T5 Lighting Redesign

Big D - I really love your reef! :yes: The T5 lighting seems to be working nicely for you. You also get the cleanest sand award.
 
D that 180 is looking good!

I'm actually in the process of setting a new T5 only tank. It's a custom 125g (96" X 18" X 18") that will be my SPS system. I'm finishing up the lighting - two banks of five 54w bulbs. I am going to start by driving them with workhorse ballasts but have some IceCaps ready to go if i don't get the PAR I'd like out of the normally driven ballasts. Based on the current research, I am going to be trying to keep the bulbs cool using 6 stategically placed fans. I picked these up about a year ago and they ended up being perfect for this application!

Here are a couple of pis:

125canopy001.jpg
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Big D Your Tank Is Amazing At The Leaste You Have Such Good Growth Cant Waite Tell My Reef Looks Like That ..and Yeah Like Sammy Said Very Clean Sand Bed
 
I believe those Mufret and Daves tanks just sold me on T5s. I was still debating MH but didn't want to deal with the heat. Beautiful tanks guys!
 
Have any of you guys heard about the "cold end" on these lamps? This is the end of the lamps where the electrode sizzle fizzles the lamp. This end of the lamp gets hot. The electrode is usually installed on the end with the stamped writing. If you line all these ends up with the writing on one side of your fixture and blow a fan across it this will be your cold end.

Cooling the cold end like this reduces the black phosphor burn circles, slows down the degradation of the lamps, allows it to burn brighter etc.
 
Sammy, that the conventional wisdom. That's why I've arranged the 6 fans in my setup to cool the ends of the bulbs (2 at each end and then 2 blowing across the middle). Only time will tell if I have enough air movement to make a difference.

D, I picked those fans up in a trade about a year ago. At the time they looked interesting but wasn't sure how or in what application I was going to be able to use them in. When I picked up this tank, with it's short canopy, I was planning on ditching it and building something new and then I came across the fans, again. Having my basement full of parts and equipment ended up paying off (hopefully)!
 
what combination of T5s will give you the best results for a 6 lamp set up running on workhorse ballasts, TekII reflectors on the ends and icecap reflectos in the middle?
 
I think the mix-n-match bulb selection T5 users have at their disposal may be one of the major advantages of the T5 light setups. Cameron has already mentioned some of the bulbs from different brands. I think these are the standouts for me and what I am switching to in the near future:

Front
ATI Blue Plus (blue actinic)
Geissemann Aquablue (approx. 11K white)
UVL Super Actinic (purple actinic)
Geissemann Midday (approx 6000K)
ATI Blue Plus (blue actinic)
Geissemann Aquablue (approx. 11K white)
 
Thanks this will help me out. I know you sell the Geissemann what about the ATI and UVL?
 
strongr;110874 wrote: what combination of T5s will give you the best results for a 6 lamp set up running on workhorse ballasts, TekII reflectors on the ends and icecap reflectos in the middle?
Click to expand...

GrimReefer on RC has an ongoing thread about T5 lighting, including his reccomendations on combinations of T5 bulbs. I'm on VHO's supplimented by T5's at the moment, moving to 6 T5's in the next month or two (I'm due to change VHO bulbs anyway--it's time to switch!)
 
I am running fans on each end blowing in. Next I plan on adding 2-3 fans on the back blowing in towards the ends. This should push air from the outside across the bulbs and out the back of the canopy. There will be an open frame holding the lights in place so heat should rise off them very easily as well. If this doesn't keep them cool enough, I will put more fans across the back blowing in and drill four 4" holes across the top of the canopy.
 
Oh bulb selection... after doing a bit of reading seems this is a good setup:

ATI 2 Blue+, ATI 2 Blue Special, ATI 2 Pro Color in a six bulb.

Some people like

ATI 2 Blue+, ATI 2 Blue Special, UVL AquaSun or GE 3000k

I don't tend to see Actinic until people get into the 8 bulb configurations or avoid SPS due to the horrible PAR ratings of those bulbs. The purple sure is pretty though.
 
One more thing...

I will be testing the PowerBrite bar system from CurrentUSA to see if it really can add shimmer. I plan on running it either right down the middle or possibly in the front of the cabinet on an angle towards the tank. I have three for my 72" cabinet so that should be enough to get an idea of what they look like. Will post a full review once my system is installed along with the IceCap retros.
 
I actually saw one running and it looked nice with plenty of lines with PCs, but don't know if the T5s will overpower. I have seen a lot of speculation but so few people have actually seen them that hard to get an honest review. Will let you know. I am guessing based on some rough math that I will need about 12w to get good lines. These are 4w so I am way under but my math could be way off.
 
dough;111085 wrote: Sammy - what T5 fixture offers "cold end" fans?
Click to expand...

I know the new Nova Extreme Pro has fans on one end of the fixture. I think the Aquatinics fixtures also have cold end fans.
 
Between work, side work for the neptune, flow, redoing my electrical, reactors and a few other tank side projects I haven't had time to get to this and don't have the frame finished either... soon though. I am hopeful that I will have it wrapped up mid Feb.
 
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