The T5 Q&a Thread

[jglackin]

If you like the look then no need to change.

My personal preference would be:

5 ATI Blue Plus
2 ATI Purple Plus
1 ATI Aquablue

Ditch the actinic. It doesn't add much of anything, especially with 8 bulbs. You will get more PAR using a Blue Plus instead and on a 30" deep tank, I would think you need as much as PAR as possible.

Ryan, thank you for your feedback. No offense, I don't hang out on this forum and don't know who you are, but Grim was recommended to me and I wanted to see what his opinion is.

Grim,

I am running an 8 bulb ATI Powermodule with the following bulbs and have a 30" deep tank that is 95% SPS.

1 Fiji Purple
4 ATI Blue Plus
2 ATI Aquablue Special
1 UVL Super Actinic

Any thoughts on this and what order would you use?

 

[jglackin]

Sorry, never mind, I see you just made this recommendation for someone with a similar fixture.

"Put a ATI Purple Plus in 2 and 7, GE 6500K Daylight in 5 and ATI Blue Plus in the rest. Reefgeek should have all them in 80 wattts"

Don't need you to repeat yourself.

 

[Mike Ordner]

Grim, Thanks for the bulb suggestions. Do you have a PAR reading for a 54 watt ATI Purple plus bulb.

Thanks,
Mike

 

[BPro32]

Hey Grimm,

I'm setting up a 6 lamp retro and I have 4 uvl 454's and 1 ati purple plus already. The tank is going to be 20" tall and very heavy on SPS. For my 6th bulb should I go with a GE 6500k, uvl aquasun, or ATI aquablue? I like a blue look but I want a ton of par also.

Thanks

 

[award212]

Hey Grim,

Thinking about doing T5's for my 180g, 72x24x24. What would you recommend since T5 bulbs max lengh is only 60"? Primarily SPS.

Thanks

 

[The Grim Reefer]

current lamps come in at 18" and the uvl come in a full quarter inch smaller so its a matter of moving the end caps in a little therefor you cant mix and match so .....

Have you actually compared the lamps? I haven't heard of anyone having to move the endcaps to use UVL lamps in a current fixture. If thats the case UVL made a serious stupid move.

 

[The Grim Reefer]

those reflectors are 2.5" wide so i can cram about 7 bulbs what would you recomend for a 7 bulb setup and in what order?

Thanks again.

Rich

bp
pp
bp
ab
bp
pp
bp

 

[The Grim Reefer]

whatif i went with a aqua sun,actinic white and 4 super actinic,would this work? or should i just stay with the current bulbs and be done with this matter?

Stick with current lamps, the super actinics don't produce enough PAR

 

[The Grim Reefer]

Hi Grim,

I have a 8xT5 ATI Powermodule over my Peninsula reef tank.

Right now I have the following lamp combination:

ATI Blue Plus
ATI Aquablue Special
ATI Blue Plus (Also on for dawn)
ATI Aquablue Special
ATI Aquablue Special
ATI Blue Plus (Also on for dawn)
ATI Aquablue Special
ATI Blue Plus

. Now I saw in some of your recommendations, that you sometimes preferr to even have more than 50% of Blue Lamps. I also like it blue. But I had in my head, that the corals also need the white light for a good growith and that I therefore should not use more than 50% of blue lamps. If this might not really be correct would you recommend the following combination:

ATI Blue Plus
ATI Aquablue Special
ATI Blue Plus (Also on for dawn)
ATI Aquablue Special
ATI Blue Plus
ATI Blue Plus (Also on for dawn)
ATI Aquablue Special
ATI Blue Plus

Or would you switch to a complete other sequence of the lamps?

I once tried a purple lamp, but I did not really like it.

Thank you very much.

Best regards,

Christian

ATI Blue Plus
ATI Aquablue Special
ATI Blue Plus (Also on for dawn)
ATI Aquablue Special
ATI Aquablue Special
ATI Blue Plus (Also on for dawn)
ATI Aquablue Special
ATI Blue Plus

. Now I saw in some of your recommendations, that you sometimes preferr to even have more than 50% of Blue Lamps. I also like it blue. But I had in my head, that the corals also need the white light for a good growith and that I therefore should not use more than 50% of blue lamps. If this might not really be correct would you recommend the following combination:

ATI Blue Plus
ATI Purple Plus
ATI Blue Plus (Also on for dawn)
ATI Aquablue Special
ATI Blue Plus
ATI Blue Plus (Also on for dawn)
ATI Purple Plus
ATI Blue Plus

You'll get good growth

 

[The Grim Reefer]

Hello Grim,
I have a 90 gallon tank (48 X 18 x 24) and a 6 X 54 retro kit from Reef Geek.
Bulbs are 3 B+, 1 GE 6500, 1 Figi Purple, and 1 Blue special.
I was wondering if I can keep some SPS higher in the tank?
From my research Acros need real high intensity, though was not sure about montipora? I currently have some LPS that are doing well.

Thanks for the help.

Should be fine for SPS on the rocks.

 

[The Grim Reefer]

ryan, thank you for your feedback. No offense, i don't hang out on this forum and don't know who you are, but grim was recommended to me and i wanted to see what his opinion is.

Grim,

i am running an 8 bulb ati powermodule with the following bulbs and have a 30" deep tank that is 95% sps.

1 fiji purple
4 ati blue plus
2 ati aquablue special
1 uvl super actinic

any thoughts on this and what order would you use?

bp
sa
fp
ab
bp
ab
bp
bp

 

[The Grim Reefer]

Grim, Thanks for the bulb suggestions. Do you have a PAR reading for a 54 watt ATI Purple plus bulb.

Thanks,
Mike

They have mid level PAR.

 

[The Grim Reefer]

Hey Grimm,

I'm setting up a 6 lamp retro and I have 4 uvl 454's and 1 ati purple plus already. The tank is going to be 20" tall and very heavy on SPS. For my 6th bulb should I go with a GE 6500k, uvl aquasun, or ATI aquablue? I like a blue look but I want a ton of par also.

Thanks

4 ATI Blue Plus, 1 Purple plus and a GE 6500K. You probably aren't going to get great growth with the 454 lamps but it will look good and I'd hate to tell you to throw them away and get new lamps but...

 

[The Grim Reefer]

Hey Grim,

Thinking about doing T5's for my 180g, 72x24x24. What would you recommend since T5 bulbs max lengh is only 60"? Primarily SPS.

Thanks

8x60 watt ati sunpower fixture.

 

[bk270]

Is anyone using a 4 bulb fixture with 2 blue +, 1 purple + and 1 aquablue special that would be kind enough to post a shot of their tank? I am trying figuring out what combination to get when I buy new bulbs.
thanks!

 

[rtparty]

Have you actually compared the lamps? I haven't heard of anyone having to move the endcaps to use UVL lamps in a current fixture. If thats the case UVL made a serious stupid move.

This is only true when it comes to the 18" UVL lamps. Not the larger sizes.

When Nano Tuners did the first round of UVL 18" lamps they measured wrong and produced an entire shipment the wrong length. To use the 18" lamps in the Current fixtures, you have to move the endcaps in a little.

Yes, it was a HUGE mistake on UVL and Nano Tuners' part.

 

[BPro32]

4 ATI Blue Plus, 1 Purple plus and a GE 6500K. You probably aren't going to get great growth with the 454 lamps but it will look good and I'd hate to tell you to throw them away and get new lamps but...

Ah come on don't say that Grim! (somehow I knew you would say something like that though)

I bought the uvl's because they are 1/2 the price of the blue plus and was hoping to save myself some money. Oh well, if it doesn't do the job I'll switch them out when the next group buy comes around in my area. Thank you for the recommendation.

 

[outssider]

bulb change out time

bulb change out time

I have 4- 48" retro fit over-driven with a 660 ballast from reef geek. I'm getting to the 6 month time frame and going to start to change out the bulbs in a mixed reef with some sps frags at the top of the tank.
I have 3b+ and one atinic white now and am switching to 3b+ and one p+.

Question : should I change one per week for 4 weeks...can i replace them all at one time....or what ??

 

[reeflover7826]

Last question, when I try to retrofit which ballast would you go with?
Icecap?
Workhorse?
Something else?

 

[jackaninny]

Have you actually compared the lamps? I haven't heard of anyone having to move the endcaps to use UVL lamps in a current fixture. If thats the case UVL made a serious stupid move.

There is no doubt the first batch of UVL 18" bulbs were manufactured a 1/4" too small as I have talked directly to Nanotuners about the issue. They agree it was a pretty big mistake given that early production samples had the same issue and UVL was asked to correct the issue and did in another sample but then somehow the final production run reverted back to the shorter bulbs. For retros it's not a big deal usually because you can move the end caps individually. For NEP owners such as myself it's an all UVL or nothing proposition at the moment.