Made The Switch...

[gobytron]

just an FYI, all the bulbs with the exception of the midday came with the fixture.
Receipt from JL shows 4 months old.

I looked at the fixture and saw that I essentially had 4 actinic bulbs and 2 50/50 or 15k's...

Thats why I put the Midday on for the time being, JL told me the Giesemann Midday bulb is the brightest on the market.


I'm not married to any of these bulbs and I appreciate all suggestions here.

This is a trial, my halides/VHO are sitting in front of the tank as we speak and could go back on anytime.

I just picked this T5 up for a great deal, and I wanted to see what all the mystery is about.
So far, I'm already leaning back to my HQI/VHO set up but I'm defnitely going to try some other combos befor I put the T5 unit up for sale with all fresh bulbs.
Maybe t pick up an 8 bulb unit as I agree with previous post those 2 extra bulbs would really allow for some better combinations of colour and par.


And yes Myka, 24" deep.
Myka - I was told by the good people at JL (you know who you are) that the 454 t5's do not even come close to the 454 VHOs for "pop"...is this true?
I have a Maxima on my sand and it actually seems very happy since the switch, this is the animal I am watching the closest for signs of light deprivation.
Also, so far, my Euphyllia are loving life right now.

I was in the middle of doing some serious maintenance in the sump room and actually had lights off for 5 days when I just happened to see this t5 unit f/s so I think I may have avoided a little shock from an abrubt change there.

[Myka]

Originally Posted by gobytron

And yes Myka, 24" deep.
Myka - I was told by the good people at JL (you know who you are) that the 454 t5's do not even come close to the 454 VHOs for "pop"...is this true?
I have a Maxima on my sand and it actually seems very happy since the switch, this is the animal I am watching the closest for signs of light deprivation.
Also, so far, my Euphyllia are loving life right now.

Ya, that's true. The VHO Super Actinics have uber POP too. You really can't touch those two VHO bulbs for fluoresce.

All your LPS should be happier with the new light...?

[phi delt reefer]

24" is reaching the maximum limit of T5's from what i have read. Make sure you are placing them as close to the water as possible. I'm going to be using the same 6 bulb tek but 36" over a 12 inch deep tank. The fixture will gain about 10-20% Par if you add a fan to cool the label end of the bulbs. A cheap clip on fan will do the trick.

Bulb combo

4 ATI Blue Plus <-- very high par bulb
1 ATI Purple Plus (cheaper than the KZ - almost identical output)
1 GE 6500K daylight

swap out one ATI Blue Plus for 1 ATI Aquablue Special if its too blue.

I think KZ and ATI bulbs are both made by the same manufacturer but i cant be for sure. Maybe someone else can ring in on this.