T5 height from the water

[Fredm]

Hi,

i'm asking myself a question, is my T5 ramp is at the good height from the water..? My tank is 130cm x 65x55, the water is at 50cm. My ramp is a 8x54w at 20cm from the water. So, do you think it's good or not.

 

[Potatohead]

Ideally you would measure par and adjust from there but, it looks fine to me.

 

[Fredm]

i can't.....Ok thanks

 

[ChrisOFL]

Mine is only about 10cm from the water, whatever works for you is best.

 

[Fredm]

whoaohh, 10cm, i didn't think i can go so down....

 

[ChrisOFL]

whoaohh, 10cm, i didn't think i can go so down....

Well I run 4-6 bulbs with 2 LED strips so its probably not quite the intensity of your setup. Fabulous tank by the way.

 

[jda]

I just adjust them for light spill, not for PAR. There is not really too-much PAR from T5s like there is from LEDs.

I would put them wherever makes you happy, but if you make them closer, then do it slowly.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

At 12 in (American sorry) , each tube is about 150 par or so at the peak in the middle of the fixture.

So you're runnning pretty high light. Not a bad thing really.
Definitely more than enough par on the bottom for a clam.
Looks great too.

 

[mcarroll]

What bulbs are you running in that photo, BTW? And in your estimation how true are the colors in the pic to in-person?

 

[ATI North America]

One trick to determine this is to turn out all the lights in the room making it as dark as possible. Raise the fixture way up and make a note of the light spillage on the floor. Then lower the light until the light is mostly "captured" by the tank. This will give you the maximum height you would want to run your fixture. At this point you can lower it depending on the locations of your corals and how much intensity you are going for. Of course the closer the fixture to the water the more likely it will get more wear and tear from the salt as well as making it more difficult to work in the tank.

Keep in mind a great deal of the light entering the tank reflects off the glass and will help light up the underside of coral colonies. Some LED options in the market direct so much of the light downward they tend to create shadows since you aren't getting the reflected light off the glass.

 

[A. grandis]

You can put it on the aquarium itself and it will work. The highest I would go is like 30cm, but doing that you will loose lots of power. That is for a tank about 45cm deep.
I normally have my fixtures 6 to 18cm from the water surface, 45cm deep.
Cheers!
Grandis.

 

[Fredm]

Hi, in this picture i have 6 blue+, 1 coral+ and 1 purple. It's very difficult to make the right whitr balance even with my reflex and raw....My eyes like the tank like this , hope the corals too. ATI, have you got PAR information about the T5 ?

 

[BurgerFish]

Hi,

i'm asking myself a question, is my T5 ramp is at the good height from the water..? My tank is 130cm x 65x55, the water is at 50cm. My ramp is a 8x54w at 20cm from the water. So, do you think it's good or not.

What bulb combo do you use? Awesome color!!!

Upd. Ok, I found.