The Grim Reefer
Ready for some NOBALL!!!
For 8 lamps
Outside
ATI Aquablue
ATI Blue Plus
KZ Fiji Purple
ATI Blue Plus
ATI Aquablue
KZ Fiji Purple
ATI Blue Plus
ATI Aquablue
Inside of tank
The T5 Q&a Thread
- Thread starter JohnL
- Start date
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For 8 lamps
Outside
ATI Aquablue
ATI Blue Plus
KZ Fiji Purple
ATI Blue Plus
ATI Aquablue
KZ Fiji Purple
ATI Blue Plus
ATI Aquablue
Inside of tank
The Grim Reefer
Ready for some NOBALL!!!
Not positive what the firing order is on the pros now so you may need to play with the order to get the lamps you want on the dusk/dawn pair
front
ATI Blue Plus
UVL 75/25
Aquablue
Fiji Purple
Blue Plus
Aquablue
I assume 2 and 5 are on a separate circuit so you get the 75/25 and blue plus for dusk/dawn.
lightningfront
New member
You are correct bulbs 2 and 5 are separate from the other 4.
The Grim Reefer
Ready for some NOBALL!!!
Probably the Aquactinics. I think you will be able to keep more critters happy with the less intense but more spread out light.
The Grim Reefer
Ready for some NOBALL!!!
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14319003#post14319003 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by vangogh121
The lights will be hung 12" above the tank, I have some High light pieces as far down as 20"
I am a huge fan of actinic, 20k color with enough light to keep SPS health near the bottom. I am hoping I can acheive this with 20 bulbs on Icecaps.
I will probably make two sepperat hanging canopy, One encasing 12 bulbs the second encasing 8 bulbs.
Here is a quick pic of the tank.
As you can see, I keep SPS pretty far down.
Yep, pretty far down.
Luckily for you the Blue T5's have a lot of PAR
Front
ATI Blue Plus Ballast 4
ATI Blue Plus Ballast 4
KZ Fiji Purple Ballast 3
ATI Blue Plus Ballast 3
ATI Aquablue Ballast 4
ATI Blue Plus Ballast 3
KZ Fiji Purple Ballast 3
ATI Blue Plus Ballast 1
ATI Blue Plus Ballast 1
ATI Aquablue Ballast 4
KZ Fiji Purple Ballast 5
ATI Blue Plus Ballast 1
ATI Blue Plus Ballast 1
KZ Fiji Purple Ballast 2
ATI Blue Plus Ballast 2
ATI Aquablue Ballast 5
ATI Blue Plus Ballast 2
KZ Fiji Purple Ballast 2
ATI Blue Plus Ballast 5
ATI Blue Plus Ballast 5
That should be pretty friggin blue. Thye Fiji Purple has a tad of pink to a bright light and the Aquablue is a bit of blue to a bright white.
I would turn on ballast one, then 2 and 3 then 4 and 5.
That will give you 4 Blue Plus for an eerie blue dusk/dawn, next step adds 4 more blue plus and 4 fiji Purples which will still be pretty blue but a little brighter and add some red which will still be a subdued light but should grab all the colors. Next step will add 4 more blues, 3 Aquablues and a Fiji Purple. That should brighten things up. I would say the color will maybe end up slightly bluer than a 20K radium. Grab a few extra lamps so you can play, couple Aquablues for sure as they will be a decent replacement for a Blue Plus or KZ should either happen to fail.
You might also need to order extended lamp harnesses for ballast 4 and 5. I would contact Aquarium Specialties (you need to use Aquactinics Standoffs and reflectors and they sell them) and get them to swap out out a couple standard harnesses for the long ones.
I would try to build a single hanging unit. If you made a square frame about a foot high you could use paneling or thin veneer to finish it off. If you used a 2 x 4 at each end to mount the endcaps to and eye bolts for the hanging hardware you could use 2 x 2's to do the rest, the 2 x 4's would take all the stress. It shouldn't be all that heavy. I'd leave the top open and have fans at each end blowing down to cool the lamp ends
well, i was going to build a canopy for my 50g breeder, but decided not to, so was looking for a decent fixture, i actually called aquaticlife today and spoke to them, customer rep had very good knowledge, the individual reflectors are german made and 95% reflective. Its either that or another tek setup or current nova setup..
The Grim Reefer
Ready for some NOBALL!!!
Lamps last right about a year depending on the height of the tank and what you are raising.
Front
ATI Aquablue
UVL 75/25
ATI Blue Plus
GE 6500K Daylight
ATI Blue Plus
ATI Aquablue
Should help make up for the poor reflectors in the Extreme Pro. They are better than a flat reflector but not by much.
The Grim Reefer
Ready for some NOBALL!!!
I think I'd do an Aquablue instead of the Fiji, the Aquasun and Actinic white are putting in a lot of red already. Adding the Fiji Purple might be a little much.
The Grim Reefer
Ready for some NOBALL!!!
With the Tek you at least know what you are getting.
so as far as fixtures go, u would recommend tek? u would say to stay away from the aquaticlife then? I think then i may built a canopy lol, because is close to three hundred without any bulbs, i can get the ice cap slr retro for same price with the bulbs..thanks for the inputs grim, greatly appreciated
Grim, I've noticed you suggesting the Fiji Purple a lot more lately. I know you've said that you actually prefer the 75/25 because it gives you the same effect for less money. So outside of price, do you prefer one over the other. My sons tank has a Fiji purple on it and I like the combination of what he has on his tank(10k, FP, Actinic and Blue). My tank has 4 bulbs but MH on it too. For some strange reason I'm leaning towards a 20k MH bulb, two blue pluses, an actinic and a Fiji Purp(or the 75/25 if you think it'll give me pretty much the same effect). I think I'm kinda giving up on the dusk/dawn thing and really want the best color combo that will make my colors pop. Oh, and do you think it's worth it to even have an actinic?
Grim, Hi there I'm sorry if this seems repetitive, but I tried to read through this whole post but it is to long.
I'm building a 90 gallon sps tank and a have a lighting question for you. right now I'm running a Tek T-5 light with only 4 bulbs and I want to move it over to the 90. So what bulbs would you run in it? And am I going to need any metal halides?
I'm building a 90 gallon sps tank and a have a lighting question for you. right now I'm running a Tek T-5 light with only 4 bulbs and I want to move it over to the 90. So what bulbs would you run in it? And am I going to need any metal halides?
lightningfront
New member
Just an FYI I was wrong, I checked when I got home tonight and installed the bulbs, the first and the 5th are the ones on a separate circuit.
How long of a photo period do people normally run with good T5 set-ups.
I was running 12 hours a day with my old PC fixture and I have been slowly working up the photo period since I switched to the T5s. Started out only running them for a few hours a day and have been increasing it over the last 2 weeks up to 8 hours with all 6 bulbs and the dawn/dusk only 2 bulbs for an hour before and after but that was with the current bulbs that came with the extreeme pro.
Should I keep the same 8 hour full photo period with the 1 hour dawn and dusk with my new bulbs?
Hey Grim right now I'm running
2-48" 54W HIGH OUTPUT 10,000K DAYLIGHT BULB and
2-48" 54W HIGH OUTPUT 460NM ACTINIC BULB
both are made by current. is this a good light setup?
2-48" 54W HIGH OUTPUT 10,000K DAYLIGHT BULB and
2-48" 54W HIGH OUTPUT 460NM ACTINIC BULB
both are made by current. is this a good light setup?
malawinovice
Member
Can get a deal on an almost new version one of the aquactinics tx 5. Is the version two that much better that version one.
95% reflective material vs 98% miro silver material?
95% reflective material vs 98% miro silver material?
kmu
New member
Anyone else besides current usa makes 18" 18 watt T5 bulbs?
Im gettin ready to buy the Nova extreme pro 6x18watt T5 fixture that comes with the 3 10k bulbs and 3 actinic 460 bulbs which are blue in color and I like the actinics a little more purple so that it will make the corals glow better.
Im gettin ready to buy the Nova extreme pro 6x18watt T5 fixture that comes with the 3 10k bulbs and 3 actinic 460 bulbs which are blue in color and I like the actinics a little more purple so that it will make the corals glow better.
The Grim Reefer
Ready for some NOBALL!!!
Based on the info I saw on Aquaticlife it was a single reflector for all the lamps. If thats the case I would get the Tek or go with the retro.
DheereCrossing
New member
Not at this time.
The Grim Reefer
Ready for some NOBALL!!!
In some cases I'll throw in the Fiji Purple because someone asks about it. I have made my opinion on it well known and I am not going to get into pushing or steering people away from a product based on my personal opinion. The only time I would reco a Fiji Purple out of the blue is if PAR output is critical. The Fiji has more PAR than the 75/25 but isn't so harsh that it will overpower the look in a tank with just a few lamps the way an Aquasun can. I am going to revisit the UVL Actinic White lamp too. I had written them off before we discovered the benefit of adding some red into the spectrum.
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