T5s Q&A

And which of the two has the best par?

 

ATI Aquablue is a 11000K bulb mainly white with a little hint of blue. The blue + is a 60/40 split of 460nm actinic and 20000K basically all blue. The aquablue has higher par.

 

The difference in PAR between the two ATI bulbs in question isn't all that much, I wanna say its only like 25uMol/m2/sec or something, not huge like the difference between an aquablue and a TRUE ACTINIC.

 

Ive read the first 17 pages and couldnt find a direct answer, so Ill just ask. how many T5 bulbs would you guys recommend over a 24" deep tank? Ive never done a big tank, so Its kind of like I have to start over again in the knowledge bank. Planning on keeping mainly LPS, maybe dipping my feet in SPS just for the experience.

 

this is the fixture that I have been eye-balling:

http://www.reefgeek.com/lighting/T5...t_Fixture_w!_Bulbs_(Black)_by_Sunlight_Supply

 

how wide is the tank? its more about tank width for the amount of bulbs.

i grew many softies on the sand, in my 24" deep 60 gal. for about 1.5 yrs with great results. only used a 4x54 nova with the single paroblic reflector. also grew torch and frogs under that, at about 18" and under rock overhangs.

but nobody is even going with single large reflectors anymore. current even uses single light reflectors(slr's) now.


if you plan on sps.u prob need as many bulbs as you can fit over the tank. with quality slr's.

that unit is quality!




im not sure what fixture it was, but yesterday i was looking at a 12 bulb setup my LFS had over a frag tank. i think it was aquactinics or that tek fixture your looking at. but i noticed that the fixture did not use the same slr's as the retro fit slrs. they were def not the aquactinics slrs and they def were not the 3" teks. this was a only 6 month old unit maybe less. it was using very small maybe 1.5" slrs. i would look into that cause the retro fit slrs are the ones with the claims of huge par differences. i would check into this maybe. i know for a fact that it was not a current/ nova made product(but they do make 1.5"slr's).

maybe someone else has seen this. that can give me more/you more info.

 

tank dimensions will be 48 x 24 x 24 .......

 

I don't know if anyone really answered the question, but icecap ballasts overdrive t5ho bulbs because they were designed to run VHO bulbs. Someone threw a IC430/ 660 on a set of t5ho bulbs and saw that they did light the t5's, and that they were brighter than regular t5ho spec ballasts.

Hey Joe, buy a vowel and get some silversides in. LOL

Tom

 

i would find someone with the same light, and ask them to measure the bulb coverage from reflector to reflector. say that only covers 12" of space, thats leaving you with half the tank with out bulb coverage. for a 24"wide you may need to go 8 bulbs. or placement of the higher light corals will be tricky.
just get as many as you can afford and will fit on you tank. esp. if you want sps. really look around at all your options. not saying that tek is not good cause its is one of the top recommended fixtures.

 

Anywhere from 6-8 bulbs would do the trick. The Tek 6 or 8 bulb, the Solar Flare by Aquactinics or the Constellation also by Aquactinics would all be suitable fixtures. The bulb amount then depends on your preference in light coverage and blending capabilities.
Or you can go my route and do a retro...Save some $$!
I have 8 bulbs over my 24" deep and wide tank(180) and wouldn't add more. I originally was going to do 10 but in my eyes it would've been overkill and I would've had bulbs lighting my pumps and overflow box....

Happy lighting!