Switched blue led light bar to t5

[Arthacker87]

as title says I switched my led blue bar to 2 t5 24 watt t5 actinics. They say the actinics give out a better color pop. Any thoughts? I'm gonna play it out for a few weeks and see if it changes any color in tank

 

[NicksTanks223]

as title says I switched my led blue bar to 2 t5 24 watt t5 actinics. They say the actinics give out a better color pop. Any thoughts? I'm gonna play it out for a few weeks and see if it changes any color in tank

I haven’t heard of t5 doing anything for color but maybe I haven’t heard if that yet. I heard they are better for overall coral growth because they can distribute the light more evenly. I would like to see a update on this to see if it did improve your colors, I’m curious about that.

 

[Arthacker87]

Same here that is why. I was saying the actinic t5 have a broader spectrum (more violet and blue) for coronation for coral I think. It deb pops the color a little more than my led bar. I'm still running a led fixture with t5 supplement

 

[Arthacker87]

Fts with just actinics

 

[Arthacker87]

T5s
I will say it show a more volume of color. With the led bar they just had a gray and orange look. These have orange and gray stripes with orange centers. Sorry a little closed up cuz of diff lights.

Led blue bar

 

[Arthacker87]

Sorry last pic was my whole set up on lol

 

[Mastiffsrule]

Evening

T5 lamps can pull some great color. The tank looks fairly deep, I may hang onto the led bar, you may need to supplement the t5 par. It may just be the way I am seeing the tank in the pic.

What bar did you pull off?

 

[TerraFerma]

I love T5 actinics but feel I can't run enough of them to get the intensity of a blue led bar.

 

[Arthacker87]

I'm kinda noticing that myself. I do like the t5s though. Gonna do a trial run for a month and see if there is any change

 

[neltel_7]

Yea I would suggest adding the led back on in some way, that way you get Par, spectrum, and pop!

 

[Reeffragger]

Yea I would suggest adding the led back on in some way, that way you get Par, spectrum, and pop!

What spectrum and par will a led give that T5s cant ? Its just the UV low NM spectrum in the blueUV range that LED have which make them pop.

Which can be achieved using T5s actinics. The issue though is if you have bright T5s like blue plus or coral plus they will drown out pure actinic.

I only use blue LEDS at night in bed for the last hour to watch my tank Glow like a christmas tree. Other then that i turn my tts on for 10 hours a day.. Fish and corals look better under a blue.white light that doesnt shimmer. I know some people like shimmer.. i personally hate it

 

[Crustaceon]

As noted, the moment you add a blue plus or coral plus bulb into the mix, actinic gets drowned out. You can still see it but the other bulbs are just more intense and spectrum in between is being filled in, which makes actinic stand out even less. What we see with leds is a massive focus on very narrow bands of blue, even more narrow bands of white and the ability to control each respective channel. The blue channels are literally designed with pop in mind. Maybe this is a good thing, may it’s not and is a reason why not all led fixtures can compete with t5 or mh even with similar par values. Some leds just leave too much spectrum out. With black box leds, you’ll typically see people running blues at maybe 40% and whites at 10% intensities. A reefer with t5 would have to use four times as many actinic bulbs (probably more) as blue plus bulbs to get anything approaching led pop. I’m sure Jason Fox could elaborate on this.

 

[2Wheelsonly]

as title says I switched my led blue bar to 2 t5 24 watt t5 actinics. They say the actinics give out a better color pop. Any thoughts? I'm gonna play it out for a few weeks and see if it changes any color in tank

When they say actinics give more pop they usually mean over the blue bulbs but it won’t be anything compared to LED bars like reefbrites... I have a hard time thinking anyone would go from LED to T5 and experience a better visual experience. T5 is better for spread and you could argue growth but keep in mind the common thought of actinic giving more pop are usually from people switching from or supplementing MH.

 

[Arthacker87]

Mastiff:
I'm running a mars aqua led box and 2 t5 actinics. I'm just referring to replacing the bar I bought (reef Brite lumi lite actinic led bar) with t5s to see if it helps any with color.
From vids I've watched and stuff I read the actinic t5s have a broader spectrum than a blue led. Maybe I'm wrong. I will say that led def lit up the tank more but I like this soft blue spectrum of actinic lol. Before it was so blue and dark. I ran my lumi lite an hour before during and hour after my led box. T5s are on the same schedule.
Adding bar back I feel like that would be too many lights lol.

 

[neltel_7]

What spectrum and par will a led give that T5s cant ? Its just the UV low NM spectrum in the blueUV range that LED have which make them pop.

Which can be achieved using T5s actinics. The issue though is if you have bright T5s like blue plus or coral plus they will drown out pure actinic.

I only use blue LEDS at night in bed for the last hour to watch my tank Glow like a christmas tree. Other then that i turn my tts on for 10 hours a day.. Fish and corals look better under a blue.white light that doesnt shimmer. I know some people like shimmer.. i personally hate it

The spectrum would be given by the t5 and a small par boost would be given by the led(not much). the led would be more for the pop of the colors. T5 actinics do give a good amount of pop, but in my opinion nothing gives pop like an led. The main problem with led’s are that the light can be to concentrated and they don’t provide the spectrum t5s do. So using them as a supplement is really just to get even more color out of corals.

 

[Arthacker87]

I want the spectrum for color in the coral not just the pop. From what I gathered the t5 spectrum is more beneficial to color that the coral produces not just the pop from a blue light making it pop. I'm aiming for usable spectrum supplement nor just a color pop if that makes any sense lol. Unless I'm just way off ;Joyful ;Joyful

 

[neltel_7]

I want the spectrum for color in the coral not just the pop. From what I gathered the t5 spectrum is more beneficial to color that the coral produces not just the pop from a blue light making it pop. I'm aiming for usable spectrum supplement nor just a color pop if that makes any sense lol. Unless I'm just way off ;Joyful ;Joyful

No you’re on the right track. Why not have both if you can though. By using t5s and leds together you get spectrum and pop. You already have the led’s right?

 

[Arthacker87]

Yes as of right now its set up with a mars aqua 300 watt led and 2 t5 actinics. I also have (swapped it with the t5s) 36in lumi lite led blue bar. I feel like it is over kill on a 65 lol

 

[neltel_7]

Yes as of right now its set up with a mars aqua 300 watt led and 2 t5 actinics. I also have (swapped it with the t5s) 36in lumi lite led blue bar. I feel like it is over kill on a 65 lol

Oh I didn’t realize you had the mars aqua with the t5s already, I thought the less were on the side and you were using t5s only. Yea assuming you already have the blues maxed out on the mars aquas you should just leave it and see what happens.

 

[Arthacker87]

haha my bad. I needed to be a little clearer. Thats my mindset is "let's see if it changes anything". In this hobby we have all the time in the world lol everything takes forever..... except corals dying