The T5 Q&a Thread - split

[TropTrea]

Originally Posted by Michigan Mike

If I remember correctly the ge6500 & aquablue are about equal @ lower 340's area while the coral plus is mid 320's, I think.
Blue plus is 310'ish but people say its really higher than that, IDK.

Tou also want to keep in mind that PAR equaly evaluates the entire spectrum. Yet Corals do not utilize the entire spectrum equally. You can have a lot of red and green in the bulb that boosts the PAR reading but very less Blue hawaver the corals will use all the bue you give them but only a small amount of that red and green.

[dadummy]

hey guys,

can't believe this thread is still going...awesome.. Was looking for some T5 info and no better place to ask.

I have a std 150g, with 28 cw, 56 rb an14 blue LEDS and been running them over a year. Some sps, mille especially did not grow well but colors were good. . I added two 80w blue plus several months ago to the front of the tank and now all sps are all growing with great color. I am thinking of adding two more 80w T5 to the back of the tank, tight fit but think they will make it.

I tried a Fiji purple and blue plus on front of the tank and did not like the pink look.

For growth and color would I be ok adding two more blue plus, or should I add an aquablue or coral plus 3:1?


thanks for your help

[SneekaPeek]

Can anyone throw some pictures up of the bulb combo 4 blue plus and 2 coral plus? Im interested in this combo and having a hard time finding pictures online.

Thanks in advance!

[Michigan Mike]

Originally Posted by dadummy

hey guys,

can't believe this thread is still going...awesome.. Was looking for some T5 info and no better place to ask.

I have a std 150g, with 28 cw, 56 rb an14 blue LEDS and been running them over a year. Some sps, mille especially did not grow well but colors were good. . I added two 80w blue plus several months ago to the front of the tank and now all sps are all growing with great color. I am thinking of adding two more 80w T5 to the back of the tank, tight fit but think they will make it.

I tried a Fiji purple and blue plus on front of the tank and did not like the pink look.

For growth and color would I be ok adding two more blue plus, or should I add an aquablue or coral plus 3:1?


thanks for your help

Add more blues and move the purple bulb to the rear, or replace with a KZ new gen if you want a whitest bulb with less red spectrum.

[dadummy]

Originally Posted by Michigan Mike

Add more blues and move the purple bulb to the rear, or replace with a KZ new gen if you want a whitest bulb with less red spectrum.

cool man, thanks for the help, will check out the kz new gen. After the post I realized there's a bunch of old bulbs in the garage. Can mess around and see what combo looks best

[TropTrea]

Originally Posted by dadummy

hey guys,

can't believe this thread is still going...awesome.. Was looking for some T5 info and no better place to ask.

I have a std 150g, with 28 cw, 56 rb an14 blue LEDS and been running them over a year. Some sps, mille especially did not grow well but colors were good. . I added two 80w blue plus several months ago to the front of the tank and now all sps are all growing with great color. I am thinking of adding two more 80w T5 to the back of the tank, tight fit but think they will make it.

I tried a Fiji purple and blue plus on front of the tank and did not like the pink look.

For growth and color would I be ok adding two more blue plus, or should I add an aquablue or coral plus 3:1?


thanks for your help

The pink look is caused by the combo of Cool White LED's, Royal Blue LED's, and the added Fiji Purple. The leds are strong in the 440 to 450 nm range which is slightly violet compared to a true blue at at about 470 nm. Now you add the Fuji Pulrple giving another spike in the red range with the old color mix of red plus blue = purple.

Moving the Purple to the back will lessen it as well as adding more blues. I like t idea of adding more T-5's to your set up as they have a wider color spectrum than the LED's in the Blue Range.

Not knowing what Wattage and brand your leds are I wonder if you have enough total light? You have 98 LED's but dependent on which nes and how they are run will make a big difference. On 350 ma drivers you barely have 98 Watt's with a 700 ma your a hair over 200 watts, with a 1000ma driver your well over 300 watts.

[warnutts]

Can you guys suggest a bulb combo for me? I have an 8 bulb 4' fixture.

I'm looking for a crisp blue/white with all colors to really pop. It's a mixed reef tank. Here are the bulbs to play with.

6x B+

Kz purp

2 x ati P+

1x coral +

6500k ge

2 x aquablue special

Giessman super actinic

Thanks for all the help!!

[dadummy]

Originally Posted by TropTrea

The pink look is caused by the combo of Cool White LED's, Royal Blue LED's, and the added Fiji Purple. The leds are strong in the 440 to 450 nm range which is slightly violet compared to a true blue at at about 470 nm. Now you add the Fuji Pulrple giving another spike in the red range with the old color mix of red plus blue = purple.

Moving the Purple to the back will lessen it as well as adding more blues. I like t idea of adding more T-5's to your set up as they have a wider color spectrum than the LED's in the Blue Range.

Not knowing what Wattage and brand your leds are I wonder if you have enough total light? You have 98 LED's but dependent on which nes and how they are run will make a big difference. On 350 ma drivers you barely have 98 Watt's with a 700 ma your a hair over 200 watts, with a 1000ma driver your well over 300 watts.

thanks for the info. running 28 Cree CW XP-G @1050ma (80 deg. optics/few without), 56 RB (60 & 80 opt) + 14BL XT-E (no optics) @700ma. Heatsink is 6' X 6" around three inches above the water. Took out the T5 and ran LED for a little over a year. Some acropora did not grow well or very little at all, while others did great. Tried different placement on some to see if would help growth and had no success. Montipora, clam, lps all did well under the LED.
Added the two 80w Blue Plus T5 to the front of the tank, and the millepora that would not grow have all taken off. Have more growth in three months than had in a year under LED.
The back of the tank is lacking now, so have ATI 80w ballast and reflectors on the way. Thinking of redoing the LED and going T5-Led-T5-Led... across the tank, since space is definitely an issue

[TropTrea]

Originally Posted by dadummy

thanks for the info. running 28 Cree CW XP-G @1050ma (80 deg. optics/few without), 56 RB (60 & 80 opt) + 14BL XT-E (no optics) @700ma. Heatsink is 6' X 6" around three inches above the water. Took out the T5 and ran LED for a little over a year. Some acropora did not grow well or very little at all, while others did great. Tried different placement on some to see if would help growth and had no success. Montipora, clam, lps all did well under the LED.
Added the two 80w Blue Plus T5 to the front of the tank, and the millepora that would not grow have all taken off. Have more growth in three months than had in a year under LED.
The back of the tank is lacking now, so have ATI 80w ballast and reflectors on the way. Thinking of redoing the LED and going T5-Led-T5-Led... across the tank, since space is definitely an issue

Okay so here is roughly wah you have
28 Cool Whites at 3 watts each = 84 Watts
56 Royal Blues at 2 Watts each = 108 Watts
14 Blues at 2 Watts each = 28 Watts

this is more than enough total light however I see two gliches in the spectrum. The First is that LED's are very pooe in the 480nm to 500 nm range. The second is that the Cool Whites produce very little light above 580 nm.

The addition of two Blue Plus bulbs would realy bring up the spectrum both below 420 nm as well as that 480 nm to 500 nm gap.

As far as the longer wave lenghts I personaly use less whites but use the neutral whites that gove off a bit more on the red side of the spectrum. I would suggest changing out at some of your Cool Whites for Neutral Whites. DO not change them all though as that will give you to much RED.

Another option you could try is adding a Purple Plus and an Atinic on the T-5's without changing your LED's.

[TropTrea]

Originally Posted by warnutts

Can you guys suggest a bulb combo for me? I have an 8 bulb 4' fixture.

I'm looking for a crisp blue/white with all colors to really pop. It's a mixed reef tank. Here are the bulbs to play with.

6x B+

Kz purp

2 x ati P+

1x coral +

6500k ge

2 x aquablue special

Giessman super actinic

Thanks for all the help!!

Start with what I'm running
Front
1 ATI Blue Plus
2 ATI Blue Plus
3 ATI Purple Plus
4 GE 6,500K
5 ATI Purple Plus
6 ATI Blue Plus
7 ATI Blue Plus
8 ATI Blue Plus
Rear

Some people would move the Purples to position 2 and 6?

[Michigan Mike]

Originally Posted by warnutts

Can you guys suggest a bulb combo for me? I have an 8 bulb 4' fixture.

I'm looking for a crisp blue/white with all colors to really pop. It's a mixed reef tank. Here are the bulbs to play with.

6x B+

Kz purp

2 x ati P+

1x coral +

6500k ge

2 x aquablue special

Giessman super actinic

Thanks for all the help!!

I'd start with 5 blue pls, 1 ge600, 1 purple, 1 coral. See what you think.
B
Blue
Blue
Ge6500 channel 1
Blue
Kz Purple
Coral channel 1
Blue
Blue
F

Try it, if too white remove the GE for a coral plus or purple, at least this will give you an idea of what you may want to change. If your not picky about dawn/dusk you can rearrange the bulbs to your liking.

[ilikefish34]

Looking for suggestions for my upcoming 225 (72x24x30). I would like to have softies, lps, RBTA, easy sps (monti and such) and would love to be able to throw a clam in there but it's not a deal breaker if I can't. Also, I was looking into the ATI Power Module but couldn't find an 8 bulb unit in the 60'' size... do they make one? I do like my blues and I'm looking for lighting that will show off the fish as much as the inverts. Any and all help would be much appreciated.

[TimeConsumer]

ATI has discontinued the powermodule and replaced it with the new LED powermodule. If you have the cash, I think it's one of the best fixtures on the market right now.

Otherwise you can get a 8x80w Sunpower.

[Michigan Mike]

Originally Posted by ilikefish34

Looking for suggestions for my upcoming 225 (72x24x30). I would like to have softies, lps, RBTA, easy sps (monti and such) and would love to be able to throw a clam in there but it's not a deal breaker if I can't. Also, I was looking into the ATI Power Module but couldn't find an 8 bulb unit in the 60'' size... do they make one? I do like my blues and I'm looking for lighting that will show off the fish as much as the inverts. Any and all help would be much appreciated.

Just get the 8x80w Sunpower or a used powermodule or Sunpower. Just my opine.

[SirReefer]

I wanted to see if anyone with more knowledge can help me out a bit. I currently have an ati 8 bulb but have noticed my green,purple a bit washed out. Wanted to see if you guys think its due to the lighting. I have a 75g standard and bulb combo from front to back is
Blue+
Ge6500
Coral +
Blue +
Ge6500
Coral +
Blue+
Blue+
Maybe if I change them around or change bulbs it might help with my colors. Let me know what you guys think I have another GE bulb and one purple + left over if you guys think I should swap out. I do have the fixture raised a bit over a foot because it is a 18in height tank. Need opinions so I can start ruling things out.

Was looking at troptrea's posting about the percentage of color in each lighting I myself would say it has a lot of blue but tank itself does not look blue to me here is the quote below

Originally Posted by TropTrea

GE would be 30% Blue 35% green 35% Red
Aqua Blue Special 45% Blue 45% Green 10% red
Purple Plus or Fugi Purple is 50% blue 50% red
Coral Plus is 70% blue 5% Green 25% red
Blue Plus is 80% blue 20% Green
KZ Blue is 85% blue 15% green

[SirReefer]

Originally Posted by Michigan Mike

I'd start with 5 blue pls, 1 ge600, 1 purple, 1 coral. See what you think.
B
Blue
Blue
Ge6500 channel 1
Blue
Kz Purple
Coral channel 1
Blue
Blue
F

Try it, if too white remove the GE for a coral plus or purple, at least this will give you an idea of what you may want to change. If your not picky about dawn/dusk you can rearrange the bulbs to your liking.

Just noticed this posting and was wondering if it would work in my case where I too want colors to pop. I'm not too picky about being to blue or white however I do not use dust/dawn with my tank and have my lights on for about 8hrs

[Michigan Mike]

Originally Posted by SirReefer

Just noticed this posting and was wondering if it would work in my case where I too want colors to pop. I'm not too picky about being to blue or white however I do not use dust/dawn with my tank and have my lights on for about 8hrs

Ya you should try it.
I dint use dawn/dusk either but the way it is configured (if you have a ATI or similar dawn/dusk setup) is a good combo IMO.
Lots of blue with a little purple, enough bulbs to use if you don't like a whiter look for us who use the white bulbs when we are not at home etc..

Its better than what you are running now IMO. You can move the bulbs around to however you see fit if you don't like the configuration.

[DragonWarriorPo]

Does the dimmable ATI models make a difference on how lifespan of bulbs?
If I only run my bulbs at 50% power how long should my bulbs be good for with an SPS dominated tank?

[Dapg8gt]

Originally Posted by DragonWarriorPo

Does the dimmable ATI models make a difference on how lifespan of bulbs?
If I only run my bulbs at 50% power how long should my bulbs be good for with an SPS dominated tank?

I've thought about this as well.. Thinking of upgrading from the sunpower to the dimmable 10 bulb

[TropTrea]

Originally Posted by DragonWarriorPo

Does the dimmable ATI models make a difference on how lifespan of bulbs?
If I only run my bulbs at 50% power how long should my bulbs be good for with an SPS dominated tank?

Wow I'm not in favor of dimmable by any means. Changing the power level on tubes creates changes in there spectrum noticable with even 10% power changes. Yes you will get a little longer life span on your bulbs at lower power but any savings in replacement will be offset bt needing more bulbs to maintain the same light levels.

Keep in mind the bulb manufacturers spent millions of dollars to tune there bulbs to work under a set standard of parameters. Now your changing those parameters so you might gain in one area but will have two or more times the loss in another.

[Michigan Mike]

Why do you run them @ 50% ?

[Dapg8gt]

I just thought the more gradual rise and set looked better and I had more tuning ability vs 100 % on for certain corals.. .. I'll look into it more and maybe I'll just be getting the standard 10 bulb if the concensus is its bad or a waste of technology;-)

[Force4000]

Hello all, I am semi new to lighting in saltwater tanks (was running a biocube for last few years with standard T5 bulbs). I recently upgraded to a 29G 30 inch long tank. I am having a hard time finding good T5 fixtures to use. I currently have a modified one from a friends 24" fixture which seems to be working great so id def like to stick to T5. Its only a 2 bulb fixture though and is very bulky. I saw Corallife has a nice fixture at a fair price but its also only a 2 bulb fixture. Any input would be appreciated.

[DragonWarriorPo]

Originally Posted by Michigan Mike

Why do you run them @ 50% ?

Because I have a shallow reef. Maybe run full power and just raise the fixture?

[Dapg8gt]

Originally Posted by Force4000

Hello all, I am semi new to lighting in saltwater tanks (was running a biocube for last few years with standard T5 bulbs). I recently upgraded to a 29G 30 inch long tank. I am having a hard time finding good T5 fixtures to use. I currently have a modified one from a friends 24" fixture which seems to be working great so id def like to stick to T5. Its only a 2 bulb fixture though and is very bulky. I saw Corallife has a nice fixture at a fair price but its also only a 2 bulb fixture. Any input would be appreciated.

There's quite a few used ATI sunpower 24" on here those are great fixtures I have a 36" and love it.. I will be moving to a 48" though for my 48 long tank..