The T5 Q&a Thread

[wegotcrabs]

Grim how do you feel about the Geismann 4x54 fixture?

[The Grim Reefer]

Havent seen one yet. They don't really say anything about the design in the info I have seen/

[Aquadome]

Grim on an earlier post you bring up active cooling.
What would you suggest to achieve this in a closed canopy.
It will be on a 75 gal tank(48").
I will be using 2-250SE XM 10K MH's and 2 or 4 54watt T5's for Actinics.
Do you need to just vent the canopy or actually cool the bulbs.

You guys rock on all the info you give out here.

[The Grim Reefer]

Originally posted by Aquadome
Grim on an earlier post you bring up active cooling.
What would you suggest to achieve this in a closed canopy.
It will be on a 75 gal tank(48").
I will be using 2-250SE XM 10K MH's and 2 or 4 54watt T5's for Actinics.
Do you need to just vent the canopy or actually cool the bulbs.

You guys rock on all the info you give out here.

If you can set a fan blowing in on each side from the back in the area of the T5 endcaps and vent the canopy one the top it will be most effective at keeping the tank from absorbing as much heat. Its important that you don't blow air on the halides, they need the heat. You just want to move the hot air they produce up and out of the canopy.

[jennmac415]

well, I went ahead and switched out the 3000 for the super actinics...UGH... real drab... I guess I just don't like that super actinic bulb...I will either look for another 3000 to switch out the bad one or decide on another bulb...maybe just another aquablue? Or what?

[The Grim Reefer]

Dunno. Maybe you should try it with just Blue Plus lamps for a 20K look.

[Kirk_M]

Hey, Grim....

GEAUX TIGERS!!!!!

[martinphillip03]

Well I am going to answer this one.

1) I would go for the 6 bulb Tek light. Since you get to pick out the 6 bulbs you want, you won't need to get any extra. Grim has stated, I believe, that he really doesn't like any of the bulbs on the Current. If I bought it, I would replace all six.

2) I don't know if a 150 X 2 MH system is enough for the height of your tank. You need to find that out, you may have to upgrade to the 250watts.

3) but now you want to spend $650 for a lighting system. The 6 bulb ATI is $739, with no heat. Either suspend it or put it on 2 2x4's, stained oak comes to mind.
So now I would buy the ATI light

It all comes down to what you want to do.

Good luck

Marty

Originally posted by mdbrit
OK, I'm having problems justifying an ATI or TEK fixture over the CurrentUSA Extreme Pro.

The 6x39w current I can get for $300. I may change a few bulbs based upon Grim's recommendations, maybe the three blues, so total would be $360ish.

Next up would be the Tek 6x39w at $430 with bulbs. Quite a difference as I'd probably buy a couple more so I'd be looking at $450-470. Then I'd also need the acrylic shield and mounting legs for a total of over $500.

The 6x39W ATI fixture is going to be $660 +$120ish for bulbs. I'll also have to find a way to suspend it.

An alternative for $650 is the Current USA outer orbit 2x150w with 4x39w and built-in white and blue moonlights. This would be my first choice if it weren't for concerns over heat in the summer and running costs. Primarily it's the heat I'm concerned with as I have no room for a chiller really (and no desire to run one).

I love the idea of mixing bulbs to gain a pleasing color balance, I also love the metal halide shimmer as it looks more natural to me.

Tank is the Tech 70g and is 36w and 25deep. Any persuasive arguements will be greatly received! As you can tell, I'm having a hard problem with this. (after typing all this, maybe I should have started a new thread...?)

[therman]

I posted this in the lighting forum, but maybe I should have posted straight to this thread...it seems folks with a lot of t5 experience follow this...

Just today I added 2 UVL super actinic T5s to my ushio DE 10k setup and I really wasnt impressed with the fluorescence I was getting off the corals. Even with just the actinics on the colors weren't nearly what I used to get with VHO actinics. Can you recommend a better bulb for actinic supplementation than the UVL? It seemed like the spectrum was skewed and certain fluorescent pigments, such as orange and bright greens really weren't reacting.

Thanks,
Tim

[Aquadome]

Originally posted by The Grim Reefer
If you can set a fan blowing in on each side from the back in the area of the T5 endcaps and vent the canopy one the top it will be most effective at keeping the tank from absorbing as much heat. Its important that you don't blow air on the halides, they need the heat. You just want to move the hot air they produce up and out of the canopy.

Thanks for the reply.
I'll be working on the canopy this weekend and will let you know how things work out.
Since the MH's will be up higher than the t-5's I should be able to get air flow to the T-5's with out cooling the MH's

[The Grim Reefer]

Originally posted by Kirk_M
Hey, Grim....

GEAUX TIGERS!!!!!

Hey, it isn't hard to win the BCS title when you keep getting matched up with teams from the "Big 10"

[The Grim Reefer]

Originally posted by therman
I posted this in the lighting forum, but maybe I should have posted straight to this thread...it seems folks with a lot of t5 experience follow this...

Just today I added 2 UVL super actinic T5s to my ushio DE 10k setup and I really wasnt impressed with the fluorescence I was getting off the corals. Even with just the actinics on the colors weren't nearly what I used to get with VHO actinics. Can you recommend a better bulb for actinic supplementation than the UVL? It seemed like the spectrum was skewed and certain fluorescent pigments, such as orange and bright greens really weren't reacting.

Thanks,
Tim

Use one of the super actinics and either an ATI Blue Plus or a Giesemann Actinic Plus. The Blue T5's nail orange and certain greens pretty good. The Super Actinic hits other greens really good.

[Kirk_M]

Originally posted by The Grim Reefer
Hey, it isn't hard to win the BCS title when you keep getting matched up with teams from the "Big 10"

Like there is any other REAL conference besides the S E C, baby!

Sorry to derail ya, Grim

[Jeff_1986]

LSU can take anyone!!!! SEC the the best!!!!!

[wiltzlan]

The SEC is the hardest conference. Go TIGERS...

Nice fleur de lis Kirk.

[mdbrit]

Originally posted by martinphillip03
Well I am going to answer this one.

1) I would go for the 6 bulb Tek light. Since you get to pick out the 6 bulbs you want, you won't need to get any extra. Grim has stated, I believe, that he really doesn't like any of the bulbs on the Current. If I bought it, I would replace all six.

2) I don't know if a 150 X 2 MH system is enough for the height of your tank. You need to find that out, you may have to upgrade to the 250watts.

3) but now you want to spend $650 for a lighting system. The 6 bulb ATI is $739, with no heat. Either suspend it or put it on 2 2x4's, stained oak comes to mind.
So now I would buy the ATI light

It all comes down to what you want to do.

Good luck

Marty

Great, I'm set. Tek it is. Also, it's the perfect size for the Oceanic Tech 70 I've just discovered as the euro-bracing only actually leaves 12"w open at the top, so the ATI 6 bulb would be too wide.
If I have to throw all the Current bulbs away, it makes no sense either.
Thanks alot for the help!

[Tank102a]

Yeahhhhhhhhhhhhh.

[therman]

Thanks Grim, I'll give the ATI Blue a try. I did notice that purples went royal blue and certain greens were great under the UVL, but others were not.

[jennmac415]

Therman,

I was using 2 UVL superactinics in my fixture also, up until yesterday..... they just weren't "doing it" for me... there is something about their color that just doesn't work for me... I don't know if it is that they are so purple or what....but I think they tend to bland things out...anyway, now I am trying to figure out what bulb to get to go in their place. I put in 2 more Bluepluses that I had, but I don't know if that is what I want either, since I already have 3 of those in my combination..... this lighting thing is driving me crazy... but I still love T5s!!! I am getting really good growth with them and once I get my coloration nailed down, I think they will be perfect!

[ctreefer]

Grim, thanks for all the info you provide regarding T5. I've gone through maybe 30 pages in this thread and can't find references to good ballasts for normally driven T5 HO bulbs. I know its been said before, but I can't find it. I have a 430 that's overdriving 3 24" bulbs, but want to reduce it to just doing one or maybe two aquablues and running the actinics + (which always fry too quickly overdriven) normally on another ballast.

What are my choices in ballasts for the T5's? I see Triad, workhorse, Sylvania/Osram and some no name stuff for sale.

thanks

[SlavicSavage]

Grim,

Thinking about trying some new bulbs. I have had amazing growth out of all my corals, which include shrooms, zoas, a rose bta, acros, montys, euphyllias, clams, brains, and fungias, with the bulb configuration you recommended, which I will list below. For the new bulbs I would like something a little more actinic than what I have now, which to me looks around 10k with all the lights on, but still look pretty natural (maybe like 12k or 14kish), and then have the actinics be as blue as possible. What I'm running now on 2 IceCap 660s is

Front
ATI Aquablue
Blue Plus(ballast 2)
UVL Aquasun
Geissmann True Actinic(ballast 2)
UVL Super Actinic
GE 6500K

I might change all the bulbs, because they have dulled since I have yet to install active cooling in my canopy. So grim, what would you recommend I try next?

[zergling]

Hey Grim, my UVL Aquasun is dying, so I'm getting it replaced. What bulb would you suggest to help bring out orange better?

My current setup is

Front
ATI AquaBlue
UVL AquaSun
UVL AquaSun
ATI Pro Color

This is for my freshwater setup. The Aqua Blue makes the blue line on the cardinal tetras POP out, and now I'm looking to do the same for the orange line on my glo-light tetras.

[jennmac415]

how about a GE 3000K?? sorry, don't want to spet on grim's toes, just was reading...

[oct2274]

the ge3000 is not a good idea for a four bulb setup in my opinion. it is extremely bright and will over power the other 3 bulbs. The tank will look very orange/brownish. I have 2 150 phoenix halides 1 ati blue plus, 1 UV superactinic, and one pure actinic. As the 4th T5HO I tried the ge 3000 and it was so bright and orangish looking I had to take it out. I think if I would have had another ati blue plus it might have been alright, but there is no way i would run it with just a 4 bulb setup. Depending on the way you want the freshwater tank to look I guess this could be the look you are going for though.

[zergling]

I thought of the GE 3000K as well, but back when I was figuring out my bulb choices, it seemed the the ATI Pro Color is a better choice for a 4-bulb setup than the GE 3000K, as the ATI Pro Color seemed less harsh.....

I'm thinking of getting the ATI Blue Plus, I'm just not sure if it will help bring the neon orange out....