T5 Lighting Question

[Incredible Corals]

I have a T5 Current USA NOVA Extreme (6 bulb) that

[gmubeach]

You hsve to change bulbs in 6 months you could always store the bulbes and switch them out now?

[cabrego]

I am not sure how blue you are looking to go but that sounds like it would be very blue, it is preference thing this point..I don't see why you can't do it. You may consider acclimating the corals to the new light though...

[Incredible Corals]

I guess I'll just wait until the 6 month mark and replace all at the same with a different combo.

[trockafella]

T5 bulbs last longer then 6 months..

[gmubeach]

How long do you recomend I was always told 6-8 months

[Coral Hind]

When they need changed depends on how long you run them per day. I go 12-18 months for mine.

[Incredible Corals]

So maybe I can just replace or two bubls to get the look that I'm going for.

 

Which bulbs should I replace and with what bulbs to get a little more blue and bring out the colors?

[Origami]

What lamps do you have now? If you're talking about changing to Giesemann Aquablue +, they're an 11K lamp - still rather white - a bright white with a very light bluish tinge when overdriven. If you're talking ATI, there are two bulbs that have names that are close to what you've named: There's the Aquablue Special, which is a 12K lamp; and their Blue Plus lamp which is much bluer - more like a 450 nm actinic but with decent PAR. The "equivalent" Giesemann lamp to an ATI Blue Plus is their Actinic Plus.

 

A Korallin Zucht Fiji purple is not blue. It's more on the reddish side (when you look at it) and it brings out the red (and colors to that end of the color spectrum) highlights in your corals that otherwise are a little more gray under blue lamps. There is some blue in the spectrum, but when you look at the lamp, it'll look somewhat reddish next to the other bulbs that are lit.

[Incredible Corals]

What lamps do you have now? If you're talking about changing to Giesemann Aquablue +, they're an 11K lamp - still rather white - a bright white with a very light bluish tinge when overdriven. If you're talking ATI, there are two bulbs that have names that are close to what you've named: There's the Aquablue Special, which is a 12K lamp; and their Blue Plus lamp which is much bluer - more like a 450 nm actinic but with decent PAR. The "equivalent" Giesemann lamp to an ATI Blue Plus is their Actinic Plus.

 

A Korallin Zucht Fiji purple is not blue. It's more on the reddish side (when you look at it) and it brings out the red (and colors to that end of the color spectrum) highlights in your corals that otherwise are a little more gray under blue lamps. There is some blue in the spectrum, but when you look at the lamp, it'll look somewhat reddish next to the other bulbs that are lit.

 

Right now I have the T5HO 3 10k's and 3 460nm actinics (Current USA brand). What do you think I should do?

 

Do you think I would notice a difference if I replaced one of the the 10k's with an ATI Blue Plus?

[Origami]

Right now I have the T5HO 3 10k's and 3 460nm actinics (Current USA brand). What do you think I should do?

 

Do you think I would notice a difference if I replaced one of the the 10k's with an ATI Blue Plus?

 

I think you'd see a difference with an ATI Blue Plus as it's going to be more blue than a 10K lamp. However, you may lose some PAR as a consequence. Have you tried switching the order of your lamps? Sometimes the change in order can change how certain parts of your tank are illuminated and bring out certain highlights better than other arrangements. Who makes the 10K lamp that's in there now? Who's the maker of the actinics?

 

What size lamp (wattage or length) are we talking about anyway?

[sdah0414]

You shouldn't lose par switching to a blue+ lamp. It's rated pretty high on the par per bulb scale. Check out Grim Reefers testing at http://sites.google.com/site/tfivetesting/combinatio

 

I've used his 6 bulb combo suggestion and you get great color and very reasonable par.

[Origami]

You could lose a little PAR. See http://sites.google.com/site/tfivetesting/par (also Grim's testing). From it:

 

ATI

Aquablue Special 336 (12000K)

Blue Plus 311

 

Giesemann

Aquablue (Plus) 324 (11000K, spectral equivalent of ATI's Aquablue Special)

Actinic Plus 264 (This lamp is the spectral equivalent of ATI's Blue Plus.)

 

It really depends upon who makes the lamps that are in your setup now and on the ballast that's being used to drive the lamps. As you can see from the link above, for example, Current's 10K lamp does not have much in the way of output, coming in at only 272 for PAR. In this case, ATI's Blue Plus will give you MORE PAR, while Giesemann's lamp will be, well, pretty much on par (pun fully intended).

 

There's some great stuff on Grim's t5testing site, but also some good stuff on RC (both by Grim and by others). I've seen pictures of some European tanks (most notably one from Portugal) lit by a 50/50 combination of ATI Aquablue Special and Blue Plus lamps that do great. Grim used to recommend adding an ATI Procolor bulb to bulb mixes with a lot of lamps to bring out the red's, but reports that I've read indicate that the Procolor bulb ages quickly whereas the Fiji Purple seems to hold up better over the lifetime. I don't know if Grim still recommends the Procolor lamp in his mixes as I've not followed his t5 thread over at RC in a while. I've used both, though, and have changed over from the Procolor to the Fiji Purple. I'm in the process now of switching out my reflectors and am considering moving to the 50/50 mix that I mentioned above.

 

I just now noticed that your fixture is a Current Nova Extreme. I'm guessing then that it's likely that Current installed their own lamps in it? It very well could be, then, that you'll get a PAR boost since Current's lamps don't do as well in Grim's testing. Please note, however, that all of Grim's tests listed on the site I've linked to were done on his Tek fixture and using 54W lamps. In that sense, the readings are only single data points and don't necessarily represent how a lamp might perform under different conditions (i.e. while being driven by different ballasts).

[Coral Hind]

Tom,

Good info as always! Why are you changing reflectors?

[Origami]

Tom,

Good info as always! Why are you changing reflectors?

Corrosion and pitting on the old ones (older Aquactinics, I think) is reducing output. I've tried some simple, manual polishing, but without success. I could probably do more with them, but I thought I'd try some 2-inch wide ATI Sunpower replacement reflectors that are very highly rated. They don't come with clips so I'll try to mount them on standoffs to put the bulb in the right place (which is pretty much right on top of the reflector) for best efficiency.