T-5 Bulbs PAR Rating Info

[chauwall]

For those that haven't seen it yet. On RC, there is a guy, Grim Reefer, who is the guru of T-5 selection and did PAR ratings on various bulbs and manufacturers.

Here are the ratings in case you are interested:
PAR


Grim Reefers PAR measurements


<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><span style="font-size: 12px;">These measurements were made by The Grim Reefer using his Tek fixture and 54 Watt bulbs.</span></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><span style="font-size: 12px;"><font size="4" data-gcupd="font-4"><!-- gcu-updated -->Aquascience
</span>Special 15K 320*
DUO 15K 334*
22000K Blue 302*

<span style="font-size: 14px;">AquaZ
</span>Sun Pro 285
Ocean Pro 323
Blue Pro 266

<span style="font-size: 14px;">ATI
</span>Sun Pro 357
Aquablue 336
Blue Plus 311
Actinic 137
(Old Style)
Pro Color 215 vs 300 for a UVL Aquasun in a later test

<span style="font-size: 14px;">Current Sun Paq
</span>Daylight 10K 272
Blue 252

<span style="font-size: 14px;">D&D/Giesemann</span>
Midday 325
Aquablue 324
Actinic Plus 264
Pure Actinic 157
</font><!-- gcu-updated SIZE --></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><span style="font-size: 12px;"><font size="4" data-gcupd="font-4"><!-- gcu-updated -->General Electric</span>
GE Daylight 340
GE3000 319*

<span style="font-size: 14px;">Helios</span>
Daylight 309
Super Blue 225

<span style="font-size: 14px;">KZ
</span>Coral Light 342*
Fiji Purple 330*

<span style="font-size: 14px;">UVL
</span>Aqua sun 345
Actinic White 293
Super Actinic 210
75/25 "Aquablue" 254 vs 300 for an Aquasun in a later test.



Note: The Aquascience,GE 3000K and KZ lamp readings included here were taken from a later lamp test. The readings from other lamps tested here and included in those later tests were all within about 10 percentage points of the results included here so while the results are are not an exact comparison they are will within a range that makes their inclusion here acceptable.</font><!-- gcu-updated SIZE --></span>


See this link for more info on T-5 combinations and what each spectrum means:

 

[brazilian]

great tread

 

[lees]

Interesting, Funny how I was told I could keep SPS under my T-5's when I bought them. Then I was told I couldn't keep them. I now have one acro under a Current Nova Extreme 2x24 Granted the base of the plug is 5" from the lens. It appears to be doing well. Good color, polyps extending, encrusting the plug. Call me crazy, but I think I can do some more in there. Oh. Good find by the way. Saw something the other day on here where someone tested T-5 vs metal halide and at the bottom of the tank the T-5's had better PAR readings. Granted I'm only in this for about 7 months now and probably have no idea what I'm talking about just saying what has worked for me so far.

 

[weaglereefer]

Par is important, but it's not the only thing. Those readings won't tell you what you can/can't keep, they're just to compare bulbs. If you're spending $20-$30 a bulb, you might as well get the most for your money.

I used his readings along with some of my own research and ended up with lighting that I like that is much brighter than the stock bulbs in my Nova Extreme fixture.

FWIW, I have: ATI Aquablue Special, ATI Blue Plus, UVL Aquasun, and UVL Super Actinic. It was a little too pink/purple for me, so I switched the Aquasun out to the standard 10k white bulb that came with the fixture. I'm either upgrading to 8 bulb fixture after Xmas, or dual MH, so I don't want to buy more bulbs just yet.

Also, in that thread, he said that he had not cleaned the splash shield under the 4month old MH bulbs and that it had significant salt creep.

 

[lees]

au01st What size fixture and are you going to sell it?

 

[weaglereefer]

It's the 48" 4x54 Nova Extreme with Lunar lights.

If I get the MH fixture, it will be for sale with the 4 new bulbs, the 4 old bulbs (2 10k, 2 actinic), a 75/25 and a spare actinic. Will be looking for $200. Can meet somewhere along I-85 south of ATL (probably 30-40 miles out of ATL).

 

[washowi]

Thanks.....now I even more confused...I need to see all these lights lined up and burning somewhere.....

good info though ..Thanks

 

[weaglereefer]

I'm pretty sure he has pics on there as well, somewhere, with lights all side by side.

 

[chauwall]

washowi;262377 wrote: Thanks.....now I even more confused...I need to see all these lights lined up and burning somewhere.....

good info though ..Thanks

See the link below for lights lined up:

http://tfivetesting.googlepages.com/bulbpics">http://tfivetesting.googlepages.com/bulbpics</a>

It is all a bit confusing. The point of all of this is that if you are going to pay $20 per bulb, you might as well pick the one with the highest PAR for the look that you are trying to achieve.

 

[steve]

Well wouldn't different wattage bulbs cause a different PAR reading?

 

[chauwall]

Steve;262384 wrote: Well wouldn't different wattage bulbs cause a different PAR reading?

Probably. I use it just for relative comparison of manufacturers and bulbs.

 

[steve]

Hm, well let's hope he does one similar to Sanjay's Lighting Guide... cause this list while extensive is still very small compared to the ratio of items he has listed to what are actually out there.

 

[jmaneyapanda]

Where was the PAR taken, under water? Through air? I didn't go to the links (i don't care enough about T5's to bother), but numbers like this really don't mean anything by themselves. I am sure Grim supported it somehow, but there needs to be some reference point.

 

[FutureInterest]

Awesome link Chau! +1.

One thing to keep in mind for us overdrivers out there is that some bulbs are just perform better at being overdriven than others. Some bulbs don't give you much more par when overdriven while others give you quite a bit more... UVL advertises that their bulbs can be overdriven more so than others and up to 80watts per bulb depending on cooling. I dunno how accurate that is or not. I had better par with all ATI bulbs than all UVL... but my methods are innacurate to say the least .