t5 bulbs

[brandon0350]

i just made the switch over from halide to t5. the bulbs o got arnt very bright i figure its because the unit is used and the bulbs need to be replaced. its a tek 6 bulb fixture. im loooking for a 12k -14k look with as much possible par as possible. this is going on an sps only tank. what bulbs do you recomend?

[sjm817]

1 GE 65K, 2 DD Aquablue, 3 DD Blue+. How old and what are the current bulbs?

[brandon0350]

the guy i bought the fixture from said the bulbs are 3 months old. nut the end 2 inches on each side of the bulbs barley light up and the light itself isnt that intense. from everythingive heard i thought they be blinding. my bulbs right now are 2 narva hq blue 2 surrounding 4 ati aquablue specials

[R33f3r]

They are probably older than 3 months. 3 month old bulbs are still very bright. Look to see if there ends are both dark, if so, buy new ones.

[brandon0350]

both ends are dark.. that kinda ****es me off. if i would have know i needed new bulbs i wouldnt of bought the fixture. what bulbs would you recommend i get?

[my2girls]

My Tek 6x54w fixture is only 2 weeks old and the bulb ends are darkish too. I don't think ReefGeek would send me used bulbs so don't get too bent out of shape. I run 3 Aquablue and 3 Blueplus. It is quite bright (but not blinding). Unless you add more daylight bulbs (AB or GE or AW) you won't be blinded by the light.

[hskim]

Both ends of T5HO bulbs don't light up even as new bulbs. I had T5HOs for about 2 1/2 years now and both ends of the bulbs gets burned real quick but it has nothing to do with performence of the bulbs.

I would worry about T5s being too bright for the tank. My corals and few other T5 users corals are bleaching or lighting up in color. If you have decent reflectors the T5 lights are sometimes a lot brighter than MHs.

[bllfish]

Do you have individual reflectors on each bulb?

[mburnickas]

the dark ends have nothing to do with performace. They are fine.

[hskim]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7578898#post7578898 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by bllfish
Do you have individual reflectors on each bulb?


Yes, I do. I have Sunlight Supply Tek T5HO Fixture. I'm testing out different bulbs right now to see if I can get a bulb combination that can bring back the colors in the corals. If this does not work out I might go with MH lights.

[bllfish]

I have the same setup on my tank (72 bowfront - 4 54W)
front to back
blue+ - ultra blue - GE6500 daylight - blue+

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a376/bllfish/fullstand.jpg

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a376/bllfish/01aeb56b.jpg

[mburnickas]

opps, forgot.

I have 2 GE6500K and 2 Aqua blue+. Also have some Actinic 03 but they are not as blue.