T5 Lighting

[KarenM]

I'm about to start working on repairing my canopy to cover the holes (see pics in the gallery). It already has the "mounting boards" under the lid where there were lights mounted previously. So in reading all the posts about lights, I'm thinking I need 3 T5s and 2 actinics. Too much? Too little?

What materials will I need? This is what I know so far:

bulbs

reflectors (is this one per bulb, or one big one?)

mounting hardware

ballast (will one work for all my bulbs?)

[Headless_donkey]

I don't really understand the question about number of bulbs. How many total bulbs would you have? Daylight+Actinic

Individual reflectors is the ONLY way to go. Otherwise you won't get the T5 advantage.

mounting is up to you. It is super easy with a retrofit kit and some wood screws.

Ballast all depends on what wattage bulbs you are planning on using. I would do one ballast for the daylight and one for the actinics.

High end T5 ballasts would be an Icecap. Lower end would be sunlight supply. I would look into a retrofit kit the has every thing. You can find kits with almost any combo of components you want.

[KarenM]

So about how many daylight bulbs would I need for my 120 gal, 48x24x24 tank? Seems like I read somewhere I'd need 3. Would I need only 2? Are they individual bulbs like flourescent, or dual like PC?

I'm confused about the whole "retrofit kit" thing. What's it trying to fit? I was told once that you would use that to fit a regular aquarium light fixture. Is that not correct? I don't have a fixture. I was planning on mounting the reflectors and "bulb holders" straight onto the wooden support boards on the canopy. I searched for a retrofit kit, but I didn't understand what all the parts are. Are the ballasts included in the kit?

I'm going to search for lights that are mounted on the canopy so maybe I can understand it better.

[Headless_donkey]

Check this out:

http://www.sunlightsupply.com/product.cfm?...ys%3D%26pgi%3D1

Download the instruction for a better idea of what is going on. We 24" kit on the seahorses and its great. Except there is only one switch meaning we can't do a dawn/dusk effect.

You would need way more then three over a 120gal.

Tek reflectors are 2-3/4" wide. That looks likes you could get 8 48" 54 watt bulbs comfortably over the tank. I have 8 36" bulbs over my 67 gallon and it rocks!

[Sean]

Check this out:

<a href="http://www.sunlightsupply.com/product.cfm?sid=0DC80A8FE0815D55342853287527EA4F&p=1035&cs=products%2Ecfm%3Fsid%3D0DC80A8FE0815D55342853287527EA4F%26c%3D34%26kys%3D%26pgi%3D1" target="_blank">http://www.sunlightsupply.com/product.cfm?...ys%3D%26pgi%3D1</a>

Download the instruction for a better idea of what is going on. We 24" kit on the seahorses and its great. Except there is only one switch meaning we can't do a dawn/dusk effect.

You would need way more then three over a 120gal.

Tek reflectors are 2-3/4" wide. That looks likes you could get 8 48" 54 watt bulbs comfortably over the tank. I have 8 36" bulbs over my 67 gallon and it rocks!

I have 3 of the t5 kits (6 bulbs) centered over my 135 along with a 150w de/mh on each end. You have seen the light combination. The mh gives the shimmer effect and the t5's give good color and great growth. I saved for these lights for a long time though. I bought/installed the t5 kits one at a time over 6 months... then a month later, added the mh for pop. Works for me!

[KarenM]

I have 3 of the t5 kits (6 bulbs) centered over my 135 along with a 150w de/mh on each end. You have seen the light combination. The mh gives the shimmer effect and the t5's give good color and great growth. I saved for these lights for a long time though. I bought/installed the t5 kits one at a time over 6 months... then a month later, added the mh for pop. Works for me!

Wow, that's a lot of money. I'll have to do the same thing - one at a time. But I guess that's better than not at all. I'd just like to get light over the whole tank and not just the left side.

[KarenM]

Are all T5 bulbs 54 watts, or is that just what you guys use?

[Sean]

Are all T5 bulbs 54 watts, or is that just what you guys use?

Yeah, 54 watts is the only way to go!!! I have seen cheaper ones but they just don't give the same amount of light... It looks like you have light on one side, you could supplement by adding a mh on the other side. I really like the look of combining MH with t5. You just don't get the shimmer without the mh.

Edited November 5, 2007 by Sean

[KarenM]

Yeah, 54 watts is the only way to go!!! I have seen cheaper ones but they just don't give the same amount of light... It looks like you have light on one side, you could supplement by adding a mh on the other side. I really like the look of combining MH with t5. You just don't get the shimmer without the mh.

I love that, too. I'd like to have the shimmer, if I can ever get rid of my bubble problem. My tank looks nice, but nowhere near what any of yours does. I'm having to take baby steps because it's so darned expensive.

Hey, I just realized what your avatar is. Shame on you!

[Sean]

I love that, too. I'd like to have the shimmer, if I can ever get rid of my bubble problem. My tank looks nice, but nowhere near what any of yours does. I'm having to take baby steps because it's so darned expensive.

Hey, I just realized what your avatar is. Shame on you!

It is expensive but I have decided to spend it all before I die because I have never seen a hearse pulling a u-haul to the cemetery! Ha Ha, just kidding... Yeah, "one-step-at-a-time" is the "only-way-to-go" unless you have corporate budgets with large expense accounts.

I do so appreciate your appreciation of my sick attempt at sushi humor. =-)

[KarenM]

Heh, heh, I just found a way to upgrade my lights........Give me your metal halides or I'll show your avatar to your kids!

[Sean]

Ohhhhhhhh you play dirty! My kids would never eat fish-sticks again! I couldn't eat chicken for a year after I watched my grandmother wring one! Nobody understood why I didn't eat dinner that night... and didn't eat any meat for the longest time. After getting very sick I finally got over it and resumed my carnivorous diet.

[KarenM]

I can't eat deer sausage because I grew up out in the country and spent way too many hours helping make it. And that's just gross.

How long has your tank been up? I'm still thinking about your sump (can you tell I was impressed?). What made you decide to put a sandbed in it, and how do you keep the sand from blowing around? I suppose my sump is doing what sumps do - the chaeto is still dark green and my water is clear. I haven't checked for pods yet, but I'm assuming they're still alive. My main problems right now are keeping the water level consistent (I've ordered the top-off kit) and finding the cause of all the bubbles being blown into the tank.

Since I really don't want to disassemble the plumbing, and I've already got a 'plumbing glue' kit (primer & glue), I was thinking about putting that along all the joints and seeing if that helped but I'm afraid I'll kill everything.

[GKarshens]

You don't have PVC plumbing so the glue wont help.

[KarenM]

The plb in the overflow boxes is pvc, isn't it?

[GKarshens]

Yes but that is not the source of your bubbles It would have to be not having a bubble trap or it is sucking air in your loclines somewhere.

[Sean]

I wanted a deep sand bed to help control phosphates but didn’t want much more than half an inch of sand in the main tank. Since adding the sump (after it aged a few months) my phosphates have dropped dramatically. The remote deep sand bed in the sump is working extremely well for me! My water parameters are perfect and seem to remain that way no matter what I change in the main display or how much I vary my feeding patterns.

[Sean]

as far as the micro bubbles go, I have seen a filter sock solve that problem more than once. But only if the bubbles are coming from the sump side of the pump. Also, just raising the H2O level in sump by an inch or two has helped me in the past. You might also try a 90 or even 45 degree on the supply side of the pump to rearrange the angle or location of the intake. Sometimes it like hunting the proverbial needle in the hay stack and only a combination of solutions will work.

[KarenM]

as far as the micro bubbles go, I have seen a filter sock solve that problem more than once. But only if the bubbles are coming from the sump side of the pump. Also, just raising the H2O level in sump by an inch or two has helped me in the past. You might also try a 90 or even 45 degree on the supply side of the pump to rearrange the angle or location of the intake. Sometimes it like hunting the proverbial needle in the hay stack and only a combination of solutions will work.

I've tried adjusting the water level and using some leftover ells to face the intake down and about 1" off the bottom and also in a U shape and back toward the wall of the sump. It didn't seem to matter much, as that side of the sump is just full of bubbles. I think a lot of the problem is the left overflow box. The part where the black nozzle thingy joins the white ell is leaking. I've tried 3 times to fix it, but it leaks about half of the water back into the overflow. There's hardy any flow coming from the nozzle, and the water going back into the sump is just gushing. If I slow it down, there's no water being put back into the tank. Per Andrew's suggestion, I have both overflow pipes in cut off 2 liter bottles. That cut down on the bubbles, but didn't elimiate them.

I also tried putting the top part of a 2 liter bottle in front of the pump intake, thinking the bubbles would float up higher than the small opening of the bottle, but it didn't do a thing at all.

I guess I should replace the white ell and the black nozzle thing and see if I can fix that leak and slow down the water coming from the left overflow box. I'm a champion at 'rigging things' (one of the benefits of being divorced), so if I can get a grasp of the whole bubble trap thing, I can probably rig something up.

[KarenM]

I wanted a deep sand bed to help control phosphates but didn’t want much more than half an inch of sand in the main tank. Since adding the sump (after it aged a few months) my phosphates have dropped dramatically. The remote deep sand bed in the sump is working extremely well for me! My water parameters are perfect and seem to remain that way no matter what I change in the main display or how much I vary my feeding patterns.

We're supposed to test phosphates????

[Headless_donkey]

Only when there is a problem! LOL

[KarenM]

Cool. So if everything dies I'll run right out and get a phosphate test kit.

BTW - where do you get new black nozzle thingies? You know how they all fit together but you can angle them, I'm thinking maybe those joints might be leaking air into the line.

[Sean]

We're supposed to test phosphates????

Yeah, tell me about it!!! I had no idea why I had so many issues initially and took a sample to an lfs and they told me I had high phosphates. I had no idea what that was so I took another sample to another lfs and they said the same thing. (I am a slow learner sometimes...) After learning about phosphates and reading up on GARF, " http://www.garf.org “ I decided remote DSB (deep sand bed) was what I wanted.

I knew intrinsically that it worked well when I kept fresh water fish twenty years ago to have a deep bed of gravel and cringed at the thought of getting rid of the gravel and replacing with a sump full of Bio Balls 15 years ago when I converted to Salt fowlr setup. Now moving up to reef, It was time to get rid of the balls and go back to DSB. I didn't want it in the tank so I set it up in a large sump.

That's what I LOVE about this hobby though, always learning something! Unfortunately, I am the kind of person that USUALLY learns from my own mistakes. Sometimes I have to make the same mistake repeatedly but, I guess I will eventually learn something huh?

[KarenM]

I have 3 of the t5 kits (6 bulbs) centered over my 135 along with a 150w de/mh on each end. You have seen the light combination. The mh gives the shimmer effect and the t5's give good color and great growth. I saved for these lights for a long time though. I bought/installed the t5 kits one at a time over 6 months... then a month later, added the mh for pop. Works for me!

I think I'm going to copy Sean's setup. If my tank is 48" long and I want MH on each end, what length T5 should I look for? I'm thinking 24". Do they come in 18"?

Can I put MH bulbs only about 8" from the water? I have the tall rocks in front of the overflows, so if I could put MHs right above them, that would be awesome.

As far as T5 right in the middle, I have the glass supports in the middle of the tank and they're about 10" wide. Will T5 penetrate those enough or should I put MH in the middle as well?

[GKarshens]

2 are plenty. Especially since you don't have much in the middle. If you are using the T5s for actinic then I would think 2 48", one in the front and one in the back would be perfect.