T5 Q's
 

Ive set up my aquaperfekt photon plus 2x250w mh+ 4xT5 bulb unit and I am not liking the yellow color I'm getting. The MH are 2 unknown brand 10k bulbs and I will be switching them out for 2 aqua connect 14ks. What I am unsure of is the T5's I have never ran them before and am not sure what to look for. I am starting to keep more sps and would like to get the most color out of them. I plan on using KZ bulbs...Is there a good combo anyone can recommend to me?

Cheers
Ray

There's some pictures at the end of this thread with a T5 Giesemann's and Aqua-Medic and just put up a new post showing with 2x250W 14K Phoenix's. Also check the link in the start of my first post for some more pictures.

If you can get aquascience bulbs, I would consider those....they out par giesemann, KZ and ATI....I would either go with their new "duo" or the 22000k for color...

Sorry to disagree with you Doug, but I was really disappointed with the AquaScience 17,500K's that I bought. I found they looked AWESOME at first, but the color spectrum really faded within 6 months. The bulbs are now 9 months old and look like 10K's.

Imo, if you have good quality MH bulbs running with well chosen ballasts to produce a respectable amount of PAR then who cares about the PAR of the supplemental T5s? Plus the fact that in your case you have 4 T5s, so even if you choose T5 bulbs with lower PAR you will still be getting a fair amount of PAR in addition to the MH. My preference when using T5s as color supplementation for MH I like to use an equal amount of KZ Fiji Purple and UVL Super Actinic. :)

If you've got both MH and T5, use the MH as your main PAR bulb and supplement the colour with the T5. This allows you to use a yellower (IE higher PAR) MH bulb while getting the colour pop with the T5 bulbs. A mix of a single KZ Fiji Purple with UVL Superactinics will give great supplemental lighting. I've also found that Geissmann Actinic+ bulbs gives excellent colouring as well. Since colour is so subjective, try different combos to get the look you want.

6-9 months is all you should expect from your T5s in a lighting unit that isnt actively cooled....I cant find the link to the actual in tank experiment where they had ATI bulbs one one side of the tank and Aquascience on the other.....flow and coral placement was mirrored on each side of the tank as closely as possible and after six months the difference in growth of the same coral species was quit noticeable.....

Fiji purps and "true/pure" actinics are a waste of a bulb IMO....great for color but not much else, and the fiji purps produce a red spectrum(algae growth) that most tanks not running a ultra low nutrient system, cant handle.......why not get some usable par out of your "color" bulbs( like the Aquascience 22000k and G actinic+)?

Found it!
http://archiv.korallenriff.de/Lichttest/T5-1.pdf

54W Fiji Purples produce like 330 PAR man...

But do most tanks need that much red:wink:

the "red light" theory http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2008/12/aafeature1