The T5 Q&a Thread
- Thread starter JohnL
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MJAnderson
Premium Member
What do you suggest for the 5 bulbs? Did they send you the reflectors for testing or are you daring them to?
Oh and if you're in Aurora, OH, I can drop mine off for testing purposes. =)
Oh and if you're in Aurora, OH, I can drop mine off for testing purposes. =)
The Grim Reefer
Ready for some NOBALL!!!
The blue plus will help with growth. They have pretty respectable PAR output. They wont grow coral as well as the 11K which wont grow them as well as 6500K. Best way I can put it is if you were running 4 10K lamps and added 2 blue plus lamps to the mix it would slow growth a little. If you had 4 10K lamps and added 2 blue plus lamps for a total of 6 lamps you would get an increase in growth/
hahnmeister
In Memoriam
What I find most significant is the extra light that the IC SLR reflectors can make compared to the Teks....and not just the edge at 16" or close to the bulb like Grim has mentioned. I wonder what the comparative PARs are at 10-12" from the bulb (the distance many of the corals that we would be concerned about having enough output for would be at if they are larger colonies).
And thanks for fillin' me in on the bulb age...I overlooked that detail (musta been staring at my T5 bulbs again and gone blind just at that moment ). :bum:
And thanks for fillin' me in on the bulb age...I overlooked that detail (musta been staring at my T5 bulbs again and gone blind just at that moment ). :bum:
Hey GRIM, you have helped me many times in the past so I turn to you once more. I do have the 5X 54W T5 setup from Aquatinics. I had their MH(175's) and T5 combo and this new fixture is much brighter. As you know there hoods rest directly on the tank and I currently am using AquaZ 3X Aquablue11K and 2X Blue plus. The result is a nice white color. I would like to make it bluer by switching out 1 aguablue for 1 blueplus. Now knowing I have all my SPS in the top part of my 72G will I be losing to much PAR. I want the SPS to have great color more than growth. Any help would be great and I would like opinions from others who have a bluer T5 display.
Hey GRIM, you have helped me many times in the past so I turn to you once more. I do have the 5X 54W T5 setup from Aquatinics. I had their MH(175's) and T5 combo and this new fixture is much brighter. As you know there hoods rest directly on the tank and I currently am using AquaZ 3X Aquablue11K and 2X Blue plus. The result is a nice white color. I would like to make it bluer by switching out 1 aguablue for 1 blueplus. Now knowing I have all my SPS in the top part of my 72G will I be losing to much PAR. I want the SPS to have great color more than growth. Any help would be great and I would like opinions from others who have a bluer T5 display.
hahnmeister
In Memoriam
Lionfan, if you look at the PARs for both the blue+ and the aquablue, you will see their outputs arent that far away from each other. Using the numbers above for a proportion, the blue+ at 83 and the 11,000K at 98...so (3x98 and 2x83)=460 for what you have now, and (3x83 and 2x98)=445 for what you want. Thats a change of about 4%...so little I doubt your corals will notice, but if they do you can move them all up 1/4" to make up for it!!! lol.
NorthernCF
Premium Member
Par does not exactly work that way.
At the bottom of my tanks the par is ~ 100 with one blue +, 175 with two blue plus.
At the bottom of my tanks the par is ~ 100 with one blue +, 175 with two blue plus.
The Grim Reefer
Ready for some NOBALL!!!
What Hahn said, there isn't that big a difference and your high light stuff is up on the sun deck anyway.
humm, with all this testing and such. comparing different lighting with different color temps. has anyone thought about the spectrum of light and how is it absorbed. meaning i see comparisions with the 11k aquabluw and the blue+, but its the specturm of light that will allow(for lack of a better word) the light waves to travel futher, right?
blue is readily absorbed by things like plankton. so if testing the blue spectrum you have to acount for the light being absorbed before it gets to the bottom. less light will be absorbed if the spectrum of the light wave is white.
thus, even if the par reading is the same at the source it will be very different on varying distances from that source, depending on the spectrum and what is in the water colum that might absorb the light. so basically if you measure a white light a say 10" away from the sorce and compare it to a blue light, the white will have a greater par, if for no other reason than the many objects that contain atoms capable of either selectively absorbing, reflecting or transmitting one or more frequencies of light. usually the more absorbed spectrum is blue. so your measurment of the white lighting would include the light waves that are getting reflected/refracted form a certain object/coral. whereas measureing the blue at the same spot the par would be less because more of the light waves are being absorbed.
blue is readily absorbed by things like plankton. so if testing the blue spectrum you have to acount for the light being absorbed before it gets to the bottom. less light will be absorbed if the spectrum of the light wave is white.
thus, even if the par reading is the same at the source it will be very different on varying distances from that source, depending on the spectrum and what is in the water colum that might absorb the light. so basically if you measure a white light a say 10" away from the sorce and compare it to a blue light, the white will have a greater par, if for no other reason than the many objects that contain atoms capable of either selectively absorbing, reflecting or transmitting one or more frequencies of light. usually the more absorbed spectrum is blue. so your measurment of the white lighting would include the light waves that are getting reflected/refracted form a certain object/coral. whereas measureing the blue at the same spot the par would be less because more of the light waves are being absorbed.
NorthernCF
Premium Member
Update on the test. All the bulbs that read Giesemann should read ATI.
I thought they were one and the same or one bought the other... I still am not sure what the relationship is.
I thought they were one and the same or one bought the other... I still am not sure what the relationship is.
The Grim Reefer
Ready for some NOBALL!!!
It depends on how old the lamps are. Anything from ATI that was purchased in the last 6 months or so will be from a new manufacturer unless they were old stock.
NorthernCF
Premium Member
I believe this factor is nominal in our shallow tanks.
When we test a position we asume a coral would take that spot and the coral itself would be recieving that PAR value.
The PAR/LUX readings we take are "close enough for government work".
NorthernCF
Premium Member
Last Wed, from ReefGeek.
Is there a big difference between the ATI and the Gies? The names of the individual bulbs seem to be the same.
The Grim Reefer
Ready for some NOBALL!!!
I have both here and need to get stepping to at least measure the PAR. I am not sure if ATI or Narva designed the original blue plus and aquablue lamps but I am sure they are going to all be pretty close. I'll try to get a measurement going tomorrow. I know the actinic is about like the D&D, pops green and perhaps pink colors better than a blueplus alone.
hahnmeister
In Memoriam
NorthernCF, you said 'PAR doesnt work that way' in response to my last post. What do you mean? The numbers are comparative at the same distance, same position, etc. I would not think of them to be exact numbers, but good for the basis of a comparison of what one could expect from swapping one bulb for another. How would PAR not work in this way?
Hi Guys, I just came back from Aquatinics and now have 3- Blue+ and 2- Aquablues 11K , the display still appears white. I will meter my SPS and report back. I can also see what the difference is on my SPS compared to my aquatinics halide system. I am curious to see what will happen to my green slimers as many have said they turn yellow with T5's. I am experimenting by putting more blue than white light to see what it does to SPS. If it is negative I will put the aquablue back in to have more white instead of more blue.
I'm getting more and more confused about what bulbs to use for my future 4 bulb Tek fixture.
Please help me out!
What is the difference between the Aquablue and the Blue plus?
(the website I plan to order my bulbs from does not list Blue plus).
They have:
GE STarcoat 6500k
ATI Sun 6000k
Aquablue 10,000k
ATI Blue 20,000k 450nm
ATI True Actinic
Should I put an ATI Sun 6000k into the mix or not?
My tank will be sofies/LPS with a few Sps in the mix.
I've only had pc lighting so far, and prefer a white/leaning bluish look over too much yellow, but if the corals need the day bulb, should it be a Starcoat or ATI Sun?
Please help me out!
What is the difference between the Aquablue and the Blue plus?
(the website I plan to order my bulbs from does not list Blue plus).
They have:
GE STarcoat 6500k
ATI Sun 6000k
Aquablue 10,000k
ATI Blue 20,000k 450nm
ATI True Actinic
Should I put an ATI Sun 6000k into the mix or not?
My tank will be sofies/LPS with a few Sps in the mix.
I've only had pc lighting so far, and prefer a white/leaning bluish look over too much yellow, but if the corals need the day bulb, should it be a Starcoat or ATI Sun?
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