T-5 lighting ????

[Glassman 1281]

I just set up my 90 Gal. Its been fine looks great everthing looks good, My local fish store (wont name a name?) is telling me that my current lights are no way strong enough to get any good corals? I did a;lot of research and i thought i made the right decision? But he is telling me different. I dont want halides do to a chiller..... and another $2,000. for the entire setup... also he said that i should switch to all white bulbs for maximum out put??? I currently have 3 white 2 blue and 1 purple????? Any advice will be greatly appreciated.... Im going to post some pics in a few . Thanks all.....

 

[NYreefNoob]

u can name names fishtopia ? lol and what brand of t5 fixture do you have ? what brand of bulbs ? and what corals do you really want to keep

 

[Glassman 1281]

u can name names fishtopia ? lol and what brand of t5 fixture do you have ? what brand of bulbs ? and what corals do you really want to keep

Its a retrofit SLR 6 x 54 watt got it from reefgeek They are ATI bulbs....I would like to keep whatever i can i know the hard corals are out but... Whatever......???

 

[NYreefNoob]

was i right on store and ill explain why, also that should be enough light if anything i would get 2 ice cap 660 ballast and over drive the bulbs i ran 6 t5 on my 50g breeder with ice cap ballast

 

[prattreef]

While the pictures look very blue to me, 6x54 W T-5's should be plenty for most corals. What ballast are you using? If you can, upgrade to an Ice Cap electronic ballast which will safely overdrive the lamps and produce a significant increase in light output. I'd PM Ming. He runs a gorgeous full blown SPS system on T-5's.

 

[Glassman 1281]

was i right on store and ill explain why, also that should be enough light if anything i would get 2 ice cap 660 ballast and over drive the bulbs i ran 6 t5 on my 50g breeder with ice cap ballast

Yes it was ??? Should i get a 660 and a 430???? or 2 660?? Is it safe to do so with those ballasts, i herd of people doing that but didnt know if that was ok?????

 

[Glassman 1281]

While the pictures look very blue to me, 6x54 W T-5's should be plenty for most corals. What ballast are you using? If you can, upgrade to an Ice Cap electronic ballast which will safely overdrive the lamps and produce a significant increase in light output. I'd PM Ming. He runs a gorgeous full blown SPS system on T-5's.

It really dosnt look that blue my camera sucks..... They are some german ballast that came with the setup??? im going to look into the ice caps Thanks for the quick reply.....

 

[Glassman 1281]

What bulb setup should i use though??? Sorry for the stupid ???????

 

[NYreefNoob]

i myself liked the giesmann bulbs can run 3 of the 11k and 3 antic pluc turns out around a 14k color and yes with a 4 ft fixture 2 660, i never had a problem and i keep all type of sps clams lps and so on in my tank

 

[ecvernon]

when i had my 90 gallon i used 8 bulbs but six bulbs should be fine.
here is a link of some examples of t5 bulb combos with pics:splitspin.

this is what i used to choose my combination

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1220131&perpage=25&pagenumber=1

 

[Glassman 1281]

update These are the bulbs i currently have now

2 ATI BLUE Plus 54W
1 ATI 12000K Aquablue special 54W
1 ATI PRO COLOR 54 W
1 ATI 10000K AQUASun 54W
1 ATI Superatinic 54W

 

[Glassman 1281]

i myself liked the giesmann bulbs can run 3 of the 11k and 3 antic pluc turns out around a 14k color and yes with a 4 ft fixture 2 660, i never had a problem and i keep all type of sps clams lps and so on in my tank

ok Thanks this is my current bulbs

update These are the bulbs i currently have now

2 ATI BLUE Plus 54W
1 ATI 12000K Aquablue special 54W
1 ATI PRO COLOR 54 W
1 ATI 10000K AQUASun 54W
1 ATI Superatinic 54W

 

[autoponicz]

ATI t5's have the most par output ..it has been tested....
you will be fine with your setup....i can say alot of LFS will tell you something else to make a sale or they just might not be that educated about whats out and what will work...they just know what works for them....when MH is a definate sure thing that it will keep sps...your t5's will keep them too......
you never told us what you want to keep...but sps at the top or middle will grow with no problem...

 

[autoponicz]

look through this thread...(grab a beer or coffee..its a long one)
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1460865&highlight=par+reading

 

[Glassman 1281]

look through this thread...(grab a beer or coffee..its a long one)
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1460865&highlight=par+reading

Thanks for the quick replys everyone , im going oral frag shopping ......:tongueani

 

[emmanuel]

I run MH but have seen a 180 tank that belong to a guy mike from rc I think his name was mjny it was the most amazing sps tank i seen and it only had 6 VHO's

 

[NYreefNoob]

like i said never used any other bulb's but the gies and had great results myself so you know house of fish carries them as well as are uip our way think russ lives in rockland

 

[masterswimmer]

like i said never used any other bulb's but the gies and had great results myself so you know house of fish carries them as well as are uip our way think russ lives in rockland

Thanks Rick. Yes we stock them. Jim is in Westchester and I'm in Orange.

Russ

 

[Glassman 1281]

Thanks Rick. Yes we stock them. Jim is in Westchester and I'm in Orange.

Russ

Hey Russ my name is Joe im going to make a trip to you this weekend thanks everone.......... This site rocks..... all local people i love it. Im going to check out your website now Russ see you soon.......

 

[masterswimmer]

Hey Russ my name is Joe im going to make a trip to you this weekend thanks everone.......... This site rocks..... all local people i love it. Im going to check out your website now Russ see you soon.......

Thanks Joe. Look forward to meeting you.

R