how many T5 lights for my 125 gallon

[Jeepguy242]

i have been running 3 250 watt radium metal halides for 11 years... no problem growing any coral except when i have killed them myself with a kalk accident...

recently my chiller died and rather than get a new chiller, i have been toying with the idea of changing my full hood to a hanging hood like the BRS 160 for a few reasons... 1. the ease of getting into the tank for cleanings and feedings... 2. heat reduction

my tank usually hangs between 78 and 81 with no chiller.. i have the chiller set to come on at 81 and cool it till it hits 79 so the chiller has only been running about 2 times a day in the summer for a total of about 2.5 to 3 hours

i added a 48" reefbrite actinic in december and started running my halides on a shorter cycle by 2 hours for a total of 6 hours MH and running the reefbrite for 12.... after the chiller bit the dust...


my question is, if i added another reefbrite and 6 t5 80 watt t5 bulbs (probably ATI) would i have enough light to grow anything like i can under the MH


some thinking about cost...

1 6 ATI t5 bulbs are about the same cost to replace as 1 of my radiums
the ballast are ***** lot cheaper and i have had to replace 3 in 11 years at 150 per ballast
it would probably 1/4 my heat switching to t5 bulbs

i dont particularly care for led fixtures as i am a plug and play kinda guy and i dont want to tinker with changing color, and i think the led fixtures are just too expensive... the reefbrite strips are like perfect for me.. plug them in and turn them on..

i have also watched several videos about jason fox and he mentions t5's and reefbrite strips several times in his videos and i really like the look he gets in his tanks and there is no question that he can grow anything and gets fantastic colors in his corals...


lemme know what you guys think and steer me in the right direction


my questions are...
6, is it enough?
color combo of bulbs to replicate just a bit bluer color than the 20k radiums i have been running
will 6 bulbs be about 1/4 of the heat of 3 250 watt radiums (maybe 1/3 if i am off let me know)


Discuss...

 

[Ocelaris]

What's your dimensions? I have a 6 bulb ati t5 fixture over my 60x18x24 110 gallon, and I and it would easily do a 24 inch wide tank. I grow sps like the dickens, and I have too much light at 8 inches over the water. Even at the bottom my pocillipora and Seriatopora grow really well.

 

[Jeepguy242]

tank is 72" long... my thought process was to offset every other bulb by 6" to spread the light... i know it will be slightly darker on each end by 6" but that would give me an area to put lower light corals

 

[Jeepguy242]

btw, your tank looks awesome.... thanks for sharing it!

what bulbs are you using and how do you have them spaced?

 

[Ocelaris]

Typically you would just get a 60" light for that setup, but but I get your desire to have it span the entire tank, and hence why I got a 60" light for 60" tank. With the reef brites, I think you'd have more than enough light.

I have a single fixture, it's an ati sunpower 6x80w. I have 4 ati blue plus, 1 coral plus and 1 aquablue special.

 

[Jeepguy242]

what bulbs are you running? i love the color.... corals are popping like they do with my reefbrites... and it looks slightly bluer than mine witch is the look i am looking for

 

[Ocelaris]

Sorry, I edited the above post after the fact. The blue plus are par powerhouses. I didn't like that much blue at first, but it's grown on me. I really like the coral plus, I which is like 14k if the aquablue special are 10k. The blue plus are like 20k. Those are just references. Some people add a little an actinic bulb or two if they have extra bulb space.

If money isn't an object, it is the led power module version is quite nice too.

 

[A. grandis]

T5s are great when used for tanks up to a max of 24" deep with the light loving corals.
Deeper than that you'll need halides for the optimal coverage, reaching the bottom in most cases.
The colors of some corals would probably change a bit from halides to T5s, but I don't think it would be a big issue.
Have you thought of rebuilding your canopy and still have the halides on, using fans, besides the chiller?

...
my questions are...
6, is it enough?
color combo of bulbs to replicate just a bit bluer color than the 20k radiums i have been running
will 6 bulbs be about 1/4 of the heat of 3 250 watt radiums (maybe 1/3 if i am off let me know)


Discuss...

6, is it enough?
I would get as many bulbs as you can, with the widest ATI SunPower that you can fit over that tank.
I had an 8 bulb fixture over my 120 gal. zoanthid system and that was great!!! Better 8 than 6!
My 75gal zoa system has an 6 bulbs and that is what is needed for the best performance.
My 75gal. planted tank has a 6 bulb fixture as well. All of them with ATI SunPower.
My next 75gal. system will probably have 2 X 250W Radiums and 4 T5s (Giesemann Spectra) over it.

color combo of bulbs to replicate just a bit bluer color than the 20k radiums i have been running
Color combo will depend mostly on your taste, and because you like blues...
Blue Plus
Blue Plus
True Actinic
Coral Plus
Blue plus
Blue Plus
If you can fit an 8 bulb fixture add one more True Actinic and one more Blue Plus.

will 6 bulbs be about 1/4 of the heat of 3 250 watt radiums (maybe 1/3 if i am off let me know)
That is different for every system and will depend on your cooling by fans, the fixture you will get, and weather.
If you place fans between the water surface and the fixture you can cool off a bunch and use the chiller, like many do.
Make sure the canopy is totally open in the back, and fans running..
The T5s will be cooler than halides, of course.
Depending how you install them and the type of fixture, they could be even cooler than 1/3.

Don't forget that halides are halides! The T5s will do a wonderful job, but not gonna be the same.
I had the best growth and colors out of halides. My T5s are also great, but not quite the same.

Pictures of your tank with the halides, please?
Grandis.

 

[A. grandis]

Nice video of a blueish tank...
Grandis.

 

[Jeepguy242]

I’m not planning on using a fixture. What I was thinking of would be basically building a box for the sides about 8” tall with an open top hanging over the tank with reflectors on braces holding the t5’s and reefbrites. Heat would be able to escape out the top and pull cool air in from everywhere. And possibly some small fans blowing from the sides into the tank

Not to concerned about light spilling out of the top just into the room from the bottom.

My plan would be to have the lights about 9” off the water as they would be braced in the lower half of the hood

I would not be using a chiller as that would require either getting mine fixed or purchasing new and with the one I had it didn’t run much as I run my temp a bit higher than most people and I don’t see the added value for the cost

 

[Jeepguy242]

I’m usually at work when the halides come on and they go off before I get home. I will try to get a picture of them Friday which is my next day off

 

[Ocelaris]

One thing abou t5s, is that they have a very specific temperature range that they like to be run at. So too cool or too hot and their performance degrades. The big selling point of the ATI sunpower fixtures is that they allow you to maintain the t5s at optimal temperature with the fan and ballast cooled. They like to run hot, I believe 95*F is their optimal temperature, but this video goes into some details about the tests they ran.

https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/vide...-bulbs-affect-performance-brstv-investigates/

 

[A. grandis]

Yes, efficiency. That's why I use ATI fixtures.
Bulbs last longer too. It's worthy!
Grandis.

 

[Daniel Waters]

I think a good general rule of thumb is to plan on one T5 bulb for every 3" width of tank. So if your tank is 24" wide, I would plan on using 8 bulbs. For people that want to do an LED / T5 hybrid, I think one bulb for every 6" width of tank is suitable. Thus, if your tank is 24 inches wide and you're doing just T5 or very little LED supplementation, I'd recommend 8 bulbs. If your tank is 72" long and you plan to have the fixture hung 9" from the tank, a 60" fixture will work fine. I doubt you'll notice any difference in the illumination / aesthetics, although actual par values will be slightly reduced on the edges.

While you mentioned you were not planning on using a fixture, I suspect the actual cost of an 8 bulb ATI fixture would probably be just as cheap as doing some retro fit kits. The fixture will give you the benefit of active cooling and a whole lot less cords to have to work with versus several retro fits.

Unfortunately, I can't comment on the heat differential versus your halides or provide any initial bulb recommendation as I have no first hand experience with halides.

 

[Daniel Waters]

I think a good general rule of thumb is to plan on one T5 bulb for every 3" width of tank. So if your tank is 24" wide, I would plan on using 8 bulbs. For people that want to do an LED / T5 hybrid, I think one bulb for every 6" width of tank is suitable. Thus, if your tank is 24 inches wide and you're doing just T5 or very little LED supplementation, I'd recommend 8 bulbs. If your tank is 72" long and you plan to have the fixture hung 9" from the tank, a 60" fixture will work fine. I doubt you'll notice any difference in the illumination / aesthetics, although actual par values will be slightly reduced on the edges.

While you mentioned you were not planning on using a fixture, I suspect the actual cost of an 8 bulb ATI fixture would probably be just as cheap as doing some retro fit kits. The fixture will give you the benefit of active cooling and a whole lot less cords to have to work with versus several retro fits.

Unfortunately, I can't comment on the heat differential versus your halides. As far as an initial bulb combination, I'm not familiar with that halide bulb, but i

 

[Jeepguy242]

Pictures of your tank with the halides, please?

almost forgot

 

[jda]

Before you do this, why not give 175W or 150W Halides a shot. They produce significantly less heat than what you have and can grow just about anything anywhere. You already have the reflectors mounted, so just new ballasts and bulbs.

Blow a fan across the top of your tank when the lights come on (on the same timer) and this can mitigate just about every heat problem. If you wait until the tank temp rises, then you are behind already.

If 6 T5s will be enough, and they probably will, then 150 or 175w halides will be enough.

 

[Jeepguy242]

Before you do this, why not give 175W or 150W Halides a shot. They produce significantly less heat than what you have and can grow just about anything anywhere. You already have the reflectors mounted, so just new ballasts and bulbs.

Blow a fan across the top of your tank when the lights come on (on the same timer) and this can mitigate just about every heat problem. If you wait until the tank temp rises, then you are behind already.

If 6 T5s will be enough, and they probably will, then 150 or 175w halides will be enough.

my reflectors are junk, im going to have to replace them with something better.... and i have 5 fans in there now 1 blows air in, 1 sucks air out, and 3 of them pull air from directly over the reflectors and the back of the hood has a 3" opening at the bottom to create a chimney effect for the fans over the reflectors...

and they dont make a 20k radium in less than a 250... so if i am changing the bulbs that i have to buy, and reflectors that i have to buy and ballasts that i have to buy then i may as well start over with new lights

 

[jda]

I feel you. I just use a Vornado over the top - evap goes up, but the temp goes down. Computer fans are like throwing a baseball at a 18-wheeler.

It does look like you will miss the 6" on either end... that is good. Will you miss the shimmer? LED blue-only shimmer is not the same and get annoying to some. 6 bulb T5 should be great for what you want to do.

If you need a budget deal, then the hydroponics stuff with individual reflectors are pretty good. I think that it would be hard to find a 60" one, though. I use a 4 bulber over a fuge and the output is more than what people post with their ATIs, but I do use a few 6500K bulbs which have more output.

 

[Jeepguy242]

I feel you. I just use a Vornado over the top - evap goes up, but the temp goes down. Computer fans are like throwing a baseball at a 18-wheeler.

It does look like you will miss the 6" on either end... that is good. Will you miss the shimmer? LED blue-only shimmer is not the same and get annoying to some. 6 bulb T5 should be great for what you want to do.

If you need a budget deal, then the hydroponics stuff with individual reflectors are pretty good. I think that it would be hard to find a 60" one, though. I use a 4 bulber over a fuge and the output is more than what people post with their ATIs, but I do use a few 6500K bulbs which have more output.

Has nothing to do with budget I just can’t see buying the same old tech for the same heat.

I have actually started looking at led’s now