New T5's

[Samper]

I have 6 54w T5 bulbs over my 75g softie/lps tank. I don't know how old they are and even though I think they are still working great I'd like to replace them and have these older ones for spares. Who makes the best T5's and what's the best mix to buy...aka how many daylight, how many actinic etc?

Right now 4 of my bulbs are white light bulbs but they are different. Two of them are much brighter. 2 of the bulbs are actinics and I think that's all I need of that.

What suggestions do you guys have? The best way I can think to do this is buy them 2 at a time and get a schedule going of when to change them out. I don't wanna throw out the chunk of change to get them all at once or put them all on at once so this is the best way I can think of. Where can I go to research the brands?

[Meric]

I am using mostly ATI bulbs. However I guess it would depend on your application. If you want the highest PAR bulbs then the GTE 6500K bulbs mixed with some ATI Blue Plus Bulbs may be your best bet. The Atinic bulbs have avery low PAR and the Blue + look better by far than the Atinics.

I would do something like this:
ATI 11K
ATI 11K
Blue +
Blue+
GTE 6500
GTE 6500

Or
ATI 11K
ATI 11K
ATI 11K
Blue +
Blue +
GTE 6500

or
ATI 11K
ATI 11K
ATI 11K
Blue +
Blue +
Blue +

[charlie]

I would keep the mix you have right now if you are happy with them. Why don't you try a couple of our sponsors and research the costs there, ie., Premium Aquatics, Marine Depot, etc.....

[Samper]

I will research around and find a good deal however I didn't know exactly what brand would be best. For halides I like Hamilton bulbs but don't know much about T5's. The bulbs I have don't even list what they are on the bulb...even though I like the way they have been performing I'd like peace of mind by knowing exactly what I have.
Thanks for the info Charlie....very much appreciated.

[Samper]

I use my actinics for dawn/dusk effect. They are first to come on and last to go off. Are the blue plus similar or are they much brighter?

[Meric]

I use my actinics for dawn/dusk effect. They are first to come on and last to go off. Are the blue plus similar or are they much brighter?

The Blue+ are much brighter than Atinics. They are equivilent 20K Bulbs.

[Samper]

They are equilavent to the look of 20k bulbs...hmmm
I love that look.

Does anyone know where I can find the Par values of these bulbs that Meric mentioned?

[Tank]

I believe Sanjay has some info on his site.

[Meric]

This came from the Grim Reefer on ReefCentral:

(6) 80W Overdriven T5's bulbs (1 blueplus, 2 Atinic blues, 2 aquablues and a daylight) produced a PAR reading of 145 UMOL @ 18.5" (I assume that he was using individual Parabolic reflectors also)

(3) 250w 14K EVC Metal Halide Bulbs on Electronic Ballast produced a PAR reading of 95 UMOL @ 18.5"

Notice that the T5's produced a much higher PAR even with (2) Atinics in the mix. If they were all 6500K/11K/Blue+ the PAR would have been even higher.

Obviously the Iwasaki 6,500 K bulb produces far more PAR than EVC, but the 14K bulb would match closer in color to his T5 configuration.

[Samper]

The t5's seem to be gaining quite a bit of popularity. The par they put out is very nice for the price and you don't get all the heat that goes along with a halide. Thanks for the info Meric

[Samper]

Meric or anyone who would know
Are the GTE bulbs mentioned actually GE bulbs? Also Sanjay doesn't have any info on his site so where else can I go to analyze some data on the different bulbs.
I'm having a hard time finding exactly what I need
http://www.innovativelights.com/54wat5buhou.html
they have what I believe to be the correct bulbs.

[Meric]

GE 6500K Sun Lamp 54 Watt High Output Lamp

ATI - D&D Aqua 11K 54 Watt T5 High Output German Lamp

ATI - D&D Blue Plus 54 Watt T5 High Output German Lamp

These are these better choices for T5 from ILS. I am using the exact same types in my tank, with the exception of I have one Atinic, which I wouldn't recommend.