Wanting some Input

[jollopee]

Hello everyone, Im new to posting here and have been reading your forums for a few weeks. I recently purchased a 90 gal tank. I have recently purchased an aqua c remora skimmer w/mag 3 and about 120lbs of live sand and some 600+ gph pump that I was thinking I could keep under the tank and plumb some pvc to both sides of my tank with a "T" for circulation. I have also purchased these lights that I REALLY would like som input on as far as keeping a few reefs. Everywhere I have looked I get mixed signals about if they will properly light reefs. So any feedback I could get from you folks would be awesome. As far as if this is going to be a fowlr or some reefs or what I couldnt tell you. I would say that the majority of this tank will be fish and live rock and would definetely like to have some kind of urchins and possibly a tree sponge and mabey a coral or 2 then of course some algea eating critters besides the urchins. So here are those lights I was talking about, it is 48" with 5 54watt 10k T5 HO bulbs and 3 actinics 2 power cords and 2 switches and 2 fans. Anyways, I look forward to hearing any suggestions, I have come to find that alot of you are really very knowledgable with these things and I could use a little schooling. I would like to do my best to aleviate any wrecklessness to the life Im going to be putting in this tank. The way I see it, when it comes to this hobby of haveing such awesome liveing creatures whos lives and well being are based on my ability to keep them healthy, I want to make as little mistakes as possible, I do realize that mistakes are prone to happen but no harm can come from asking too many questions. Again, well met and Ill talk to ya all later.

[BubbaWPB]

You probably get mixed signals because different types of reef animals need different amounts of light. It really depends what you're going to put in the tank to determine if your light is adequate.

FOWLR does not need as much light as tanks with SPS corals, clams, and other photosynthetic-dependent organisms. I'd say your lights are fine for a FOWLR even if you put in a sponge and/or urchin...

[jollopee]

As far as the mixed signals goes, its like this. Some people say that with the t5 lights if there are enough of them you can keep any coral you want and the light is adequate for even the most needy corals. Others say that there is no way that t5's no matter how many you have will be sufficient enough for all coral. My tank is 48x24x18

[showfish]

If my calculations are correct you are running about 270 watts of lighting. The general rule of thumb is 3 to 4 watts per gal. However, this mainly depends on the animals you intend on keeping like Bubba has stated. For your FOWLR, you should be fine.You can even keep some of the less photosynthetic corals as well. However, if you plan to go to a full blown reef with SPS, clams and certain photosynthetic anneomes you may need to add some MH's later down the road. Good luck to you, and send us some pics when you get set-up.

[The Grim Reefer]

5 lamp T5 system. Comming from a place with a name that begins with an A?

If you are running good equipment you can keep most critters under that lighting if you place them right. I am assuming the tank is 24" tall.

[The Grim Reefer]

5 lamp T5 system. Comming from a place with a name that begins with an A?

If you are running good equipment you can keep most critters under that lighting if you place them right. I am assuming the tank is 24" tall.

Got to correct my own post. 8 54 watt lamps. I thought it was 5 when I first read your post.. Don't waste your $$$ on any T5 lighting that doesn't use an individual reflector for each lamp. There are a ton of people building el cheapo T5 fixtures to take advantage of the rep the good system have gotten.

You would be better off getting a 4 lampTek hood than using 8 lamps in front of a flat reflector.

[jollopee]

starts with an A from an auction that starts with an E

[Reefland]

Hi, I'd like to buy an O please.

Ok, lame Wheel of Fortune joke there...

Anyway, T-5 lighting is popular but still new for reef tank lighting in my opinion and therefore yo get a lot of mixed signals. I think at the least it is comparable to VHO/PC's under which you could place nearly any soft coral or large polyped stony coral you wanted. Now a lot of people are keeping SPS corals under T-5's with great results; look at the Reeflections column in this months RHO. I'm not sure that I would be comfortable with that myself though.

[Poseidon]

I am starting to respect T-5 more and more, BUT Metal Halide is proven time after time. I have a 90, it is lit by 2 250W 10K bulbs, with a single VHO actinic for color. MH has been VERY successful for me.

[jollopee]

Do you think I went overboard getting 3 actinics bulbs on that light. Mabey I should have only put 2 or mabey just 1 actinic bulb in there and put 6 or 7 10k's?

[Reefland]

I don't think it is overboard, should give a nice color.

[The Grim Reefer]

When doing systems using the ATI/D&D lamps most people use a 50/50 mix of aquablue (11k white with a tad of blue) and Blue/actinic plus (450nm blue like a 20K radium halide) lamps which is what Iwan uses in that SPS tank in RHO. Hard to argue with his results.

T5 actinics aren't great. I think the lamps in the fixture you ordered are Catalina's. I've heard some people really like the Catalina actinics and some don't so I guess you will find out when you turn them on. If you find yourself wanting more blue definatly spend the extra bux on some Blueplus (also called actinic plus) lamps.

[DapperDan]

I don't think T5s are new at all, haven't they been around for a couple of years now?

[Reefland]

Hi DapperDan,

Yes they have been around for a couple of years, most popular over the last year and still gaining. When I said "new", I was referring to their length of use compared to other popular lighting types like MH and VHO.

[DapperDan]

Since you put it that way, I have new MH lamps for sale that I have only used for the last 12 months.

Interested?

Just busting chops, thanks for the welcome. Very nice site you have here, I'm sure I'll learn a lot about our hobby.

DD

[The Grim Reefer]

I went from T5's to halides about 10 months ago and I am going back to the T5's. More PAR and less heat and power usage. I like the look better too but that is just a matter of taste I guess.

[Reefland]

Do you know where any analysis have been published regarding the measurable output of the T-5's? I have looked in the past but never came up with anything.

Also, I like the looks of them and definitely think great results can be achieved, again the tank is this months Reeflections tells me that.

[The Grim Reefer]

I measured PAR on the T5 and halides in my tank, hardly scientific but a heck of a lot of fun.

My halides aren't the greatest setup for PAR but not the worst either. Using 780 watts I was putting 95 UMOL's of PAR to the sandbed 18" under the water with the fixture 5 1/2" above the water. That is running EVC e ballasts and 14K DE lamps. The T5's are a 6x80 watt system running 1 GE 6500k, 2 Aquablue, 2 Blue and 1 Blueplus lamps using Ice Cap ballasts which overdrive the lamps. Using 606 watts I got a PAR of 145 at the sandbed.

Just for fun I got a hold of a reefoptix pendant and a Hamilton 10K lamp. Sitting the pendant right on the tank (2" above the water) I got a PAR of 250 at the sand. I raised it up 1 1/2" (all my existing fixture would allow) and it dropped to around 150. I figure moving it up to a usable height would have dropped the PAR down to the low 100's at best.

The funny thing about the T5's is that when you overdrive them the shorter lamps run brighter than the longer ones which is just the opposite of the normally driven system. I did a measurment of a 4 x 54 watt Ice Cap T5 system on my tank. I had them propped about 3/4" above the tank I got a PAR reading of 183 at the sandbed. The ballast was pulling 305 watts.

[Reefland]

Very interesting. What is the shift in bulb life from over powering them?

[The Grim Reefer]

Ice Cap claims because of the method they use to run the lamps overdriving them doesn't decrease the life. I ran mine 14 months and the PAR was still good but that doesn't address the spectrum shift. Iwan and others he knows are changing lamps at 8 months. Of course there are serious reefers who change their halides at six months and Iwan is running on the raggid edge by not overdriving his lamps IMHO. I think a year is a pretty honest estimate for having the lamp produce a quality of light to make most tanks do well. I have seen a few people at 18 months on T5's and everything looked great. It is just a matter of how much better would they have looked if the lamps were changed at a year.

I know a guy who actually designs lamps and is involved in testing. He says that any lamp, be it halide or fluorescent will have a signifigent shift in spectrum by the 6 month mark. That seems to back up the statement Iwan made about seeing the growth fall off after about 9 months of use.