ATI dimmable or non-dimmable? That is the question.

G8trBait16 · May 27, 2017

Hey y'all, I need some help/opinions. I am almost done with my 240g 8ft tank and I want to go with t5's with reef brights for sure, but the problem is whether to get dimmable or non-dimmable. I have a 8x54w dimmable over my 75g right now and really like it. I bought the new apex (never owned one before), and I don't know if it can control t5s or not. All the research I have done and looked up or asked friends it is a tie between the 2. My tank with my .mostly SPS and for now it will have at least 1 reef brights who (opinions on these would be great also). The tank is 96x24x25

1. Is the dimmable worth the extra money?
2. Does the reg sunflower have 1 or 2 cords.

I must say this build is the hardest one yet out of the 4 I have done in the last 5 years and the biggest. I want everything perfect, but so far the most difficult has been the aquascape and getting my ideas in my head onto my foam cutout of the tank. Anyways sorry for rambling, I am really excited and appreciate all of the help/opinions!

Thank y'all,
Matt

Water Dog · May 27, 2017

I'd go non dimmable Sunpower every time. No controller or display to malfunction,no clock to get out of sync (a known issue), no compromise of bulb life and no 50 hour bulb break in period. Use your reefbrites to ramp up and down for the dawn dusk effect and your simple on and off T5 for the heavy lifting. As far as cords go for the standard Sunpower, one cord comes out of the fixture to a junction box. From the junction box comes the wall wart for the fan, one cord for 2 of the bulbs and another cord for the remaining bulbs. This fixture will last you s very long time. If something happens down the road, its most likely just simple ballast replacement which is fairly simple to do on your own and you wouldn't have to rely on sending the whole fixture in to ATI, thus minimal down time in terms of lighting for your tank should there be any issues.

reefwiser · May 27, 2017

Dimmable will cut the life of your t5 lights really isn't worth the trouble.

G8trBait16 · May 27, 2017

I really appreciate the help y'all!

Fritzhamer · May 27, 2017

I thought ATI stated that dimming doesn't degrade the bulb life at all. I love my dimmable, it gives me the ability to ramp up and ramp down. I'd never go back to non-dimmable. I haven't had any issues whatsoever with the controller but I have seen a post or two of users having an issue. I've also noticed that most of the fixtures that go up for sale look like they were under water at one point or another. I wonder if those two are related. People do dumb things with their equipment some times.

Blue Spot Octopus · May 28, 2017

Can you run a dimmable T-5 fixture at 100% and not have the known side affects?

ifarmer · May 28, 2017

Dimmable is better.
On their latest hybrid, they also use dimmable.

Fritzhamer · May 28, 2017

Blue Spot Octopus said:
Can you run a dimmable T-5 fixture at 100% and not have the known side affects?

I'll have to find the piece when I'm at a computer, I'm sure it's on their site. If I recall from the manual, in terms of bulb usage, 10% is the same as 100%. If a bulb can be ran at 100% for ten months, running it at 10% won't make it last 100 months. The bulb will still only last 10 months.

I run four bulbs at 100% for six hours and two ramp up for an hour and ramp down the last hour. They run at 100% with the other four during the six hour "noon" period.

When I first got the fixture to acclimate everything I had both channels ramp up and down. There was also a much shorter "noon" period.

Fritzhamer · May 28, 2017

If you google it, Osram and a few other sites explain that so long as you burn the bulbs in at 100% for 50-100 hours (depending on the ballast) there is NO negative effect to dimming.

zsuzsu · May 28, 2017

I have the dimmable, I like having 1 cord, and the fans come on and off automatically, bulb life?... bulbs schmulbs, I don't dim them , you don't have to. You can program them so they don't dim . Hmm maybe I 'll try it. Zsu

Reefcowboy · May 28, 2017

Gotta say I would go non dimmable, I wouldnt mess with those ATI ballasts as they give lots of people problems from time to time. Consider yourself a lucky guy for never having issues.

On the other hand, Im 4 months is my 6 bulb ATI switch from Leds and most of my sps seem to be bleaching from too much light. With the exception of some montis, the more delicate acros are showing bleached spots everywehere. The dimmable version would do better than hanging my fixture almost 18" over the water line at the present time. Ditched the coral+'s for actinics and shortened the light period. These Sunpowers pack exagerated amounts of light.

saltyfilmfolks · May 28, 2017

Dimming is for leds.

25 years of fluorescent tubes in my life and and massive lighting installations within dimmers installations yea. Don't Dim them.

Second why would you. Just figure out the par you want and order the correct tubes and hang it in the right place.

If you looking for extended viewing time go hybrid and use the t5 for peak and save the tubes that way. Leds have half the par at the same intensity.

CoralReefer1019 · May 28, 2017

don't need dimming for T5s

ethridge78 · May 28, 2017

I would still go dimmable

Water Dog · May 29, 2017

My suggestion for the non dimmable ATI unit is based on reliability and bulb life maximization. Do a search on ATI and problems and there are a decent number of threads about relays going out, bad controllers, out of whack clocks and ballast issues. Even on the big Powermodule Owner's Thread discussion on the other big forum, this seems to be an issue. Rarely do you read about any issues with the non dimmable Sunpower.

Acrofiend · May 29, 2017

I chose the dimmable so I can have one cord instead of three. I don't even use the dimming option

Reefcowboy · May 29, 2017

I read a post from the ATI rep saying after the proper initial 50 hr "burn", bulbs would not lose life with dimming. He stated most people do not follow this rule and therefore bulbs lose longevity.

I guess if true one would need to leave them on for two and a half days straight, then would be fine to dim with no sacrifice to the bulb.

zsuzsu · May 29, 2017

Reefcowboy said:
Gotta say I would go non dimmable, I wouldnt mess with those ATI ballasts as they give lots of people problems from time to time. Consider yourself a lucky guy for never having issues.

On the other hand, Im 4 months is my 6 bulb ATI switch from Leds and most of my sps seem to be bleaching from too much light. With the exception of some montis, the more delicate acros are showing bleached spots everywehere. The dimmable version would do better than hanging my fixture almost 18" over the water line at the present time. Ditched the coral+'s for actinics and shortened the light period. These Sunpowers pack exagerated amounts of light.

I agree with the bleaching, I switched from radions and I raised my fixture to 20 inches above water surface, reduced my full spectrum bulbs to 5 hrs, added 2 actinic 10hrs, 3 blue plus 8hrs. Oh ya my $800 radions are now supplementing my t5s, just the blue lights for pop and dawn dusk.

Reefcowboy · May 29, 2017

zsuzsu said:
I agree with the bleaching, I switched from radions and I raised my fixture to 20 inches above water surface, reduced my full spectrum bulbs to 5 hrs, added 2 actinic 10hrs, 3 blue plus 8hrs. Oh ya my $800 radions are now supplementing my t5s, just the blue lights for pop and dawn dusk.

Im going to a 150 gal and thought of going ATI's 8x80w+3x75w led powermodule... im revising that thought..might be bitting more than I can chew with too much light.

With Halides the light was just perfect, corals loved it, but the darn heat...T5's have been ok, but I havent seen corals' color potentials because I have too much light over them.

At this moment I have 2x B+, 3x Actinic,1 Purple+(favorite combo), but only run all bulbs 4 hrs a day with two actinics for dusk/dawn for 7hrs a day.