4 bulb T-5 combo for growth

blaze98 · Apr 16, 2009

Hello everybody, I am fairly new to the site, but a few of you might already know me from different boards. I have a lighting question, I was wondering if anyone here is running a 4 bulb combo of T-5 lights to grow their zoa's. If so, I also wanted to know the kelvin rating and the types of bulbs used.

A little background on my frag tank...it is a 20 long with a 10 gallon sump. I keep all my zoa's in this tank. I have a 4 bulb Nova extreme 36" fixture above the tank each bulb is 39 watts. This is a frag and zoa tank, so I am not at all concerned with the color appearance of the tank, it can be as yellow as the sun for all I care. I was thinking of trying a combo of 6500k, two 10,000k and one ATI blue plus bulb over this tank. I am really looking for suggestions on a kelvin temp combo that will give me excellent growth. Any input is appreciated.

ZoaFan08 · Apr 16, 2009

My old tank I had a 4bulb T5 setup but I went with MH on the new tank. My zoas color and growth is 5x what it was with T5s.

Sikryd · Apr 16, 2009

Whats happening Buddy! Glad you joined up here.
I think grimreaper on RC is the bulb dude - might want to hit him up.

baseballman 25 · Apr 16, 2009

I am loving my Teks.I personally like the color of my zoas better under my teks than MH.

Ldogg · Apr 16, 2009

I run 5 ATi bulbs and 1 GE, and I freaking love the color. just put them in so I can't say anything as to growth yet.

blaze98 · Apr 16, 2009

What's up Chad, I have been a member for a while, just lurking in the background. I sent Grim a PM earlier, he is a busy dude, but definitely knows his stuff

dustponds10 · Apr 19, 2009

I to love my TEK lighting it all just matters on the bulbs that you choose. Look for some good nice bulbes that you like and stay with them. I have ati bulbs and some other one and I really get alot better growth then some people with halides, most that I know I get a ton better growth.

coral88 · Apr 19, 2009

Two ATI blue plus the par is almost the same as most white bulbs and you get color as well
one 10-12 K
one actinic
You can really easily over do the light with T5s This would be all the par you need.
I have a 40 breeder with a 4 bulb retro with this combo.
another thing I've found by playing around with different lighting on different tanks with frags of the same zoas is some of them grow faster with less light.Hope that helps

flricordia · Apr 19, 2009

3 SPS actincs and one Lifeglo 6700k T5s over frag tank. I'm sure there are much better combos though. Just what I can get local. Does OK.

blaze98 · Apr 19, 2009

Thanks guys. I had a 4 bulb t-5 over my old 55 and the combo I ran was 2 ATI blue plus and 2 UVI aquasuns but I was not getting the growth that I wanted. I am going to try 2 blueplus an aqua sun and a 6500k bulb combo this time, hopefully it will give me the growth that I am looking for.

mevstheworld · Apr 19, 2009

I run 4 overdriven T5's over my 40g breeder. I did have 2 UVL super actinic, 1 ATI blue +, and 1 ATI aquablu special. Very high growth rate. All of my zoa/palys have doubled, some tripled in just a couple months. I just switched to all Aquascience, (2) 22,000k & (2) 15,000k. The color is amazing, and much more brighter/vibrant than the other set-up. I just hope I get the same growth rates...