The T5 Q&a Thread

[The Grim Reefer]

I'd go with 250 watt Phoenix lamps. With VHO actinics you will have a nice look and plenty of PAR for what you want to do

 

[yamaha racer]

hey grim i found a site of one of the sponsors and i want to know if it is a good deal because i think it comes wityh the bulbs
http://www.hellolights.com/484lateklisu.html

 

[The Grim Reefer]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7548108#post7548108 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by yamaha racer
hey grim i found a site of one of the sponsors and i want to know if it is a good deal because i think it comes wityh the bulbs
http://www.hellolights.com/484lateklisu.html

Check reefgeek.com and oceanencounter.com (both RC sponsors) I think both have better pricing, I think OE has free shipping but I think that might be on retros.

 

[yamaha racer]

oceanencounterss is a dive shop website. did u spell it wrong?

 

[The Grim Reefer]

Singular, ocean encounter.com

 

[yamaha racer]

ok i found what i was going wrong; i put a "S" at the end. but they are the cheapest. thanks man!

 

[reefsahoy]

i bought tek t5 from hellolights and the shipping was free. i got it about a week after buying it from them. i would buy from them again

 

[yamaha racer]

ya its only a 3 dollar differance but if its free shiping ill go with them.

 

[hahnmeister]

seedsetc (an ebay store)

lowest prices I have found on teks by far, free shipping, and bulbs too.

 

[onecoder]

Lighting question. I am looking to upgrade from a 46 bow to a 72 reef ready bow front. Currently i am running 4X96 PC.

I am looking at getting this:
Sunlight Supply 48" Tek-Light 4 - 54W T5 Fixture - Black for 254.00.
Or Nova Extreme T-5 Fixtures w/Lunar Lights 4 â€"œ 54 for 199.99.

Will either of these provide enough light. At this point I am not looking at SPS, mostly LPS, leathers, and some polyps.

Any help that you can give will be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

[snaza]

i was planing on 1x6500,1x10k and 2x20k but i just read this

http://forums.marinedepot.com/Topic35255-13-1.aspx

is it true. are 20k no good for coral growth?

 

[The Grim Reefer]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7550612#post7550612 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by onecoder
Lighting question. I am looking to upgrade from a 46 bow to a 72 reef ready bow front. Currently i am running 4X96 PC.

I am looking at getting this:
Sunlight Supply 48" Tek-Light 4 - 54W T5 Fixture - Black for 254.00.
Or Nova Extreme T-5 Fixtures w/Lunar Lights 4 â€"œ 54 for 199.99.

Will either of these provide enough light. At this point I am not looking at SPS, mostly LPS, leathers, and some polyps.

Any help that you can give will be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Get the Tek.

 

[The Grim Reefer]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7550962#post7550962 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by snaza
i was planing on 1x6500,1x10k and 2x20k but i just read this

http://forums.marinedepot.com/Topic35255-13-1.aspx

is it true. are 20k no good for coral growth?

From a purist point of view 20K's are not as good for certain corals. 6500K lamps are going to make Acros and other shallow water corals grow better because of the red and green spectrum. Anything growing much beyond 10 feet under the surface isn't going to see a whole lot of red and probably not much green either. Your 6500K and 10K lamps will give the corals a good does of red and green so no worries.

If you wanted to be anal and break it down by growth rate vs. watts used 6500K lamps would be the most efficient. You would probably get the same growth from 2 GE 6500K's as you would from the 4 lamp mix you are planning. Only problem is the tank would look like crap.

 

[snaza]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7551363#post7551363 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by The Grim Reefer
From a purist point of view 20K's are not as good for certain corals. 6500K lamps are going to make Acros and other shallow water corals grow better because of the red and green spectrum. Anything growing much beyond 10 feet under the surface isn't going to see a whole lot of red and probably not much green either. Your 6500K and 10K lamps will give the corals a good does of red and green so no worries.

If you wanted to be anal and break it down by growth rate vs. watts used 6500K lamps would be the most efficient. You would probably get the same growth from 2 GE 6500K's as you would from the 4 lamp mix you are planning. Only problem is the tank would look like crap.

thanks grim. so would i be better with 2 x 6500k and 10k and 1 20k? or will that still look very crap. do the 20k's give the nice blue colour?

 

[The Grim Reefer]

The 20K's are nice and blue. If wou wanted to grow out Acro frags in a hurry I would try 2 GE's and 2 20K's (Actinic Plus). Shouldn't look too bad and will give the tank a lot of PAR.

 

[MJAnderson]

Hmmm...after many many pages I have a question. I have a 72g bowfront without a hood. I'm a better electrician than I am a woodworker and building a hood with a curved front is a little beyond me. What I would like is 4 of the Icecap T5s which would give me about 320w versus a 6 bulb Tek setup of about the same wattage. Is Icecap only retro fitted? Does anyone sell just the shell of a hanging 48" fixture so I can wire it myself with the ICs? I'm trying to avoid buying cheap and just gutting it.

 

[hahnmeister]

I have a good buddy running 2xGE 6500Ks and 2x G'man blue+ bulbs for his frag tank. using the 11,000K aquablue and actinic+ bulbs arent even worth it as the blue+ is the only bulb that can compete in output/spectrum with the 6500Ks. The actinics dont even show really...unless he were to have more bulbs available (like 6) or use only one 6500K. As is, the combo he uses looks rather nice...very 'day', or kinda like a 10,000K with a hint of blue...but nice.

As for a 72g, I would go with a 6 bulb unit unless you plan on using icecap ballasts to overdrive the bulbs. This will allow you to use more blue bulbs for looks (while keeping the output) should you go that route.

 

[The Grim Reefer]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7553571#post7553571 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by hahnmeister
using the 11,000K aquablue and actinic+ bulbs arent even worth it as the blue+ is the only bulb that can compete in output/spectrum with the 6500Ks.

Actinic Plus puts out about 1000 when measuring PAR at the surface of the lamp, the Aquablue does better than 1150.

 

[The Grim Reefer]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7552531#post7552531 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by MJAnderson
Hmmm...after many many pages I have a question. I have a 72g bowfront without a hood. I'm a better electrician than I am a woodworker and building a hood with a curved front is a little beyond me. What I would like is 4 of the Icecap T5s which would give me about 320w versus a 6 bulb Tek setup of about the same wattage. Is Icecap only retro fitted? Does anyone sell just the shell of a hanging 48" fixture so I can wire it myself with the ICs? I'm trying to avoid buying cheap and just gutting it.

If you are handy with electrical you can remote wire a 660 ballast to a Tek hood but you wouldn't end up with any dusk/dawn control. I think I would stick with a standard 6 lamp Tek hood to start and you can get adventerous later on if you decide you want to use an IC ballast on 4 of the lamps.

 

[Ball]

For a 6 bulb, use the Icecap 660 for the middle 4 bulbs and an Icecap 430 for the 2 outside bulbs. That way all 6 bulbs are overdriven and you have dusk/dawn control.