T5's

tapwater · 08/16/2009, 03:11 PM

Hi everyone,
My bro gave me T5 lights for my 55 gal. I have a established tank and I am getting some brown algae on the glass. The guy at the LFS told me you have to change those bulbs every 6 months whether they look good or not. He says that not changing those bulbs will make more brown algae. I am scratching my head about this.

Now another guy at a different LFS told me to get rid of those T5's and put my regular coralife compacts back on there and get rid of those T5's they are expensive and unnecessary.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.thanks

Lou

Jay1982 · 08/16/2009, 03:17 PM

How many T5's do you have over your 55? How old are they? You should change them on a fixed schedule. However every 6 months is a bit often. I do it every 10.

MichaelLitoris · 08/16/2009, 03:25 PM

Get rid of the T5 and put the regular compact fluorescents back? I think not, that's actually going backwards. T5 bulbs are good for 1 year, 9 months if they are overdriven by an Icecap ballast (54w to 80w for example).

By brown algae you mean, diatoms? this may not necessarily be caused by the lights.

tapwater · 08/16/2009, 04:41 PM

They are 55W and yes I mean Diatoms!

Poeticlydead · 08/16/2009, 04:52 PM

How old are the bulbs?
I would go with the 10-12 month bulb replacement recommendation above (it is what I go by).

I would suggest you check your parameters, perform a water change and make sure you have enough flow in the tank.

Oh and why in the name of the fish gods would they suggest you ditch T5ho lighting to go back to PCs wich have lower par ratings on average? Is it a FOWLR tank?

IslandCrow · 08/16/2009, 06:33 PM

What the guy at the LFS is referring to is spectrum shift that occurs in all bulbs over time. In other words, that nice white fluorescent bulb is slowly going to become more red (no, it will never look red, but the color spectrum will start to move further towards the red end). Truthfully, I'm not entirely sure I believe that this alone will actually cause an increase in algae, but in addition to spectrum shift, a bulb is going to become dimmer over time as well, and this could mean an unacceptable drop in the amount of light your corals receive.

If you're using High Output (or "HO") T5s, I completely disagree with the LFS guy in his suggestion to switch back to PCs. T5s come in a greater variety of kelvin ratings, have better actinic bulbs, and allow the use of individual conformal reflectors which maximize their efficiency. Also, I don't know this for certain, but I believe T5s are more efficient than PCs even without the reflectors. They're both fluorescents, so it doesn't seem like this would be the case, but I swear I remember someone comparing the output of the two types of bulbs and getting results to support this.

Anyway, most people change out their T5 bulbs about once a year.

MC Genghis · 08/20/2009, 01:28 PM

This is not a selling forum~dc

08/16/2009, 03:11 PM	#1
tapwater Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: delaware Posts: 113	T5's Hi everyone, My bro gave me T5 lights for my 55 gal. I have a established tank and I am getting some brown algae on the glass. The guy at the LFS told me you have to change those bulbs every 6 months whether they look good or not. He says that not changing those bulbs will make more brown algae. I am scratching my head about this. Now another guy at a different LFS told me to get rid of those T5's and put my regular coralife compacts back on there and get rid of those T5's they are expensive and unnecessary. Any suggestions would be appreciated.thanks Lou

08/16/2009, 03:17 PM	#2
Jay1982 Registered Member Join Date: May 2008 Location: Doc Brown's Mansion Posts: 704	How many T5's do you have over your 55? How old are they? You should change them on a fixed schedule. However every 6 months is a bit often. I do it every 10. __________________ 1.21 Gigawatts?! 1.21 Gigawatts!?! Current Tank Info: 135 reef tank, 50 gallon turtle aquarium, 1.21 Gigawatts?!

08/16/2009, 03:25 PM	#3
MichaelLitoris Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2009 Posts: 53	Get rid of the T5 and put the regular compact fluorescents back? I think not, that's actually going backwards. T5 bulbs are good for 1 year, 9 months if they are overdriven by an Icecap ballast (54w to 80w for example). By brown algae you mean, diatoms? this may not necessarily be caused by the lights. __________________ 100 gal (48x24x20) bare bottom with 250 pounds of live rock, 33 gal refugium and sump combo 2 x 250w XM halides, 2 x 54w T5 actinics, ASM G-3 skimmer

08/16/2009, 04:52 PM	#5
Poeticlydead Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Missouri Posts: 414	How old are the bulbs? I would go with the 10-12 month bulb replacement recommendation above (it is what I go by). I would suggest you check your parameters, perform a water change and make sure you have enough flow in the tank. Oh and why in the name of the fish gods would they suggest you ditch T5ho lighting to go back to PCs wich have lower par ratings on average? Is it a FOWLR tank? __________________ No, I can't spell and no I don't care how it is spelled. Current Tank Info: 90gal reef tank, 40g FOWLR, couple of nanos

08/16/2009, 06:33 PM	#6
IslandCrow Reef Monkey Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Rockledge, Fl Posts: 5,759	What the guy at the LFS is referring to is spectrum shift that occurs in all bulbs over time. In other words, that nice white fluorescent bulb is slowly going to become more red (no, it will never look red, but the color spectrum will start to move further towards the red end). Truthfully, I'm not entirely sure I believe that this alone will actually cause an increase in algae, but in addition to spectrum shift, a bulb is going to become dimmer over time as well, and this could mean an unacceptable drop in the amount of light your corals receive. If you're using High Output (or "HO") T5s, I completely disagree with the LFS guy in his suggestion to switch back to PCs. T5s come in a greater variety of kelvin ratings, have better actinic bulbs, and allow the use of individual conformal reflectors which maximize their efficiency. Also, I don't know this for certain, but I believe T5s are more efficient than PCs even without the reflectors. They're both fluorescents, so it doesn't seem like this would be the case, but I swear I remember someone comparing the output of the two types of bulbs and getting results to support this. Anyway, most people change out their T5 bulbs about once a year. __________________ All opinions in the above message should be taken with 35 ppt salt. -Mike C. Current Tank Info: I have a reef screen saver on my phone, does that count?

08/16/2009, 04:41 PM	#4
tapwater Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: delaware Posts: 113	They are 55W and yes I mean Diatoms!

08/20/2009, 01:28 PM	#7
MC Genghis Moved On Join Date: May 2009 Location: Tampa Posts: 29	This is not a selling forum~dc Last edited by dc; 08/24/2009 at 09:00 AM.