of the bulbs this week and would like to know what you would recomend me to buy such as how many actinics-how many 50/50s. I dont know anything about lighting so i would really apreciate the help. Also what brand should i purchase? The tank right now is all lps and i probally have 10 large anenomones. I am going to start doing some sps soon though. Thanks so much grim-you rock!

I'd do 4 ATI Blue Plus, 2 ATI Aquablue and 2 ATI Purple Plus, grab a GE 6500K Daylight as a spare so you can experiment with it, probably in place of an aquablue.

 

[The Grim Reefer]

Grim as with the rest I need some help. I bought some cheap VHOs from hellolights awhile back and now I am looking to change them out for better ones. Can you make a recomendation? I don't plan on having coral so what I have now is fish and live rock. I would like to have a nice crisp look with a nice blueish that will bring out the colors on my fish. I have a 96"L x 30"D x 24"W tank. Currently have a set of 4 lamps on each side of the tank. The ballasts I have are Hellolights Very High Output T5 ballast (15% overdrive). Thanks for your help.

Front
ATI Blue Plus
ATI Aquablue
GE 6500K Daylight
ATI Blue Plus

on each side.

 

[The Grim Reefer]

Hey Grim hope you can give me an idea on what i should do. I have a nova extreme 8 bulb 48" t-5 fixture over my 120 mixed reef now im noticing my corals color is not as vibrant as it used to be and thought it was the lighting being that my params are fairly good The bulbs in the fixture are now after reading not very good they are all current bulbs that came with the fixture 4 actinic and 4 10k daylights

My params. are
8.2 ph.
1375 mag.
phos. 0.02 hanna mini photometer reading
calc. 480
alk. 8.4 Slowly increasing by dosing b ionic 2 part
Nitrates undetectable prob. < 5ppm

Change the lamps to 5 ATI Blue Plus, 2 ATI Purple Plus and a GE 6500K Daylight and see what you think.

 

[The Grim Reefer]

Hi Grim and T5 gods,

It's time to change my bulbs after about 11 months. I've been really happy thus far with my Sunpower over my Tech 90G tank. Here's what I currently run - can't remember the exact order:

4 ATI Blue Plus, ATI Aquablue and a GE 6500K Daylight

I think the color is pretty good, and I favor a little more blue than white. I guess my only complaint is that I'd like a little more actinic 'pop'. I've heard there are some fancy new bulbs out though now but don't know anything about them. Can someone recommend what I should go with for the next set? Thanks!

Swap the GE out for a ATI Purple Plus

 

[Rickyrooz1]

Thanks Grim, I just saw your new website, very informative!

 

[adam1980]

Thanks grim your the man!

 

[kmu]

Im currently running a sunpower 6x54 watt (48") on a 48x18x18 with great success and would like to use T5s for my large reef tank.

I just got a 48x48x24 Cube eurobraced with a 36x36 top access hole. My goal is to have a mixed reef where probably soft and lps are gonna be dominating 90% and I will have a few SPS. I want to be able to keep several RBTAs and GBTAs.

I was thinking of getting 2 Sunpower fixtures 6x39 watt (get 36" fixtures) for a total of 12 T5 bulbs for great bulb color combos...

Would 12 T5s on ATI Sunpower fixtures get good coverage, because 468 watts of T5s on a 240g tank sounds awesome for power savings and reduced heat?

Something like
6 ATI Blue Plus
2 ATI Actinic 03
2 ATI Purple Plus
2 ATI Procolor

I want that 20k look with the most coral fluorescence possible.

 

[geris]

Hi Grim I would appreciate your help with my lighting. I have a nova extreme 8 bulb 48" t-5 fixture over my 75g mixed reef, but everyday I have more and more sps corals. I've been noticing my corals colors are not as vibrant as they use to be and thought it may be the lighting because its been about 10 months since i bought these bulbs and also my parameters are good. I favor a blueish tank, but I just want what's right for a healthy tank. I now there are some new bulbs in the market and I would like to buy the correct combination for growth and coloring. The combination i have right now is:

Front:
ATI Blue Plus
ATI Blue Plus
UVL 75/25
UVL Super Actinic
GE 6500K Daylight
ATI Blue Plus
KZ Fiji Purple
ATI Blue Plus

If you could also help me with the order they should be put in, i'll greatly appreciate it. Thanks!

 

[harlequinacro]

Hey Grim, I've recently setup a 10 bulb t5 retro inside a 48x24in canopy. The bulbs are driven by Icecap ballasts and I have 2x4.5in EcoPlus fans blowing perpendicular to the bulbs on both ends from the back. My question is, can there be too much cooling going on in my canopy and will too much cooling hinder the full potential output of the bulbs? I run a chiller for the system, so heating up of the water isn't really a concern. Getting the most output from my lighting is. What's your take on this?

 

[bryman]

Swap the GE out for a ATI Purple Plus

Thanks very much for the recommendation Grim - awesome of you to take the time!