The T5 Q&a Thread

[The Grim Reefer]

Hey Grim.. a friend of mine bagged up some livestock for you the other day and was telling me about meeting you lol I was telling him about your t5 expertise just the day before. Anyway...

I have a 4x54w currently... 2 bulb daylights on a timer.. and 2 bulb actinics.. I plan on only replacing the daylights for now... you think an aquablue and ablue+ will be a crisp enough white with the two actinics I have now? Or should I go with just two aquablues? Or open to other suggestions.

Your friend gave me a defective anemone, it decided to go play with one of my pumps :sad2::fun2:

Yeah the Aquablue and Blue Plus should give you about a 15K look.

 

[The Grim Reefer]

Hey Grim, maybe you can give me a hand with an odd ball combo. Looking for order/bulb type. The tank is a 36x24x18 SPS (uptop), and lps down low shallow reef.

My Lighting opiton is as follows (filled out with what I already have). I'm really looking to get colours that pop without washing out, and enough part to keep my sps happy.


From front to back I have

36" T5 ??
36" T5 ??
24" T5 - purple+
250w DE Halide - Reeflux 20k (eventually to be switched for an ushio 20k)
24" T5 - blue+
36" T5 ??
36" T5 ??

I also have a second 24" blue+, and a pro color that I haven't used.

Front
Blue Plus
Purple Plus
Blue Plus
Halide
Purple Plus
Aquablue
Blue Plus

 

[The Grim Reefer]

Im new to the hobby and had a question and I'm hoping one of you experts can help me out. What is the best color combo (Lamps and order) for a 72" x 10 bulb ATI fixture?
Thank you all in advance.

Front
Blue Plus
Purple Plus
Blue Plus
Aquablue
Blue Plus
Purple Plus
Blue Plus
Aquablue
Blue Plus

 

[The Grim Reefer]

thanks for the advice.
would running bulbs 1,3,5,7 for 9hrs and 2,4,6,8 for 4 hours be best as far as providing enough light, right now I only have softies. and 10 and 5.5 when I get into sps? thanks

Should be fine. I'd maybe go 10 for the dusk/dawn set soft or hard corals.

 

[Jonathan76]

I have a 48” ATI sunpower 6 bulb --> 4 bp, 1, pp, 1, aquablue. I was measuring the temps coming out of the exhaust (splashguard on L side) and found: fan speed at 6V was 161 degrees and Noticeably brighter, and fan speed at 4.5 volts (recommended) was 166 degrees, much like about 10-12K. whereas the 4.5 volts was looking like 15K.
So, my question is: should I run the fans at 6 V to get the increase in PAR? or does that increase the par to an appreciable extent? Taking into consideration increased fan wear and tear...it is a tad louder too...

Sooo, is anybody running the the fans faster than recommended?

 

[MammothReefer]

Front
Blue Plus
Purple Plus
Blue Plus
Halide
Purple Plus
Aquablue
Blue Plus

Thanks! If I want to go for a more 20k deeper look would replacing the aquablue w/a pure actnic of some sort do the trick? I wouldn't mind ordering an extra bulb to play with just in case I get bored.

 

[C-21 USAF]

Grim,

I'm getting the new ATI Sunpower 8x54 and putting it on my 63x22x24 (150 g) 90% SPS tank...and I have ALL the colors you can imagine with SPS.

Is 7.5v what you recommend to run the fans on?

Please give me the 8-bulb line-up for some eye-popping colors please.

Also, please give me an optional bulb to switch out and which one to switch it with to whiten things up if they are too blue.

Thanks a million!

 

[jackaninny]

Just curious but why am I limited to UVL lamps?

Ok I'm going to answer my own question after a little more research. Please correct any errors I make. It seems that the 18" bulbs used in the 20" NEP are not a standard size in the industry so only two manufacturers (UVL and Current) currently produce this size of bulb. To compound the issue the first batch of UVL bulbs were produced a 1/4" too short so NEP owners had to use a screwdriver and move one end of the end caps in which meant you had to replace ALL you bulbs at once so they fit. Also the 18W bulbs are a little weak but the ballast can be replaced so one could use 30W bulbs but it seems to be difficult to source a retrofit ballast(s) that will still fit inside the hood. Hopefully some others can read and learn quickly what I scratched my head over for an hour or so.

 

[rtparty]

I have a 48" ATI sunpower 6 bulb --> 4 bp, 1, pp, 1, aquablue. I was measuring the temps coming out of the exhaust (splashguard on L side) and found: fan speed at 6V was 161 degrees and Noticeably brighter, and fan speed at 4.5 volts (recommended) was 166 degrees, much like about 10-12K. whereas the 4.5 volts was looking like 15K.
So, my question is: should I run the fans at 6 V to get the increase in PAR? or does that increase the par to an appreciable extent? Taking into consideration increased fan wear and tear...it is a tad louder too...

Sooo, is anybody running the the fans faster than recommended?

You should be running the fans at 9v on the Sunpower. There is a GREAT thread all about it here on RC.

I run my 4x24w fixture at 9v. It gives better PAR and your bulbs last longer.

 

[rtparty]

In a four bulb fixture, wouldn't two ATI Aquablue Specials, a Fiji Purple, and a Blue Plus give better growth and more PAR than one Aquablue, a Fiji Purple, and two Blue Plus because the Aquablue is a daylight bulb and provides more the red spectrum that algae need to photosynthesize in addition to the blue spectrum (I realize that it does have a lower blue peak than the Blue Plus)?

No, not on the PAR side of things.

The Blue Plus bulbs have more PAR than the Aquablues.

Growth is a whole other topic. Food is more important for growth in my experience.

You can give some corals all the light in the world and they don't do anything. Start feeding and they double their size in weeks.

Corals need protein to grow, not just sucrose that algae provides. They can survive on just sucrose but they don't really thrive and take off.

In the end the tank will be white and colors will be washed out with two Aquablue bulbs. I hate using even one Aquablue.

 

[keith sprague]

You should be running the fans at 9v on the Sunpower. There is a GREAT thread all about it here on RC.

I run my 4x24w fixture at 9v. It gives better PAR and your bulbs last longer.

+1 RT that is what is recommended too.thats what reef geek pre set's them for now,and recommends. sorry to jump in on ur thread grim.

 

[smokey30]

I am currently using a 6 bulb sunpower over my 50 gallon tank and it is way to strong even with it 10inches over the tank I am still bleaching corals on the sand..My current bulb configuration is

Front:
Blue Plus
Blue Plus
Purple Plus
Aquablue
Blue Plus
Blue Plus

I was thinking of adding a super actinic in there to lower some of the pars values, just not sure what position I should put it in. Any help or suggestion would be great. My thought was

Front:
Blue Plus
Blue Plus
Purple Plus
Aquablue
Super Actinic
Blue Plus

 

[The Grim Reefer]

I am currently using a 6 bulb sunpower over my 50 gallon tank and it is way to strong even with it 10inches over the tank I am still bleaching corals on the sand..My current bulb configuration is

Front:
Blue Plus
Blue Plus
Purple Plus
Aquablue
Blue Plus
Blue Plus

I was thinking of adding a super actinic in there to lower some of the pars values, just not sure what position I should put it in. Any help or suggestion would be great. My thought was

Front:
Blue Plus
Blue Plus
Purple Plus
Aquablue
Super Actinic
Blue Plus

I'd move it more toward the front. #2 so it's in the dusk/dawn

 

[smokey30]

I'd move it more toward the front. #2 so it's in the dusk/dawn

So your saying:

Front:
Blue Plus
Actinic - Dawn/Dusk
Purple plus
Aquablue
Blue plus - Dawn/Dusk
Blue plus

 

[d-man]

bulb config.

bulb config.

Grim,
quick advice on bulb config.
Specs. Current 6 bulb set up over a 41"x29"x25 mixed reef.
I also will be running 2x24 actinics front and back, so no actinic specific bulbs on the current 6 bulb.
so it will look like...

24wt actinic
24 wt actinic
39 wt
39
39
39
39
39
24 actinic
24 actinic

which brands and bulbs to fit in the other spots?
Thanks
derek

 

[The Grim Reefer]

So your saying:

Front:
Blue Plus
Actinic - Dawn/Dusk
Purple plus
Aquablue
Blue plus - Dawn/Dusk
Blue plus

Yes

 

[The Grim Reefer]

I am currently using a 6 bulb sunpower over my 50 gallon tank and it is way to strong even with it 10inches over the tank I am still bleaching corals on the sand..My current bulb configuration is

Front:
Blue Plus
Blue Plus
Purple Plus
Aquablue
Blue Plus
Blue Plus

I was thinking of adding a super actinic in there to lower some of the pars values, just not sure what position I should put it in. Any help or suggestion would be great. My thought was

Front:
Blue Plus
Blue Plus
Purple Plus
Aquablue
Super Actinic
Blue Plus

Should probably throw 2 Actinics in there if you think you are overpowering things that hard

 

[plumb4u2]

hi, im in the market for new fixture what would b the best buy....90g mixed reef 48"...would like the option of keeping any coral
thanx in advance

 

[plumb4u2]

hi, im in the market for new fixture what would b the best buy....90g mixed reef 48"...would like the option of keeping any coral
thanx in advance

 

[killagoby]

Grim,

I've got an ATI 6 bulb SunPower fixture and I'm currently running one Aquablue Special as a day bulb in the rear slot. I'm thinking of replacing it to make my LPS' pop more. Would you suggest this config and in this order?

Blue+
Blue+
Purple+
Purple+
Blue+
Blue+

Thanks!