The T5 Q&a Thread

[84jeepjohn]

Ok, Like I stated earlier I'm looking at doing a 6 bulb retro.
Thanks for the replies too!!

Mind you the tank is about 20" tall.


I was all set on doing a 4 bulb and then a 2 bulb TEC (buy them at diferent times)

But I was just looking at Reef Geek and the IC overdriven 4 bulb is about 60$ more than the tec(I think that's money well spent)

For the IC 2 bulb, is the IC 430 overdriving a 48" bulb?




Ok if I did the IC 4 bulb, and the Tec 2 bulb for the other lights how would that look? having 4 bulbs overdriven, and two not. Would it cause any "washout"?

I'd ask on bulb choices, but I've got some time till I buy LOL

 

[Wolfmann81]

I have a 4x54W tek light T5's. On that particular setup, I can run 0,2 or 4 bulbs. There are two switches. I imagine on a 2x54 or 2x39, it's either on or off, but I am not sure.

 

[ninjafish]

Thanks for the info Wolfmann. Just to be clear, can you run 1 bulb on each ballast/switch, or do you have to run them both on the same ballst for them to fire. I am planning on having one bulb come on in the morning and then the second bulb come on a few hours earlier.

- Chad

 

[The Grim Reefer]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8256840#post8256840 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jezzeaepi
Sounds like a good compromise to me Grim thanks. I want to go with 2 suns, 2 blues and just 1 SA I think, for the higher par. What I have seen out of the SA bulbs leaves me dissapointed as far as par goes. Should I get my bulbs from aquatinics.com as well, or should I spring for the ati bulbs from reefgeek?


Aquatinics has a "aquaz" brand (sun, actinic and a pure actinic),
D&D(aquablue, pure actinic), UVL super actinic, and a coralview bule+ actinic.

If I went aquatinics Id probably get 2 aquaz sun's, 2 d&d aquablues, and the uvl SA.

or should I go with a different combo from ReefGeek?

Thanks,
Jesse

If you can get them from Aquactinics go for 1 UVL supr actinic, 1 Gisemann Midday, 1 Aquablue and 2 Actinic Plus or the Aquaz blue pro. The Aquablue isn't very blue and the actinic plus is actually a very high output blue lamp that produces quite a bit of PAR. The Aquablue has about as much PAR as the Midday.

If you have to go through reefgeek go with the UVL SA and ATI for Blue plus and Aquablue lamps. For a sun lamp go with UVL aquasun or Geisemann Midday.

 

[The Grim Reefer]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8258977#post8258977 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by 84jeepjohn
Ok, Like I stated earlier I'm looking at doing a 6 bulb retro.
Thanks for the replies too!!

Mind you the tank is about 20" tall.


I was all set on doing a 4 bulb and then a 2 bulb TEC (buy them at diferent times)

But I was just looking at Reef Geek and the IC overdriven 4 bulb is about 60$ more than the tec(I think that's money well spent)

For the IC 2 bulb, is the IC 430 overdriving a 48" bulb?




Ok if I did the IC 4 bulb, and the Tec 2 bulb for the other lights how would that look? having 4 bulbs overdriven, and two not. Would it cause any "washout"?

I'd ask on bulb choices, but I've got some time till I buy LOL

I have a friend (Freddie40, check the colorado rocky mountain reef thread in the club forums) who runs 4 IC and 2 Tek T5's over his 75 and he is very happy with it.

 

[cwal]

Thanks Grim for the information, is there any down side to going with this different setup, and why would I need to change the position of the SA?

 

[The Grim Reefer]

If you want the light to look more bluish.

 

[gokcegoktan]

Hi Grim,

I'll set up a 300g (72*36*28h) reef tank. Esp. SPS and LPS. Planning to use 3*250W 14000K MH and combine them with 4 or 6*80W T5. For T5 i need advise. In Turkey i can only find Giesemann products. Which bulbs would you reccomend ?

1. Giesemann Powerchrome T5 Actinicplus - 22000 K - 80W
2. Giesemann Powerchrome T5 Aquablueplus - 15000 K - 80W
3. Giesemann Powerchrome T5 Pureactinic - 80W

 

[Philby]

OK - so I just went back and read a lot of this thread and now I'm more confused than ever.

After reading information from other places (and here just not this thread) - i came to the conclusion that ODing T5s on Icecap ballasts was the way to go, regardless of the setup...this was more due to the fact that Icecap has the best ballasts, but also because of the added "power".

Now I'm seeing some conflicting opinions when working with my tank depth (40B so 18" depth).

I have already purchased 2 Icecap 430 retros and installed/wired half of it, and before i get much further I'd like some advice. I've also already ordered the bulbs, 2 UVL Super Actinics, 1 UVL midday (10K) and 1 UVL actinic white (12K) (EDIT: so total I've got 4x39w)

Being that i would like to do mostly SPS, some LPS (and in the future clams and anem in the way future) do i still have too much light? My canopy has the lights about 7" off the surface...and I plan on going BB and not have a "rockwall" so my rocks probably won't be as high as some people have them, meaning my frags would be mounted lower in the tank than most (at least that is my thoughts right now...I'm still dry).

So should i keep my current ballasts? or sell them and get somethign that doesn't OD? Also what bulb/ballast config should i do? Here's what i was thinking, but I could easily modify.

Front
Super Actinic, ballast A
Actinic White, ballast B
midday/daylight, ballast B
Super Actinic, ballast A

Ballast A would be my dusk/dawn...should i leave it like that or change the lights/ballast config?

Thanks in advance for you help anyone, i appreciate everyone's willingness to help out us newbies!

 

[The Grim Reefer]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8260410#post8260410 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by gokcegoktan
Hi Grim,

I'll set up a 300g (72*36*28h) reef tank. Esp. SPS and LPS. Planning to use 3*250W 14000K MH and combine them with 4 or 6*80W T5. For T5 i need advise. In Turkey i can only find Giesemann products. Which bulbs would you reccomend ?

1. Giesemann Powerchrome T5 Actinicplus - 22000 K - 80W
2. Giesemann Powerchrome T5 Aquablueplus - 15000 K - 80W
3. Giesemann Powerchrome T5 Pureactinic - 80W

I would do one pure actinic, 2 Actinic Plus and 3 Aquablues given those choices.

 

[humptrax]

hey grim,

i want to use t5s as actinic supplimentation to my halides. i plan on running 2 10000k 250w iwasakis for my 24x24x36 as well as t5s but i don't quite know how many t5s i need. i was going to go with 4 39W t5s but i think that might be over doing it. i plan on keeping sps, lps, and clams. what would you recommend?

thanks for your help.

john

 

[The Grim Reefer]

Not sure about the Iwas but 10K halides usually have a good amount of actinic range light output so adding a more blue light will help. I would go with the Blue Plus ATI lamps or Actinic Plus Geisemanns. They are a 450nm blue that fluoresces corals pretty good but add a lot of intense blue light that will wash the yellow out of the 10K halides. If you can do 4 lamps I would use a couple of UVL's super actinics too.

 

[sarduci]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8261397#post8261397 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Philby
Now I'm seeing some conflicting opinions when working with my tank depth (40B so 18" depth).

I have already purchased 2 Icecap 430 retros and installed/wired half of it, and before i get much further I'd like some advice. I've also already ordered the bulbs, 2 UVL Super Actinics, 1 UVL midday (10K) and 1 UVL actinic white (12K) (EDIT: so total I've got 4x39w)

Being that i would like to do mostly SPS, some LPS (and in the future clams and anem in the way future) do i still have too much light? My canopy has the lights about 7" off the surface...and I plan on going BB and not have a "rockwall" so my rocks probably won't be as high as some people have them, meaning my frags would be mounted lower in the tank than most (at least that is my thoughts right now...I'm still dry).

willingness to help out us newbies!

I've got a 40b too. I have 3 T5 retro's waiting at home for me right now, ballasts are all triades, but all the rest is the same as you have.... You're pushing close to 300w of light, I'm somewhere around 240.

Ok, here's the deal, if you want to keep clams on the bottom, you're probably not going to be able to keep LPS's or softies in the tank. You can really hide them from the lights like you can with MH lights. If you can keep clams on the bottom, you can keep clams ANYWHERE in the tank, and that's usually way more than what a LPS will like. Such is the boon and bane of this type of light.

 

[Divetime]

Okay, I think this may have gotten lost during the split so I'll ask again.

Are acrylic shields or tempered glass recommended for use with a T5 retrofit system? I don't have one currently but won't to make sure I have everything taken care of when I do upgrade. I was just planning on mounting it in my existing canopy & plugging it in.

I appreciate the help & Wow this has been a great read with so much information.

 

[sarduci]

Both can work, acrylic can cut down on light output a lot, tempered glass won't melt on you like acrylic can, glass won't scratch that easy if you slide it in and out

 

[Philby]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8262229#post8262229 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by sarduci
I've got a 40b too. I have 3 T5 retro's waiting at home for me right now, ballasts are all triades, but all the rest is the same as you have.... You're pushing close to 300w of light, I'm somewhere around 240.

Ok, here's the deal, if you want to keep clams on the bottom, you're probably not going to be able to keep LPS's or softies in the tank. You can really hide them from the lights like you can with MH lights. If you can keep clams on the bottom, you can keep clams ANYWHERE in the tank, and that's usually way more than what a LPS will like. Such is the boon and bane of this type of light.

So should i maybe only install 3 bulbs if i want to keep any LPS? (PS - clams are a ways off)

EDIT: anyone one else care to respond to my earlier post, specifically the light config and how they should be connected to teh ballasts?

 

[sarduci]

The PAR levels you are pushing to the bottom are the PAR levels you are pushing to the bottom. If it's one light or 6 lights above the tank, it's still the same amount going to the bottom of the tank under the bulbs. MH has that hot spot under the bulb that gets lower PAR number the farther away you go. If you space the bulbs far enought apart, you'll still have "hot spots" the entire length of the bulbs you have under there.

 

[Philby]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8262445#post8262445 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by sarduci
The PAR levels you are pushing to the bottom are the PAR levels you are pushing to the bottom. If it's one light or 6 lights above the tank, it's still the same amount going to the bottom of the tank under the bulbs. MH has that hot spot under the bulb that gets lower PAR number the farther away you go. If you space the bulbs far enought apart, you'll still have "hot spots" the entire length of the bulbs you have under there.

Yes - i understand that - but obviously 3 bulbs worth of PAR is less than 4 bulbs worth...my question was, would 3 bulbs make more sense than 4 if i wanted to keep anything besides SPS/Clams?

 

[sarduci]

3 bulbs give you less coverage, not less PAR. Personally, I would have skipped the overdriving and gone with 4 or more bulbs (up to 6 with SLR's), keeping SPS's at the top half, LPS's in the bottom half. You have a better rang of light that way in the tank to keep things in. Right now you are going to be really bright all the way to the bottom.

(edit: I'm keeping ricordea florida in the upper half, frogspawn in the lower half of mine. Ricordea florida can be kept under SPS type lights if time it taken to adjust them to it. Mine are currently directly under my 250w de mh's at the bottom of my tank.)

 

[The Grim Reefer]

3 bulb will give you less par. The overlapping coverage increases the PAR out to at least 4 lamps.