T5 Bulbs questions

[target]

I am in the process of switching to T5 lights but I am relatively new to the non MH lighting. I am not sure which bulbs (brand of bulbs) that are recommended for salt water tanks.

My MH was 10K and I would like to stick to 10K - 12K. Are there any success stories out there with different brands?

I have seen advertisements of UV t5 HO, Geisman T5 HO, Current USA.

any thoughts?
thanks for the help
Jer

[littlelil]

I am curious to know this as well.

I have no-name brand T5HOs that are the wrong spectrum (too yellow) and apparently they are what making my tank covered in 3mm thick brown algae.. I am purchasing new bulbs this weekend (looking for giesemann) so i'll let you know how that goes if you want. 

[littlelil]

so far so good.

Old
36" no-name bulb $10+tx Marinescape
36" no-name bulb $10+tx Marinescape
24" no-name bulb $11.5 +tx Buchanan Lighting
24" Gieseman Actinic+ $25 + tx

New
36" Gieseman AquaBlue $25 +tx
36" Gieseman AquaBlue $25 +tx
24" Gieseman PureActinic $25 +tx
24" Gieseman Actinic+ $25 + tx

I really like the blue hue I now have on my tank. Before it was really yellow. Even with the Actinic + it was really yellow, and when i turned the 24" strip off it was REALLY yellow.

I also like the REALLY blue i get when my two Aquablue's are off in the morning and evening and i just have the two Actinics on. It's pretty cool.

I would definitely recommend the Giesemann bulbs. I got the three new bulbs from redbelly. He showed me the difference between his UL (?) bulbs (same intensity aquarium bulbs, just different brand, it hink) that he had over one tank, vs. the Giesemann bulbs over the tank right next to it and it was MUCH less bright and a little less blue as well.

My only beef with the bulbs I got is that it's not "bright" enough. My old bulbs were yellow, yes, but they made the tank brighter. I am thinking that maybe I should have gotten one Giesemann "midday" bulb instead of one of the Aquablue's. I don't know what it's like, but i assume its brighter Aquablue's. That is the one thing i noticed immediately after i made the switch- it's definitely not nearly as bright. I don't know how corals feel about the new lighting- i have seen no difference in growth or behaviour, but it's only been about 4 days..

As for algae, i haven't had any more diatom or hair algae blooms since the switch, but i dont' know if it's really because of the type/brand/intensity of the bulbs (can coral's tell how expensive my blubs are??), or if it's just because of the lack of brighness. Obviously if there is not enough light, there won't be any algae. I could have gotten the same effect by keeping the lights on for less time.

AND, to make things more complicated in trying to figure out what was causing my algae, i started using RO/DI water at the same time as the switch.

\However, something else redbelly showed me is the diatoms in one tank using regular phillips T12 fluorescent tubes and the lack of diatoms in another using Giesemann bulbs.... interesting..

SO, in conclusion:

• color is good (evening/ morning, and midday) but I prefer a brighter tank
  
• no new algae growth so far, but this could also be because i started using RO/DI water at the same time

Plans for the near future:

• I'm going to experiment with the old and new bulbs, maybe swap one yellow bulb with one of the Aquablue's
• I might get a midday, but likely not
• I will try using regular tap water for top-ups again and see if algae comes back. (i'd like to get to the bottom of this algae problem) if anyone is interested to know, i can post another update..

[xiaan]

I just swapped out 2 more of my bulbs on my T5 Nova Extreme Pro.  The fixture came with 3 x Actinic 460nm and 3 x 10K .
Since I learned that the PAR values of the Current bulbs were not great I also got 3 extra Gieseman bulbs Midday (6K), AquaBlue (15K) and Pure Actinic (420nm).

I then setup my system like this:
Gieseman Pure Actinic (420nm)
Gieseman AquaBlue (15K)
Current Actinic 460nm
Gieseman Midday (6K)
Current Actinic 260nm
Current 10K

This was nice to start with but the more and more I looked at other tanks I liked the less yellow look and the Midday was probably causing it. so the other day I got 2 more bulbs UV Super Actinic and UV 75:25.

My system now looks like this:
Gieseman Pure Actinic (420nm)
Gieseman AquaBlue (15K)
Current Actinic (460nm)
UV 75:25 (14K)
UV Super Actinic (420nm)
Current 10K

The new UV Super Actinic adds allot more fluorescence from my corals and the 75:25 brings out the reds in my tank.
My plan now is to swap out the to remaining Current bulbs for ether a Gieseman or UV Pure Actinic and another AquaBlue.

Hopefully my final setup   (when I sell off my old bulbs check the Classifieds for my ad )
Gieseman Pure Actinic (420nm)
Gieseman AquaBlue (15K)
Gieseman Pure Actinic (420nm)
UV 75:25 (14K)
UV Super Actinic (420nm)
Gieseman AquaBlue (15K)

Here is my take on the bulbs I have tried:

Current 10K: White colour. Nice and bright more on the yellow side Good for coral growth.
Gieseman Midday 6K: white/yellowish colour, very good for coral growth but will not bring out the colours in your coral as well.
Giessman AquaBlue 15K: white/blue colour, very bright, will bring out your blues and greens in the tank.
UV 75:25 14K: white/purple colour, very nice at bringing out your reds and purples in the tank (makes your tank look like there is allot of coraline)

Current Actinic (460nm): Baby Blue colour, not very bright but dose fluoresce some.
Gieseman Pure Actinic (420nm): Purple/Blue, makes my coral come alive the greens really pop with this light
UV Super Actinic (420nm): I cant tell the difference between this and the Gieseman Pure Actinic they are basically the same bulb.

I definitely recommend the Gieseman Pure Actinic and AquaBlue T5 bulbs and the UV 75:25 (if you want to get some more Reds in your tank) . The nice thing about T5's is that you can mix and match bulbs till you get something you like.

For more information on T5 bulbs check out the T5 thread of Reef central (http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1384575). The Grim Reefer knows all about T5 and will give you some good suggestions on bulb combos.

[RoxyDog]

I would definitely recommend the Giesemann bulbs. I got the three new bulbs from redbelly. He showed me the difference between his UL (?) bulbs (same intensity aquarium bulbs, just different brand, it hink) that he had over one tank, vs. the Giesemann bulbs over the tank right next to it and it was MUCH less bright and a little less blue as well.

So you said when comparing redbelly's tanks side by side, the Geisemann bulbs appeared brighter than the UVs?  Just want to be sure I'm reading that right.    

[az]

pure actinic is almost purple, if you are looking to gat the regular blue then get actinic plus, thx.

[littlelil]

So you said when comparing redbelly's tanks side by side, the Geisemann bulbs appeared brighter than the UVs?  Just want to be sure I'm reading that right.    

Giesemann = brighter, yes