The T5 Q&a Thread

[The Grim Reefer]

Originally posted by jennmac415
Grim,

I posted to you a few months ago about setting up a new 180 gallon reef and going with all T-5s...I bought the Aquactinics 72" 14 bulb fixture and I am very excited to see it up.You advised me which bulbs to go with for the best coloration AND growth and I followed your advice. I have the tank up and running now, I am just still in the midst of aquascaping and do not want to keep putting the fixture on and off until I am finished. My problem is that now that I have the tank up, many people have been naysayers about my going with all T-5s on this size tank. I will have a mixed tank, softies, LPS and maybe some Sps or a clam down the line. I guess i am just looking for confirmation on here that my tank can be a sucess with this light fixture, as I do NOT want to use halides again. I really like the coloration I have seen with T-5s AND the lack of a real heat issue and less electricity use is a big PLUS in my book.

Thanks for all your advice and help to all of us!

Jenni

Here's what you say to the naysayers when they see your tank overgrown with corals in a year or so.

"NO FRAGS FOR YOU!!!"

[The Grim Reefer]

Originally posted by petes97
Grim, can you point me at a primer on where to use T5 and where not to use. Sorry for not reading 23 pages before asking, I'm slowly making my way through the thread.

I'm planning an 8 foot tank 96 long by 16-18 deep by 18x22 tall that will be built into a custom 10'x10' wall unit. I just recently saw an all SPS running a Solar Flare and was amazed.

I'll be keeping a mixed reef with clams (everything from mushrooms, to ricordia, to zoas, frogspawn/torch, to montipora, acropora).

I'm not enjoying the heating issues with my metal halides, so T5 intrigues me very much, but I want to be successful. I would have planned 4x250 hqi + VHO for actinic before seeing the T5s.

Also, any reason not to build my own solar flare style? Is there anything on that unit I can't buy separately besides the reflector?

Have you put any thought into using a lightmover with a single Halide and using T5's to suppliment that?

I would be tempted to get 3 4x24 watt Ice Cap T5 retros and use them sort of like pendants over the tank. Because you want Clams and SPS you need pretty intense light. If you also want low light stuff like shrooms you need lower intensity areas like between the "pendants". do that and throw a couple of regularly driven 48" T5's at the front with Super Actinic lamps so you have dusk/dawn and actinic light in the gaps and it should really pop the shroom colors.

[jennmac415]

LOL... thanks, Grim... just needed to hear that!

[petes97]

Originally posted by The Grim Reefer
Have you put any thought into using a lightmover with a single Halide and using T5's to suppliment that?

I would be tempted to get 3 4x24 watt Ice Cap T5 retros and use them sort of like pendants over the tank. Because you want Clams and SPS you need pretty intense light. If you also want low light stuff like shrooms you need lower intensity areas like between the "pendants". do that and throw a couple of regularly driven 48" T5's at the front with Super Actinic lamps so you have dusk/dawn and actinic light in the gaps and it should really pop the shroom colors.

If I plan on using rockwork to create lower light areas for the shrooms, etc. Do you still recommend a MH on a light mover? What is the MH giving me that the T5's will not?

On a tank only 16-18" deep (front to back) I can either run a set of 6 T5s deep or maybe 3 T5s and halide(s).

[Elmo18]

Hi all. Is there a way to search through all these posts. I don't want to be silly and ask something that was already answered a long time ago...

Best,
Ilham

[bdare]

Hey Mr. Grim,

I'm planning on downgrading and setting up a small tank. It's a 20 High. The dimensions are 24x12x16. I would love to keep a BTA, a clam and a few softies.

What fixture would you recommend (Non-hanging only)? What bulbs should I get to achieve a 12-14K appearance?

I also plan on keeping the glass lid on the tank. Is this an issue?

Thanks in advance!

Ben

[builderguy]

Hello, this may have been covered in a previous post but here goes...

I have an 8-bulb retro set-up with Ice-cap 660 ballasts, so all the bulbs are overdriven to 80w. I have the following mix:

Front to Back
Actinics: (on from 9am to 9pm)
Blue Plus (ATI)
Super Actinic (UV)

Daylight (on from 11:00am to 7pm)
AquaBlue 12000k (ATI)
Super Actinic
6500k Daylight (GE)
Aquasun 10k (UV)

Then the last two are a repeat of the actinics

The weird thing is the Aquasun bulb looks orange when you look at it.

I have been having a problem with Cyano and thought maybe it was my bulb mix....any thoughts?

[The Grim Reefer]

Originally posted by petes97
If I plan on using rockwork to create lower light areas for the shrooms, etc. Do you still recommend a MH on a light mover? What is the MH giving me that the T5's will not?

On a tank only 16-18" deep (front to back) I can either run a set of 6 T5s deep or maybe 3 T5s and halide(s).

If you are able to make shaded areas with the rocks then go for the T5's. 5 or 6 rows of lamps should do fine for you. If your only 16" deep 4 lamps is probably plenty but I like having the 5 for better mix of lamps.

[The Grim Reefer]

Originally posted by Elmo18
Hi all. Is there a way to search through all these posts. I don't want to be silly and ask something that was already answered a long time ago...

Best,
Ilham

no, now you wasted your question asking a dumb question because you didn't want to ask a silly question

I probably answer ten questions a day that have already been asked one way or another

[The Grim Reefer]

Originally posted by bdare
Hey Mr. Grim,

I'm planning on downgrading and setting up a small tank. It's a 20 High. The dimensions are 24x12x16. I would love to keep a BTA, a clam and a few softies.

What fixture would you recommend (Non-hanging only)? What bulbs should I get to achieve a 12-14K appearance?

I also plan on keeping the glass lid on the tank. Is this an issue?

Thanks in advance!

Ben

Just a 4 lamp Tek would be fine. If you don't use the glass lids you could probably use a Nova or Finnex . I would run good lamps whatever fixture you choose. Id run 1 Super Actinic, 1 UVL Aquasun, 1 ATI Aquablue and 1 ATI Blue Plus

[The Grim Reefer]

Originally posted by builderguy
Hello, this may have been covered in a previous post but here goes...

I have an 8-bulb retro set-up with Ice-cap 660 ballasts, so all the bulbs are overdriven to 80w. I have the following mix:

Front to Back
Actinics: (on from 9am to 9pm)
Blue Plus (ATI)
Super Actinic (UV)

Daylight (on from 11:00am to 7pm)
AquaBlue 12000k (ATI)
Super Actinic
6500k Daylight (GE)
Aquasun 10k (UV)

Then the last two are a repeat of the actinics

The weird thing is the Aquasun bulb looks orange when you look at it.

I have been having a problem with Cyano and thought maybe it was my bulb mix....any thoughts?

I doubt the lamps are an issue. I assume you are running fans? I could see old lamps causing an algae outbreak.

[builderguy]

I am running fans. My paramaters are good and I didn't have this issue with the MH I was using before switching...maybe it's my food but my phospates are non-existent...very frustrating.

The bulbs are only 4 months old.

[The Grim Reefer]

Try increasing your flow in the affected areas.

[Pike614]

Might be a dumb question, but how do VHO bulbs compare to T5 bulbs in terms of light output? I am considering adding actinics to my halides on a 150g, and see a lot of people go with VHO insted of T5's.
Thanks!

[chris79]

grim, i have a blue hadonni carpet anemone in a 40 gallon breeder with a 150 De halide sitting right on the top of it. my buddy recently gave me a arcadia 36 in t5 luminaire. It does hav e the crappy reflector, but will i have any benefits by switching over. it has two d and d acinics in it so i would only need to get two more. Let me know what you think.

Chris

[bdare]

Originally posted by The Grim Reefer
Just a 4 lamp Tek would be fine. If you don't use the glass lids you could probably use a Nova or Finnex . I would run good lamps whatever fixture you choose. Id run 1 Super Actinic, 1 UVL Aquasun, 1 ATI Aquablue and 1 ATI Blue Plus

The difference in price for the Aquatinics fixture is like $20. Is the 5th bulb overkill? Would the 5th prevent me from keeping soft corals or high light LPS?

Thanks,
Ben

[rioreef]

Grim,

With all of your testing and preferred setup on various bulb count setups, have you ever posted pictures in side by side comparisons of what the tanks look like with the different color combos? Many of us do not have a wide range of bulb combos to test.

Chris

[The Grim Reefer]

Originally posted by bdare
The difference in price for the Aquatinics fixture is like $20. Is the 5th bulb overkill? Would the 5th prevent me from keeping soft corals or high light LPS?

Thanks,
Ben

Use a couple blue lamps, a couple actinic lamps and a daylight and you should be good.

[The Grim Reefer]

Originally posted by rioreef
Grim,

With all of your testing and preferred setup on various bulb count setups, have you ever posted pictures in side by side comparisons of what the tanks look like with the different color combos? Many of us do not have a wide range of bulb combos to test.

Chris

I don't have a good enough camera that will pick up the subtle differences

[bdare]

Originally posted by The Grim Reefer
Use a couple blue lamps, a couple actinic lamps and a daylight and you should be good.

Would all the blue lamps and atinics make the tank look too blue?

If I went with the nova fixture and kept the glass lid on, would I still be able to keep a BTA and LPS on the sand?

Should I consider something like the Coralife clamp on 150 watt 14K fixture? Would that give me heat issues? Can I run the coralife MH with a glass lid? I'm just really afraid of jumpers and my 2 children under 3 getting bright ideas....

I do plan on keeping like a 10 gallon sump with around 400 gph running through it. I'm hoping this will provide me with enough cooling.

Thanks again for your imput.

Ben

[bdare]

Originally posted by The Grim Reefer
I don't have a good enough camera that will pick up the subtle differences

There were a few posts by Grim EARLY on in this thread where he showed the same tank with different bulb combinations. That was pretty cool as you could really see the differenet colors in the corals. I went looking for it, but it's like finding a needle in a haystack.

[Mark75]

Grim,
I received my 36" Nova Extreme today and I am not happy with the color of my bulbs, too blue! I would like to change out at least one of the actinics. What is a good bulb to replace it with? Would changing out all the current bulbs make a big improvement? I will be replacing the bulbs one at a time, in what order would you replace the bulbs and with what bulbs? thank you.

[The Grim Reefer]

Originally posted by Pike614
Might be a dumb question, but how do VHO bulbs compare to T5 bulbs in terms of light output? I am considering adding actinics to my halides on a 150g, and see a lot of people go with VHO insted of T5's.
Thanks!

For simply actinic lighting the VHO's will give you a better effect.

[Pike614]

Will the VHO's have enough power to provide good actinics with a 400W halide? It just seems like T5's are brighter....maybe that is because they are smaller?

[sweetpea355]

Hey Grim,
Wanting to get rid of halides for t-5's and was wondering how the T5 Tek Retro Kit 60in- 4 x 80w would be on a mixed reef with clams, and what would be a good bulb combo?
Thanks
Joe