The T5 Q&a Thread - split

[ticklem]

Ok so its time for me to get a bigger tank and I am struggling about my choices on lighting. I had a Ecotech Radion on my 40 breeder for a couple month and decided to take it off and go back to my T5's. Basically the corner were just too dark for me. So my 5 bulb combo is 4 ATI blue +, 1 ATI purple Plus, 1 UVL Super Actinic. I love this lighting combo it puts off a nice 20K look and I keep clams/sps on the sand bed in my 16" deep tank and get great growth. I am definately a blue man as I have a very colorful tank and everything POPs at a 20K color.
So I am getting a 120 48"x24"x24" Perfecto and can't decide between these 3 options
1. 2 ecotech radions 20K setting
2. 2 ecotech Radions 14K settings with 2 ATI blue + t5's
3. New ATI 8x54watt dimmable T5 fixture with 6 ATI blue+, 1 Purple +, and 1 Coral +.

[sneaton]

i have a 75 gallon sps/lps tank.....i run a 6 bulb retro in a canopy and my bulbs are 11 months old so its time to change.....the old bulbs are 3 blue plus and 3 purple plus......i just picked up 3 blue + ,1 purple +,1 KZ 14K,and 1 giessman actinic.......what order should i put them in? dusk/dawn are slots 2 and 4..........can i change all at once? it would be hard to do 1 at a time since i have a canopy....i could do the back 3 at once and then one at a time from there pretty easy


thanks for the help

[TropTrea]

Originally Posted by sneaton

i have a 75 gallon sps/lps tank.....i run a 6 bulb retro in a canopy and my bulbs are 11 months old so its time to change.....the old bulbs are 3 blue plus and 3 purple plus......i just picked up 3 blue + ,1 purple +,1 KZ 14K,and 1 giessman actinic.......what order should i put them in? dusk/dawn are slots 2 and 4..........can i change all at once? it would be hard to do 1 at a time since i have a canopy....i could do the back 3 at once and then one at a time from there pretty easy


thanks for the help

Front
1 Actinic
2. Blue Plus
3. KZ 14K
4 Blue Plus
5 Purple Plus
6 Blue Plus

[TropTrea]

Originally Posted by ticklem

Ok so its time for me to get a bigger tank and I am struggling about my choices on lighting. I had a Ecotech Radion on my 40 breeder for a couple month and decided to take it off and go back to my T5's. Basically the corner were just too dark for me. So my 5 bulb combo is 4 ATI blue +, 1 ATI purple Plus, 1 UVL Super Actinic. I love this lighting combo it puts off a nice 20K look and I keep clams/sps on the sand bed in my 16" deep tank and get great growth. I am definately a blue man as I have a very colorful tank and everything POPs at a 20K color.
So I am getting a 120 48"x24"x24" Perfecto and can't decide between these 3 options
1. 2 ecotech radions 20K setting
2. 2 ecotech Radions 14K settings with 2 ATI blue + t5's
3. New ATI 8x54watt dimmable T5 fixture with 6 ATI blue+, 1 Purple +, and 1 Coral +.

You never said what size of a tankl the larger tank will be?

But from your options I would go with option number 3. 'hoewever I would not be happy with the Coral Plus as the only fuller spectrum bulb for my personal taste.

a Fouth OPtion would be combining a 1 4 Bulb T-5 fixture with two DIY LED strips one in the back and one in the front. using a 50/50 split between royal blue and blue LED's

[ReefMonkey13]

Originally Posted by The Grim Reefer

6 lamps. Don't know anything about the LED's you are running but I would assume with 6 lamps you'd be good.

Thanks Grim for your guidance and all that you do to help everyone with their questions.

Just got an ati sunflower 6bulb fixture. So what is the go to bulb combo for a 20kish look and good growth.

Thanks again

[The Grim Reefer]

Originally Posted by ReefMonkey13

Thanks Grim for your guidance and all that you do to help everyone with their questions.

Just got an ati sunflower 6bulb fixture. So what is the go to bulb combo for a 20kish look and good growth.

Thanks again

4 Blue Plus, 1 purple plus and a Coral Plus is WHAT i'D USE.

[The Grim Reefer]

Originally Posted by ticklem

Ok so its time for me to get a bigger tank and I am struggling about my choices on lighting. I had a Ecotech Radion on my 40 breeder for a couple month and decided to take it off and go back to my T5's. Basically the corner were just too dark for me. So my 5 bulb combo is 4 ATI blue +, 1 ATI purple Plus, 1 UVL Super Actinic. I love this lighting combo it puts off a nice 20K look and I keep clams/sps on the sand bed in my 16" deep tank and get great growth. I am definately a blue man as I have a very colorful tank and everything POPs at a 20K color.
So I am getting a 120 48"x24"x24" Perfecto and can't decide between these 3 options
1. 2 ecotech radions 20K setting
2. 2 ecotech Radions 14K settings with 2 ATI blue + t5's
3. New ATI 8x54watt dimmable T5 fixture with 6 ATI blue+, 1 Purple +, and 1 Coral +.

If you have any DIY skills option 4, build your own LED system. If I can do it there isn't a whole lot of skill involved.

Of your listed choices I'd go with 3 but use 6 Blue Plus and 2 UVL 75/25. They are a mellow full specrum lamp that is tilted a little toward pink. The PAR from them is crap but the 6 blue plus should be more than enough for your tank.

[Lhewie]

Are the Aquatic Life T5 6 Lamp HO good for 55 gallon SPS? Just wondering..

[TropTrea]

Originally Posted by Lhewie

Are the Aquatic Life T5 6 Lamp HO good for 55 gallon SPS? Just wondering..

Do to the fact your not talking abot a 24" tall tank yes you can get away with that on a 55 gallon. Unfortunatly there is not enough space for 8 bulbs with it only being about 13" front to back. SPS should do great in the top half of the tank possibly some even in the top 2/3's.

[918ReefCpl]

Currently we display an 125g Oceanic Tank with a Aquaticlife 12 x 39w x 72" fixture [T5 bulbs].

We would welcome any suggestions, comments, ideas as to what bulbs to place into this fixture and their proper positioning.
Any idea's what the one's marked with a (?) are/manufactured by would be helpfull...

Current Bulbs and Fixture position: (Rows 2 & 4 are dawn/dusk)
TANK Position A (Leftside) - Position B (Rightside)
1: Aquaticlife 10,000K - Aquaticlife 10,000K
2: Aquaticlife 420/460nm -Aquaticlife 420/460nm
3: Aquaticlife 10,000K - Aquaticlife 10,000K
******* (6) 2 bulb LED 'blue' nightlights *******
4: Aquaticlife 420/460nm - Aquaticlife 420/460nm
5: BMC TL5HE21W/B (?) - BMC TL5HE21W/B (?)
6: 03 Actinic PTI (?) - Aquaticlife 420/460nm

current occupants:
Invertebrates: Arrow crab (1), Emerald crab (1). 80lbs +live rock, snails (10?),hermits (30?), Hawaiian blue spot sea hare (1?), peppermint shrimp (5?), cleaner shrimp(2), 2 tuxedo urchin, 1 pencil urchin & 2 medium Nasarius.

Fish: include Yellow tang, 2 Adult Percula Clowns, 6 line wrasse, bicolor blenny, 2 FireFish, yellow goby, coral beauty, 2 blue streak cleaner wrasses.

LeathersToadstool/Devils hand, Blue and Green mushrooms (small) and a small zoa group.

Would like to add a GBTA and RBTA for our clowns and a bit of different GSP, ZOA's and then work our way up to clams & other corals.

THANK-YOU!!!

[The Grim Reefer]

Originally Posted by 918ReefCpl

Currently we display an 125g Oceanic Tank with a Aquaticlife 12 x 39w x 72" fixture [T5 bulbs].

We would welcome any suggestions, comments, ideas as to what bulbs to place into this fixture and their proper positioning.
Any idea's what the one's marked with a (?) are/manufactured by would be helpfull...

Current Bulbs and Fixture position: (Rows 2 & 4 are dawn/dusk)
TANK Position A (Leftside) - Position B (Rightside)
1: Aquaticlife 10,000K - Aquaticlife 10,000K
2: Aquaticlife 420/460nm -Aquaticlife 420/460nm
3: Aquaticlife 10,000K - Aquaticlife 10,000K
******* (6) 2 bulb LED 'blue' nightlights *******
4: Aquaticlife 420/460nm - Aquaticlife 420/460nm
5: BMC TL5HE21W/B (?) - BMC TL5HE21W/B (?)
6: 03 Actinic PTI (?) - Aquaticlife 420/460nm

current occupants:
Invertebrates: Arrow crab (1), Emerald crab (1). 80lbs +live rock, snails (10?),hermits (30?), Hawaiian blue spot sea hare (1?), peppermint shrimp (5?), cleaner shrimp(2), 2 tuxedo urchin, 1 pencil urchin & 2 medium Nasarius.

Fish: include Yellow tang, 2 Adult Percula Clowns, 6 line wrasse, bicolor blenny, 2 FireFish, yellow goby, coral beauty, 2 blue streak cleaner wrasses.

LeathersToadstool/Devils hand, Blue and Green mushrooms (small) and a small zoa group.

Would like to add a GBTA and RBTA for our clowns and a bit of different GSP, ZOA's and then work our way up to clams & other corals.

THANK-YOU!!!

I'd use 4 rows of ATI Blue Plus, 1 row of Purple Plus and 1 row of the Aquatic life 10K.

[918ReefCpl]

Originally Posted by The Grim Reefer

I'd use 4 rows of ATI Blue Plus, 1 row of Purple Plus and 1 row of the Aquatic life 10K.

What slot positions do you recommend for these bulbs / hours to run?
The Aquatic life 10K are not new & will be eligible for replacement soon....thoughts?
What color will this combination produce?
Thank you for all the suggestions & help!!!

[TropTrea]

Originally Posted by 918ReefCpl

What slot positions do you recommend for these bulbs / hours to run?
The Aquatic life 10K are not new & will be eligible for replacement soon....thoughts?
What color will this combination produce?
Thank you for all the suggestions & help!!!

Front
1 ATI Blue Plus
2 Aquatic life 10K
3 ATI Blue Plus
Blue LED's
4 ATI Purple Plus
5 ATI Blue Plus
6 ATI Blue Plus

You may need to modify this so you have either two Blue Plus or 1 Blue Plus and one Purple Plus on your dawn to dusk.

[The Grim Reefer]

Originally Posted by 918ReefCpl

What slot positions do you recommend for these bulbs / hours to run?
The Aquatic life 10K are not new & will be eligible for replacement soon....thoughts?
What color will this combination produce?
Thank you for all the suggestions & help!!!

Then I'd use a Giesemann Aquablue which is a little more white than the ATI version which is blueish.

Blue Plus
Purple Plus
Blue Plus
Aquablue
Blue Plus
Blue Plus

If you don't like having the purple plus in the dusk/dawn mix move it back a slot and put the blue plus in number 2

[skimmy]

been out of the t5 game for a bit...
is the giesemann actinic+ or ATI blue+
still the bluest bulb around??

[The Grim Reefer]

Originally Posted by skimmy

been out of the t5 game for a bit...
is the giesemann actinic+ or ATI blue+
still the bluest bulb around??

ATI Blue Plus as far as I know.

[918ReefCpl]

Originally Posted by TropTrea

Front
1 ATI Blue Plus
2 Aquatic life 10K
3 ATI Blue Plus
Blue LED's
4 ATI Purple Plus
5 ATI Blue Plus
6 ATI Blue Plus

You may need to modify this so you have either two Blue Plus or 1 Blue Plus and one Purple Plus on your dawn to dusk.

Postions #2 & #4 are the dawn/dusk slots - just wanted to confirm using a 10K in a dawn/dusk slot??

Thank you to both yourself and Grim Reefer for your input and suggestions...

Will the above suggestions be more of a bluish light or whitish light to the naked eye? New at the T5 systems and trying to form an idea of what the different bulb combinations would look like...

[Gillundr]

OK. I have a few questions that I was hoping to get some help from here. A bit of background info on this tank. I have a 32 gallon solana. 20x20x20 are the dims. I'm using an Outer Orbit fixture by Current. This fixture has 4xT5s and 1x 150 watt MH. I'm looking for something that doesn't bleach my corals but gets great color. I'm not trying to grow the corals out fast. I just want things to look good. I have always had MH and a couple of T5s for actinic but this is different. I was running a 14k Phoenix (it's in the middle of the fixture with 2 T5s in front and 2 in back). Then front to back I had a blue plus, coral plus, purple plus, Actinic. All ATI bulbs. It fried my sps. Not killed but bleached out. I took some par readings and was getting really high numbers even on the bottom of the tank I was hitting high 200s low 300s. I can upload a picture with a par map if needed. Well after the bleaching I turned off the MH for about 10 days and just ran the T5 combo. This didn't help. The bleach stuff stayed bleached and things that needed a bit more light browned out haha. Just my luck!
So I changed the bulbs out. I ran a blue plus (ati) in front ATI actinic then two Current actinics that came with the fixture. I know they are junk but I was desperate. I have been running that scheme. I turned on the MH and am up to 4 hours on that now. My chalices have returned to normal colors. Some of the sps stuff is looking good again. Some is still bleached, and some still brown. The slimer of all things is bleached still and it's on the bottom of the display. With old Par readings it was getting 360 and you would need to add about 15% to that number because of the blue so in the 400s. Some of the corals up higher are coloring up so I was wondering if maybe now I'm starving the slimer? A few of the ones up top that were getting blasted and loving things are browned out.
So I wanted to take the current lights out so now I'm running front to back. ATI blue plus, Giessemann pure Actinic, Giessemann Actinic plus, ATI Actinic. I was thinking the lower par values on the Giesseman bulbs would help give color but not so much par. Sort of an in between. I also tried to change the Phoenix for a Radium 20k today but need to return the Radium. For some reason I got it and it is really yellow. Brand new from BRS. I sent them an email so hopefully they will exchange it. I even checked in a second fixture to make sure it wasn't a ballast thing. It's yellow and I have an old Radium here that burns blue but it's too old to use really I think.
So, can anybody comment on a combo that would give me good colors and not burn the heck out of my corals? Am I on the right track? This isn't a chem thing. My numbers are spot on and I have other tanks. This is just my first time messing with so many T5s and these things add a ton of par to the tank. I like the fixture because of all the options I get but I'm having a tough time coming up with a good combo. I have about 15 or 20 bulbs I have bought over the last few months trying to figure out what will work. I'm hoping a little insight from some T5 gurus will help me get my colors back. Also if you have a good suggestion on a 150 watt hqi DE metal halide I'm open as well. Thanks for listening or reading I should say. Let me know if you have any other questions. I will probably take some more par readings on the weekend to see what I'm getting with any new array.

[borcu]

can i get some information about spectrum and par? which K is using for what and are all suitable for photosynthesis? for colors, for growth..

[The Grim Reefer]

Originally Posted by Gillundr

OK. I have a few questions that I was hoping to get some help from here. A bit of background info on this tank. I have a 32 gallon solana. 20x20x20 are the dims. I'm using an Outer Orbit fixture by Current. This fixture has 4xT5s and 1x 150 watt MH. I'm looking for something that doesn't bleach my corals but gets great color. I'm not trying to grow the corals out fast. I just want things to look good. I have always had MH and a couple of T5s for actinic but this is different. I was running a 14k Phoenix (it's in the middle of the fixture with 2 T5s in front and 2 in back). Then front to back I had a blue plus, coral plus, purple plus, Actinic. All ATI bulbs. It fried my sps. Not killed but bleached out. I took some par readings and was getting really high numbers even on the bottom of the tank I was hitting high 200s low 300s. I can upload a picture with a par map if needed. Well after the bleaching I turned off the MH for about 10 days and just ran the T5 combo. This didn't help. The bleach stuff stayed bleached and things that needed a bit more light browned out haha. Just my luck!
So I changed the bulbs out. I ran a blue plus (ati) in front ATI actinic then two Current actinics that came with the fixture. I know they are junk but I was desperate. I have been running that scheme. I turned on the MH and am up to 4 hours on that now. My chalices have returned to normal colors. Some of the sps stuff is looking good again. Some is still bleached, and some still brown. The slimer of all things is bleached still and it's on the bottom of the display. With old Par readings it was getting 360 and you would need to add about 15% to that number because of the blue so in the 400s. Some of the corals up higher are coloring up so I was wondering if maybe now I'm starving the slimer? A few of the ones up top that were getting blasted and loving things are browned out.
So I wanted to take the current lights out so now I'm running front to back. ATI blue plus, Giessemann pure Actinic, Giessemann Actinic plus, ATI Actinic. I was thinking the lower par values on the Giesseman bulbs would help give color but not so much par. Sort of an in between. I also tried to change the Phoenix for a Radium 20k today but need to return the Radium. For some reason I got it and it is really yellow. Brand new from BRS. I sent them an email so hopefully they will exchange it. I even checked in a second fixture to make sure it wasn't a ballast thing. It's yellow and I have an old Radium here that burns blue but it's too old to use really I think.
So, can anybody comment on a combo that would give me good colors and not burn the heck out of my corals? Am I on the right track? This isn't a chem thing. My numbers are spot on and I have other tanks. This is just my first time messing with so many T5s and these things add a ton of par to the tank. I like the fixture because of all the options I get but I'm having a tough time coming up with a good combo. I have about 15 or 20 bulbs I have bought over the last few months trying to figure out what will work. I'm hoping a little insight from some T5 gurus will help me get my colors back. Also if you have a good suggestion on a 150 watt hqi DE metal halide I'm open as well. Thanks for listening or reading I should say. Let me know if you have any other questions. I will probably take some more par readings on the weekend to see what I'm getting with any new array.

I'd be surprised if that fixture was giving you too much PAR. 150 watt halides suck for PAR and 4 T5's over a 20" tall tank isn't overkill either.

What is your lighting schedule?

[The Grim Reefer]

Originally Posted by borcu

can i get some information about spectrum and par? which K is using for what and are all suitable for photosynthesis? for colors, for growth..

light from 400(violet) to 700 (infrared) nanometers is used. People generally refer to 10K as white and 20K as blue. Both are fine for coral growth.

[borcu]

so why do i need to use violet (like actinic) and infrared (like red)?

[wyattroa]

question..I have a nano 24 gallon and are currently running AI sol blue over it and am not really happy. I went to the sol blue from the stock PC lighting in the start of january and have had zero growth and I think done more harm then good. I am also heard of others who have gone back to T5 lights. I am thinking about making the switch over to T5's and was looking at ATI. My problem is the tank is only 19in wide and will have about 3 inches of the light hanging off of it. My other thought was how many bulbs, either the 4 or 6 version. My initial thoughts were to go with the 6 version for more color variation and options. I have some LPS in the tank but mainly SPS and plan to keep it that way and get more and possibly upgrade to a bigger tank sometime in the future. What would be the best option? Is 6 too much would I just fry everything?
Robert

[The Grim Reefer]

Originally Posted by borcu

so why do i need to use violet (like actinic) and infrared (like red)?

Who said you did? Violet in the actinic range brings out some color but doesn't really do anything special for growth. You don't want infrared and again, deep red is only for looks, you don't "NEED" either.

[The Grim Reefer]

Originally Posted by wyattroa

question..I have a nano 24 gallon and are currently running AI sol blue over it and am not really happy. I went to the sol blue from the stock PC lighting in the start of january and have had zero growth and I think done more harm then good. I am also heard of others who have gone back to T5 lights. I am thinking about making the switch over to T5's and was looking at ATI. My problem is the tank is only 19in wide and will have about 3 inches of the light hanging off of it. My other thought was how many bulbs, either the 4 or 6 version. My initial thoughts were to go with the 6 version for more color variation and options. I have some LPS in the tank but mainly SPS and plan to keep it that way and get more and possibly upgrade to a bigger tank sometime in the future. What would be the best option? Is 6 too much would I just fry everything?
Robert

4 would be enough but 6 would be better for color. A tek fixture would be good enough if you do 6 lamps.