The T5 Q&a Thread

[Lightsluvr]

Hi Grim, time to start bulb replacement

Hi Grim, time to start bulb replacement

Grim,

When I set up my 36x96 tank, you suggested the following bulb selection, set up in 12 four-foot bulbs x 2 banks for a total of 24 bulbs.

. ATI Blue Plus
2. UVL 75-25
3. ATI Blue Plus
4. GE 6500K
5. KZ Fiji Purple
6. ATI Blue Plus
R2 Signature Series Moonlight
7. GE 6500K
8. ATI Blue Plus
9. UVL Actinic White
10. ATI Blue Plus
11. UVL 75-25
12. ATI Blue Plus

I am going to gradually start replacing the bulbs, 4 at a time every week.

Based on new bulbs available now, do you see any impprovements or changes you would make in the above selection,?

Thanks for your wisdom, and Merry Christmas.

LL

 

[The Grim Reefer]

hey Grim there is a lot to read in this thread, I am about to set up my new tank and was wondering if what i am about to do is over kill. This is going to be a sps tanks, size is 48Lx30wx24T
I will be adding 8 T5's with icecap plus my two 150w MH. i was wondering what bulbs and placement.

thanks
-------------
MR Milt

I wouldn't use the ice cap ballasts, just standard ballasts. Other than that should be good. I'd do 10or 12K halides then use a lot of blue T5's

Front (All ATI lamps)

Blue Plus
Purple Plus
Blue Plus
Actinic
Halide
Blue Plus
Purple Plus
Aquablue
Blue Plus

 

[The Grim Reefer]

Grim,

When I set up my 36x96 tank, you suggested the following bulb selection, set up in 12 four-foot bulbs x 2 banks for a total of 24 bulbs.

. ATI Blue Plus
2. UVL 75-25
3. ATI Blue Plus
4. GE 6500K
5. KZ Fiji Purple
6. ATI Blue Plus
R2 Signature Series Moonlight
7. GE 6500K
8. ATI Blue Plus
9. UVL Actinic White
10. ATI Blue Plus
11. UVL 75-25
12. ATI Blue Plus

I am going to gradually start replacing the bulbs, 4 at a time every week.

Based on new bulbs available now, do you see any impprovements or changes you would make in the above selection,?

Thanks for your wisdom, and Merry Christmas.

LL

. ATI Blue Plus
2. ATI Purple Plus
3. ATI Blue Plus
4. ATI Aquablue
5. ATI Blue Plus
6. ATI Blue Plus
R2 Signature Series Moonlight
7. ATI Purple Plus
8. ATI Blue Plus
9. ATI Aquablue
10. ATI Blue Plus
11. ATI Purple Plus
12. ATI Blue Plus

Grab a GE daylight as an extra and try it in place of an aquablue if you find you want a less blue look.

 

[Mr Milt]

Thank you Grim

 

[Lightsluvr]

Thanks Grim...sound like you are really sold on the new ATI Blue Plus!

I'll give it a try... maybe one row of the GE 6500K if it turns out to be "too blue".

You are the man.

LL

 

[celstar]

4 Blue Plus, 2 Aquablue and 2 Purple plus ATI lamps.

As far as testing see if there are any well known reefers local to you that will try them. Line up someone with a PAR meter that can do comparative readings against some other fixtures and again, try to do so with a well known person watching. It's one thing for the owner of Acme lights to say they have x amount of PAR. When the Roadrunner backs it up it means something.

Grim, I will also add two 48" Reef Brites to each 48" 8 x 54 T5 light hoods i;m developing to sell. What combination of lights should i go with in this configaration, interested in what you think on what color the Reef Brites should be that i add one on the front of each T5 hood and one on the back of each hood. How will that change the bulb choice in the t5's.

 

[theyammieguy]

What bulbs do yall recommend for a TEK 4x36

 

[The Grim Reefer]

2 Blue Plus, 1 ATI Aquablue and 1 ATI Purple Plus

 

[theyammieguy]

Thank you sir.
Another question, I've been out of the loop for about a year and just now getting back on track to setting up my 40g breeder, I also lost all my favorites when my PC crashed. Where's the best place online to buy said bulbs?

 

[B-Willz]

Hey Grim,
I was going to buy that T5 reflector from you then lost my job. Well my wife took my fish list down to Todd's and got me a retro kit for Christmas. The kit does not have ballasts, I was going to use a couple of IC 660's that I already have, she got Geisman bulbs with it. Are there advantages or disadvantages to overdriving the bulbs, I have been hearing a lot of conflicting stories. It is a four bulb set up, with 2 Geisman Blue+ and a certificate for 2 more. What other 2 would you recomend and what do you think fo Geismans? Thanks for your help.

 

[The Grim Reefer]

Thank you sir.
Another question, I've been out of the loop for about a year and just now getting back on track to setting up my 40g breeder, I also lost all my favorites when my PC crashed. Where's the best place online to buy said bulbs?

reefgeek.com

 

[The Grim Reefer]

Hey Grim,
I was going to buy that T5 reflector from you then lost my job. Well my wife took my fish list down to Todd's and got me a retro kit for Christmas. The kit does not have ballasts, I was going to use a couple of IC 660's that I already have, she got Geisman bulbs with it. Are there advantages or disadvantages to overdriving the bulbs, I have been hearing a lot of conflicting stories. It is a four bulb set up, with 2 Geisman Blue+ and a certificate for 2 more. What other 2 would you recomend and what do you think fo Geismans? Thanks for your help.

I wouldn't overdrive, get standard ballasts if you can. For the last two lamps get another Actinic plus which should be the names of the lamps you have now and a midday. Could be you have aquablue plus now. If that's the case I'd trade them in on the actinic plus. 3 of the actinic plus and the midday will look about 15K. If you have to use the Ice Cap ballast make sure you cool one end of the lamps with a fan.

 

[Hwang]

Hey guys, I'm currently using 3 PAR38s to light up a 36 by 17 display.

I would like to go t-5. I am on a low budget.


Can I have your guy's opinions
all 36 inch
6 bulb Tek elite
tek 4 or 6 bulb
sunpower ATI 4 bulb

FISHNEEDIT 4 bulb. (I can play around with and add fans to make them more efficient?)


In terms of the width of my tank, how many bulbs would I need. For ATI's would i need to go at least 6 bulb to cover 17 inches? I can hang it if I need to.

I am on a low budget. so I'm not looking for the best, but the most economic or bang for my buck.

Can I get away with 4 bulb?

Also, is it true, its hard to get repairs for ATI compared to TEK? and if there are other options that you think is best for my tank, please let me know.

 

[The Grim Reefer]

Hey guys, I'm currently using 3 PAR38s to light up a 36 by 17 display.

I would like to go t-5. I am on a low budget.


Can I have your guy's opinions
all 36 inch
6 bulb Tek elite
tek 4 or 6 bulb
sunpower ATI 4 bulb

FISHNEEDIT 4 bulb. (I can play around with and add fans to make them more efficient?)


In terms of the width of my tank, how many bulbs would I need. For ATI's would i need to go at least 6 bulb to cover 17 inches? I can hang it if I need to.

I am on a low budget. so I'm not looking for the best, but the most economic or bang for my buck.

Can I get away with 4 bulb?

Also, is it true, its hard to get repairs for ATI compared to TEK? and if there are other options that you think is best for my tank, please let me know.

4 lamp ATI would be good. It's hard to get service on a ATI fixture cause they dont break

I think reefgeek handles service issues and judging by their reputation for customer service I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[Hwang]

Just a question,
You know how many products price is exponential but performance is linear? Is that the same with t-5s? If so, where is that price break where its not breaking the bank, but still is efficient.

How much better is the 4 lamp ATI sunpower going to be compared to a normal 4 lamp tek light? Because if I were to directly correlate price with performance, the tek light should have a par 67% compared to sunpower ATI.
Tek costs $247 while ATI sunpower costs $370

Also, how's the performance of FishNeedIt ballasts?

I'm just trying to get the best bang for the buck.

What are your guy's opinions?
Oh and what bulb configuration does a 17inch tank need to cover the tank? Well, honestly, I don't need par in the back of the tank because that's behind my rockwork(I gave the rock and the glass some space. So you can scratch off 3 inches or so.

 

[Hwang]

Also, what happens if I get a 24inch fixture? Can you SEE the spotlight?

 

[The Grim Reefer]

Just a question,
You know how many products price is exponential but performance is linear? Is that the same with t-5s? If so, where is that price break where its not breaking the bank, but still is efficient.

How much better is the 4 lamp ATI sunpower going to be compared to a normal 4 lamp tek light? Because if I were to directly correlate price with performance, the tek light should have a par 67% compared to sunpower ATI.
Tek costs $247 while ATI sunpower costs $370

Also, how's the performance of FishNeedIt ballasts?

I'm just trying to get the best bang for the buck.

What are your guy's opinions?
Oh and what bulb configuration does a 17inch tank need to cover the tank? Well, honestly, I don't need par in the back of the tank because that's behind my rockwork(I gave the rock and the glass some space. So you can scratch off 3 inches or so.

ATI not only has more PAR than the tek, it cools the lamps so they last longer. Honestly I don't remember the exact numbers anymore. I look for 3 things in a fixture. Reflector design/material, ballast and active cooling. ATI has a better reflector, uses real T5 ballasts and has cooling. Tek has a good reflector although not as high quality, uses a workhorse ballast which does not meet manufactures specs and has no cooling. I think over the life of the fixture the Tek is going to cost more in lost performance and shorter lamp life due to lack of cooling an non spec ballasts.

24" fixture over a 36" tank looks good as long as the fixture is like 4" above although you don't have the intensity at the ends.

 

[theyammieguy]

Thanks again.

 

[RBU1]

Hello again Grim, The time of year has come for me to replace my 54w t5 bulbs. I have an 8' 300 gallon tank with 8 t5 bulbs 4 over each side powered by 2 - IceCap 660's. Last year I took your suggestions and went with.....

--------------ati blue plus ----------------------ati blue plus
--------------ati blue plus ----------------------ati blue plus
--------------6500k GE ---------------------- 6500k GE
--------------ati blue plus ----------------------ati blue plus

I only have softies and a couple SPS I just put in to see how they would do...They are growing....What do you suggest for this year?

 

[Hwang]

I saw a thread long time ago on lots of differnet fixtures and par values, but I can't find it anymore. Is there any recent one that compares PAR of both sunlight supply tek and elite vs both sunpower and powermodule?

Thanks,
Steve