T5s Q&A

Steve buddy, which 20k lamp are we talking? Unfortunately actinic and 20k or 22k or what have you are still dissimilar. 20-22k are blue where as actinic is violet.. Thats what goofs many people up as many manf. call their blue lamps actinic, PC lamps are a prime example of this. Also Giesemann's Powerchrome Actinc+ goofs people because that is blue, its essentially the same lamp as ATIs BLUE+, which is a more fitting name.
I am assuming when you refer to the 22k you are talking about the Actinic+ which is blue.. I have ran that one alot.. I had three of them in my array as well as in all my frag tanks at the shop. I like it because it provides a nice blue, a dawn/dusk effect and when ran alone it really makes ORANGE pop! Oranges look great under it, esp if you have acans or favias with orange.. Green, esp the radioactive green really glows as well under it.
As far as PAR values, all I can go off of is Steve(Grim Reefer's) work, as its the most extensive and quite frankly no one has attempted to do and publish the same... Problem is its a few years old now and could have change.. Also having a PAR number attached to a lamp doesn't help you determine or guestimate what the PAR would be in the tank.. If I add up all my numbers I have mega PAR but that isn't what you see in the tank for various reasons...
Here is the link Steve.
par (tfivetesting)
It was my intention to duplicate Steve's test but time, and monetary constraints of having to buy all said lamps has pushed this test back for me, at least for awhile.
Not sure if I am answering your question Steve, so feel free to hollar again until I answer it!;D

 

I like it as they are usually pretty PAR heavy, bring out some of your warmer colors, offset the blues and are usually cheaper;D

In my current setup(which is getting changed as we speak) has 3 aquablue 3 actinic+ and 2 6000k... The new one, which I started swapping last night will have 3 Blue+ a Fiji Purple 2 aquablue and 2 6000k.

I personally like blue but think that a whitish tank with some daylight gives great both and provides a BRIGHT tank!!8)
And contray to common opinion having the 2 6000k lamps in my array causes me no algae issues.

Will it wash out the blue? No unless you have too many in proportion to the blue lamps.

 

cool, thnx much again. and if you dont mind me badgering you again. will the 6000 help in keeping sps?

 

You bet. Will it help. Yes, simple answer. ;D

In the frag farmer world, the 6000k Venture MH lamp is one of the most popular... Don't look great visually but put out the PAR... BUT with that said remember that MH does a better job at making warmer colors and T5 does a better job at making blues... Thats why you can see Blue T5 lamps that put out PAR values similar if not the same as 6000k lamps.

 

thnx again dr.frag. youve been a huge help to me. being the 1st swap of bulbs for me , if you dont mind , i think gonna go with the setup you are now doing. theres no copyright law on that is there?

 

thats great, thank you Dr.

yes the actinic 22k - I have red shrooms and organge ricordia and they glow in the evening under just 2 of these lamps

Steve

 

A friend gave me, two 48’’ T5 HO lights, can I put them in a regular T5 fixture without damaging the bulbs or the fixture?

 

Hello Doc I first off just want to say I love the thread. I have read most of it, I'm up to page 31 and plan on reading the restjust because I have learned so much. Really helps when your new to the hobby. So a big thanks.

Know a few pages back (page 10) a guy that is using the same size tank that I have(infantry1327) (40g breeder) asked about lighting of course. And on page 13 you told him to give the tek 36" 4 bulb a try or the aquactinicis tx5. Know I'm wanting to be able to put oh just about anything in my tank, maybe even working my way up to the hard corals ( spl's I belive they are called) but starting out with some of the easyer coarls first. So I was just wondering if you would still couse one of thouse two setups or has somthing better came out sence then? Know I don't mind to diy stuff to save $$. I would however like to know your couse for both ready to use and best bang for the buck/diy.
Oh yah I almost forgot as far as lighting I don't want a yellow looking tank. I. Like a nice clear white with a good blue tent. Thanks for you time and help!

I would also like to be able to have a nice clam sometime way down the road andthe hard coarls ( most light requarement if I remimber correctly)

 

You mean you want to run HO lamps in a NO fixure? You can do it but the lamps are going to burn poorly..

 

I appreciate the kind words and you taking the time to read an awfully long thread that has no pics!
Just FYI the corals are called SPS(small polyped stony or small polyped scleractinian)...

.Anyway, as far as lighting a 40 breeder,4 lamps would be the very least I would recommend. It is enough light to grow SPS in the center of the tank(front to back center) where the light is over, but will not give you good coverage or the ability to grow anything you want;.

The TX5 is a good unit that is compact and comes with some nice features, such as fans, and splash guard...

The Tek 6 lamp is what I would recommend for decent not too pricey fixture over a 40 breeder... Granted you could go more pricey such as an ATI Sunpower 6 lamp and get an overall better fixture but you will be paying more for that...

If you would like to go retro I would still recommend 6 lamps(Aquactinics' SLRs) or if you wanted to maybe try 5 I would recommend the AquaIllumination ones as they are alittle bit wider and would give you better coverage...Keep in mind when you are dealing with T5 over a somewhat shallow tank, being able to grow anything can actually backfire at times... If you crank up the light to grow mostly SPS you will have some issues with some of the LPS that would otherwise get a more subdued light in nature... open brains and certain faviids come to mind.Retros manytimes can be cheaper but sometimes when you factor everything in you can end up fairly close to the cost of a fixture so you need to shop around then weigh the pros and cons of both..As far as lamp choices go I would recommend 3 Blue+, a fiji purple, 1 6000k and an Aquablue+ or some similar combo... That will be nicely blue but not too blue heavy... If you shoot for a 1:1 blue/white ratio you will have an even more crisp white look, whiter than said combo..Good luck!