The T5 Q&a Thread

[carlos_fb]

Grim,

Should I upgrade my T5 ballast? I have a 4 x 54 Tek retrofit kit with SLR IceCap reflectors on my 60 gallon reef tank. I only have a few SPS corals that seem to be doing fine for now. Since I plan to do my tank SPS dominated I was wondering if I should upgrade my Tek ballasts for an IceCap 660 to overdrive the bulbs and get more par.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Antman]

Thanks Grim ,Right now I have the Blue + and the super actinic and when only the t5s are on you cant even tell the Super atinic is on .it looks like the blue + over powers it Is this normal ?Will my corals POP with only 2 Blue + lamps ?
Are there any other options I should look into ?
Thanks again

 

[barjam]

Antman, thats what I noticed with my no name actinic too, I ended up not using them. Of course I have a 4x54 trying to grow SPS so I went with all the par I could get, down the road I plan on adding two more T5s and I had planned on one of those being a super actinic, maybe not I have seen quite a few European tanks that use blue pluses instead of actinic.

 

[barjam]

I know some of you guys retrofit icecap SLR reflectors in your fixtures so this may be of some value to you.

My previous fixture spread out all four bulbs over the entire width of my tank (reflectors were 3.25 inches I believe). When I upgraded to the icecap SLR there was a pretty big gap. Today I made aluminum brackets to replace the built in brackets to bring the bulbs closer together. I also did this in preparation of adding two more bulbs down the road.

Wow, it made a huge difference. The blue plus bulbs I had hanging out over the edge are finally able to do their job and the corals just pop.

 

[Antman]

I am using aquactinics 24" MH/T5 Combo on a 54 gallon corner tank
The fixture sights right on top of my glass good /I took the plexi splash guard off snce it sints right on the glass .
How much light is lost using a glass hood ?

 

[barjam]

Assuming the glass is clean, I believe it is 10%.

 

[Antman]

wow 10% is more than I expected

 

[The Grim Reefer]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10825969#post10825969 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by carlos_fb
Grim,

Should I upgrade my T5 ballast? I have a 4 x 54 Tek retrofit kit with SLR IceCap reflectors on my 60 gallon reef tank. I only have a few SPS corals that seem to be doing fine for now. Since I plan to do my tank SPS dominated I was wondering if I should upgrade my Tek ballasts for an IceCap 660 to overdrive the bulbs and get more par.

Thanks in advance!

Wouldn't hurt. You could run 2 overdriven and 2 normally so you have dusk/dawn control too.

 

[The Grim Reefer]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10826455#post10826455 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Antman
Thanks Grim ,Right now I have the Blue + and the super actinic and when only the t5s are on you cant even tell the Super atinic is on .it looks like the blue + over powers it Is this normal ?Will my corals POP with only 2 Blue + lamps ?
Are there any other options I should look into ?
Thanks again

What the Super Actinic does is pop fluorescent green colors really well. If you don't have much of that then 2 blue pluses are fine.

 

[The Grim Reefer]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10826671#post10826671 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Antman
I am using aquactinics 24" MH/T5 Combo on a 54 gallon corner tank
The fixture sights right on top of my glass good /I took the plexi splash guard off snce it sints right on the glass .
How much light is lost using a glass hood ?

Glass UV shields on a halide will cost you 18 to 22%. Even if clean a glass aquarium lid could be 25% or better. That was the case on my 125. The shield on the aquactinic was about 11%.

 

[Antman]

18 /22 % is alot NO ?

 

[The Grim Reefer]

Well its 18 to 22 percent

Yeah, it's a lot to give up. My 125 lost right at 25%, those glass tops were thick.

 

[dphins]

Which bulb do you recommend for pink and red corals?

 

[Mark75]

I have a Nova Extreme running these lamps.

Current 10K
ATI Blue plus
ATI Aquasun
Current 10K

I have two questions, first I want to replace the Current 10K's. Here are the bulbs I am thinking of replacing them with;
UVL Super actinic
UVL Aquasun

My question is will I notice less growth in corals because of the low par of the actinic? I like the look of the actinic and how it pops certain colors but with the single reflector I need all the par I can get!

My second question is , should I remove the plexiglass shield between the bulbs and the water, will it give me more par? The light sets about 4" above the water.

 

[The Grim Reefer]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10827659#post10827659 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by dphinsx2
Which bulb do you recommend for pink and red corals?

Just need some red spectrum. a GE 3000K in the mix will pop them. A UVL Aquasun will to a lesser extent. Fiji Purple will too.

 

[The Grim Reefer]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10827694#post10827694 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Mark75
I have a Nova Extreme running these lamps.

Current 10K
ATI Blue plus
ATI Aquasun
Current 10K

I have two questions, first I want to replace the Current 10K's. Here are the bulbs I am thinking of replacing them with;
UVL Super actinic
UVL Aquasun

My question is will I notice less growth in corals because of the low par of the actinic? I like the look of the actinic and how it pops certain colors but with the single reflector I need all the par I can get!

My second question is , should I remove the plexiglass shield between the bulbs and the water, will it give me more par? The light sets about 4" above the water.

If you pull the plexi you risk having the endcaps corrode. As far as the lamps You would maybe lose a little PAR but I wouldnt worry too much.

 

[cougarguy]

Well I guess I will ask before I buy my new bulbs.

I have a nova extreme 4 bulb fixture on my wife's reef tank and they need replaced she likes the blue look.

I would like to keep the blue look but increase the coral growth so I was thinking:

Front

ATI blue plus
GE 6500
ATI blue plus
GE 6500

Back

Or:

Front

ATI blue plus
ATI 12000K Aquablue special
GE 6500
ATI blue plus or ATI 12000K Aquablue special

back


Thanks in advanced
Justin

 

[The Grim Reefer]

Try this

ATI Blue Plus
ATI Aquablue
UVL Aquasun
ATI Blue Plus or Aquablue

The Red in the aquasun will help bring out pink and purple colors with all that blue.

 

[The Grim Reefer]

Try this

ATI Blue Plus
ATI Aquablue
UVL Aquasun
ATI Blue Plus or Aquablue (Blue Plus if you want a deep blue color)

The Red in the aquasun will help bring out pink and purple colors with all that blue.

 

[szeth13]

on my 75 i used to have a single 250 watt xm 10 k DE mh which broke so i put my sps i na friends tank untill my new light came in and now i have a tek t5 6 bulb unit with these bulbs
Blue Plus
Super Actinic
GE 3000K
GE 6500K
Blue Plus
Aquablue
two questions, how should i acclimate the sps to this new light(they have been under a 400 watt de 14 k for about a week now)? and what would be a good photo period?