UPDATE: T5 lighting...not so good

[Sahin]

Hello everyone. Its been a while...I've been so busy with work etc...anyway....

 

After many months of "testing" the new T5 lights I've noticed that they arent as good for the corals as the standard NO tubes. They may have higher output, but in terms of useful output for corals, I have decided that NO tubes are better as they were desinged with the correct light spectrum for corals. Whereas T5's, even though I used 20K and 6.5K tubes, just didnt give the coral growth rates I used to get.

 

I have noticed that most of my coralline algae has died off. Red slime algae seems to thrive in my tank, which before wasnt a problem. Coral growth rates are slower. SOme of my corals have stopped growing altogether.

 

My maxima clam which under NO tubes used to have new shell growth sections once every month, took many months to grow noticeably.

 

I have given back my large crocea clam to the LFS because it wasnt growing.

 

I am going to put on the NO tubes for 3 months and see the outcome. I am pretty sure growth rates will return to normal.

 

My work load has been so bad that I gave up my 75G African cichlid setup. It was a nice tank. Many of the fishes bred, and there were many survivor babies. I was so happy when they started to breed.

 

Well, I hope to be around here more regularly. Nice to see you all regulars.

[Rocket_155]

are you planning to switch back to NO tubes?

 

what a shame that you had to give back the crocea clam.

[Sahin]

Yes, I am reverting back to NO tubes.

I really miss the crocea clams. However I still have the medium Maxima clam which is doing well.

 

I am hoping that T5 tubes made by Arcadia or tubes designed with aquarium use is made by someone soon. So I will hold onto the T5 lighting for the moment.

[Mnesarchus]

Whew, good thing I read this. I was just going to buy some T5's.

[Metznreef]

nice to see you back sahin. sorry the t5's weren't a bid success. i remember all your clams being really cool. shame you had to give some back.

[tinyreef]

hey sahin, longtime haven't seen! i was getting worried about you.

 

sorry to hear about the T5's issues. i haven't heard those complaints. do you think it's a spectrum issue on the bulbs?

 

the coralline may not have been able to adjust to the change in light intensity and spectrum shift (if any). i'm shocked that the clams didn't do well under them unless there's significant spectrum shift (incorrect spectrum) or excessive UV. : i'm thinking spectrum because of the red slime tho.

 

have you checked with others in Britain and Germany?

[Sahin]

I too think its the spectrum thats to blame. Some poeple have had success ie in Germany, but I am not sure exactly which brand of tubes are being used.

See thats the critical part.

 

All is not lost. At least nothing has died, just stopped growing. I will be on the lookout for T5 tubes desinged for aquarium use. Thats the key point here.

The tubes may be bright as hell, but if they arent the correct spectrum for coral growth, then yeah, your most likely to get cyano/pest algae etc and coral growth may be non-existant.

[Dave ESPI]

Good to know. I'm a member on reefpark.com (a British board) and the T-5's are new on the market still and are mostly available in the UK. They really havent hit in the US and probably wont.

I too was curious and I havent seen any great results except from a d00d in Germany who used them as supplementals to Halides. The other drawback about the T-% is they have HUGE endcaps like normal VHO tubes but with a smaller tube insert.

 

I for one am sceptical, but I haven't had the pleasure of toying with them yet, so I can't say +/- about them.

Thanks Sahin !

[tinyreef]

dave,

i've seen those 'huge' ones and i think those are 'ghetto' retrofits for the T5's tho because i've also seen sleek (just the right size

 

hey sahin, if you don't want them anymore let me know! i'll have to get a new ballast but i think you were using the small endcaps, right?

[Sahin]

Dave: thanks for the input. Your are correct that only one dude in Germany had good results. I have seen ads for T5's with virtually all the ads refering to the "great results" achieved by guess who - this dude in germany...hmm...

 

Tinyreef; they are the really small endcaps. Its no point sending the ballast over to you; the ballast is a kit, so its not encased in plastic and cost me £20, so not worth the shipping cost for something that cheap. The whole kit cost me less than £30 so not a big loss.

 

I guess I will be adding the lost colour of the clams via some colourful zoo's. Hmm.

[Guest AbSoluTc]

Thought I would jump in and see whats up. I know that T5's don't come in a 20k spectrum. They do come in a 6.5k and a couple other spectrums that I had the pleasure of finding out today. I also found out that TRUE T5 actinics are available as well. Their output is equal too or greater than the URI Super actinics.

 

I have not experienced any problems with these bulbs. Their color and output are true to their claims. Perhaps another set of bulbs might help?

 

I also would not venture to say that the T5's themselves, caused problems in your tank. After all, you said you have been pretty busy and you did get rid of a tank because of it. Maybe you got a little lax on upkeep?

 

I don't know. I hope you can again, find another type and give them a try.

 

For now, good luck!

[OscarBeast]

Bah. Screw it all and put a MH over it.

 

Nice to see you around again Sahin.

[reef120]

Sahin

 

Let me ask you a couple questions regarding the T-5 because we have also tested T-5's on our tanks and have had good success with coral growth and responce.

 

1. What size T-5 were you using?

 

 

2. Who manufactured the bulb?

 

3. What was the kevin rating on the T-5 you were using?

 

3. What size tank and how many T-5 bulbs did you use?

 

4. What ballast did you run the T-5's on?

 

All these questions are very important and will make a substantioal difference.

 

Were tested the GE 1449MM bulbs at 80watts per bulb and 7000K

 

The tank used was a custom 170gallon tank 5 foot in length and used a total of 8 T-5's and 1 URI 03 for color supliment.

 

The T-5's were powered by a few Workhorse 7 Electronic ballasts

 

We got very good responce from the corals and good growth.

 

Corals in the tank were mixture of SPS, LPS, some soft corals.

[tinyreef]

i kinda side with abs on this. the thought being that the 20000K may not have been what it claimed or insufficient to act as a true actinic bulb. reef120's note on using a URI actinic and getting good results cemented that thought for me.

 

sahin,

are you supplementing with any true actinics? even a NO uri bulb would do imo.

[Sahin]

OK I was using this combo:

 

Starcoat GELighting

1x 39w @ 6.5K HighOutput

 

Narva (Blue)

1x 39w @ 20K HighOutput

 

1x 25w Marine Actinic NO Tube

 

I had that on for about 3 months.

After seeing little or no growth in most of the corals, I replaced the 25w NO tube with a 25W 7K marine Triton tube.

That month gave some growth.

 

The tank is 24G, 36x12x12, so its very shallow.

 

The ballast is an OSRAM Quicktronic.

 

I put blame on:

20K tube being not a true actinic and therefore inadequate. And perhaps the 6.5K was ok, but with a crappy 20K tube, insufficient.

 

I will be on the lookout for better tubes, or tubes known to work good.

 

As regards to the tank maintenance, I got rid of larger tank because else both tanks would suffer. I will see how things go witht he current setup.

After 3 months, if I come across some good T5 tubes I will test those for a further 3 months.

[Guest AbSoluTc]

Sahin-

 

Wasn't trying to be rude if it came across that way. I just know that the NARVA blue bulbs are just that - blue. Some research has shown that they provide next to nothing as far as corals go. That appears to be your problem with the setup.

 

From what you stated above, changing out the "blue" bulbs for different ones, made a difference.

[jawfish]

Hi All

 

Sahin I think T5's in the UK are quickly losing appeal, as there are a lots of very new T5 units going second hand. Arcadia have released new T5 tubes available from STM. (Wait and see)

 

T5 link

 

But it seems the long lives the T5 's where mean't to have is a load of bull. As both english and german users are noticing big visible drops in outputs after just a few months.

[tinyreef]

i believe i saw a note on URI's site that they are currently working on T5's. i've faith in URI's manufacturing reputation that their bulbs will perform. bulb quality is the critical factor imo. most peeps hold their MH's to such scrutiny why shouldn't we for fluorescents?