PowderBlue

I'm in Oregon city I have a 30 gallon with built in overflow I'm selling for 20 bucks

I'm going to start with the bulbs, if that doesn't do it I'll order the higher end reflectors, if all else fails its simply down to ballasts at that point! Bulbs will be ordered in a couple weeks probably along with the reflector material at the same time!!

Now that is an awesome tank. I didn't even know there was an 1100 dollar skimmer! This is one of the cleanest setups I've seen. Did you ever find out what caused the die off on the first night?

Amazingly clean setup. I had all my wires zipped tied, tucked away, surge protectors mounted all nice and clean, until I decided to change my skimmer.... Then a week later my light fixture... Needless to say. Ow wires are everywhere again lol. Much respect for such a clean and well thought out setup!

Well, I seem to be doing quite well at growing SPS in my 10 gallon under T5's.

 

My arrangement is four 24" T5 HO bulbs on an inexpensive Odyssea fixture (It's not bad, really. The reflectors are decent and the daylight, actinics and moonlighting are on separate circuits).

 

From back to front, the bulbs are: ATI Blue +, ATI Blue +, Geissmann midday, ATI Purple +.

 

So, that's a total of 96 watts of T5 HO on a 10 gallon 24"x10"x10" tank. I'm surprised at the growth rate--almost as good as most bigger tanks with fancier lighting. Also, the colors really pop with this configuration. I think the Purple + adds a lot, and I suspect the midday bulb is largely responsible for the better growth.

 

I should mention that this is enough light to bleach out a lot of corals. I have to hide chalices in the shadows, and some softies just bleach out.

Dang i had that same amount of wattage over my 40 breeder for like a month!! That's a ton of light! Must look awesome over the tank

If you are going to be changing bulbs soon, I would go with ati or giesman bulbs. I have an ati sunpower fixture and the bulb combo I use goes as follows

 

1. Blue Plus

2. Aquablue Special

3. Purple Plus

4. Blue Plus

5. Aquablue Special

6. Blue Plus

 

Thats front to back. I have great success with just about everything I put in my tank, and if I don't. It's probably because of my maintenance.

 

You might also be able to swap out the reflectors in the fixture you have. A good reflector makes the world of difference. I definately noticed when I switched from a tek light to an ati.

Awesome! Thanks!! It seems like I'm far from even close to where I need to be with the color of the bulbs, I just went with what I thought would look nice, wasn't sure with the purples and blues etc, was just too many choices and I had already sold my old light. I'll order the same setup and see how things go! I'm thinking about also ordering the same reflector material I had in some of my old grow lights, it was the dimpled German material. Any input on that? I have a buddy that can get it for me cheap.

yeah ive done quite a bit of research into the t5 and its all about the fixtures reflectors and ballast and of course the bulbs i too used a cheaper fixture and did not get the results i wanted and you wont get the results of an ATI fixture with a cheaper one so imo with that fixture either stick with lps and softies or change the color combo i completly agree with you having too many daylight bulbs through in a purple and a different blue that will help a lot but maybe look into a retro t5 you can buy the tek light reflectors and such on brs and have a nice t5 set up for cheaper than buying a nice ATI fixture just a thought

So color wise what would be the best option? I'll replace the actinics and one or 2 of the daylights. Should my guess from reading online would be

3 actinics

A purple

A blue or 2 purples..??

And one single daylight?

I dig the "blue" look so I just need advice on which bulbs to run and location of each.

Can't I d it but it's cool looking, chalices are so freaking weird

Nice seats, but to hewey I have season tickets for the ducks for much less than his. It all depends on where you sit, the price you pay for the stadium we have and the experience at Autzen is like nothing else!

Last ditch effort to anyone who needs some! FREE just pick it up tonight

Makes perfect sense, I grew softies under a t8 so I know they are in no way used to compare growth, I used nice bulbs, and the reflectors are pretty nice on this one, so my guess is cheesy ballast in the fixture. I'll upgrade sooner or later but for now ill maintain the corals and see what turns up from it.

Who needs some near Oregon city, I'm going to be pulling a good sized chunk out of my sump soon, it's grows like a weed in there, it's free Just rather someone who needs some use it, than throw it away. If you can pick it up today that would be awesome. Shoot me a pm or a text 5032674537

That's cool! Subscribing to this one for sure

Completly understand man.

Do you have a build thread? From your sig the tank sounds incredible! I'd like to see it.

500 is cheap for an ati fixture. The powermodule run almost double that price.

Yea that's nearly pointless to me, not trashing the fixtures at all, but for a 3rd of the price I could get a nice MH and grow better with that I'm sure. Hell I don't have 1000 in my entire setup lol. They are incredible fixtures, but no light to me is worth 1000 bucks. That's almost another banshee for us haha!

If they ask just tell them what you need, 10 an hour is def not enough to live off of, not for me atleast. If they can't pay what you need, then I would just keep looking.

Sometimes it just take awhile to get it going I have used both now I have just one 250 watt pendent over the 40b 14k bulb . I decided I was moving stuff to much . An old reefer once told me be slow let it grow . But then there is my favorite from the old school show tool time . More power ! Lol !

Yea I think the issue with my zoas is I was never happy with where they were lol, I agree with the more power! I just don't care for the "hanging from the ceiling" look but I may have to just build a pendant and go back to a MH.

As far as the ATI they are amazing fixtures but in no way would my wife allow me to spend 500 dollars on a light. Especially with most of my equipment being free after flipping tanks on craigslist.

This highly depends on what fixture you have. T5 are not created equal. The t5 fixture I have in my tank is probably one of the most proven fixtures in the world for growing Sps.

It's a "no name" fixture looks exactly like a TEK light but with a digital timer built in, reflectors look just like the ones that were on the TEK light I almost bought, I ditched the bulbs it came with before I even plugged it in, went with the uv h2ology bulbs maybe the ballast is where this fixture lacks :(

The bulbs are staggard right now in a 50/50 one blue, one daylight, one blue, one daylight etc. if color temp will make that much of a difference I'll go for it but I'd rather not spend 100 dollars on bulbs on a hope so basis. I really like to color of the tank right now, could be a little more blue but it looks nice. If anyone has experience with what Garrett is saying please chime in before I smoke a 100 dollar bill haha.

IME t-5 are great for softies' date=' but never had any luck using them with lps, sps for growth maintaining worked great. why not sure.. put them under my leds and or my MH and they take off. Had Travis at upscales recommend useing ATI bulbs according to him they have a higher output than the normal ones haven't really have a chance to look into them yet[/quote']

 

Ya that seems to be my problem too lol, I don't want to have to go to a MH but I'd like some growth. All my softies blew up after I went from the 24 inch 4 bulb to the 36 inch 6 bulb, but everything else just kinda sits there seeming happy and healthy but maybe I have midget corals haha

I would apply, get an interview, sell yourself to them like you have in this post, let them know your passion for not only the hobby but for furthering your education about the actual ocean, and the hobby, hone in on your people skills, are you a leader? Or do you need direction to see tasks that need to be done, and completing them. I think once you get your foot in the door you can let them know what you need to make ends meet, and go from there. Coming from a manager you need to get yourself on the list before "demanding" a salary per say. They only may be able to afford so much per employee. But if you make yourself a "need" for them they may try and help you the best they can! It would be an awesome job I bet!!! Good luck and I wish you the best.

I have a 6 bulb T5ho 36 inch long fixture over my 40 breeder, 3 actinics and 3 daylights. My soft corals seem to do fine, I've noticed growth out of my gsp, hammer corals, frogspawn etc. now for my blasto, zoas (which strikes me as odd) and my birdsnest seem to maintain just fine but no growth. I've moved my zoas three times now. But they are now in a permanent spot on a rock, blasto has always been in the same spot, as also the birdsnest. Is a T5 just now going to be enough?

Beautiful tank! I like the rock work, especially the piece on the back wall, that's a perfect size in my opinion. Looks clean, very nice setup! It's weird to me to see a sump that squeaky clean haha.

Wish I coulda grabbed it, someone jump on this extremely good deal!

They seem to work well from my experience, used one on a 90 gallon that I didn't want to make another sump for. Not sure on the cycle issue tho, I didn't notice anything on mine. But I was in the middle of a diatom bloom lol