# Purchased T5HO - they aren't very bright



## kendrid

I have a 29 gallon which was setup as a low tech DIY CO2 system for the past year.

I've liked my tank so I stepped it up and purchased a pressurized CO2 system and at the same time purchased new lights.

I use a Versatop all glass cover over the aquarium. It is clean.

My "old" lights are a Coralife 30" 2x18w T5 with the following bulbs:
6700K T5
ColorMax T5

My new lights are an Aquaticlife dual lamp T5HO fixture with:
(1) 24 in T5 HO 24W 6,000K Lamp
(1) 24 in T5 HO 24W Roseate Lamp 650 nm 
http://aquaticlife.com/t5ho_dual/index.html

The T5HO output looks half as bright as the Coralife fixture which are standard T5 bulbs. What would be the reason for this? I expected the T5HO fixture to be a lot brighter than the 18w Coralife bulbs but they aren't. Could it be the color temperature of the bulbs and my perception of the light? I have extend the legs so the lights are closer to the glass but it doesn't help much. The Coralife fixture is sitting on the glass.

I purchased the Aquaticlife fixture at my LFS on sale for $100. I was considering a fixture from Catalina Aquarium but figured I'd buy locally.

I will take some photos tonight with the same shutter speed/aperture/iso to demonstrate the difference.

My original plan was to use the T5HOs as my burst bulbs on around four hours a day but based on visible light output it seems like the Coralife should be my burst bulb. For now I'm running both on 10 hours/day and I haven't had any algae issues yet.

Thanks


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## Nymsley

Perhaps these new bulbs have a very weak green color output.


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## Seattle_Aquarist

Hi kendrid,

I see you are a new member.....welcome to APC! This is a great forum with excellent information and friendly folk to help you if you need it. I am glad you joined us!

I used to think that watts equated to brightness too. I suspect one or two of our members that can explain lumens, par value, and spectrum's will give you some idea as to what is happening.


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## kendrid

> I see you are a new member.....welcome to APC!


Thanks! I've lurked for over a year but now that I've stepped it up to forced CO2 I figured it was time to make an account. 

I took some photos (same aperture, shutter, ISO) and now a few days later I don't see a difference in brightness but there is an obvious difference in color temperature.

Aquaticlife T5HO 2x24w fixture:


Coralife F/W T-5 Aqualight Double Strip Light-30":


Both at same time:


I now think that the Aquaticlife looks great by itself, and "all on" is also nice and very bright. The brightness between the two individually looks similar, the Coralife is just more red which is what I am used to. It is odd though because I swear the Coralife was brighter a few days ago. I must have gotten used to the new color temperature.

Here is my Ram "courting" a Molly. He needs a girlfriend.


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## Newt

The rosette probably doesnt have much green light in its spectral output. Green light is percieved by our eyes as brightness, but red and blue do not. Its the red and blue light that plants most efficiently are able to assimilate for photosynthesis.

Coralife bulbs are kinda on the el cheapo side and the phosphour mix generates alot of green light in all of their bulbs. 

Give it a couple of weeks and see if the plants do any better. See if your pearling is any beeter or worse.

I dont know anything about your new fixture or their bulbs but it looks to be a nice light.


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## kendrid

Thanks for the input. I did purchase a Coralife 6700K T5HO bulb for $4 today to test (Petco has them clearanced). For $4 I figured it was worth a try. If in a few weeks I don't like these I will get a Geissman lamp.

The green plant in the middle back started pearling quite a bit today. I ran both lights all day (10 hours) and haven't seen any new algae so I am going to continue that for now.


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## niko

I can't tell if your new fixture has a single reflector for both bulbs or not. If each bulb has its own reflector the T5HO will blow you away. 

There is a thread here on APC in which a guy shows a 2 ft. tall hex tank with 2x24 Giesemann Midday bulbs. Only one is with a reflector and still the plants on the bottom of the tank grow very well.

I also suspect that there is something going on with the new bulbs. 36 watts looking as bright as 48? I have a single 54 watt T5HO over one of my tank. That's only 6 watts more than your new light. My bulb does have an individual reflector. When I raise the fixture to clean the tank it casts light on my fence which is about 30 ft. away. The light goes through a window too. In the night the light is enough to read a newspaper standing by the fence 30 ft. away from the tank! That's what a 54 watt T5HO with an individual reflector can do. And you have 48...

...I'm still trying to get into the habit of reading a newspaper standing by my fence at night... 

--Nikolay


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## kendrid

Niko - what kind of bulb are you using?

I am getting replies on another forum that the Aquatic Life bulbs aren't very bright.



> The rosette probably doesnt have much green light in its spectral output. Green light is percieved by our eyes as brightness, but red and blue do not. Its the red and blue light that plants most efficiently are able to assimilate for photosynthesis.


I tried the Coralife T5HO 6700K bulb I bought for $4 last night. It is a little brighter than the 6000K Aquatic Life but not by much.
I replaced the 650nm bulb with the Coralife (so 1 6700K, 1 6000K) and it was quite a bit brighter. That 650nm does look dim which is probably part of the issue but if it grows plants well that is what matters.

For now I am going to run the stock Aquatic Life bulbs. I figure the 650nm is supposed to be good for plants so I'll try it for a while. I am keeping the Coralife bulb I bought for $4 as a backup.


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## Nymsley

I wish I could find a spectral output graph for the Aquatic Life 6000K, just curious about it.

What is the orange glow in the upper right corner of your tank?


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## kendrid

Nymsley said:


> I wish I could find a spectral output graph for the Aquatic Life 6000K, just curious about it.
> 
> What is the orange glow in the upper right corner of your tank?


That is a Lego boat that floats around the top. There is also a Lego diver at the bottom.


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## Cold__Blooded

kendrid said:


> That is a Lego boat that floats around the top. There is also a Lego diver at the bottom.


Was just snooping to learn a little more lighting info and had to comment. The diver if great!!! Thats funny, I like it!


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## khanzer22

I bought a CTO Aquatic Life 30" 4xT5HO for my 37gal (on the works) and it's on its way, in transit, as we speak... I didn't ask what freshwater bulbs they're gonna replace it with the stock saltwater bulbs but I assume they're gonna put Roseatte bulbs on it (their suggestion from their website)... So I'll be curious as well on how those bulbs will do in your tank... Keep us posted!


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## blue thumb

When I first bought T5HO for my 25g I too thought they were not going to be bright enough. I have the same 24" AquaticLife fixture but two 2-bulb fixture sided by side. My tank is 29" long so this light is a little short for this tank but I made some brackets so it would stand over the tank. I do get a little less light on each end of the tank, but I thought it be ok since I could place low light plants on each side. I run two 6500k bulbs and two 3000K bulbs. The light output after I began to stock the tank turnout to be plenty of light output. I grow a lot of red and yellow plants and it is plenty of light for them. This tank has been setup for 9 weeks. All the red plants center left have been topped once already when they reached the surface.


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## Left C

That's a really nice looking aquarium, blue thumb. Plenty of nice colors.

What brand of 3000K and 6500K T5HO bulbs are you using and where did you get them?


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## blue thumb

Thanks

http://www.aghydroponics.com/T5-Fluorescent-Grow-Lamps-s/520.htm

I purchased the ones that just say Grow bulb and Bloom bulbs. They are "Plantmax" brand. They also sell "Spectralux" and "Starcoat" but I have not tried any of those. They got a green bulb I am curious to try..


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## Left C

Thanks for the link. The prices are good too.

Green bulbs???


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## blue thumb

Left C said:


> Green bulbs???


yeah lol, I'm kinda curious.. might make my whole tank turn green though!


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## Left C

You know how green that the Coralife 6700K PC's make everything look too green and wash out the red colors. That's what comes to mind, but only worse. LOL


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## kendrid

Blue Thumb - nice tank. What kind of substrate do you use?

I used pool filter sand back when I setup my tank as a low tech tank. Now I think I'm wishing I would have gone with Flourite or something similar.

An update on my tank: Some of my plants are taking off quite well. The Ambulia is already to the top and I've had to cut it. The plants in the back have also been dropping runners and growing well.

I have also been growing hair algae. I've always had issues with it and my new plants are already starting to get some. I got a new nitrate test kit and I'm in the 60-80 range (old kit didn't show that). I did a 50% water change and it says the same (what?). I've stopped dosing KNO3 and just does the other EI ferts for now. My fish load is normal by most accounts. 

I do have some dead spots in the tank where I have to manually stir the junk up. I'm thinking about getting a Hydor Koralia Nano to run when the CO2 is on to get more circulation. Any other tips to get the Nitrates under control?


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## blue thumb

kendrid said:


> Blue Thumb - nice tank. What kind of substrate do you use?
> 
> I used pool filter sand back when I setup my tank as a low tech tank. Now I think I'm wishing I would have gone with Flourite or something similar.


In this tank this was the first time I did some layers. In the past I just always used natural aquarium gravel. I decided to give some ADA products a try. My first layer is Laterite mixed with Powersand. Then Amazonia II then decorative sand on top. When I was setting up I forgot about my Amazonia and put a bag of decorative sand on top of my Powersand lol. So I have a layer of decorative sand between my Powersand and Amazonia. I ended up with a deeper substrate then planed. Loss some growing height in the tank.. oh well.


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## Left C

kendrid said:


> ... I have also been growing hair algae. I've always had issues with it and my new plants are already starting to get some. I got a new nitrate test kit and I'm in the 60-80 range (old kit didn't show that). I did a 50% water change and it says the same (what?). I've stopped dosing KNO3 and just does the other EI ferts for now. My fish load is normal by most accounts. ...


Have you tried calibrating your new test it?



Left C said:


> *Directions for Making NO3 and PO4 Reference Solutions III*
> 
> You will need the following:
> - 1 liter of distilled water
> - 500 mL graduated cylinder
> - 50 mL graduated cylinder
> - 1 mL or 3 mL pipette or another measuring device to measure small mLs of solutions
> - Scales that are accurate to two decimal places
> - KNO3 and KH2PO4 dry fertilizers
> 
> Here's a way to make 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 ppm NO3 reference solutions:
> 
> Add 0.70 grams of KNO3 to 429 mL of distilled. This makes a 1000 ppm NO3 solution. (It's really a 1000.72 ppm NO3 solution.)
> 
> Add 2 mL of the 1000 ppm solution to 18 mL of distilled water. This makes 20 mL of a 100 ppm KNO3 solution.
> 
> Add 15 mL of the 100 ppm solution to 15 mL of distilled water. This makes 30 mL of a 50 ppm KNO3 solution.
> * Note: You can use this for the 50 ppm NO3 reference solution.
> 
> To make a 10 ppm NO3 solution:
> Add 2 mL of the 50 ppm solution to 8 mL of distilled water. This makes 10 mL of a 10 ppm NO3 solution.
> 
> To make a 20 ppm NO3 solution:
> Add 4 mL of the 50 ppm solution to 6 mL of distilled water. This makes 10 mL of a 20 ppm NO3 solution.
> 
> To make a 30 ppm NO3 solution:
> Add 6 mL of the 50 ppm solution to 4 mL of distilled water. This makes 10 mL of a 30 ppm NO3 solution.
> 
> To make a 40 ppm NO3 solution:
> Add 8 mL of the 50 ppm solution to 2 mL of distilled water. This makes 10 mL of a 40 ppm NO3 solution.
> 
> Here's a way to make 0.1, 0.2, 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0 and 5.0 ppm PO4 reference solutions:
> 
> Add 0.70g of KH2PO4 to 489 mL of distilled water. This makes the 1000 ppm PO4 solution. (It's really a 999.04 ppm PO4 solution.)
> 
> Add 1 mL of the 1000 ppm solution to 9 mL of distilled water. This makes 10 mL of a 100 ppm PO4 solution.
> 
> Add 2 mL of the 100 ppm solution to 18 mL of distilled water. This makes 20 mL of a 10 ppm PO4 solution.
> 
> To make a 0.1 ppm PO4 solution:
> Add 1 mL of the 10 ppm solution to 99 mL of distilled water. This makes 100 mL of a 0.1 ppm PO4 solution.
> 
> To make a 0.2 ppm PO4 solution:
> Add 1 mL of the 10 ppm solution to 49 mL of distilled water. This makes 50 mL of a 0.2 ppm PO4 solution.
> 
> To make a 0.5 ppm PO4 solution:
> Add 1 mL of the 10 ppm solution to 19 mL of distilled water. This makes 20 mL of a 0.5 ppm PO4 solution.
> 
> To make a 1.0 ppm PO4 solution:
> Add 1 mL of the 10 ppm solution to 9 mL of distilled water. This makes 10 mL of a 1.0 ppm PO4 solution.
> 
> To make a 2.0 ppm PO4 solution:
> Add 2 mL of the 10 ppm solution to 8 mL of distilled water. This makes 10 mL of a 2.0 ppm PO4 solution.
> 
> To make a 3.0 ppm PO4 solution:
> Add 3 mL of the 10 ppm solution to 7 mL of distilled water. This makes 10 mL of a 3.0 ppm PO4 solution.
> 
> To make a 4.0 ppm PO4 solution:
> Add 4 mL of the 10 ppm solution to 6 mL of distilled water. This makes 10 mL of a 4.0 ppm PO4 solution.
> 
> To make a 5.0 ppm PO4 solution:
> Add 5 mL of the 10 ppm solution to 5 mL of distilled water. This makes 10 mL of a 5.0 ppm PO4 solution.
> 
> Left C


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## kendrid

Thanks for that calibration post. I have a gram/oz scale accurate to two decimal places so I should be able to do that test.


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## Left C

> Thanks for that calibration post. I have a gram/oz scale accurate to two decimal places so I should be able to do that test.


You are very welcome.

Do you have a way to measure the liquid volumes accurately too.

Hoppy has a sticky at TPT about making calibration solutions for "non-chemists" that may be helpful as well.


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## kendrid

Left C said:


> You are very welcome.
> 
> Do you have a way to measure the liquid volumes accurately too.
> 
> Hoppy has a sticky at TPT about making calibration solutions for "non-chemists" that may be helpful as well.


For liquid all I have are medicine syringes and cups.

One ml of water weights 1 gram and my scale is very accurate and has a tare function so I should be able to weigh the water.


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