T5 lights and par readings

[Herby’s reef]

Hi guys,

I have decided to change a nano tank I have running to an sps tank. Earlier in the month I posted a question about my radions on my big tank, and so many of you talked about the benefits of running t5. My thoughts were to try and run T5 on the nano. I purchased the cheap T5 lights that the guy on tidal gardens uses. It is a 24 by 8 bulb amazon grow fixture going over an 18 inch cube. I am running 8 ati blue + and when I check the par readings I only get 120 at the top. When I spoke to Jason Fox this month, these are the bulbs he runs, and he said 8 was overkill if anything. So my question is, if the low par is because of the cheap fixture I purchased, or if it is because T5s dont show up well on a par meter. This is the seneye par meter. I am planning on using this tank as a backup for my higher end acros, and I dont want to put such nice corals in if I cant be sure the par will be adequate.

Thanks so much

David

 

[Leslie Tabor]

Very good question...I am tagging along to see what answers you get. I just added T5 to my system as well.

 

[Pntbll687]

How far above the water was the fixture?

I have a four bulb over a 20 long and have no problem with sps. I didn't measure par, but don't think you should have a problem growing acros with that light.

 

[madweazl]

Try cooling the array with a floor standing fan and see if the numbers improve. What ballasts does it have?

 

[Herby’s reef]

Try cooling the array with a floor standing fan and see if the numbers improve. What ballasts does it have?

Im not sure. I really dont know much about T5.

 

[Bfoot]

I have a 40 breeder with 4 36 inch T5 bulbs in a canopy using retrofit kits from BRS. Bulbs are 2 blue plus and 2 coral plus about 6 inches from surface. Par varies depending on location but averages 205 halfway down

 

[Herby’s reef]

How far above the water was the fixture?

I have a four bulb over a 20 long and have no problem with sps. I didn't measure par, but don't think you should have a problem growing acros with that light.

It is around 7 inches above the water right now

 

[SashimiTurtle]

What is the height over the water? This has a BIG impact on how much your PAR is. I run a 4 bulb hybrid with Kessil A160s and I got almost double my PAR just dropping the fixture from 8 to 6 inches. At the same time, I dropped a friends tank from over 500 to around 350 at the rocks by moving her ATI 6 bulb from 8 to 12 inches.

 

[Herby’s reef]

Hydroplanet™ T5 2ft 8lamp Fluorescent Bulbs Included for Indoor Horticulture Gardening(2FT-8 Lamp) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B019J3UPT4/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_6DgxBb83F79A4

This is a link to the fixture

 

[Herby’s reef]

What is the height over the water? This has a BIG impact on how much your PAR is. I run a 4 bulb hybrid with Kessil A160s and I got almost double my PAR just dropping the fixture from 8 to 6 inches. At the same time, I dropped a friends tank from over 500 to around 350 at the rocks by moving her ATI 6 bulb from 8 to 12 inches.

It is 6 to 7 inches above the water

 

[SashimiTurtle]

I feel like you should be getting way more than 120 PAR out of 8 24" B+ at 6" over the water. Should be up around 350 400. You're using a Seneye to measure? Is the water still?

One question that might sound dumb, is there a plastic film over the reflectors on your fixture? You didn't forget to peel that off did you?

 

[Herby’s reef]

I agree. I expected 350 to 400. I peeled the plastic off the reflectors, the water is still, and the seneye is accurate with my radions

 

[madweazl]

Should be well over 500 PAR in the upper 8" of the tank. Ballasts and/or heat is all I can think of.

 

[Pntbll687]

Do you have a glass top on the tank?

Maybe try a small frag of something that your ok losing to see if the light will be suitable. I use coralife bulbs in mine, and they aren't the best spectrum, but I don't have issues with montipora and birds nest coral.

 

[Herby’s reef]

No glass on top. I was thinking of putting a small birdsnest in, but they really dont need a lot of par, so not sure it would be a great test. Maybe I can find a frag of something else to try though. Thanks

 

[esse]

Hey, it's Herby's reef! I'm a fan of your youtube channel!
Did yal ever get this figured out? I don't think I saw anything about t5s in your updates

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

A single t5 tube should give you 125-175 par measured at 12in from the bulb in air.

A rough estimate of the par of a fixture is 150x the number of tubes marshes all on at 12in. In the middle of light. You should be close to 800-1000 with an ati fixture using all thier tubes except the actinic.

Seneye measures all light sources well.

 

[Herby’s reef]

I never figured it out. It's not an ati fixture, it was a cheap Amazon grow light. My seneye measures 125 par 6 inches below, but I can't imagine it is really that low with 8 ati blue plus bulbs.

My daughter has always wanted a sea horse tank so we ended up deciding not to use the light on that tank. I will probably experiment with it over the frag tank.

 

[Herby’s reef]

Hey, it's Herby's reef! I'm a fan of your youtube channel!
Did yal ever get this figured out? I don't think I saw anything about t5s in your updates

I responded below, but we do appreciate you watching the channel. We have been so busy we are behind on the updates! We are ditching the plan to convert the nano to an sps tank and my daughter talked me into trying sea horses. I will probably set up a new frag tank instead. I am going to experiment with the fixture over my frag tank some.

 

[Herby’s reef]

A single t5 tube should give you 125-175 par measured at 12in from the bulb in air.

A rough estimate of the par of a fixture is 150x the number of tubes marshes all on at 12in. In the middle of light. You should be close to 800-1000 with an ati fixture using all thier tubes except the actinic.

Seneye measures all light sources well.

So Salty,

since I am getting such low par on an 8ati blue plus bulb unit, do you think that it is really that low? 150 to 200 at the top? I know the ati fixture is much much better, but I cant imagine it makes that big of a difference. I would expect to get at least 500 at the top. Do you think my Seneye might be defective? Or do you think the amazon grow light just cant keep up?


David