T5s and sps

[anthony27]

I would like to know what is a good bulb combo for my t5 fixture

I have a catelina aqu fixture it is 39x6 watts.

It is retro fitted.


These are the bulbs I have

1 460 wave point atinic
1420 wave point bulb
2 12k wavepoint bulbs
1 10k wave point bulb
1 14k uv bulb

I want to go with the fiji purple.

I am looking for more blue colors to come out and also have max growth.

I do water changes once a week and also have a mp10 koralie 2 and of course the rio return 1200

So flow is not the problem.

I am dosing esv 2 part and also brightwell mag

I am using brightwell salt

my skimmer is a mtc 250 with a mag 9.5 running 500 gal per hr.

and I have the bulk reef gfo and carbon reactor.

my phos are .5 checked from a hanner meeter

trates are .1
alk is 11.7
cal is 510
mag is 1500

so I know this is a bulb thing but I want to be to the point and give you all the areas.

Please tell me what bulbs you are using,

I have amazing purple and green and pink and orange. I cant not get extreamly good colors

 

[NYreefNoob]

ive been very happy with the icecap bulbs aka uvl's i run on my 8 bulb 4 twilight 20k's and 3 14k and 1 ge 6k around a 14k overall appeaance

 

[CONSTANTNE]

Here's my setup right now

FRONT
Blue plus
Blue plus
Fiji purple
Aquablue special
Blue plus
Blue plus



Sent from my iPhone using Reefs

 

[batt600]

Hay anthony, i have a 8 bulb but this is what i use . get color pop and high par .

4 Ati Blue Plus
1 UVl 75/25 14000k
1 Fiji Purple
2 Ati Aquablue Specials

And your mag is low should be at 1320
Alk is on the high side to should be 6.5 to 8.0 DKh good for grouth and color for sps
Cal is high to needs to be 320 to 420 in this range you will get great color for sps the higher cal lose color.

 

[tttony]

I run two uri actinics separate from 4 others 1 ge 6500, for growth, 2 ati blue white and a ati blue special.on a 26 bow , some sps, and two very happy lps, fiji purple is nice, saw it on master frag tank and its dahm pink! but for $30. they can keep it

 

[BIG L A]

hers mine

Front to back
ATI Blue Plus
UVL 75/25
ATI Blue Plus
GE 6500K Daylight
ATI Blue Plus
UVL Actinic White
ATI Blue Plus
ATI Blue Plus

 

[ereefer]

Here is a great link for T5 lighting.

http://home.comcast.net/~stevelarsen00/site/?/home/

 

[anthony27]

I know the cal must never drop 320 that is horrbile you always want it 420 and then some

the alk I know from my firend on this sight increased the alk and he has very fast growth as where when he had the alk at 8 it was slow.

Hay anthony, i have a 8 bulb but this is what i use . get color pop and high par .

4 Ati Blue Plus
1 UVl 75/25 14000k
1 Fiji Purple
2 Ati Aquablue Specials

And your mag is low should be at 1320
Alk is on the high side to should be 6.5 to 8.0 DKh good for grouth and color for sps
Cal is high to needs to be 320 to 420 in this range you will get great color for sps the higher cal lose color.

 

[cowfish]

You're alk and cal are on the high side. I'd lower it a bit. If the Alk increases any more you're gonna end up with calc precipitating out. I ahve a 6 bulb t5 fixture and use the following:

FRONT
ATI Blue +
Actinic White (similar to Fiji purple, but more PAR)
ATI Blue +
GE 6500
ATI Blue +
ATI Blue Special

 

[anthony27]

tha tis funny cause I read all that you provided, and to be honest with you, I find that the 10k and the 65k is the big winner as well I have added

1-460 atinic
2-fiji purple
3-75:50 uv bulb
4. 12k
5 10k
6. 65k

I heard and also have talked to ppl at the lira meeting and they say that the 65k and the 10k give you amazing growth. I am trying it now and keeping up my levels and water changes.

 

[anthony27]

so then the 65k is the best for growth cause of the highness on the par meeter.

 

[qy7400]

PO4 is .5? I'd work on lowering that to .05 and below first, I've always heard high PO4 slows SPS growth; and if you look at Mike's (MGNY) tank you'll see that, 180G SPS with crazy growth and color from only 6 VHO bulbs.

Using halides 6500 and 10K give the best growth due blues not producing as much PAR, check Sanjays lighting tests and you’ll see that, but with T5 the Blue plus give out just as much PAR as the 10K/12K bulbs so you can be creative with color/bulb choice.

 

[anthony27]

so you are saying that the 6k bulb is a good choice

 

[qy7400]

If you're looking for max growth vs a 'yellow look' under halides yes to 6.5K and 10K.

Under T5 6.5K will give you very similar results to 12K or ATI Blue Plus bulbs, the key to T5 success is the reflector. The best results are from either IceCap or ATI reflectors, if you look through RC T5 Q&A thread (how Grim keeps up is a mystery) you'll see the results.

 

[anthony27]

how is the 65k max growth then for t5

 

[qy7400]

With T5 there is not much of a difference in the coral growth vs color temp like MH, if you go buy the T5 PAR readings Grim posted here; http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=918935&highlight=par

You can get similar growth under a 6.5K or 12K T5 lamp as the PAR values don't drop like they do vs say a XM 10K to a XM 20K.

Not sure if that post helped on made this more confusing.

 

[twelvejewelz]

see the post i made here :
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?p=17165354#post17165354

look at the difference in the color of my coral , its really a crazy difference.Ive tried tons and tons of different kinds of bulbs and have finally come to the best combo it seems for both growth and look. i have a 4 bulb. if i had a 6 bulb id add either 2 more blue plus, or 1 blue plus and 1 UVL actinic white along with the 4 bulbs i currently use.

currently use:
Front:
ATI blue plus
ATI 1200k Aquablue blue special
ATI Blue plus
korallen-Zucht Fiji purple

 

[anthony27]

thank you very much 12j. It is very good reading

 

[CONSTANTNE]

T5 ftw!

 

[anthony27]

lol awsom