The T5 Q&a Thread

[rtparty]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14347577#post14347577 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by dse18612
I have a standard 55 gal with 4-65 watt pc Im going to go with t5's what would be the best bulb combo want more of a blue look I have shrooms,zoas,candycane,acan,anthelia Thanks

ATI Blue Plus
UVL 75/25
GE 6500K or ATI Aquablue
ATI Blue Plus

 

[The Grim Reefer]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14336401#post14336401 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by tdawgnjlo
Grim,

I just put this same lighting on my 75 gallon, but in reversed order so the 75/25 and UVL Aquasun are more towards the front, and the Aquablue is in the back. It looks great!

Back
ATI Aquablue
ATI Blue Plus
UVL Aquasun
ATI Blue Plus
UVL 75/25
ATI Blue Plus.
Front

Any reason to change the order in your opinion? Can you share with us why you might place the lamps in a certain order to achieve a certain desired outcome?

Depends on how corals are placed and where you need the PAR. Really comes down to what looks good to your eye, everyone sees color a little differently.

 

[The Grim Reefer]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14336808#post14336808 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by austin93
I am running a 6 bulb t5 retrofit about 4" from the water on a 75. It is slr kit w/ HO 54 watt bulbs. I am concerned that I am getting too much par for my corals as they are lightening. There are other variables involved, but I believe that this is a good place to start my process of elimination. I run B+, AB, Aquasun, B+, AB, Actinic Plus. This might be a dumb assessment, but I was just afraid maybe I am getting too much light for sps in the middle of the tank. Probably about 12" from the light. I have mainly acro's. Thanks for the help.

I doubt excessive light is a problem unless you are running Ice Cap ballasts. Might want to look at flow and some of the deeper water parameters Magnesium etc., could have something you don't normally check way off stressing stuff.

 

[The Grim Reefer]

Re: Planning stage with T5 lighting for 125 gallon reef tank

Re: Planning stage with T5 lighting for 125 gallon reef tank

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14337290#post14337290 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Jp_here
It's a standard 125 Gallon tank 72x24x24. I want the ability to provide adequate lighting for anything from SPS to LPS and possibly clams. Most likely a mixed tank, I am planning on building my own canopy. Here is what I am thinking 9 80W T5's driven by 3 Icecap 660's ballasts if I need to overdrive the bulbs. If not I think I can squeeze 10 lights in there. I need some help figuring out what will be optimal vs. what will be overkill. Do I need to overdrive the bulbs or not? If so will overdriving bulbs be 3 or 4 lamps per ballast? If not then how many lamps per ballast can be wired with the 660’s?

Thanks for your time.
Jp

3 80 watt T5's per 660 ballast. They aren't overdriven all that far and it's cheaper to use the Ice Cap ballast than to buy 3 T5 spec ballasts so it just makes sense to do the IC ballasts.

8 lamps are plenty but you will have to use the Reefgeek brand reflectors that are 2 1/2" wide to fit them all in there. The Tek II (only other 60" reflector) are just over 3" wide.

 

[The Grim Reefer]

Re: Planning a 225g reef

Re: Planning a 225g reef

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14338927#post14338927 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by MBVette
Im in the process of planning a new tank that will be a 225 (72x24x30)

I would like to be setup a full reef tank including some sps & lps corals.

I understand with a tank this deep I might run into some issues at the very bottom of the tank getting some light down there. But what do you guys think I should be running for this tank?

Thanks

8 80 watt retrofits from reefgeek using their reflectors, last I looked you have to call for the reflectors because they aren't listed on the website

I would be careful about high light clams anywhere but on the rocks and high light SPS should be in the upper half of the tank but 30" is doable for T5's.

 

[The Grim Reefer]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14340476#post14340476 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jc16
Hello i've noticed how you said heat from the mh bulbs would kill the t5s, what would heat do to them? do they run better with better par when cooled? i'm asking because i have a aquaperfekt fixture with 4 400w halides and 12 39w t5s and no cooling fans in the fixture, would be t5s be useless? and as the t5s are just for supplementation i am planning to use 10 ati blue+ and 2 fiji purples along with aquaconnect 14k mh bulbs is that a good combination and give me a 20k look? thanks grim you doing a great job answering all these question

Heat does a couple things to fluorescent lamps. It increases the internal pressure which increases the resistance to the electrical current flow and also fatigues the phosphors that creates the light you see. If there was a way to have even a slight amount of air movement around the T5 lamps it will help with the performance.

As far as you lamp mix it sounds tasty, post some pics when your done.

 

[The Grim Reefer]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14342385#post14342385 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ReefEnabler
I've been messing with some supplemental T5 configs.

Been running 2 x 80w ATI Blue Plus for a while on Icecap 660 ballast.

Wanted to try out the ATI Actinic and found that it looked much whiter than the Blue Plus and the PAR was about the same (peaking around 1000 at the surface).

Is that due to the 660 overdriving the bulbs? Why is the Blue Plus bulb able to handle the overdriving and retain the blue while the actinic basically turns into a white actinic?

I tried the Giesseman Actinic and it looked almost exacty like the ATI, pure white compared to the Blue Plus.

Should I run an icecap 430 for the actinics?

If you arent running fans to cool the Blue Plus lamps they are likely hammered from the heat. They should have way more PAR than a Actinic.

Actinic lamps overdriven don't look very actinic but they should still give you the glow. If you are running 10K halides which have a lot of actinic in their output you are better off with the blue plus. Just make sure you use a couple fand to cool the lamp ends/end caps.

 

[The Grim Reefer]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14342449#post14342449 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by gbothepro
Hey guys,

Will a 4 bulb tek fixture be good enough to keep some sps, lps, clams, and a anemone on a 72 gallon bow?

I wouldn't try high light clams at the bottom but properly placed a few SPS up on the rocks will be fine.

 

[The Grim Reefer]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14342779#post14342779 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ganjero
Ok I have it at 4.5" hopefully thats good.

Another questions, is the UVL aquasun supposed to be reddish?

Yep, kinda pepto pink

 

[The Grim Reefer]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14347682#post14347682 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ReefEnabler
are there any T5 bulbs with a GREEN/Blue color??

basically like the ATI blus plus but more of a turquoise color?

Yes if you can find them the Helios Super Blue Actinic is a great lamp. Just exactly what you are looking for if they haven't changed them.

I am not sure you can get them in the metric length which are what we all use. The Helios fixtures are made to an inch standard and are a little longer than what we have. If you can find the lamps locally it is probably worth changing some endcap positions a bit if you have room, a very nice look IMHO.

 

[Avgou]

Hey guys, do they make 20k T5's????

 

[ReefEnabler]

ATI blue plus is pretty close to a 20k halide bulb actually IMO.


Grim, thanks. I was able to find some in the 54w version which would probably work fine. But wouldn't 54w be even worse case for overdriving?

I have 2 icecap fans in the back of the canopy blowing onto the bulbs. I have 2 more Noctura fans that I am planning to point on one end pointing at the endcaps on the side of the bulbs where the info is labelled.

 

[MBVette]

Re: Re: Planning a 225g reef

Re: Re: Planning a 225g reef

by The Grim Reefer
8 80 watt retrofits from reefgeek using their reflectors, last I looked you have to call for the reflectors because they aren't listed on the website

I would be careful about high light clams anywhere but on the rocks and high light SPS should be in the upper half of the tank but 30" is doable for T5's.

looking at reefgeek, is there any of their T5 that is better than the other? Also, I am going to guess those things are not really very hard to put together?

Thanks

 

[NVTE]

I like the color of 1 ATI Blue Plus, 1 Geisemenn Aquablue (blue color), 1 Geisemenn Aquablue+ (White), and 1 Fiji Purple. Can I grow SPS under 2xATI Blue+,2Geisemenn Aquablue, 2 Geisemenn Aquablue+ and 2 Fiji Purple ?
My tank is 5x2x2 .
Thanks Grim.

 

[The Grim Reefer]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14348668#post14348668 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ReefEnabler
ATI blue plus is pretty close to a 20k halide bulb actually IMO.


Grim, thanks. I was able to find some in the 54w version which would probably work fine. But wouldn't 54w be even worse case for overdriving?

I have 2 icecap fans in the back of the canopy blowing onto the bulbs. I have 2 more Noctura fans that I am planning to point on one end pointing at the endcaps on the side of the bulbs where the info is labelled.

Just don't blow the air on the center part of the tubes. Stick with the 80 watt lamps

 

[The Grim Reefer]

Re: Re: Re: Planning a 225g reef

Re: Re: Re: Planning a 225g reef

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14349010#post14349010 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by MBVette
looking at reefgeek, is there any of their T5 that is better than the other? Also, I am going to guess those things are not really very hard to put together?

Thanks

The Ice Cap retros are good but Ice Cap doesn'/t make 60" reflectors so the Ice Cap 80 watt kits comes with the Tek II reflectors which are a tad over 3" wide.

If you can connect speaker wires to a stereo and hang a picture you should be able to do a retro kit.

 

[PurdueMAN_08]

I'm building a 6'x4'x2' tank. I will have some softies, clams and plan to do LPS and SPS. I will probably to 60-75% SPS. I am not sure if I want to go MH (3x250 Lumenbrights) or T5HO. Would 12x54watt T5HO be good enough? Dr smiths has the Current USA NOVA EXTREME SLR for sale for like $187 for 4x54 system. Would 3 of those be sufficient?

 

[The Grim Reefer]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14350800#post14350800 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by NVTE
I like the color of 1 ATI Blue Plus, 1 Geisemenn Aquablue (blue color), 1 Geisemenn Aquablue+ (White), and 1 Fiji Purple. Can I grow SPS under 2xATI Blue+,2Geisemenn Aquablue, 2 Geisemenn Aquablue+ and 2 Fiji Purple ?
My tank is 5x2x2 .
Thanks Grim.

Have good reflectors and ballasts? With good equipment and using fans to cool the lamp ends a bit you could keep monti's on the sandbed, I am doing it with old lamps on a Constellation fixture on a 22" tall tank with a 2" sandbed.

 

[ReefEnabler]

Grim, is it bad to blow air onto the bulbs directly, or just not as effective as cooling the endcaps?

My canopy came with two premade fanholes in the back so thats where I put the fans (more about moving fresh air IN than about direct cooling). but I can always drill more holes

 

[skierguy]

This thread is unbelievable. Reading through it I have seen many different recommendations for bulbs and configurations on tanks similar to mine. So I guess I will ask. I have an icecap retro on my 90 gallon tank (48”x18”x 24” tall) my current configuration is:
Front
1 ATI Blue +
1 Aquasun
1 True Actinic
1 ATI Blue +

In the middle an in the back I also have a 48” T8 true actinic NO bulbs I use for dawn dusk.
Due to a power outage last summer I am rebuilding my stock list. I plan on keeping some LPS, Monti’s and a few SPS toward the upper section of the tank.