Giesemann Tropic 6500K vs Home Depot 6500k T5 bublb

[cwk84]

Does anyone have the Gieselman Tropic T5? I currently have 2 Super Purple, 1 Actinic Blue, 1 Aquablue Coral. I like the look it's slightly blue/pinkish with some white in it but it's not punchy enough. I'd like to achieve a really punchy crisp blue look with lots of fluorescence. I think a 6500K alongside a couple blue or actinic bulbs would get me there. I'm just not sure if there is any difference between a 6500k bulb from Home Depot or any other store and the Tropic from Giesemann.

 

[mcarroll]

They're all pretty different.....check out post #56 from a nice thread that @Velcro started (blame him!!!!).

The whole thread is good, but for comparison I posted a bunch of 6500K spectral charts starting on post 56, so may as well start there and then go back to read from the beginning.

 

[cwk84]

I've seen that threat. It would be interesting to see some pictures of different bulb combinations with either the Giesemann or the Iwasaki or any other daylight bulb.

 

[jda]

If you need cheap, the GE 6500k is pretty nice and good output. You can get them for 3-4 bucks, but I have not seen them at the local stores in a long time and have to order them online.

When you buy stuff at a home improvement store, make sure that it is HO - some of the stuff is just NO (normal output).

 

[rockskimmerflow]

I always have a ton of the spare 'Spectralux blue' 6500k chinese made hydro bulbs that come in the Sunblaze hydro T5HO fixtures. I pull them out and replace with ATI typically, but always keep some on hand just in case I have the odd customer who does miraculously like a more 'daylight' look to their tank. I just give them one of those and have them try the effect of adding one into a 6 or 8 bulb array and it normally satisfies the need for lower kelvin look.

I also like to throw one into a fixture myself sometimes. It really pops the pinks, purples, and blue pigments that are nonfluorescent in many of the SPS. I'm sure they all vary a bit in spectrum, but I'd wager pretty much any of the common 6500k labeled T5HO could serve the purpose quite well.

 

[cwk84]

If you need cheap, the GE 6500k is pretty nice and good output. You can get them for 3-4 bucks, but I have not seen them at the local stores in a long time and have to order them online.

When you buy stuff at a home improvement store, make sure that it is HO - some of the stuff is just NO (normal output).

Do you think the GE is the same as the Tropic from Giesemann?

 

[jda]

I have no idea. I use GE 6500k and they are fine reef bulbs.

As a rule, daylight will render the best color, but you usually need some more blue for illumination. It is the rare light that can truly do both in one package.

 

[cwk84]

Well, I wanted to supplement the 6500 with an actinic. So my setup would be 2 Super Purple, 1 Actinic Blue, 1 Aquablue Coral, 1 Super Actinic, 1 GE6500k. If I don't like it I might add 2 more bulbs to adjust. I want to achieve a look similar to this :

or this:

They all have a hint of purple, violet and blue but it does not look washed out. My tank looks washed out. It's not as punchy but has that violet touch.

 

[cwk84]

Is this the right one?

https://www.1000bulbs.com/product/2...SqKH7i-H9-Oj9eOaW-cPGHkXCqeb8aPYaAnE1EALw_wcB

 

[jda]

Yes. Keep in mind that the bulb hour life listed on there is firing/burning life and not really good spectrum life. I would still not use these more than 24 months.

 

[Bpb]

I love the giesemann tropic bulb and will always run one or two in my t5ho mix.

I really like what the purple+ does visually, but is running a purple+ along with 2 6500k bulbs advisable from a red overload standpoint? Will that put sps into photoinhibition from too much red?

 

[cwk84]

I have a lot of reds in my tank and I actually have problems keeping SPS corals healthy and colorful. Maybe that's the problem. Could you elaborate on photoinhibition? I have never heard of that.

 

[jda]

Some think that more red makes corals grow and process energy better. Emerson Effect. However, the look might not be to your liking - nobody that I know wants a reef tank to look like food under a infrared heat lamp.

Photoinhibitation is when a coral shuts down from too much of something. In reefing it is usually quality, not quantity. In the ocean, corals thive just a few inches under the water of 2200 PAR sunlight. You can blast corals with lots of MH, but not that much - it is not as good as sunlight. You cannot blast corals with as much LED as you even can Metal Halide - it is not as good as even Metal Halide. Most photoinhibiation will just stop growth when a "maximum" is reached for the day, but does not really cause any death or health issues. Some bad spectrums, mostly from LEDs and sometimes from MH with the UV shield broken, will burn coral. I guess that what I am getting at is that the light type matters for this discussion - I do not think that too much red from a MH or T5 is even close to a problem, but it could be for LEDs.

 

[cwk84]

Hm well, when I got my SPS frags they came from a brightly lit tank and they looked really colorful. The water they were in had 20+ NO3 and high Po4. My NO3 is between 10-20ppm and PO4 is 0.04 yet all frags have lost their punchy coloration and there is no polyp extension. I inferred that it can't be my water since they came from way dirtier water and still looked relatively healthy. They should look way better in my tank but they don't.

 

[mcarroll]

when I got my SPS frags they came from a brightly lit tank and they looked really colorful. The water they were in had 20+ NO3 and high Po4.

Evidence Item #1

My NO3 is between 10-20ppm and PO4 is 0.04 yet all frags have lost their punchy coloration and there is no polyp extension.

Evidence Item #2

I inferred that it can't be my water since they came from way dirtier water and still looked relatively healthy.

Nutrients ≠ Dirt

Low nutrient levels are not necessarily good.

Here's What I Think
Your phosphates are within spitting distance of zero.

But your nitrate supply is at a similar level to where they came from. ("Around 20")

That combo of high-N and no-P can be tough on corals. Maybe even more-so than usual if they were acclimated to higher P levels.

IMO (and going by the evidence), raise your nutrients to match where they came from.

Also, have you taken a lux or PAR meter to the tank where they came from? How do your light levels match where they came from? A change here would also have an impact on demand for P.

 

[cwk84]

That is so confusing. I thought that lower po4 levels are desirable and that higher levels stunt growth as well as lead to poor coloration. I'm currently dosing NoPox to get my nitrates to around 5ppm. When my phosphates were higher some of my softies and LPS didn't look as colorful. I think my alk is also too low for 10+ nitrates. I try to keep it at around 7-8.

Check out this thread:

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/sps-high-nutrients-myth.283442/

The guy keeps high nitrates and low phosphates but his tank looks stunningly colorful.

 

[mcarroll]

Carbon dosing adds another unhelpful wrinkle to the situation. I definitely wouldn't approach the situation this way.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/sps-high-nutrients-myth.283442/

The guy keeps high nitrates and low phosphates but his tank looks stunningly colorful.

Are you talking about dave57 or sanjay? I think that thread is just linking to something about sanjay's tank.

And they mention 0.4 ppm of PO4 in sanjay's tank....not 0.04 ppm like your tank. (Plus, we'd need to know a lot more about sanjay's tank to really use it as a learning example.)

If you're keeping your alk too low, maybe that's part of the problem. Something to consider is that low alk is a pretty recent trend....it's perceived need is probably related to a side-effect of carbon dosing in most cases.

So go back to your first piece of evidence again and start there. If you want the corals to look like they did....emulate what they were doing where you got the corals. Lights. Nutrients. Flow. Anything you can replicate, do it.

 

[Rakie]

That is so confusing. I thought that lower po4 levels are desirable and that higher levels stunt growth as well as lead to poor coloration. I'm currently dosing NoPox to get my nitrates to around 5ppm. When my phosphates were higher some of my softies and LPS didn't look as colorful. I think my alk is also too low for 10+ nitrates. I try to keep it at around 7-8.

Check out this thread:

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/sps-high-nutrients-myth.283442/

The guy keeps high nitrates and low phosphates but his tank looks stunningly colorful.

And some people use water conditioner with sink water and have a stunning tank. One of the largest and most successful SPS only tanks here doesn't even run a skimmer, and skimmers increase pH and help growth and blah blah blah.

THis is why my signature is what it is; "Nothing is true, everything is permitted".

Meaning, there is no correct way to do things. If there were, everyone would already know it, and not a single person would ask "How come X/Y?" for the 1000th time a day.

 

[cwk84]

From what I understand I need higher alk with higher nutrient levels and No3 and Po4 need to be in relation to each other. I could feed more to elevate the levels and raise my alk. I should also mention that while the corals looked healthier in the LFS's tank, they weren't thriving. So I don't want to replicate everything. I ordered the GE6500 and one Super Actinic. I'm going to raise my alk to 10.5 and will keep it there and I'll start feeding more heavily.

 

[Rakie]

Leave your alk where it is. You don't need it that high, especially with your numbers. I run my no3 at 25 and po4 at 0.35 (not a typo) and I have zero issues with growth and color. My alk is 7.7 last test. No issues. Of course, all tanks are different and have their own quirks..