The T5 Q&a Thread

[jjoos99]

blackend ends

blackend ends

Is bulb blackening on the ends a good sign of the bulbs needing replacement? Any guesstamate as to bulb life on a ho bulb being overdriven by icecaps? I just replaced them after 6 months. I have had some sps's starting to lose their color and wanted to see if new bulbs would turn them around.
Thanks
Jeff

 

[allykahn]

On 6' tanks, what is better to use, 80w, 54w or 39w?

I have a 180g with 4 vhos. Going to switch out 2 - 50/50s to 3 - 80W T5 bulbs (IC 660) and keep the 2 - 72" vho actinics. Would this work? How would I arrange the bulbs and which bulbs would be best?

What about using the IC 430 to run 1 vho and another T5 instead of both vho? I would then have 4 T5s and 1 vho super actinic. Man...This is confusing!

Thanks

 

[The Grim Reefer]

Re: blackend ends

Re: blackend ends

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9108786#post9108786 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jjoos99
Is bulb blackening on the ends a good sign of the bulbs needing replacement? Any guesstamate as to bulb life on a ho bulb being overdriven by icecaps? I just replaced them after 6 months. I have had some sps's starting to lose their color and wanted to see if new bulbs would turn them around.
Thanks
Jeff

What wattage lamps? My 80's were good for over a year. The black rings seem to be hit and miss. I have some new ones with the rings visible and the lamps are fine. I had one 80 watt lamp the was a victime of overdriving without fans and it was hammered but didn't show any rings.

 

[The Grim Reefer]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9108833#post9108833 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by allykahn
On 6' tanks, what is better to use, 80w, 54w or 39w?

I have a 180g with 4 vhos. Going to switch out 2 - 50/50s to 3 - 80W T5 bulbs (IC 660) and keep the 2 - 72" vho actinics. Would this work? How would I arrange the bulbs and which bulbs would be best?

What about using the IC 430 to run 1 vho and another T5 instead of both vho? I would then have 4 T5s and 1 vho super actinic. Man...This is confusing!

Thanks

Must not be too confusing if you figurd out you can run a T5 and VHO on the same ballast

I'd use the 80 watt lamps and run 4.

Front
Blue Plus
VHO Actinic
GE Daylight
Aquablue
Blue Plus

 

[Labman48076]

Just ordered from Reef Geek

Just ordered from Reef Geek

I just order per Greg's recmondation the fallowing along with wat I have I a 72" canopy 200 gallon setup 26" deep with lots of sps
ordered
6 104963 ATI 39W Blue Plus T5 HO Fluorescent
2 104943 UVL 39W 10000K AquaSun T5 HO

I Have or planing to use with
2 UVI Super Atinic
2 UVI Atinic White
2 GE 3000k
or I have other UVI Atinc White that I could replace for the GE 3000K wondering how this combo sounds? I have been getting abit of a algea problem Briopsis wondering if I am running the lights to long? or wrong par I think it's a combo of the two.

My Atinics come on about 7am then second set goes on at 9am 3rd at 10am and then go back to atincs about 8pm and lights of at 9pm.

 

[The Grim Reefer]

I would run actinics/blues 12 hours or less, then ramp up to full lighting from there. I would play with different mixes. I think 3 BP, 1 SA, 1 AW, 1 GE, 1 AS (talking rows of lamps) would be the best.

 

[jjoos99]

Re: Re: blackend ends

Re: Re: blackend ends

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9109114#post9109114 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by The Grim Reefer
What wattage lamps? My 80's were good for over a year. The black rings seem to be hit and miss. I have some new ones with the rings visible and the lamps are fine. I had one 80 watt lamp the was a victime of overdriving without fans and it was hammered but didn't show any rings.

My bulbs are indeed 80 watts. I do have smaller fans blowing into the hood but not directly over the bulbs from end to end. This has probably shortened their life. What ballast is recommened if you dont use ice caps and overdrive? Were you overdriving your 80's that you got over a years use out of?
thanks
Jeff

 

[monkey61672]

My TX5 came in on friday and boy do they look good, brighter already and I am only running three bulbs( UVl aquasun, UVL SuperAct, Aquable) Coming in early this week will be (2) Blue+s.

Any suggetsions of their order front to back?

I'll post some before and after pictures when its all set.

Thanks again guys for all of your help.
Scott

 

[The Grim Reefer]

Yes, I overdrove the 80's. The two at the front of the canopy got cooked the fist 6 weks or so because I wasn't running fans. They had about half the output the lamps at the rear did. I had the fans blowing in from the back of the canopy across the ends of the lamps.

 

[The Grim Reefer]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9109949#post9109949 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by monkey61672
My TX5 came in on friday and boy do they look good, brighter already and I am only running three bulbs( UVl aquasun, UVL SuperAct, Aquable) Coming in early this week will be (2) Blue+s.

Any suggetsions of their order front to back?

I'll post some before and after pictures when its all set.

Thanks again guys for all of your help.
Scott

Front

Blue Plus
UVL SA
Aquasun
Blue Plus
Aquablue

 

[jdellman]

I have definitely decided on the solaris, but now the question becomes whether to go with the 6 x 54 or 6 x 80, and which bulbs to order and what order to put them in. It is going over a 120 48 x 24 x. 24.

What are the experts' suggestions?

 

[The Grim Reefer]

You cant use 80 watt lamps, they are nearly 60" long.

 

[brianbigoats]

I thought everyone might like to see my tank i was the one that one the Solar Flare in the naming contest

Running 2 Aqua Sun
2 Actinic White
2 Super Actinic
This pick was taken the day after i set the tank up transfered my 60 gallon in to this 90 gallon
just after a week i am seeing good growth

 

[The Grim Reefer]

PUURRRDY!!!!

 

[TropTrea]

The tank realy looks noce for being basicly new. I like the light balance and from your selection it proves someone does not need 3 atinics for every white light to get a good color balance.

However I do see three goode sized power heads. So let me ask which ones they are and how much flow are you getting in this tank?

Dennis

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9111828#post9111828 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by brianbigoats
I thought everyone might like to see my tank i was the one that one the Solar Flare in the naming contest

Running 2 Aqua Sun
2 Actinic White
2 Super Actinic
This pick was taken the day after i set the tank up transfered my 60 gallon in to this 90 gallon
just after a week i am seeing good growth

 

[smbrown15]

This thread helped to instigate the coversion of my 55gal from PC Smartlights to T5. Installed about 4 months ago. 4x48" (2 blue+ and 2 60/40 11k) driven by an Icecap 660.

I had been keeping only softies (and a candycane which never did real well) under the PC's. Since the T5 coversion I've introduced SPS and they're all doing well except the green monti. This was growing well but seems like it's too near the lights. Seems washed out. Candy cane doing very well now and Leathers are all doing great.

Polyps used to be magnificent under the PC's and starting to take over my tank but now greatly shrunk since I changed to the T5. Only the ones way out of direct light look good. Same situation pretty much for shrooms and they're all located at the bottom of my tank.

This would all suggest that my bulbs are too intense? To my eye, they seem pretty white/bright overall.

I see the suggested 5 bulb arrangement just prior to this. Would that be a better arrangement and if so, which bulb should I eliminate?

Present arrangement is the 2 blues on the outer sides and the 60/40's in the middle.

 

[brianbigoats]

the power there are 2 seio 1100, and 1 Tunze 6100 flow is about 5000gph tank is a bearbottom sps tank 56x turn over

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9112567#post9112567 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by TropTrea
The tank realy looks noce for being basicly new. I like the light balance and from your selection it proves someone does not need 3 atinics for every white light to get a good color balance.

However I do see three goode sized power heads. So let me ask which ones they are and how much flow are you getting in this tank?

Dennis

 

[The Grim Reefer]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9112679#post9112679 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by smbrown15
This thread helped to instigate the coversion of my 55gal from PC Smartlights to T5. Installed about 4 months ago. 4x48" (2 blue+ and 2 60/40 11k) driven by an Icecap 660.

I had been keeping only softies (and a candycane which never did real well) under the PC's. Since the T5 coversion I've introduced SPS and they're all doing well except the green monti. This was growing well but seems like it's too near the lights. Seems washed out. Candy cane doing very well now and Leathers are all doing great.

Polyps used to be magnificent under the PC's and starting to take over my tank but now greatly shrunk since I changed to the T5. Only the ones way out of direct light look good. Same situation pretty much for shrooms and they're all located at the bottom of my tank.

This would all suggest that my bulbs are too intense? To my eye, they seem pretty white/bright overall.

I see the suggested 5 bulb arrangement just prior to this. Would that be a better arrangement and if so, which bulb should I eliminate?

Present arrangement is the 2 blues on the outer sides and the 60/40's in the middle.

Swap out a 60/40 with an actinic, a UVL super actinic if you can find one. That will drop the PAR a bit and giv you better fluorescence in green colors.

 

[beatle]

I'm planning to upgrade the 2x96w PC setup with parabolic reflectors over my 90. Right now I only have softies and a couple LPS. I'm guessing SPS will likely creep their way into the picture down the road. Will I need a 6x54 kit or will 4x54 suffice? Would three of the 2x54w kits do the trick? This would be $315. The 6x54w Tek kit from Reefgeek is $449. The 6x54w Icecap kit is $609! I know the key to T5 is the individual reflectors, which all of these retrofits have. What makes one worth more than the other?

I know this has probaby been asked before, but I'm not the best at wading through 40 pages of questions.

 

[JohnL]

This thread was automatically split due to performance issues. You can find the rest of the thread here: http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=1032804