T5HO Lighting Photos

[user 2204]

I am currently setting up a 20L frag/prop tank and I am looking for ideas for what people are using as for bulbs in 4 bulb set ups. I prefer not to blue but not to white, maybe somewhere around a 12K-14K?

I am looking primarly for people who are running a T5HO 4 bulb set up. If so I'd love to see the photos and bulb combos run, how far are the bulbs from the water, tank size and ultimatly...photos.

I shall be placing my order for a 4 bulb retro first of next week with ReefGeek and shall be ordering bulbs at the same time. Also I am aware of Grims T5 thread on RC.

Cheers,
Alex

 

[returnofsid]

Alex, while not a 4 bulb set up. Our 75 gallon reef tank is lit with 6 T5HOs. In my signature, there's a link to our photos, where you can find tons of pics of our 75.

If I remember right, Brandy is running a 4 bulb T5 unit over one of her 40 breeders. Might check out some of her pics.

 

[user 2204]

Thanks for the help Sid. I have seen your photos before and the color is great with your bulbs. I like how crisp the colors are, that is what I am going to attempt to achieve with a 4-bulb set up.

Can you tell me what bulbs are you running on your 75 6-bulbs set up? Also I am unsure of Brandy's user name here.

Cheers,
Alex

 

[brandyrb]

Alex, while not a 4 bulb set up. Our 75 gallon reef tank is lit with 6 T5HOs. In my signature, there's a link to our photos, where you can find tons of pics of our 75.

If I remember right, Brandy is running a 4 bulb T5 unit over one of her 40 breeders. Might check out some of her pics.

Nope, I'm running 6 bulb fixtures on both my 40 breeders.

My recent bulb change is (back to front):
ATI Blue Plus
ATI AquaBlue Special
ATI Blue PLus
UV Lighting 75/25
ATI Blue Plus
ATI Blue Plus

I don't have any pics of my tank with this lighting and can't get a good pic with my point and shoot cameras because they can't capture the real light. I'd say it's between a 14K and 20K look. The corals look great under this lighting though.

 

[user 2204]

Thanks for the info Brandy. How do you like the 75/25 bulb?

 

[user 2204]

My possible bulb combinations at this point are,

-Front to Back-
1 Blue Plus
1 UVL Act. White
1 Aqua Blue
1 Blue Plus

*OR*

1 Blue Plus
1 UVL Act. White
1 GE 6500K
1 Blue Plus

I am not sure if the 6500K GE bulb is going to be quite what I am after as for color. I am thinking I might get my first choise and change out the aquablue if it is too blue for me.

 

[returnofsid]

My old bulb configuration, from front to back was as follows:
ATI 54W Blue Plus T5 HO Fluorescent
UV Lighting 54W Super Actinic T5 HO Fluorescent
ATI 54W 12000K Aquablue Special T5 HO Fluorescent
GE 54W 3000K Daylight T5 HO Fluorescent
UV Lighting 54W 10000K AquaSun T5 HO Fluorescent
ATI 54W Blue Plus T5 HO Fluorescent

I've changed it slightly, on my last bulb order. Now my configuration is:
54 watt Blue Plus
54 watt 12000K Aquablue Special
54 watt 10000K Aquasun
54 watt 75/25 14000K Aquablue
54 watt 12000K Aquablue Special
54 watt Blue Plus

The old combination was slightly too blue for my tastes. Although, as the bulbs aged, some of the blue was lost. The new combination is slightly less blue and I like it.

 

[user 2204]

Thanks for the info Sid.

 

[brandyrb]

The uv lighting 75/25 is supposed to be a 14K bulb, 75% actinic and 25% daylight. I like it in combination with the other bulbs, but I don't know what it looks like by itself.

If I was you, I'd go with your first choice for the 12K-14K look. I'm not sure if you meant the bulbs I think you did though. I put what I thought you meant below in parentheses. I do not like the GE 6500K bulb. Greg at reefgeek has recommended this bulb to me twice, but I switched it out and will ignore that advice next time. It's meant for growth, not color and is VERY YELLOW.

-Front to Back-
1 Blue Plus
1 UVL Act. White (75/25 UV Lighting?)
1 Aqua Blue (ATI AquaBlue Special?)
1 Blue Plus

The bulbs above would basically be the same I have without the 2 extra ATI Blue Plus bulbs. My six bulb combination is a nice light blue. When I turn my other two ATI Blue Plus lights off (so that the 4 bulbs listed above are the only ones running), it's more of a crisp white with a hint of blue.

One more thing, I do lose some brightness with just the four bulbs running and I personally don't like that. Maybe you could go with a 10000K bulb instead of the 75/25. It would probably brighten the combination up a bit and be better than 6500K bulb. I like the ATI aquablue special more than I like the UV 75/25.

 

[user 2204]

Thanks Brandy. Actually the Act. White by UVL is a 50/50 bulb or what they call a 12K bulb.

Thanks for the advise with the 6500K bulb. I am afraid of it being to yellow. The 2 bulb combos I have listed was what was recommended by Grim at RC.

 

[raja1]

you can use blue bulbs with 510 watts that is best...

 

[user 2204]

you can use blue bulbs with 510 watts that is best...

Sorry but I am a bit confused by what you stated.?

A T5HO 4 bulb fixture holds 4 bulbs each rated at 24W a piece for a combined wattage of 96W.
Also I would not want to use strickly blue bulbs as that would not be the color I am after.

Cheers,
Alex

 

[colin779]

I will take a picture for you tomorrow, my tank (29) runs 4*24w t5ho setup.

The order is :

UVL Aquasun (10k)
Giesemann Actinic+
UVL Aquasun (10k)
Giesemann Actinic+

 

[user 2204]

I will take a picture for you tomorrow, my tank (29) runs 4*24w t5ho setup.

The order is :

UVL Aquasun (10k)
Giesemann Actinic+
UVL Aquasun (10k)
Giesemann Actinic+

Thanks Colin.

I did place my order for my 4 bulb set up tonight. I am willing and probably will change bulb configuration a couple of times before I settle on one I like. *lol*

 

[brandyrb]

What bulbs did you order?

 

[user 2204]

What bulbs did you order?

For now I ordered the following bulbs all of which are 24W and I shall put them into my fixture in the following order,

-Front to Back-
1 ATI Blue Plus
1 UVL Actinic White 12000K (50/50)
1 ATI Aquablue 12000K
1 Blue Plus

And if I don;t seem to like that I will change them out to this,

-Front to Back-
1 ATI Blue Plus
1 UVL 75/25 14000K AquaBlue
1 UVL Super Actinic
1 Blue Plus

And if I still don't like it... *lol* Well I don't know then.

Cheers,
Alex

 

[user 2204]

Oh and I almost forgot... I will probably pick up a AquaSun bulb too. Just so that I have more than enough to play around with.

 

[colin779]

Crap, i forgot to take a picture, i will have it up tonight.

 

[user 2204]

That is quite alright. I'll look forward to those photos soon. *lol*

Cheers,
Alex

 

[colin779]

Here they are

Front to back is:

UVL Aquasun (10k)
Giesemann Actinic+
UVL Aquasun (10k)
Giesemann Actinic+