*Sticky* T5 Lighting

ricklalonde

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T5-ology

T5 lighting is fast becoming one of the most popular and efficient choices to light your reef tank or aquarium.  One of the greatest attributes is the ability to choose a combination of bulbs for your needs.  But there are a lot of bulbs and fixture options out there.  How many bulbs should you have, what color, what brand.

When referring to T5's we are all talking about the T5 High Output (HO) lamps unless otherwise noted which are:

24 watts for a 24" lamp
39 watts for a 36" lamp
54 watts for a 48" lamp
80 watts for a 60" lamp
105 watts for a 72" lamp

At least one manufacture lists their T5 lamps as VHO. All this really means is the lamp was designed to better withstand being overdriven on Ice Cap ballasts. Most all brands of lamps have proven to withstand overdriving as long as fans are used to prevent overheating. Overdriving will cause a little more heat, slightly decrease lamp life and make things a whole lot brighter. Generally speaking a tank less than 20" tall shouldn't need overdriven lamps. There are also NO T5 units that seem to work fine of short tanks.

Number of lamps required for a tank.

By depth, meaning the distance from the back to the front of the tank. Basic guidelines:
12" 4 lamps
18" 6 lamps
24" 8 lamps
30" 10 or 12 lamps

There are a couple of exceptions to the rule.

There are 5 lamp and 7 lamp fixtures being made. The 5 will be fine for a 12" tank or an 18" tank in all but the most extreme cases (tall tank being used for clams on the bottom). The 7 will work for an 18" to 24" tank.

There are numerous fixtures that have a single flat reflector for all the lamps. These are generally fine for tanks less than 16-18" tall but if your tank is over 20" tall you should order the fixture with the number of lamps for the next size up listed in the basic guidelines above (18" 8 lamps instead of 6 etc.)

If you're using a retrofit kit it is important to remember it takes about 2.5" of space per lamp. That will leave room to fit (just barely in some cases) the reflectors in EXCEPT for the Tek II which are slightly more than 3" wide. Where possible bunch the lamps together in the center leaving as much space as possible between the tank and the front of the first reflector and the back of the last reflector. No sense in lighting the floor in front of the tank or the back side of the rocks.

Lamp Brands

Recommended brands are ATI, Giesemann/D&D, Aqua Science, Narva, Sylvania, KZ, Sfigoli, GE and AquaZ. The Current USA lamps are OK looks wise but the performance is less than impressive. Helios makes a lamp called a Super Blue that is a great lamp if you can find it. Narva is the OEM for Giesemann and Aqua Science lamps and Sylvania for ATI and reportedly KZ and Sfigoli.

Types of lamps

Blue
This is where T5 lighting really shines. The blue lamps cause nice fluorescence but also produce a good amount of PAR. It is important not to confuse blue and actinic lamps. Blue is around 450/460nm in the color spectrum while actinic is around 420nm and is more Violet in color. The Blue lamps are by brand ATI Blue Plus, Giesemann Actinic Plus, Aqua Science 22000K Blue, Narva Blue, Sylvania blue, Current Slimpaq 460 Actinic, Helios Super Blue and AquaZ Blue Pro.

Actinic
Actinic light causes corals with fluorescent properties to glow. Actinic lamps have a peak output in the 420nm spectrum but also have Ultra Violet range light most other lamps lack so there are colors, mostly green, that will glow under actinic but not the blue lamps. The Actinic lamps by brand are ATI True Actinic03, Giesemann Pure Actinic, Sfigoli Actinic Blue, UV Lighting Super Actinic and Current Slimpaq 420 Actinic (Current also calls their blue lamp actinic so it is important to distinguish between the 420 which is a true actinic and the 460 which is blue)

Daylight or Sun lamps

This is where you normally expect to get a large increase in PAR but that isn't always the case with T5 lamps. The 50/50 daylight actinic combination lamps have as much or more PAR output as many of the daylight lamps. What the daylight lamps will do is provide the red and yellow spectrums needed to balance out the heavy blue spectrums most of us prefer, The Daylight lamps include ATI Sun Pro, Giesemann Midday, UVL Aquasun, AquaZ Sun Pro, Aqua Science 15000K Special, Current Slimpaq 10K, GE 6500K Daylight.

Daylight/Actinic Combination and Specialty
The Daylight/Actinic combination lamps tend to be white with a slight hint of blue in the look and have very good PAR. They are very good as stand alone lamps or for fish only tanks where a bright light is desired. The Combination lamps include the ATI Aquablue, Giesemann Aquablue, Aqua Science 15000K Duo and AquaZ Ocean Pro.
The UV Lighting combination lamps have a pink or "pepto" tint to them. While that can be a disadvantage if you are looking for a white lamp to run as a stand alone lamp it can be an advantage if you want to broaden the spectrum you are providing when ran in conjunction with blue lamps. Adding a lamp with a decent amount of red in the output seems to help deepen the colors of SPS corals kept under T5 lighting. It is particularly effective at bringing out the color of coralline algae on the rocks and pink and purple corals. The UVL combination lamps are the actinic white and the 75/25 Aquablue.

As far as the lamps with more in the red spectrum there is the ATI pro Color which has some output very deep in the red spectrum and the GE 3000K which look a little more orange indicating a little more yellow in the spectrum. While the Pro Color has PAR output that is very low the GE 3000K is among the higher rated lamps. Neither of these lamps are a good choice in a system with less than 6 lamps as they tend to over power the other lamps and produce a purple look to the light some people don't care for

T5Pics1.jpg


Picture Above (left to right) - ATI Aquablue, KZ Coral Light, Aquascience DUO 15000K, Aquascience 15000K Special, Current 10K, and GE 3000K


PAR Readings (Photosynthetically Active Radiation)

Par really measures the amount of usable light that reaches the corals.

These measurements were taken from a Tek fixture using 54 Watt bulbs.

Aquascience
Special 15K 320
DUO 15K 334
22000K Blue 302

AquaZ
Sun Pro 285
Ocean Pro 323
Blue Pro 266

ATI
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

Current Sun Paq

Daylight 10K 272
Blue 252

D&D/Giesemann

Midday 325
Aquablue 324
Actinic Plus 264
Pure Actinic 157
General Electric
GE Daylight 340
GE3000 319

Helios
Daylight 309
Super Blue 225

KZ
Coral Light 342
Fiji Purple 330

UVL
Aqua sun 345
Actinic White 293
Super Actinic 210
75/25 "Aquablue" 254 vs 300 for an Aquasun in a later test.



Combination Suggestions


6 Bulb suggestion, listed front to back
Blue Plus, Super Actinic, UVL Aquasun, Blue Plus, UVL 75/25,
Blue Plus
4 Bulb Suggestion
Blue Plus, Super Actinic, Aquasun, Blue Plus


Fixtures

An Unbiased Reviews of T5 Fixtures.

T5 fixtures have come a long way in a short period of time. What was considered state of the art a few years ago is now more of a entry level setup. Parabolic Reflectors, T5 Spec Ballasts and active cooling are must haves for any premium system. Having dual lamp circuits to allow a dusk/dawn lighting effect is pretty common. Here is a list of those I have had the opportunity to work with and test.

ATI Powermodule
is about the best. They are expensive but if you compare them to any other fixture you will quickly see where your money went. They come with a splash shield and hanging kit but there are no legs available for them at this time. They can be sat right on the tank without causing heat issues. They come with 4 up to 10 lamps from 24 to 48 inches long (60" versions are available outside the North American market). They all have active cooling and dual lamp circuits. There is usually a waiting list for these fixtures.

ATI Sunpower is a less expensive but highly effective alternative to the Powermodule. It also comes with the splash shield and while the aesthetics of the design are not as nice as the Powermodules they are still acceptable looking. They can be hung of sat right on the tank as well. They have active cooling and dual lamp circuits. They only come in a 6x54 watt configuration and are currently not being imported into the United States.

Aquactinics Solar Flare is a fixture using Ice Cap SLR reflectors and Ice Cap ballasts. They have very strong output. They come in 6x54 watt configuration with or without moonlights at the present time. It has active cooling and 2 lamp circuits. Comes with a splash shield.

Aquactinics Constellation is a 7 lamp fixture currently available in 48 and 72 inch lengths. They are a very sleek looking low profile fixture that can be hung or sit on the tank. It has active cooling, 3 circuits for the lamps which allows a nice ramp up to full power. Comes with a splash shield and can sit on the tank or can be hung.

Aquactinics TX5 is a 5 lamp unit in 24, 36 and 48 inch versions. It has active cooling and 2 lighting circuits. It comes with a splash shield and can sit right on the tank. At 7.5 inches wide they are good where space is limited.

Sunlight Supply Tek fixtures come in 24, 36 and 48" version with 4, 6 or 8 lamps. The fixture includes dual lamp circuits but no active cooling which hurts output. Later models are also using Workhorse ballasts which not as effective as true T5 ballasts. Legs, splash shields and hanging kits are available as options. There are also a few clamp on multiple fan arrays available that can be mounted to the rear frame of the aquarium to overcome the fixture's lack of active cooling.

Current USA Nova Extreme Pro
is a budget entry into the "good" T5 fixtures. At this time they are available in 36, 48 and 72" lengths with 6 lamps. While they do have active cooling the reflectors are not up to the standards of the others listed here. However the active cooling does give them output close to that of the Tek. They have dual lamp circuits, active cooling and come with a splash shield and legs. It is important to make sure you are looking at the Pro model. While the reflectors aren't great they are better than the flat one used in the standard extreme fixtures.

Fauna Marin Ultra Solaris is really more of a pre made retrofit than a stand alone fixture but they could be used as a stand alone fixture if you don't mind seeing the endcaps and reflectors. They come in 24. 36 and 48" lengths with 4 or 6 lamps. They are actively cooled and the 6 lamp version has 3 lamp circuits. Comes with hanging kit which is the only way to use them other than mounting them in a canopy (which will require drilling a 3 inch hole in the top to accommodate the exhaust fan in the fixture.











Article Taken From: http://sites.google.com/site/tfivetesting/
Written by: Grim Reefer
 
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