T5 bulb recommendations?

[onegreenray]

i just replaced 8 36" t5s with uv bulbs. was looking at them yesterday and they are already showing that burn't ring on the ends of the bulbs. i used to get the uri bulbs for my 90 gallon as vhos and they where awesome. seems since the company has changed names the bulbs are not as good as they once where.

my buddy uses 4 48" uv for his 125 driven by icecap 660 and they only last about 6 months before blowing out.

what brands do you guys and gals recommend for 10k's and actnics?

 

[DevIouS]

No long term T5 experience yet...
but all my research & the advice given to me, drove me to Giesemann's.

 

[CHEMCHEF]

I have Giesemann actinic + running with 10'000k MH and I love the color

 

[Avgou]

Hey Everyone, I might as well make my first post count. I did a lot of research and I purchased in January T5 Aquactinics Constellation fixture that is a 7 bulb fixture. In all my research most of it on RC the ATI bulbs are king.

I am using 3 Blue Plus and 4 Aquablue Specials. It gives a a 20ish K feel to it. Check out my pic below, my camera sucks but I am getting ridiculous growth, in 2 months.

This is what many Europeans tank use and use only. ReefGeek.com has them. Some use 4 Blue Plus and 3 Specials...depends how much blue you want. I use 2 Blue Plus as my dusk and dawn effects...beautiful colors.

 

[DevIouS]

Looks nice...

Have you tried anything else before these bulbs?

 

[pecan2phat]

I 2nd the ATI bulbs.

Ray,
I just changed out my 6-bulb Tek to all UVLs (3 454nm, 2 actinic white, 1 aquasun) & the color sucks compared to my previous mix of ATI & D&Ds.
I also see the rings on the UVL bulbs already.

 

[DevIouS]

Hmmmm ATI huh?
:scratch:

 

[onegreenray]

ya i was asking grim on rc and seems ati are they way to go.

avgou:
any pics with just your actnics running? my growth with the uv bulbs sucks.

 

[Avgou]

Sorry Guys, this site is new to me.

Here's with the Actinics.

 

[Avgou]

Looks nice...

Have you tried anything else before these bulbs?

No, this is my new light fixture.

To answer the other post as well, these aren't Actinics the Blue Plus bulbs, they are a mix 50 percent blue bulb, 50 percent actinic.

The Grimreefer and SunnyX are where I got my inspiration. SunnyX runs these lights and he got the inspiration from a European named IMAN or IWAN...

 

[Avgou]

More pics:

 

[onegreenray]

thank you for the pics. i just placed an order with reefgeek for a couple blus plus and some other ati and geismann bulbs. no more uv for me.

 

[ecvernon]

I am a fan of ATI bulbs as well..But i was under the impression that bulb life was highly dependent on the cooling of the bulbs. When i was running tek t5 fixture i had a fan blowing towards the bulbs because there is no cooling system with that fixture.( my next T5 fixture will bve ATI powermodule)
I was using at the same time ATI blue plus ,blue special, uvl daylight(forgot which one specifically) and ATI procolor...they all produced a black ring at the edge of the bulbs at the same time and all lasted 12 months...

 

[Avgou]

Many factors play into bulb life, things like: Fan Cooling for the bulbs, light duration of bulbs and manufacturer quality of the bulbs...

Side note: The Bali Green Slimer in the pic above is growing 5 times faster than any coral in my tank, it loves the light, no matter how high in the tank it is. It loves these lights!!!

 

[onegreenray]

just got my ati bulbs. have to say blows the uv bulbs away. last time i waste money on uv bulbs. ordered blue plus, blue specieal and geismann 6000k love the color combination. neon and bright white with a tinge of blue.

thx for all the replys guys.

 

[onegreenray]

heres a couple pics of the ati blue plus and the uv pure actnic:

Here is the uv aquasun and the geismann 6000k: