The T5 Q&a Thread - split

[Froggy]

Originally Posted by h.cordero

I'm looking for some input about the # of bulbs you would run on a frag tank 48x24x12 ? Any ideas im clueless ?

Usually on a tank that is 24 inches wide you would go with 8 bulbs for full coverage. With the tank being so shallow at 12 inches I would go with 6 bulbs and raise the fixture to get the coverage you want and need. I would not go with less than 6 bulbs and 8 is overkill. 6 is your sweet spot IMO!
Joe

[rogergolf66]

Originally Posted by h.cordero

I'm looking for some input about the # of bulbs you would run on a frag tank 48x24x12 ? Any ideas im clueless ?

I have 8 on a 48x24x24 and it's to much I bleach sps. I have had to add actinic and cut back the duration to 2 hours on the 6 bulb plug to stop bleaching sps

[h.cordero]

Originally Posted by rogergolf66

I have 8 on a 48x24x24 and it's to much I bleach sps. I have had to add actinic and cut back the duration to 2 hours on the 6 bulb plug to stop bleaching sps

Originally Posted by Froggy

Usually on a tank that is 24 inches wide you would go with 8 bulbs for full coverage. With the tank being so shallow at 12 inches I would go with 6 bulbs and raise the fixture to get the coverage you want and need. I would not go with less than 6 bulbs and 8 is overkill. 6 is your sweet spot IMO!
Joe

6 bulb fixture it will be then!
Best regards
Hernan Cordero!

[TropTrea]

Originally Posted by rogergolf66

I have 8 on a 48x24x24 and it's to much I bleach sps. I have had to add actinic and cut back the duration to 2 hours on the 6 bulb plug to stop bleaching sps

What is your bulb combination. Coral Bleaching is usually caused by excessive red light rather excess total light.

[mhucasey]

Originally Posted by TropTrea

What is your bulb combination. Coral Bleaching is usually caused by excessive red light rather excess total light.

Yes watch out for too much red - I saw issues with light stress in my 8-bulb fixture from a purple plus. There are "white" bulbs with a red spike that will provide enough red for color rendition if correctly balanced with the blue and green.
I have a bunch of bulbs and have been pretty obsessed with finding the "Perfect" color with great growth. After literally 20 or so combinations I found this combo is my favorite by far:
front-back:
B+
B+
B+
AB special
Lagoon Blue
KZ new Generation
KZ Super Blue
B+


Putting more blue up front really helps with balancing color. When just 2 bulbs are on, the B+/KZ new generation color is fantastic. When all bulbs are on its not overly blue and the colors look great.

Getting an AB special into the fixture does wonders for growth, but unless balanced with something with a bit more red the color can get washed out. I use the Lagoon Blue, which adds Cyan and Red in the right proportion for my eye. Growth really took off once I got this combo set up.

[rogergolf66]

Originally Posted by TropTrea

What is your bulb combination. Coral Bleaching is usually caused by excessive red light rather excess total light.

I have since changed it but it was
5 blue plus
1purple plus
2 coral plus.

Bleached almost all the sps in that tank and the zoas would only open part way. This setup is 2 tanks run from 1 sump so same water same flow from one tank to the other. Only difference is t5 in the one I had problems and mH in the tank that was going great. Both tanks are same dimension too.

Now I'm using
1 GE 6500
1 purple plus
1actinic
5 blue plus

So does the GE 6500 have less red in it then 2 coral plus bulbs?


Roger

[romebaby]

I have a 92 corner bowfront with a 27" 160w 16k maxspect razor on it. I want to add a dual bulb 36" retro to the front of the tank to give more growth towards the bottom front. Mainly SPS & chalices. I run the maxspect at 90/70 blue/white. I'm getting awesome sps growth and colors from the razor but not quite enough coverage, and the razor has cool & warm white, blue & royal, as well as UV.

What would be the best 2 bulb combo here?

[moondoggy4]

Originally Posted by sahin

I am not 100% sure, but I think they may be coated. Take the worst one out of the bunch and try to clean it. If it starts to turn shiny, then all is good and you just need to put in a few hours of effort...but I doubt it...I think they are coated...and once the coating is damaged, you need to buy new ones.

PS if that was my ATI PM, I would be whipping out two of those T5 tubes and add a couple of rows of Royal Blue and 420nm LED's in there. Then replace 6 of the reflectors and my god, you will have an awesome light unit on your hand.

I take it your talking about a DIY project or does BLM make something like that?

[sahin]

Originally Posted by moondoggy4

I take it your talking about a DIY project or does BLM make something like that?

A DIY project.

Like this:

As well as adding 3watt Cree Royals, I added 5mm Moonlights

[jdraider75]

When do you change your bulbs? On my old fixture I started changing them at 9 months. But now I have a 8 bulb sunpower and run the fans at 9 volts. Do you think do the dusk dawn at 9 months and daylights at 10 or maybe a little longer? Tank is 120 gallon sps dominate.

[jdraider75]

I also just bought a used 4 bulb powermodule non dimming. Should I run the fans at 9 volts on this fixture as well? Its on a small frags tank.

[rogergolf66]

Originally Posted by jdraider75

When do you change your bulbs? On my old fixture I started changing them at 9 months. But now I have a 8 bulb sunpower and run the fans at 9 volts. Do you think do the dusk dawn at 9 months and daylights at 10 or maybe a little longer? Tank is 120 gallon sps dominate.

Not relivent to ur question but what bulb combo do u use and how many hours per day to u run them?

[jdraider75]

Originally Posted by rogergolf66

Not relivent to ur question but what bulb combo do u use and how many hours per day to u run them?

I run all ati bulbs. Right now I have 6 blue plus 2 coral plus. I am gonna add a coral plus and go 3 coral plus 5 blue plus. I have tried them all aqua blue washes out colors. True actinic isn't strong enough. And I think purple plus is a little to pinkish. I really like the coral plus bulb. I get really good color and growth with this combo. O and have tried ge 6500k bulb too yellow for my taste. I guess you just have to find a combo that suites you.

[jdraider75]

I run 2 blue plus 10 hours. And rest 7 hours. Blues are hour and a half before and after. Fixture 10 inches above water.

[SlavicSavage]

I asked a few weeks ago what bulbs to get, but ended up with different parts than expected as they were hand me downs. Currently I'm running 4 24watt T5s and a blue/purple 24" stunner strip. My bulbs are 2 ati blue plus, one purple plus, and a ge 6500k. This I on a 30x30x24" tank.

I'm thinking I should get two more blue pluses and another stunner strip and I would be good, but I am looking for any other ideas or suggestions. Like is there a better led to go with? I like the way it looks a lot now it just needs a little more coverage. I have mostly soft corals with a few Sps at the tops of rocks

[UWUALineman]

What is a good substitute daylight buib for the GE6500K? Premium Aquatics does not carry this one and I already have a fairly large order in the cart that I'd like to place. Do you reccomend a Geissman Midday, a ATI Coral Plus (although it really lacks in the yellows and reds). Need some opinions as I don't really want to have to place another order elsewhere. BUT, I will if need be. I"ve run the GE bulb for years and its hard to give up but so is making change. Thanks guys.
Fixture is an 8 Bulb dimmable powermodule. 24''
5 Blue Plus
2 Purple Plus
Just need to figure out my daylight bulb

[rogergolf66]

Originally Posted by UWUALineman

What is a good substitute daylight buib for the GE6500K? Premium Aquatics does not carry this one and I already have a fairly large order in the cart that I'd like to place. Do you reccomend a Geissman Midday, a ATI Coral Plus (although it really lacks in the yellows and reds). Need some opinions as I don't really want to have to place another order elsewhere. BUT, I will if need be. I"ve run the GE bulb for years and its hard to give up but so is making change. Thanks guys.
Fixture is an 8 Bulb dimmable powermodule. 24''
5 Blue Plus
2 Purple Plus
Just need to figure out my daylight bulb

Personally I wouldnt use the coral plus to replace the ge65 not even close. I dont know about other brand bulbs

[SilverOne]

Hello,

I put my aquantinics constellation 14 bulb fixture back on my tank after playing around with LED's. Its been a couple years since I had t5's and I see there are some newer bulbs out there..

For 14 bulbs/7 rows on a 125g... what do you recommend?

Thanks for your time!

[Av8bluewater]

Originally Posted by SlavicSavage

I asked a few weeks ago what bulbs to get, but ended up with different parts than expected as they were hand me downs. Currently I'm running 4 24watt T5s and a blue/purple 24" stunner strip. My bulbs are 2 ati blue plus, one purple plus, and a ge 6500k. This I on a 30x30x24" tank.

I'm thinking I should get two more blue pluses and another stunner strip and I would be good, but I am looking for any other ideas or suggestions. Like is there a better led to go with? I like the way it looks a lot now it just needs a little more coverage. I have mostly soft corals with a few Sps at the tops of rocks

The reefbrite and buildmyLEd strips are much more powerful than stunners.
They're not cheap but an option if you want something better. They both can be mounted on the side of a sunpower by just unscrewing two screws. I think the bml you have to get a couple of L brackets from home depot.
BMl is coming out with a new multi channel controller too.

[TropTrea]

Originally Posted by rogergolf66

I have since changed it but it was


So does the GE 6500 have less red in it then 2 coral plus bulbs?


Roger

Actualy I think the GE 6500 has less red then one Coral Plus. So if your looking tat two coral plus bulbs your talking more than twice the red light as the GE.

But the GE has a lot more in the green and Yellow Range. Most people run the Ge with either 1 or two purple plus bulbs simply to break the amber look some people detect from this bulb. However the amber look is a mater of comparison to higher K temp bulbs rather than a comparison to a pure white. But dependent on the corals two purple plus could be pushing the red end of the spectrum. Then if you look at the coral Plus it has roughly half the amount of red as the purple plus.

[TropTrea]

Originally Posted by UWUALineman

What is a good substitute daylight buib for the GE6500K? Premium Aquatics does not carry this one and I already have a fairly large order in the cart that I'd like to place. Do you reccomend a Geissman Midday, a ATI Coral Plus (although it really lacks in the yellows and reds). Need some opinions as I don't really want to have to place another order elsewhere. BUT, I will if need be. I"ve run the GE bulb for years and its hard to give up but so is making change. Thanks guys.
Fixture is an 8 Bulb dimmable powermodule. 24''
5 Blue Plus
2 Purple Plus
Just need to figure out my daylight bulb

Finding a direct conversion is difficult, But Some aproximate converions would be

4 Blue plus
2 Aqua Blue Specials
2 Purple Plus.

Or
4 Blue Plus
4 Coral Plus
but this might look a little more purplish than the GE.

Neither of the combination though will match the yellow spectrum in the GE bulb though. So they both might look a little dull in the reflective colors you get from fish like yellow tags, or fox face.

[cFloor]

I got some great help in here a couple months ago, and I'm looking for one more piece of advice before buying my ATI unit. I have a 36x36x20" cube and I'm going back and fourth between two 6 bulb sunpowers or one 10 bulb powermodule. My tank is all sps and I'm looking for complete coverage. thank you

[h0bite]

Originally Posted by cFloor

I got some great help in here a couple months ago, and I'm looking for one more piece of advice before buying my ATI unit. I have a 36x36x20" cube and I'm going back and fourth between two 6 bulb sunpowers or one 10 bulb powermodule. My tank is all sps and I'm looking for complete coverage. thank you

The Powermodule hybrid with 8x39w and 2x75w led seem to be the perfect choice !

[cFloor]

h0bite- thank you for the reply. I have indeed been looking at that fixture as well. I still need to do more research on it. It is $600 more than the 10 bulb power module, is the price justified? My main goal is to have a cube full of growing and colorful corals. I'm not sure, because I haven't done enough reading on it, if the added LEDs assists in this, or simply gives me more to tinker with. I don't need or even necessarily want all the bells and whistles, but if it actually helps with the growth and coloration of corals, that will be the fixture I will buy.

[ReefNate]

Hello everyone I am setting up a shallow frag tank and will be using a 4 bulb t5 fixture over it. could you guys recommend 4 ATI bulbs I should run. I will be growing mostly softies and a few sps.