T5s Q&A

That is not really all that great...:-/. You would be replacing bulbs as often as pc's...?

 

You say growth is good but color is subpar... Color of the coral is subpar or spectrum of the lamps?
Coloring of corals has to do with many factors of which light is only one component. NO3, and ESP PO4 will brown SPS in a real hurry! I had a buddy give me a small SPS frag that was brown in his tank... it is now pink in mine. SO addressing the nutrient levels might also be something that you need to do.
Many articles have been writen as well as many products developed to help bring out colors in SPS. Some say it is PAR, spectrum, amino acids, water movement and so on.
Not to mention, the actual coral you buy is a huge component as well. Sometimes you gamble and get a browned out piece that turns pink in your tank, sometimes that brown piece just stays brown. I have a valida, that started as a 1" brown frag, it is now bushing out and growing like crazy and has purple tips but it is still brown. A gamble....

Ok nano, getting back on track... Do you need IceCap, IME no....
Whats a good ballast, Workhorse is cheap, Advance, Sylvania and other "standard" ballasts are fine. Many people bash the workhorses but I know LOTS of people that have used them with no issue at all. Heck I use Workhorse, decent, cheap ballast.

Remember that the Tek reflectors are 3.25" wide.... You need to plan ahead. You might want to try the thinner Aquactinics SLRs to gain more room in the hood.

As far as bulbs go, I have never personally used the Fiji purple(not really an ACTINIC fan, BLUE fan) but I have seen them running and actually on an IceCap ballast. It washed it out a bit but it was still actinic.
Most of the actinics out there are helpful at making some of the iridescence "pop", and I believe that is what you are looking for....

How many T5s are you planning on adding?

Happy lighting!

 

Tom @ Aquactinics told me that a properly cooled OVERdriven bulb should last about 12-14 months whereas a properly cooled regular driven bulb should last a good year and a half or more.

It depends on photoperiod and cooling, and remember different companies lamps like to be cooled in different ways, either across the length of the bulb or just the ends....

Happy lighting!

 

i just completed a similar retro with aquactinics, but with out the MH. http://www.3reef.com/forums/i-made/bluephishs-t5-creation-62123.html

 

Thread jacker!!!;D

No just kidding! I actually just finished reading your thread, nice work. I will have to post more pics of mine as well. Mine is a 1"x3" frame that I coated in spar vanish and then covered with the existing canopy. Just proves there is always many ways to do something in this hobby!

Happy lighting!

 

no sry i dint mean to jack, just dint want to post the same example pics again.

 

lol OK let me try and elaborate a bit while trying to remember all of the questions, my params are Ca 460, Mg 1450, Alk 11 Dkh, Nitrate 0, Nitrite 0, Ammonia 0, Phos 0, they have been stable for quite some time just with frequent water changes and no additional dosing as of yet. What I meant by "drab" is that they are not as vibrant from the LFS tanks, the nova's are great but just don't have that pop like I had hoped to achieve. Maybe just go with all T5's like the TEK fixture? That Guy is recommending to just do that instead and I fully trust his expertise, what do you think?

 

i would trust that guy, his tank speaks for itself. and i believe he just runs a 50/50 mix of uvls AW & SA.

as far as the teks go, from what i have heared the highest par have came from the 1) icecaps and then the 2)aquactinics then the 3)teks (reflectors, not fixtures)

the teks seem too big. they may increase the intensity of a single bulb,maybe more than other reflectors. but over the whole tank you prob lose par cause you cant fit as many bulbs over the tank. the teks seems like they would be better to retro with, flanking MH. than to have them as stand alone fixture.imo,imo,imo.

people usually say 1 bulb for every 2" of aquarium width.

with the aquactinics reflectors and standoffs. you can fit a bulb and reflector every 2 inches, with no space in between, and no measuring cause you can just butt the standoff's against each other and all will fit prefectly.

 

I can tell you that many pieces I have seen DO look great under T5 but an equal amount if not more really POP under MH... In my tank, many corals tend to look "washed" out. I am not sure if it is too long of a photoperiod, K deficiency or some other factor. The growth is great but take my orange monti cap, it is peach and growing in a flat plat. No swirls, no dark vibrant orange. Me and a few other guys(including a coral importer/exporter) think that the light from T5 comes off in more of a "blanket" as compared to the intense point source of say MH....Causing the coral to grow flat instead of spiraling up toward the light. Are we right? No one knows until it is tested more. You have to remember that T5s are still in there infancy. You have no idea how many times I hear/read that T5s will not grow coral in more than 24" of water or that they do not put out as much PAR as MH. Actually with how chaotic T5 light is, corals get more light with less watts and PAR of T5 then MH.

What type of lights did the LFS have? I would ask them that as well as spectrum. Remember how much the temp of a bulb can change a way a coral looks. My buddy just swapped his 175w 10,000k Mh for Coralife 20,000k bulbs-which BTW are one of the BLUEST!-and his pieces look so much better already.

One last thing, elevated alkalinty is also a cause of browning corals. I would say you are still in the safe zone but once you creep past the 13dkH level you will see more and more browing.
Oh and time, I got a acropora millie(which I think is actually a prostrata) and it was all blue. It now is blue with BRIGHT pink skin and coralite ridges. And all it took was a month or so in my tank for that to come out...

Ok, I think I am off track so I hope this post helped!;D

Happy lighting!

 

just a lil on that orange monti cap. i had one under 4 54 t5's with german parabolic.getting alot of flow it was kept for 2 months growing about a 1" a month. in a flat shelf shape.with great orange color... left in the same spot with same lighting the flow was changed to a slow slow flow and it started to grow up into spirals .

so i think with the monti caps the shape has a lot to do with the flow its in more so than the lighting. flow has just as much to do with the way our corals look as light .



the bluer i go it seems the more washed out my corals get?

i switched from a uvl 50\50 to a giesmann 15ks, actinics, and actinic plus. was way more blue than the uvl mix. corals all faded in color and slowed in growth. just like you said the monti cap turned peach. i decided to add a uvl actinic white back in the mix and it brought the color back with in days. IMO a lil orange and redish spectrum is needed to keep the rich colors. and the uvl added just the right amount of that for me.

just my own personal observations.

but i just upgraded my t5s with slrs, and just started keeping variuos acros so im still new to the acro experience. so my knowledge is limited, but i do spend a lot of time studing my corals and tank every day, so i notice the slightest changes.