Back to T5 s

[Rmckoy]

I have 4 blue plus and 4 coral plus and as mentioned above , never worried about testing par .

 

[Lbrdsoxfan]

I'm with the swap a few bulbs to actinic crowd, but I run dimmable T5's bulbs with no detriment to light longevity. They key is break in of the bulbs at full power. As said above, I control the t5 ramping with a apex, along with dimmable 0-10v ballast as my led strips aren't dimmable.

 

[Rmckoy]

Oh yeah for sure, it was originally going to be an sps tank. But wife really like Zoas and LPS so we going that direction now, happy wife, happy reefing.

Are they ever truly happy ?

zoas and lps will also appreciate the light from t5’s
Once they’re acclimated to the light , it doesn’t matter how much is thrown at them , they will love it .
Unlike leds . T5’s are not as focused

 

[X-37B]

Biggest issue was losing the sync between the two I had. Wake up and one is on other one is off. One time woke up to like all red…..this just recently started and tried going into the app and had connection issues and so i don’t want to deal with it at the moment. I’m keeping them and will deal with them later. Maybe they can fix the app in the meantime.

Yea I have had a few issues like that but overall I just reset.
Been running for awhile now.
I also have my hd16's that are run through the same app. Funny I have been running the 16hd app for almost a year now with no issues. So far no issies with the 16hd's.

 

[w8lifts]

I have 4 blue plus and 4 coral plus and as mentioned above , never worried about testing par .

that’s the problem with these meters, you start chasing the perfect par. Sounds like everyone just throws them on and calls it a day lol.

 

[Rmckoy]

that’s the problem with these meters, you start chasing the perfect par. Sounds like everyone just throws them on and calls it a day lol.

I have asked many times for years . And as soon as I mention t5’s I always get the same answer .
You are getting enough par and not to worry about actual numbers .

there was a recent post where someone did a test with different bulbs at different depths and reported his results .
I’ll look to see if I can find it .

 

[X-37B]

I'm with the swap a few bulbs to actinic crowd, but I run dimmable T5's bulbs with no detriment to light longevity. They key is break in of the bulbs at full power. As said above, I control the t5 ramping with a apex, along with dimmable 0-10v ballast as my led strips aren't dimmable.

Nice, the Orphek bars are great. I ran 2 on my 120 with halides.
Never needed to dim anything but the ramp up and down of leds is growing on me.

 

[w8lifts]

Alright, so I am going to cancel my ballast order and buy a couple of deeper blues/purple and I should be good. Thanks!

 

[Rmckoy]

Alright, so I am going to cancel my ballast order and buy a couple of deeper blues/purple and I should be good. Thanks!

Try a search for t5’s and par on here .
See what you find .
the purple plus was a good bulb and can’t remember why I stopped using it .

 

[w8lifts]

Try a search for t5’s and par on here .
See what you find .
the purple plus was a good bulb and can’t remember why I stopped using it .

Yeah I’m going to dig around on here. Never occurred to me to just switch bulbs, went straight to the expensive option lol.

 

[spsick]

Try a search for t5’s and par on here .
See what you find .
the purple plus was a good bulb and can’t remember why I stopped using it .

I like the look of the purple plus but it has a steeper PAR drop off than coral plus etc. I still use it but swap out after 9 months vs 12.

 

[Rmckoy]

I like the look of the purple plus but it has a steeper PAR drop off than coral plus etc. I still use it but swap out after 9 months vs 12.

More par compared to coral plus ?

 

[spsick]

More par compared to coral plus ?

They have almost identical par to start.

 

[bobnicaragua]

Oh yeah for sure, it was originally going to be an sps tank. But wife really like Zoas and LPS so we going that direction now, happy wife, happy reefing.

Sounds like a great opportunity for a mixed reef. Acros on top and unimportant nonacros below!

 

[w8lifts]

Sounds like a great opportunity for a mixed reef. Acros on top and unimportant nonacros below!

That’s what this is starting to become, I started with all sps, now I have 7 different Zoas (majority on the back wall now). LPS in the center and sps on top and on one side. She wants some softies in the far corners…I am waiting for the tank to finish it’s bio battle/uglies now (7 months in) before getting her some of the leathers and what not. Don’t want to introduce a new algae or something as the tank is in a delicate spot at the moment.

 

[Rmckoy]

That’s what this is starting to become, I started with all sps, now I have 7 different Zoas (majority on the back wall now). LPS in the center and sps on top and on one side. She wants some softies in the far corners…I am waiting for the tank to finish it’s bio battle/uglies now (7 months in) before getting her some of the leathers and what not. Don’t want to introduce a new algae or something as the tank is in a delicate spot at the moment.

If having leathers included in the mixed reef how do you battle toxins released from the leathers from effecting other corals ?

does carbon help?
I’ve never kept leathers for this reason

 

[w8lifts]

If having leathers included in the mixed reef how do you battle toxins released from the leathers from effecting other corals ?

does carbon help?
I’ve never kept leathers for this reason

When I had my mixed tank 15 years ago I always ran carbon and had no issues.

 

[bobnicaragua]

That’s what this is starting to become, I started with all sps, now I have 7 different Zoas (majority on the back wall now). LPS in the center and sps on top and on one side. She wants some softies in the far corners…I am waiting for the tank to finish it’s bio battle/uglies now (7 months in) before getting her some of the leathers and what not. Don’t want to introduce a new algae or something as the tank is in a delicate spot at the moment.

My wife likes the fish, but pretty much ignores the corals.

 

[Rmckoy]

My wife likes the fish, but pretty much ignores the corals.

I used to be all corals and ignored the fish .
but I changed that when adding a emperor angelfish .
he likes puffy corals

 

[Lbrdsoxfan]

If having leathers included in the mixed reef how do you battle toxins released from the leathers from effecting other corals ?

does carbon help?
I’ve never kept leathers for this reason

Carbon, lots of carbon, lol. I'm softie dominant, and there is always something angry in the tank.