T5's have arrived

[mmd]

I had a 2x96 w coralife pc.
I switched over last night to a SLS 36" teklight T5 with 4 39 watt ATI bulbs: 1 6k sun, 1 11k aqua blue and 2 blu +.
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I know from recent post alot of people were interested in t5's.
I will try to post soon & will definitely have pics at the meeting before and after for those that want to see the difference.
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Im not an expert I will just give my observations:
Im now using less wattage and the tank appears alot brighter, infact im only running 2 bulbs for a few days so i do not shock my softies.
the corals color is more enhanced then w/pc's.
The coral does not phosphuesce (is this a word) as much as i expected from viewing a t5 post on new to the hobby.
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For those who want to know $$ it was a few cents over $382.00 to my door from reef geek.
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[Shoestring Reefer]

My corals do not flouresce as well under my T5s as they did under VHO, but bulb combo could be a factor for me- I have 2 6500k, 1 actinic, 1 blue+.

[joeski3]

Hey mmd looking foward to seeing those pics. I'm pretty convinced from what i've read and seen posted here that i will be using t5's to light my 90 ( going to get the 8/ 54 watt unit) Did you get the lights from Reef Geek?
Good Luck!...i'll look for you at the next meeting..

[mmd]

yes reef geek, well packaged and arrived on tinme, although they use ups which is the slowest ship in the shipping buss.

[Shoestring Reefer]

I also used Reefgeek; UPS damaged some bulbs, but Reefgeek replaced them. The service is excellent, I'm very happy with them.

[danellis06460]

errm, cough, Mike did you say you might have some pictures of your canopy ?

[mmd]

no tank with comparo on the light, i do not have a canopy

[danellis06460]

Sorry, I meant the other Mike, shoestring reefer.

Originally posted by mmd
no tank with comparo on the light, i do not have a canopy

[InsaneClownFish]

Pictures! Pictures! I'm ordering my 36 x 6 from ReefGeek in about 2 weeks. I'm going to check out Kevin's tank in person one of these weekends, but I'm definately interested in seeing more pics with different bulb combos.

Mike, the fixture comes with 3 suns, so I was thinking of running 3 blue+ to offset. Someone else commented that I should scrap one of the suns for an aquablue because the suns are strong enough to was out any of the blue at that combo....any thoughts?

[kroe]

I have some pictures of my T5 canopy at:

My Gallery

My camera can't handle the light - the in tank pics don't look so great... not at all like how it really looks.

[Shoestring Reefer]

Sorry, Dan. I just looked around and asked the wife, we still can't find the camera.

InsaneClownFish-I'm not shure which Mike you were asking, but I'd recommend that if you want a blue tank and you do get suns, don't get GE suns. I got the GEs because Reef Geek was out of ATIs, lots of people have called GE suns yellower than ATI suns.

My lighting combo is definately white, not blue. When I ran VHO, a 50/50 sun/actinic combo was very blue. So I agree that the T5 suns wash out the blues more than the VHOs do. In fact, I'm going to add some used (cheap, since I'm experimenting) NO actinics to see what they do along with the T5s. I like a white tank, but I'd like to get the coral colors to pop a little.

[kroe]

I would do 50/50 aquablue/blueplus if I were to do it again. The aquablue is not blue at all - pure white. The sun has a yellowish tint. The PAR of aquablue is slightly higher than the GE sun don't let the 11000K vs 6500K fool you (not just by what the word on RC is... I tested it). I have 1 GE 6500K, 1 AquaBlue, 2 BluePlus. The light is pure white... I would not consider it blue at all. It is much less blue than the typical half 10K half actinic PC setup. Maybe they would give you some credit towards AquaBlue bulbs if you don't take the sun's?

[mmd]

insane or anyone else, i am in middletown and your welcome to stop by....