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Firefish
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Topic: t5 lighting Posted: April 16 2014 at 1:59am |
I've decided that I want to put t5s on my 210 gallon aquarium. I want to keep sps corals. Does anyone have any suggestions? How many bulbs, watts, etc...... Is there a specific fixture that anyone would suggest?
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Firefish
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Posted: April 16 2014 at 2:03am |
Or, I want to keep lps corals with fish that don't do well with sps. If that makes any sense. I want to have a vibrantly colorful tank with some of the fish that I have never been able to keep before because I used to keep acros. I may decide to go this route instead.
Any suggestions on lights?
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Mark Peterson
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Posted: April 16 2014 at 6:33am |
What is the current lighting? MH and PC? May we see a pic of the tank? Ross Bagshaw kept his MH but added a bank of four t5's across his 180. LED's are the future lighting of the hobby but still too costly. In another 5 years we may all be using LED's. There are more cool looking fish that bother LPS than bother SPS. What are these fish you want to keep? I have 6 different lighting schemes on 6 different tanks. Come on over and check 'em out. Aloha, Mark 808-345-1049 call/text/visit anytime
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love2skiutah
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Posted: April 16 2014 at 10:10am |
This has always been one of my favorite tanks with T5 lighting.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXSL0MZAdiM
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bstuver
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Posted: April 16 2014 at 11:55am |
I absolutely love the ATI fixtures. I know they are a bit costly but for some reason they put out great color. I have had other T5 fixtures with ATI bulbs and just didn't like it. Bought an ATI fixture and I was sold, I love them. I plan to add a form of LED to get that extra pop sometime down the line.
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Jackie Stuver
"wait these aren't the happy Hawaiians oompa doompa godly heaven on your face zoas? I dont want them then. lol!" Ksmart
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Firefish
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Posted: April 16 2014 at 12:28pm |
I've heard mixed reviews on LED lights. One of the negatives I've heard about LEDs is the coral growth just isn't there like it is with MH and florescent lighting. I just haven't been sold on LEDs yet.
The LTIs don't have a fixture that is 72 inches. I suppose I could retrofit something.
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Jimbo
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Posted: April 16 2014 at 12:52pm |
Just be aware that not all T5 fixtures and bulbs are created equally. Go with a quality fixture. An ATI Sunpower or Powermodule with 8 bulbs would be a great choice.
If money is no issue the ATI Hybrid Fixtures with LED and T5 combo look awesome.
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Adam Blundell
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Posted: April 16 2014 at 4:37pm |
Mark Peterson wrote:
LED's are the future lighting of the hobby but still too costly. In another 5 years we may all be using LED's.
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Really?
Adam
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Firefish
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Posted: April 16 2014 at 5:34pm |
Adam, if I were you, I'd listen to the man. He might be right. Look at Star Trek......almost all of that technology has come true.
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Firefish
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Posted: April 16 2014 at 5:47pm |
Mark, I just would like to keep some of the angels and butterflyfish that don't bother LPS. I do like that one tank that you showed me with all the gorgonians. I am still considering doing mine this way. I must have xenia though, and they need lights. Right now all I have is 2 VHOs over my big tank (enough light for fish and thats it). I got rid of the metal halides. There isn't much to see with my big tank, just a big glass rectangular box with water 72" long and two chromis swimming around.
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Ryan Thompson
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Posted: April 16 2014 at 6:42pm |
Firefish wrote:
I've heard mixed reviews on LED lights. One of the negatives I've heard about LEDs is the coral growth just isn't there like it is with MH and florescent lighting. I just haven't been sold on LEDs yet.
The LTIs don't have a fixture that is 72 inches. I suppose I could retrofit something.
| A 60" ATI covers a 72" tank with no problems. I actually highly recommend running a shorter fixture.
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Mark Peterson
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Posted: April 16 2014 at 9:38pm |
Two 36" four tube fixtures is what we used on Ross's 180. I believe that t12 fluorescent tube manufacturing is being phased out, so switching to t5 now is a good idea. One of the major differences in t5 lighting that bstuver mentioned is, I believe, the difference in the ballasts. Even though the manufacturers advertise them as HO, the cheaper fixtures use cheaper lower power output ballasts. For a friends tank we bought a 48" two tube fixture that was labled for freshwater, with NO t5's. I gutted it and used two Workhorse 3 ballasts wired in-line and plugged in to two timers. The fixture light intensity is more than double and the remote ballasts make the fixture run much cooler. Even with the addition of the two WH3 ballasts the cost was still $60 less than the HO fixture. It also looks professional, not DIY. Aloha
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Firefish
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Posted: April 17 2014 at 2:39am |
Ryan, it looks like the power cord come right out of the top of the thing. That would make the light tilt. What did you do to overcome this problem?
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kody72
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Posted: April 17 2014 at 6:18am |
They don't tilt at all there heavy enough to keep them straight. The Powermodule is very heavy and extremely over built
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Mark Peterson
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Posted: April 17 2014 at 8:02am |
I don't know if this is what you are looking for but... If a hanging cord pulls the light fixture off kilter it can be easily rectified. The cord can be attached to the suspension wires/chains above the fixture or looped to attachment points on walls or tank frame to relieve the pull on the fixture. Also, you probably know this but since electrical cords are partly metal and partly plastic/rubber they can be strongly kinked into new curves or over-bent in the opposite direction to remove curves. I have hung a curved cord or vinyl tube from a door with some weight on the bottom to straighten it. Also, a few minutes dip in very hot water softens the polymer plastic/rubber before bending/hanging, allowing it to more readily take new shape. Hope this helps. Aloha
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Mark Peterson
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Posted: April 17 2014 at 8:56am |
Firefish wrote:
Mark, I just would like to keep some of the angels and butterflyfish that don't bother LPS. I do like that one tank that you showed me with all the gorgonians. I am still considering doing mine this way. I must have xenia though, and they need lights. Right now all I have is 2 VHOs over my big tank (enough light for fish and thats it). I got rid of the metal halides. There isn't much to see with my big tank, just a big glass rectangular box with water 72" long and two chromis swimming around. |
Some thoughts: + Angelfish and Butterflyfish love to devour LPS coral. Ask Brad/Tileman. He has a lot of experience with this. Additionally, food type and quantity has a great deal to do with it. Recently an improvement in food actually stopped an Angelfish from picking on an LPS coral in a local hobbyist/friends tank. + Julian Sprung has suggested that many of the fish that are inclined to eat coral will ignore Gorgonia which makes them awesome coral for yet another reason. + Why not keep the VHO t12's and add some HO t5's alongside? It's the same fluorescent light and contrary to what has been advertised, HO t5 illumination is not noticeably brighter than VHO. The advantage of t5's is their smaller size and mix'n'match wavelength/color combinations. Separate lights on separate power supplies allow separate timing configurations to mimic "sunrise -> noonday -> sunset" as well as additional blue/nighttime effects. + If replacing VHO for HO t5, note that the VHO ballast can run t5. I would have to check on it, but depending on the ballast, what runs one 6' VHO may be able to run two t5's. (smaller diameter means smaller volume, requiring less electrical current) FYI, I have wired together two short tubes on one end, effectively making the two into one long tube powered by a single wired ballast. + Rectangular box of water? The last meeting addressed that concept. We learned new ways of aquascaping to make it look like a section of the reef rather than a glass box. The local access to Utah Rock makes this concept all the more simple, easy and affordable. Aloha
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Firefish
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Posted: April 17 2014 at 11:02pm |
Yeah, thats one reason I'm getting away from the VHOs. It is getting harder and harder to find replacement bulbs and I heard that they may not produce them anymore. I'll check on my ballast setup.
Right now all I have is live sand in the tank with no rock.
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Firefish
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Posted: May 25 2014 at 12:38pm |
Hey Mark. I have the PFO 2x72" VHO ballast. Will this work for T5s? Ideally I'd like to have them stretch the length of the tank so, could I do 4x36" T5s?
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Firefish
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Posted: May 25 2014 at 12:40pm |
I'm going with some cheap LEDs and I want to combo this with the T5s.
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Ryan Thompson
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Posted: May 25 2014 at 12:47pm |
Firefish wrote:
Hey Mark. I have the PFO 2x72" VHO ballast. Will this work for T5s? Ideally I'd like to have them stretch the length of the tank so, could I do 4x36" T5s? | I highly recommend not using that ballast for T5s. It will fry the bulbs and you will replace them constantly. Only 60" bulbs have shown long term success on VHO ballasts and even then I don't recommend it. Just because you can, doesn't mean you should. Get a true t5 ballast and run that instead.
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