Planning to Switch from LED to T5- Few ?'s

sk8elenex92

sk8elenex92

Premium member
Hey guys I am thinking about switching to T5 from my AI Sol blues.. Actually I have already made up my mind and will be switching as soon as a find a ATI fixture for the right price. Looking for a 48" ATI Fixture! Every time I see a T5 tank it looks so much better then any LED tank I have come across locally. Problem number one I have no idea what bulbs to get. I also do not know how long to run them. I would like to run one outlet in the morning running only two bulbs, then all bulbs till night and run the 2 same bulbs from the morning for nigh time. Kind of a dusk/dawn deal with out having a dimmable fixture. Also I am assuming I will have to run some type of shitty timer since all my Reef Keeper outlets are used.

What bulbs do you guys recommend? Which 2 bulbs just for morning and night?

How long do you guys run them for?

Any other tips on switching from LED to T5's?

Thank you,
 
BigKev23

BigKev23

Active member
My favorite combo when I was running all 6 of my bulbs was 3 ATI Blue Plus, 1 ATI Coral Plus, 1 ATI Purple Plus, and 1 ATI Actinic. I always had 2 bulbs come on at 10:30 am, then the other 4 bulbs came on at 11:30 am. The 4 then would shut off at 8:30pm and the 2 would go off at 9:30pm. Now that I took out two bulbs and placed LEDs in those spots, the LEDs come on early and turn off late.
 
IHaveCrabs

IHaveCrabs

Premium member
BigKev23 said:
My favorite combo when I was running all 6 of my bulbs was 3 ATI Blue Plus, 1 ATI Coral Plus, 1 ATI Purple Plus, and 1 ATI Actinic. I always had 2 bulbs come on at 10:30 am, then the other 4 bulbs came on at 11:30 am. The 4 then would shut off at 8:30pm and the 2 would go off at 9:30pm. Now that I took out two bulbs and placed LEDs in those spots, the LEDs come on early and turn off late.
Click to expand...
I agree almost completely with BigKev's assessment. The only exception would be since you are coming from an LED tank, if you like the pop of the blue LEDs, replace the actinic with a E5 Blue Pop LED bulb.

Mine currently front to back with slots 1 and 5 being the morning/dusk are:

Actinic
Blue+
Purple+
Blue+
E5 Blue Pop
Coral+

Mine also come on in the following order/times

Bulbs 1,5: 9am - 9pm
All bulbs: 12pm - 6pm

FYI, my opinion from the research I have done is the more you fire the bulbs on and off the more the spectrum shifts over time. It is better to only fire on and off once daily.

Hope this helps! I waited and bought mine new when there was a 15% off from fragtastic reefs. I went with a standard Sunpower since you have to do a break in period for the bulbs for the dimmable fixture.. No thanks!!!


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sk8elenex92

sk8elenex92

Premium member
Thank you both that helps a lot. I have to keep researching and looking at fts. May wait on those e5 bulbs and just do all t5. Which two bulbs would I run in the morning and night. An actinic and...... I still need read a bunch on this. Aghhh so many different bulbs!!
 
sk8elenex92

sk8elenex92

Premium member
Nice. I was debating on 6 or 8. But $ is what decides on most things. I've never had t5 so kinda excited just to try something new.
 
xj_matt

xj_matt

Premium member
same here, I got a gel t5 8 bulb for a good price so I said hey I'll give it a try. If I don't like it I am gonna rip out the center 4 bulbs and build a led t5 hybrid set up
 
sk8elenex92

sk8elenex92

Premium member
After looking at a bunch of TOTM articles people are either running MH or T5 lights. Very few LED tanks. MH is out of the question for sure. I think I am going to go with this bulb combo. Any thing wrong with my bulb plans? Also which two would you run in the morning/night time, two B+?

B+
C+
B+
B+
P+
B+
 
T

troublemaker

Member
Just going by my past, 400w, 250w, all T5, T5/250, and T5/400, I would honestly try a combination. The shimmer is worth the complexities of a hybrid system.
 
sk8elenex92

sk8elenex92

Premium member
If anything I would probably add a reef brite led mounted on the side of the fixture. I do not have a canopy so would like to keep it looking clean. I am just going to run T5 for now and see how the tank runs, If I am happy with the look ill leave it alone. Also some people recommend 3 B+ and 3 C+
 
xj_matt

xj_matt

Premium member
I just picked up my t5s tonight from AP got 5b+ 1c+ 1p+ and 1atinic now I need to figure out how I want to lay them out
 
sk8elenex92

sk8elenex92

Premium member
Hah. I wish that would be the case. I don't have a fixture yet. Are you putting the light over the new dsa tank
 
xj_matt

xj_matt

Premium member
Yep all I have to do is get my flooring done in my room to start it. Will probably be going up by mondayish I got everything now
 
Bommie

Bommie

Active member
Im in the same boat of switching to t5. In my opinion I would keep my kessil for some shimmer but the t5 for the color and growth of coral. I just dont like the idea of adding more maintenance and $ with the t5, but i think in the end it will be worth it.

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