The T5 Q&a Thread - split

[tegee]

Originally Posted by rtparty

Also what is the ambient temp around your tank? 9v could be too high of a setting and overcooling the bulbs.

Hi Ryan,

You bring up a good point about fan setting and ATI doesn't do a good job explaining what setting it should be.

To that end, I have a 6 x 24w ATI PM on my 60-gl LPS Cube and a 10 x 80w ATI PM on my 180-gl SPS tank. What setting should each of these features be at? The 60-gl cube does not have a canopy and the 180-gl does have a canopy. Both rooms are at 68 degrees in winter and have central air in the summer seasons.

Thanks in advance for any help.........

[rtparty]

Originally Posted by shiladitya1991

Anyone uses Narva Lamps? Whats your experience with them?

I've personally never run them but people like them. It's just a matter of finding them.

Originally Posted by DiscusHeckel

Water parameters are within acceptable limits. I did not phrase very well. What I meant was that colours lost their vibrancy. I have already bought a new set of tubes. It is just a matter of when to replace them, hence my original post.

The ambient temperature of the room in which my tank is kept is around 18C. It could be higher, but I leave one of the windows slightly ajar to avoid condensation problems. Should I drop the voltage to 7V?

You could replace a couple bulbs a month. Start with the blues.

If you have your PAR meter, set the fans to 7.5v and measure after an hour. If the PAR is better than your last reading, leave the fans there. If it is worse, go back to 9v.

[alessandro]

Quick question:
tank will be: 68"Lx40"Wx26H only SPS.
2X8x80W or 2x6x80W ATI powermodule?

[ssteal]

2x8

[rtparty]

Originally Posted by tegee

Hi Ryan,

You bring up a good point about fan setting and ATI doesn't do a good job explaining what setting it should be.

To that end, I have a 6 x 24w ATI PM on my 60-gl LPS Cube and a 10 x 80w ATI PM on my 180-gl SPS tank. What setting should each of these features be at? The 60-gl cube does not have a canopy and the 180-gl does have a canopy. Both rooms are at 68 degrees in winter and have central air in the summer seasons.

Thanks in advance for any help.........

I found that 7.5v worked best for me when my room is below 70F. A crude way to check is to measure the air coming out of the fixture. If my memory serves me right it should be around 108F. That is a rough guess though and shouldn't replace a PAR meter.

Your fixture in a canopy should probably stay around 9v. You need all the air movement you can get.

[rtparty]

Originally Posted by alessandro

Quick question:
tank will be: 68"Lx40"Wx26H only SPS.
2X8x80W or 2x6x80W ATI powermodule?

You are right in the middle. Cost of bulbs every year tells me the 6x80w is the better choice.

[Michigan Mike]

Originally Posted by rtparty

You are right in the middle. Cost of bulbs every year tells me the 6x80w is the better choice.

Ya 2 6x80w fixtures would be better. But honestly I would be thinking about a couple 400w halides in lumenmax large reflectors. 400w Radium bulbs are cheap compared to it's little brothers.

[tegee]

Originally Posted by rtparty

I found that 7.5v worked best for me when my room is below 70F. A crude way to check is to measure the air coming out of the fixture. If my memory serves me right it should be around 108F. That is a rough guess though and shouldn't replace a PAR meter.

Your fixture in a canopy should probably stay around 9v. You need all the air movement you can get.

Thank you Ryan for your prompt reply..........

BTW: any good bulb selection for a 10 x 80W ATI PM for an SPS dominant tank. I am coming off MH and VHO (read sig) and I am excited to go all T5's. Obviously growth is extremely important, followed directly by color. Right now I am planning (and have on order) 6-Blue+, 2-Coral+ and 2-Purple+. How does that sound?

Many thanks again for everyone's help......I am very excited for all T5 on my SPS tank, but very nervous as well......fingers crossed.

-Tony

[125mph]

Originally Posted by tegee

Right now I am planning (and have on order) 6-Blue+, 2-Coral+ and 2-Purple+. How does that sound?

I have an 8 bulb ATI running with 5 Blue+, 1 Coral+, and 2 Purple+.. color is blue.. If you want growth, I hear the recommended is swap the coral for a GE6500. My main priority is coloration of the coral, second is growth.

[tegee]

Originally Posted by rtparty

I found that 7.5v worked best for me when my room is below 70F. A crude way to check is to measure the air coming out of the fixture. If my memory serves me right it should be around 108F. That is a rough guess though and shouldn't replace a PAR meter.

Your fixture in a canopy should probably stay around 9v. You need all the air movement you can get.

I just checked my 6 x 24w ATI PM and the temp was exactly 107 degrees. I measured it with a digital thermometer holding it horizontal across three of the vents about 1/2" away. It seemed pretty good way to check temp.

BTW: the fans are set at 9v.

HTH

[rtparty]

Originally Posted by tegee

I just checked my 6 x 24w ATI PM and the temp was exactly 107 degrees. I measured it with a digital thermometer holding it horizontal across three of the vents about 1/2" away. It seemed pretty good way to check temp.

BTW: the fans are set at 9v.

HTH

Just for fun, set the fans at 7.5v and see how much it changes. When my tank was in the basement and ambient temp was 65, I used 7.5v because it ran at like 109F and 9v was 106.5F. I enjoyed the slight reduction in noise.

My new Sunpower fans are much quieter than my old. Not sure what they changed but I like it.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

[TropTrea]

Originally Posted by alessandro

Quick question:
tank will be: 68"Lx40"Wx26H only SPS.
2X8x80W or 2x6x80W ATI powermodule?

As long as your using ATI fixtures you should have no problem with two Six bulb units. Your tank in 40" front to back so with 12 bulbs your covering about 3.5" inches per bulb. With the 8 bulb fixture you would have 16 bulbs covering about 2.5" per bulb. If you look a most people running 24" tanks they will either go with quality 6 bulb fistures 4" per bulb or lesser expensive 8 bulb fixtures 3" per bulb. With the higher quality ATI fixture your going to do better than either way than person with a 24" wide tank.

I wish I had room fror a 40 inch deep tank look at the fun you will have landscaping it.

[DiscusHeckel]

I have found this old link on voltage setting (see post #950). It clearly shows that 7.5 v is the optimum. I also found another link in a British forum. This guy emailed ATI to find out the best voltage setting. ATI suggested the following: "The best voltage to run the fans is between 4.5 and 7.5v, this lower voltage is when the fans are most silent but depending on the ambient air temperature will determine whether you will need to run them at a higher voltage. So there is no pre set voltage, it is basically dependent on room temp as to how fast you run them". This statement is pretty vague. However, at least, ATI did not suggest 9v.

I have been running my unit at 9v since last March. My room temperature is around 66F. I am going start to run my unit at 7.5v from now on until the summer. I am going to take some PAR measurements in the morning with the new setting and will let you know.

[Catchoftheday]

My tank is a 70 gallon rimless i am running ATI light6X39 Watt fixture i am running all ATI bulbs
4Xblue pluss
1purple pluss
1 coral pluss
i am growing SPS

[Michigan Mike]

Originally Posted by DiscusHeckel

I have found this old link on voltage setting (see post #950). It clearly shows that 7.5 v is the optimum. I also found another link in a British forum. This guy emailed ATI to find out the best voltage setting. ATI suggested the following: "The best voltage to run the fans is between 4.5 and 7.5v, this lower voltage is when the fans are most silent but depending on the ambient air temperature will determine whether you will need to run them at a higher voltage. So there is no pre set voltage, it is basically dependent on room temp as to how fast you run them". This statement is pretty vague. However, at least, ATI did not suggest 9v.
.

This is old outdated info. This is back when ATI recommended running the fans at 4.5v. Ryan's info is good. For optimal bulb life and par run the fans at 9v unless your room temp is in the 60's*f. Look up the thread by Kengym called "time to change my T5 bulbs and PAR readings" or something to that effect. Later in the thread he switches the fans to 9v (and others) and gets way better performance.
Too many people with Apogee meters to deny it nowadays.

[alessandro]

Originally Posted by rtparty

You are right in the middle.

OK, I'll go with 2x8.
In this way I can put 2 Giesemann Pure Actinic to improve colorations along with 7 Blue Plus + 7 Coral Plus.
In my current tank I have a 10x80 powermodule with 5 blueplus, 1 Giesemann Midday, 2 Purple and 2 Coral Plus but i want try to eliminate Midday e Purple.

[DiscusHeckel]

Originally Posted by Michigan Mike

This is old outdated info. This is back when ATI recommended running the fans at 4.5v. Ryan's info is good. For optimal bulb life and par run the fans at 9v unless your room temp is in the 60's*f. Look up the thread by Kengym called "time to change my T5 bulbs and PAR readings" or something to that effect. Later in the thread he switches the fans to 9v (and others) and gets way better performance.
Too many people with Apogee meters to deny it nowadays.

Thanks. I have found the thread. As suggested in post #363, I am going to measure the exhaust's temperature and take it from there. I also have a PAR meter, but if get the right reading I am unlikely to bother using it. My expectation is that 9v will be the optimum fan speed despite rather luke warm ambient temperature because my unit has only two speed fans for six tubes.

[Michigan Mike]

Just because the Sunpower has less fans than the powermodule doesn't mean it won't cool it as effectively. The Sunpower doesn't need as many fans because the internal housing is wide open and not as heavy as the powermodule so it transfers heat better.
I'd run 9v for best performance unless your room temp is <60*f or you just have to have it quieter. People with unheated basement tanks should experiment.

[DiscusHeckel]

Originally Posted by Michigan Mike

Just because the Sunpower has less fans than the powermodule doesn't mean it won't cool it as effectively. The Sunpower doesn't need as many fans because the internal housing is wide open and not as heavy as the powermodule so it transfers heat better.
I'd run 9v for best performance unless your room temp is <60*f or you just have to have it quieter. People with unheated basement tanks should experiment.

I checked out the air temperature leaving my Sunpower today and it hovered between 108F and 110F. The fans were set at 9V and the room temperature was 66F.

I will continue to use 9V fan speed as normal.

Thank you for your help.

[tegee]

Originally Posted by rtparty

Just for fun, set the fans at 7.5v and see how much it changes. When my tank was in the basement and ambient temp was 65, I used 7.5v because it ran at like 109F and 9v was 106.5F. I enjoyed the slight reduction in noise.

My new Sunpower fans are much quieter than my old. Not sure what they changed but I like it.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

Ok everyone who's interested.........

I have a ATI PM 6 x 24w on a 60-gl Cube. I am referencing data related to the two different fan settings.....at 7.5v and 9v.

At 9v (which is the setting I have been running it at since I purchased last March) was 107-108 degrees.

At 7.5v (which I tested today just for fun) tested at 114-115 degrees.

Both setting were tested using a basic digital thermometer resting approx 1/2" from the fan slots (see attached pic). Nothing fancy with testing equipment, but at least proved there is a 7-8 degree difference between the two settings.

The test was a basic test, so take it for what it is worth.

HTH

[Michigan Mike]

^ bravo tegee!
Nice doing a T5 test that doesn't involve expensive equipment.lol
I'm wondering if its possible if a 6x24 sunpower will cool better than the powermodule, like Ryan's temp readings.

Just one question tegee - what was your room temp at?

[Michigan Mike]

^ bravo tegee!
Nice doing a T5 test that doesn't involve expensive equipment.lol
I'm wondering if its possible if a 6x24 sunpower will cool better than the powermodule, like Ryan's temp readings.

Just one question tegee - what was your room temp at?

[tegee]

Originally Posted by Michigan Mike

^ bravo tegee!
Nice doing a T5 test that doesn't involve expensive equipment.lol
I'm wondering if its possible if a 6x24 sunpower will cool better than the powermodule, like Ryan's temp readings.

Just one question tegee - what was your room temp at?

Room temp is at 69 degrees. I am located in New England and it has been pretty cold lately, so I have traditional baseboard heating in that room.

[rtparty]

Originally Posted by tegee

Ok everyone who's interested.........

I have a ATI PM 6 x 24w on a 60-gl Cube. I am referencing data related to the two different fan settings.....at 7.5v and 9v.

At 9v (which is the setting I have been running it at since I purchased last March) was 107-108 degrees.

At 7.5v (which I tested today just for fun) tested at 114-115 degrees.

Both setting were tested using a basic digital thermometer resting approx 1/2" from the fan slots (see attached pic). Nothing fancy with testing equipment, but at least proved there is a 7-8 degree difference between the two settings.

The test was a basic test, so take it for what it is worth.

HTH

Nice job. 9v is definitely the way to go for you.

[Realposition]

Hello, I have a 6x24w ati sun power over a 40breeder. I'm currently running 4 blue plus 1purple plus 1 kz new generation. I'm having some trouble with bleaching some Corals even tho I'm running a reduced light schedule. Would changing out 2 blue plus with 2 actinic look ok while reducing par a bit?