ATI T5 Noobs and Experienced Reefers. Regrets?

[Tamberav]

Lucky you! My delivery guys must be rougher on packages than yours. I ordered mine from Marine Depot (still miss them) and BRS. Such a pain to take pics of busted bulbs w/o getting shards of glass everywhere to get a replacement.

When I ordered from premium aquatics, I had one bulb that flickered and they replaced it ASAP without proof or anything. I just let them know and they sent me a new one. Not sure but maybe they wouldn’t require photos of broken bulbs either.

 

[Rmckoy]

I’ve always used t5’s
A few downfalls being bulb replacement , heat

 

[Ocelaris]

I'm in the same predicament. I had 10x 80w T5 plus two kessil spot lamps for some shimmer. Now I'm down to 4x 80w T5 and basically 5x kessil pucks. Less heat, but the biggest problem with T5 is broken bulbs. I gave up trying to order 5' bulbs after ordering 6 and only getting 2 working ones. This is the third year I've gotten broken bulbs and now I'm rocking 2 year old bulbs. I thought it was a fluke, but it's just too much to mess with and I hate cleaning the T5 bulbs on the aquatic life fixture. ATI had a great cover, easy to clean. I'm sure I'm losing half the light from my bulbs due to salt spray and they're 10" off the water! Anyone have a comparison of spectrum of the orphek or3 to the ATI blue plus? T5 spectrum is still the gold standard after mh.

 

[SrBlonde]

I started my last tank with LED's (AI Primes), switch to an 8bulb T5, then switched to "better" LED's (GHL), and then switched to a 6-bulb ATI T5 fixture. I had no intention of ever changing lights again on that tank.

I started a new tank 2 years ago and started with the ATI T5 hybrid (8xT5+LED). It is AMAZING. All of the great benefits of LED: sunrise/sunset, ramping, color adjustment, full blues, etc.

T5's are amazing for their even spread and plug and play ease of use. I left LED's behind previously because I couldn't stop myself from tinkering with them (adjusting settings). T5's are so much easier to use. For me, there is a bit more heat to deal with, but that's easily overcome with a fan across the top of the tank.

I just changed out my Gen 4 Radions to the ATI 8 bulb Hybrid T5. Would you mind sharing your bulb combo/order and the run times for your T5s?

 

[Koh23]

Strugling with same problem.....

For a moment, i'm more into led t5 combo, other moment is only led.....

I have few more days to decide, will i stay on led only (buy another unit), or do some diy combo with t5.....

To many good arguments on both ends, but, i know, whatever i choose, end result will be the same, corals will grow, tank will look great......

 

[fishface NJ]

Ran T5, switched to LED, then back to T5, and finally T5 with a Orphek Blue Plus that only runs 1 hour before T5 turn on and 1 hour after T5 turn off. I have fabulous growth of my SPS dominant tank

Happy New Year!
Diana

 

[dragon99]

I just changed out my Gen 4 Radions to the ATI 8 bulb Hybrid T5. Would you mind sharing your bulb combo/order and the run times for your T5s?

Blue+
Coral+
Blue+
Actinic
Coral+
Actinic
Blue+
Coral+

The outside bank comes on at noon for six hours. The inside bank comes on at 3pm for 6 hours. So there's only 3 hrs a day with all 8 on at the same time. I have the LEDs ramping up/down for 1.5 hrs on either side to a peak of 65%.

Based on the BRS video about bulb life and par and since I'm only running them 6 hrs a day I'm changing the bulbs at 18 months

 

[X-37B]

I started my 120 with a 6 bulb ati. Ran it for 1 year and Iwent to 2 250 watt mh and 2 or3 blue bars, 1 bue plus and 1 blue sky.
The ati is in the closet now.
I run a black box led on my remote 30g fuge thats plumbed into the 120s sump.
It came from a 18" cubed nano I had prior to the 120.
My 45 frag system started with a gieseman 6 bulb t5 unit.
Its in the closet now. I run 1 250 watt mh now.

If I was to go full led it would be Orphek units or all or3 light bars on whatever system I was to setup.

I will never use t5's again unless an emergency occurs as I have the units.

1 or3 bar is equal to 2 t5's.
The Orphek leds are very well made and put out some serious light.

The or3 bars that supplement my halides really bring out the color of my corals..
Here is my 120 and remote fuge.

 

[HeyLookItsCaps]

I run T5 + led over all my tanks. Love the mix! Gives me halide shimmer and coverage + ability to tune color to my liking. What’s not to love?!

 

[SrBlonde]

Blue+
Coral+
Blue+
Actinic
Coral+
Actinic
Blue+
Coral+

The outside bank comes on at noon for six hours. The inside bank comes on at 3pm for 6 hours. So there's only 3 hrs a day with all 8 on at the same time. I have the LEDs ramping up/down for 1.5 hrs on either side to a peak of 65%.

Based on the BRS video about bulb life and par and since I'm only running them 6 hrs a day I'm changing the bulbs at 18 months

Thank you!

 

[Hugster78]

Ran T5, switched to LED, then back to T5, and finally T5 with a Orphek Blue Plus that only runs 1 hour before T5 turn on and 1 hour after T5 turn off. I have fabulous growth of my SPS dominant tank

Happy New Year!
Diana

I run the same. SPS growth is night and day compared to just leds.

 

[Gungo]

After trying a lot of techs and setups I stayed with 8 bulb ATI + 2 reefbrites actinic XHO.

ReefBrite actinic XHO
Blue Plus
Actinic
Coral plus
Blue plus
Blue Plus
Coral Plus
Actinic
Blue Plus
ReefBrite actinic XHO

There's good info out there that if you change your T5 bulbs every 18 months you will loose about 20% only in light performance. That means that for about $200 every 18 months you have a brand new fixture over your tank. Corals love that.

 

[Koh23]

As i can see, mostly sps keepers are prefering led+t5, for better growth and colors, but is there something for lps/softie keepers?

Are they also benefit from combo in same manner, or for them its not that crucial?

 

[Radman73]

I've run LED only since I got in the hobby 11 years ago. Until this Christmas. I set up a T5 hybrid fixture over my WB130. So, 4 T5 bulbs and now one Kessil AP700. I absolutely love the look of the combo. I won't be changing back any time soon.

I'm tired of chasing the "right" LED fixture. T5's are known to work. Combine them with LED and you get a little less heat and ability to tune color to your personal preference, all while knowing lighting won't be the reason you can't keep coral alive lol!

 

[fishface NJ]

As i can see, mostly sps keepers are prefering led+t5, for better growth and colors, but is there something for lps/softie keepers?

Are they also benefit from combo in same manner, or for them its not that crucial?

Just as beneficial for LPS and softies

 

[mfinn]

As i can see, mostly sps keepers are prefering led+t5, for better growth and colors, but is there something for lps/softie keepers?

Are they also benefit from combo in same manner, or for them its not that crucial?

I had a 8 x 80 watt ATI T5 fixture and a pair of Reef Brite XHO's over my 240 softy tank for years as well as a 6 x 24 watt ATI T5 fixture and Reef Brites over my LPS tank.
Works awesome.