Question for T5 Users

[fijiblue]

Does anyone have PAR ratings for their tanks? Here is mine.

[HBtank]

5-6 for me.

[barjam]

4 here.

[DesertBandits]

pimpin 3"s

[IPT]

right on the tank rim for me.

[fijiblue]

What are you guys/girls running (bulbs, ballast, fixture)? Please tell me someone else has PAR measurements...im trying to compare different T5 setups I am going to test a buddy's Icecap setup in the next few days to see the difference.

[fijiblue]

Also, can you post pics of your tanks.

[jennmac415]

Figi... please tell me the bulbs you are running again...I can't seem to find the thread where you tell them...

Thanks!

[jennmac415]

Plus those par numbers are incredible....

[ganjero]

fijiblue, what size is that tank?

[fijiblue]

Figi... please tell me the bulbs you are running again...I can't seem to find the thread where you tell them...

I run 3 ATI B+ / 2 ATI AB Specials / 1 UV Aquasun (ditched the procolor)

fijiblue, what size is that tank?

It is a 30 gallon. Here are some other pics if interested:

[hahnmeister]

Yeah, those PAR numbers are pretty sweet. There might not be the peak numbers like with halide, but so what... you have the entire top level of the tank lit up with an even spread of 400-600... enough for even the light hungry acros. That chart also illustrates why with T5 lights, sometimes its better to use a taller tank. With a halide, it might have 1000 at the top, and 200 at the bottom, or as low as 100 in the corners. With T5s though, the entire bottom of a shorter tank can be in the 200-300 range... enough to melt ricordea, open brains, etc. You will notice this tank is 100% SPS. If he wanted to have more low light corals down below (a pipe organ for example, or a BTA anemone), a 24" tall tank might be in order.

Sweet tank BTW. You might get better light output if you cooled the 'cold spot' of the bulbs though, rather than the length of the bulb. If you line up all your bulbs so the writing is on one end, and then blow the air across just the end (this is the 'cold spot'), you can boost your bulb output/longevity. See, tube bulbs actually run better when run at about 35degreesC along the surface. Its the 'cold spot' where the electrode is (usually one end where the writing is) is what gets super hot and can damage a bulb. If you control the 'cold spot' by cooling it, you can cool the bulb but still leave the phosphors at a higher temp...
http://www.holophane.com/polar/polar.htm

[ganjero]

hahn, what lighting do you use?

[Dwarf Seahorses]

Originally posted by hahnmeister
Yeah, those PAR numbers are pretty sweet. There might not be the peak numbers like with halide, but so what... you have the entire top level of the tank lit up with an even spread of 400-600... enough for even the light hungry acros. That chart also illustrates why with T5 lights, sometimes its better to use a taller tank. With a halide, it might have 1000 at the top, and 200 at the bottom, or as low as 100 in the corners. With T5s though, the entire bottom of a shorter tank can be in the 200-300 range... enough to melt ricordea, open brains, etc. You will notice this tank is 100% SPS. If he wanted to have more low light corals down below (a pipe organ for example, or a BTA anemone), a 24" tall tank might be in order.

Sweet tank BTW. You might get better light output if you cooled the 'cold spot' of the bulbs though, rather than the length of the bulb. If you line up all your bulbs so the writing is on one end, and then blow the air across just the end (this is the 'cold spot'), you can boost your bulb output/longevity. See, tube bulbs actually run better when run at about 35degreesC along the surface. Its the 'cold spot' where the electrode is (usually one end where the writing is) is what gets super hot and can damage a bulb. If you control the 'cold spot' by cooling it, you can cool the bulb but still leave the phosphors at a higher temp...
http://www.holophane.com/polar/polar.htm

I believe Fauna Marin's UltraSolaris T5 fixture is the only fixture that has active cooling on the "cold spot"

[hahnmeister]

ATI powermodules technically as well... the air inlets are at the ends, so the air really just blows across the ends of the bulbs, leaving the bulb to heat up a bit more. Then the air blows across the ballasts and up through the blowholes in the center.

Other designs like Aquatinics and Current use fans that blow from one end to the other. The technology may not call for that though. If anything, we can hope that the cooling air that is drawn in at one end happens to be the end where we put all our 'cold spots' and that the heat from this is enough, and the air throughput rate is low enough that the rest of the bulbs stay a bit warmer.

The DIY fixtures I made (red house) are ducted like the ATI as well... so far so good. The idea of attaching a heat-pipe, sink, or waterblock just to the cold-spot of the bulbs is interesting though. I almost wonder if just bonding some radial (rounded 5/8" inside curve like a collar) to the end while lowering the air flow might be what the doctor ordered. Heck, perhaps just putting thermal paste on between the cold-spot on the bulb and the reflector clip (retro reflector) might be similar (and the airflow on the backside of the reflector cools the heat conducted to it).

I just thought I would point out that its not as effective to cool the middle of the bulbs as it is to aim at the end with the 'cold spot'. When I did my 6x39wattT5 Tek over the 40B, I hung the fixture so I could place a 50 cfm 12" long cross-flow fan on the end to blow on the bulbs. I had 'dumb luck' with this because the end I put the fans on happened to be the 'cold spot' end where I had lined up all the writing on the bulbs (anal, Ill admit). So my fan was blowing across the cold spots first, and then somewhat along the rest of the bulbs (but not as intense, and with air that was warmer as it went further away). So in the end, I ended up with a nice 20% boost in PAR from this, and I was thinking I should add another fan to the other side to even things out, but upon testing the bulbs, I couldnt figure out why the opposite end of the bulb had just as high an output as the end that was getting more cooling. Well, now I know why... I was cooling the electrode end, or the 'cold spot' which is what matters most.

[dippin61]

Hey fiji.. great lookin tank! love the color on that mix of bulbs..

I need to get my wife new T5 bulbs, but im not a big T5 guy.. i run MH on my tank, but with a 4 bulb set up, which combination of your bulbs would you run?

[atvdave]

I voted 1" but they really set right on the rim.

fijiblue. what ballasts are you running?

[jennmac415]

Figi... what did you not like about the Pro Color bulb?

thanks for the pics and info... i have been looking into changing some of my bulbs by searching for every tank pic I can find that is lit by T5s..... every time I find a tank that I like the color of, I ask what they are running and 9 times out of 10 it has been all blue pluses and aqua blues with either a Pro color or an Aquasun... so I guess that is the color of tank I really like and that s what i will go with...

[hahnmeister]

Isnt it fiji purple?

[FranktheTankTx]

This has been an interesting thread. Kind of fits exactly w/ what I have been wondering about. What T5 config would I like best.

I really like a "blue" tank. I was thinking of going with something like this in hopes of making the flourescents pop out and avoid the red, orange or yellowish tints of light.

ATI True Actinic
UV Actinic White (12k)
ATI Blue Plus
ATI Aqua Blue (14k)
ATI True Actinic
UV Actinic White (12k)

What do you think? I plan on keeping SPS, clams, zoo's and rics in this tank.

[jennmac415]

Hahn... I asked him what Figi didn't like about the Pro color bulb because he said he ditched it and added the aquasun...

[hahnmeister]

Ah, ok. I thought someone went and came out with a new bulb for a second there!

For a blue blue blue look, I like the 1:1:1 ratio of true actinic, blue+, aquablue... or heck, sub out the aquablue for one of those UVL 14,000Ks or something really blue like that. Aquascience DUOs or something. And if you have 8 bulbs or something like that, put a KZ fiji purple or ATI pro color in there rather than daylight ever... supply some red/pink without any 'daylight'.

[fijiblue]

Hey fiji.. great lookin tank! love the color on that mix of bulbs..I need to get my wife new T5 bulbs, but im not a big T5 guy.. i run MH on my tank, but with a 4 bulb set up, which combination of your bulbs would you run?

dippin61 - Try running 2 B+, 1 Aquasun and 1 ABS for Acro. For softies, Id run 1 SA, 2 B+ and 1 Aquasun.

fijiblue. what ballasts are you running?

atvdave - It is the ballast that comes with the TEK fixture. At one point I thought of switching 4 bulbs to an icecap, but there is no need to

Figi... what did you not like about the Pro Color bulb?

jennmac415 - Didn't like the output, or lack of I should say

FranktheTankTx - Looks good. Most likely it will take some tweaking to get what you want exactly.

[Dyngoe]

I've got a 46G bowfront that my wife REQUIRES to have a canopy. So, my options were limited. I maximized the space available with: (F->B)
39W ATI Blue+
39W 50/50
75W VHO Actinic
39W AquaSun
39W ATI Blue+

I run all lights on IC ballasts and the T5s on IC SLRs.

I REALLY like tha addition of the VHO Actinic. I couldn't add another SLR to the retro, but the VHO only took 1" and adds tons of Actinic.

[atvdave]

Originally posted by hahnmeister


Other designs like Aquatinics and Current use fans that blow from one end to the other.

I don't know about the Current, but the Aquatinics 72" Constellation has vent holes at each end and the fans on top which draws the air in from each end and up through and out the center top of the fixture.


fijiblue...

Have you done PAR reading without the fans on as well? I'd like to know the difference.

Thanks
Dave