more blue gorg, and more

[Aquattro]

The blue gorg is in a German tank which is a huge L shape tank completely under T-5 tube lights for almost 1 1/2 year now. He
feeds only banana and frozen brine shrimp to his fish
and nothing else to his corals. Some pics...

http://www.islandreef.ca/post/m1.jpg

http://www.islandreef.ca/post/m2.jpg

http://www.islandreef.ca/post/m3.jpg

http://www.islandreef.ca/post/m4.jpg

http://www.islandreef.ca/post/m5.jpg

http://www.islandreef.ca/post/m6.jpg

[Aquattro]

more...


http://www.islandreef.ca/post/m8.jpg

http://www.islandreef.ca/post/m9.jpg

http://www.islandreef.ca/post/m10.jpg

http://www.islandreef.ca/post/m11.jpg

http://www.islandreef.ca/post/m12.jpg

[Delphinus]

Banana?

[Aquattro]

Banana :biggrin: I've tried it...my fish love it!

[AJ_77]

...in a German tank which is a huge L shape tank completely under T-5 tube lights...
Wow... my German blood is racing... short of breath... slightly dizzy.

:eek:

That is pretty amazing. My dream basement room has that configuration in it.

[One_Divided]

shiezer! nice.. thanks Brad :cool:

[smokinreefer]

hold on...
*putting tarp over my tank now*
:lol:

very nice.

[Bartman]

That tank's unbelievable :cool:

Back to the banana, just peel, cut and throw it in?

[Aquattro]

WHen I feed it, I hold a piece in the tank and the fish eat from my hand. I suppose throwing in small chunks is OK. It tends to fall apert though, so make them small chunks!

[Buccaneer]

Anyone know what is growing between the acros in pic #6 ... looks like some green and some pink coloured ?

Cheers

[One_Divided]

red sea xenia..

[Acro]

Wowzer that looks killer. Any chance of getting designer and photo credits?

[Delphinus]

That is just wild. Banana ... I never would have guessed to try banana.

What fish in particular seem to like banana? Do they immediately take to it or do you have to get them used to the idea?

[Buccaneer]

That is just wild. Banana ... I never would have guessed to try banana.

What fish in particular seem to like banana? Do they immediately take to it or do you have to get them used to the idea?

I am guessing it's the Tangs ( and he has quite a few ! ) ... there goes those Tang theories out the window ... Purple / Yellow(s) / Powder Blue / Naso all living together ... maybe the banana calms them down and they all just munch quietly :smile:

Cheers

[Aquattro]

Jamie, I don't have any other info on the tank, sorry.

Tony, the biggest banana pigs I have are the green chromis...go figure!!

[EmilyB]

Tony, I fed it last nite and almost everyone instantly took to it. The Copperband loved it !

Even the triggers and the puffer went nuts over it. I think I'll feed it once in a while.

I just smooched it up and dropped it in. (Oh the plate coral and the anemones REALLY like it... :lol: )

[AJ_77]

Cooper loved it? I'm gonna try it.

Ripe or greenish bananas?

:eek:

[EmilyB]

It just happened to be about perfect.....not too ripe.

[Aquattro]

It just happened to be about perfect.....not too ripe.

Glad everyone liked it. I think if it's too ripe, it would tend to fall apart more easily.

[Delphinus]

(Oh the plate coral and the anemones REALLY like it... :lol: )

Get out of town.. !! I am just totally ... Gaaahhhhh!!!! Banana!! I can't wait to get home and try it tonight.

[Aquattro]

Tony, banana IS a tropical fruit, afterall :mrgreen:

[Delphinus]

Yeah but, ... I never thought of it as a reefy food. What's next? Passionfruit? Kiwi? Mango? Problem is I like that stuff too much I'm not so sure I'm willing to share too much of it... :lol: :wink:

[Axial Corillite]

I found out about the banana thing about a year ago. I used Brad’s fish as guinea pigs and they loved it. :biggrin: So I’ve been feeding it to my fish and my customers fish ever since. I haven’t found a fish that doesn’t like it, although I’ve found that some Triggers seem to get quite bloated by it. But there doesn’t seem to be any ill affect. I also recently found out about dehydrated broccoli and it’s use for reversing lateral line and hole in the head. It also works awesome for putting on weight with skinny tangs. I tried it on an anorexic yellow tang. Within two weeks his body weight doubled. Not to mention that they go crazy over it.

[AJ_77]

(Should we start a new thread?)

Where does one find dehydrated broccoli, and is rehydration necessary before feeding :question:

[Aquattro]

Mike, I'm also curious about the broccoli...got a source? Oh, and how come you never call anymore? :biggrin:

[Delphinus]

I tried feeding two tanks with banana chunks tonight. Not exactly an overwhelming response ... one of the cleaner shrimps jumped on a piece as it floated by, but didn't decide to eat any .... the banggai cardinal had a piece, but showed no interest in any more after that. Everyone else cheerfully ignored my eager attempts to please them... oh well. Maybe another day ...

[Axial Corillite]

Mike, I'm also curious about the broccoli...got a source? Oh, and how come you never call anymore? :biggrin:
You dehydrate it your self with a food dehydrator.
And yes you have to soak it for a few hours to make
It soft again.
NEVER CALL are you for real how come you never
Return messages. :rolleyes: :biggrin:

[Aquattro]

NEVER CALL are you for real how come you never
Return messages. :rolleyes: :biggrin:

Messages??? Not hear no messages!! You didn't leave a message with my kids, I hope! :eek:

[Axial Corillite]

One with your kids and two on your cell.
Holy crap three posts in one night!!!!!!

[Aquattro]

you OK? Three in month is a lot for you. I don't have any messages on my phone.... try again tomorrow

[Dorkel Marine 1]

What are T-5 tubes? A certain VHO or Fluoresent what?

George.

[Delphinus]

T5's are thin fluorescents. Your "typical" fluorescents are the T15's, then there are T8's which are a bit thinner, and then these T5's are thinner yet. HTH

[Buccaneer]

Are'nt " typical " flourescents T12 ?

Cheers

[Bob I]

T5's are thin fluorescents. Your "typical" fluorescents are the T15's, then there are T8's which are a bit thinner, and then these T5's are thinner yet. HTH

Typical fluorescents would be T12s, and in my inderstanding T5s are the same thickness as Power Compacts. Just as an aside I understand that as thickness decreases lumens per watt increase, and also heat increases. :eek:

[Canadian Man]

What are T-5 tubes? A certain VHO or Fluoresent what?

George.

T-5's are pretty Cool!
I have a few in my possesion now and they are nice and small as well as bright!

I am using t5 actinic's on my new 230.

[Delphinus]

Yes, T12, sorry my typo.

[newgeek]

Where did you get the t5's from Canadian man?

[Bob I]

What are T-5 tubes? A certain VHO or Fluoresent what?

George.

T-5's are pretty Cool!
I have a few in my possesion now and they are nice and small as well as bright!

I am using t5 actinic's on my new 230.

Where did you get them Jon :arrow: :question:, and what about ballasts, and sockets. :question:

[Doug]

Those tank pics are enough to make ya cry. That is one of the most stunning tanks I have seen.

[Bob I]

Those tank pics are enough to make ya cry. That is one of the most stunning tanks I have seen.

For sure, but it raises some questions such as the wattage of the tubes, and the number of them used on the tank. Along with the tank dimensions.

[newgeek]

it raises some questions such as the wattage of the tubes, and the number of them used on the tank
Good call Bob,
I was wondering the same thing.

[Aquattro]

I'll see if I can get any further info on the tank.

[Aquattro]

Here we go...comments from someone who has visited the tank!!

3000l tank
3.5 m x 0.8m x 0.6m dimension (I think it works out
to be 900 gallon ??) glass 15 cm thick

changed from HQI to T-5 in Aug 2001 (so, he has been
using T-5 for almost 2 1/2 year now)

T-5 used: 120 cm long each tube (4 feet)
32 x T-5 used all together each 54 w
4 banks
each bank with 3 x blue
4 x sun
1 x actinic

Advantages of T-5:
1)life span of 5 years as compared to 1/2 to 1 year on
HQI
2)much lower electirc cost to run
3)cool (yeah, I defitely could tell you that because I
was in his reef tank room for one afternoon)
4)no light frickling
5)coral colours are better (subjective ????)

One disadvantage of T-5...no frickling / rippling
shadow over the corals like those MH light. So, some
people find it boring.

[Acro]

Brad, Thanks for the info. But I still find it strange people post photo's of others but yet don't give them credit for them? I'm not refering to this post only. As a person that enjoys take and sharing photo's I'd like credit if people use my photo's.

[Bartman]

Glass is 6" thick??? Holy sh**!! :biggrin:

Here's my crappy math: 3000L = approx 660 CDN Gallons or 792 US Gallons but the dimensions work out to approx 430 US Gallons. A huge tank either way.

Also, 32 X 54W light = 1728 W total or between 2 to 4 W per US Gallon. I thought you needed more light than that to keep SPS but that tank looks amazing. :eek:

[Aquattro]

Jamie, in this case, a vancouver wholesaler had the pics from their german friend and he asked me to post them. I know nothing about the tank owner at all.

[Bartman]

You know, I hated math in school, don't know why I mess with it now.

Looked at the pics again. If the tiles on the back wall are 12" square then the tank is approx 792 US Gallons or 3000L. :biggrin:

[Aquattro]

Glass is 6" thick??? Holy sh**!! :biggrin:



Sorry, I'm told it is 15mm, not cm. Good thing...6" is way thick!!

[Canadian Man]

I got my t5's from Desmond at Aquarium Illusuion's in Edmonton.

[Bob I]

I got my t5's from Desmond at Aquarium Illusuion's in Edmonton.

Godd start for those of us with questions. Since they are thin, I expect they use a different socket? Also do they use a ballast dedicated to those tubes?

[Canadian Man]

I got my t5's from Desmond at Aquarium Illusuion's in Edmonton.

Godd start for those of us with questions. Since they are thin, I expect they use a different socket? Also do they use a ballast dedicated to those tubes?

Sorry I didn't answer all the questions earlier. They come in their own little fixture which is very slick looking. the ballast is contained in this little fixture the fixture it self is about the size of a t 8 bulb and the t5 bulb is quite brite. the endcaps are basiclly mini versions of the larger size ones.

any other questions?

[Aquattro]

Got any links to sites with specs?

[Canadian Man]

Got any links to sites with specs?

Sorry I don't :confused:
Maybe Des will pipe in here? He is not on here much though

[Bob I]

I may be wrong about this, but I believe the Germans are somewhat ahead of us lin lighting technology. At least in how it applies to reef keeping. I suspect thet the new T5 bulbs provide as much light as the electricity sucking MH bulbs we tend to use. Certainly with different phosphors it is possible to create any spectrum lighting you want. :eek:

[Canadian Man]

This actinic t5 I have is a little diffrent blue then my zoomed actinic bulb's are. The zoomed's seems to have a pinky tone to then compared to the t5 which is like a compact flourescent blue color.

[Bob I]

This actinic t5 I have is a little diffrent blue then my zoomed actinic bulb's are. The zoomed's seems to have a pinky tone to then compared to the t5 which is like a compact flourescent blue color.

I wonder how much deep discussion on the merits of different blues we could get into. :rolleyes:

I recently bought some half blue 13W bulbs from AHsupply. The blue is different than the bulb I bought from Jach Chu..

I suppose there would be any amount of different shades of blue as you go deeper into the ocean, as more of the other wavelengths get filtered out. Then when you get deep- enough it becomes black. :sleeping:

[Bartman]

Found some info about T5 units here:

http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/pfk/pages/show_article.php?article_id=75

[Bob I]

Found some info about T5 units here:

http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/pfk/pages/show_article.php?article
_id=75

This link does not work for me.

[AJ_77]

Link works for me Bob, maybe you have to wait a few more seconds.
Good article.

:biggrin:

[ree-fready]

Does anybody know of the cost and availability of these bulbs. Thanks

[sumpfinfishe]

Incredible stuff!

A few years back I went to Hamburg and also to the Berlin Aquarium, I had totally forgotten about the banana thing until now!

One of there marine bio's told me that they also fed banana's to there open air natural 1000gl tank as well.

I wonder if my fish would like a banana split from DQ as there on sale right now :wink:

I only wonder about pollution :question:

Will try to post a pic of that tank if I can dig it up from the archives :mrgreen: cheers, Rich

[StirCrazy]

Just a couple notes I feel should be added here.

1, exelent info link but it does show that compard against MH lighting to acheive the same amoun t of light T5's will cost more to buy and will cost more to run. So there is no cost benifit when compard to MH.

2, the T5's that are being hyped are not the same T5's you can buy in a hardware store, but rather a HO version of the T5. I think a standard T5 for a 48" bulb is rated at 28 watts, but the HO T5 that the aquarium industry is trying to push now is a 54 watt or higher tube. same idea as NO T12 and VHO T12.

I have looked into the T5 stuff and as it sits right now you can get the tubes and such from some lighting places but they are not easy to get or cheep enuf throught comercial lighting suppliers at this time to make it worth the trouble as they are not ordering a large enuf amount to get the good price breaks.

I am thinking about bringing in a couple to try on the bottom tank as the PC's on there will need to be replaced pretty soon. This way I will be able to do some testing on the PAR output of them against other types of lighting.

Steve

[Canadian Man]

Here is some info I found out.
The 24" 6500k t5 bulb and fixture is 14w and puts out 1375 lumens.

[newgeek]

I saw some t5's at Pisces, they seemed to be priced reasonably but you could not just buy bulbs you had to purchase the set up which had 1 6500k and 1 actinic. Not sure what the wattage of the bulbs was, they had a 4 foot for 55.99 and 2 footer for 32.99. Hope that might help someone out.

Have a great evening everyone,
Kelly

[marine newbie]

Hi,

was reading this thread and while browsing the web came across this website that sells the t5 HO lamps. http://www.sunlightsupply.com Don't know if they sell to the general public or if they ship to Canada

[Bartman]

There might be some cost advantage to T5's if they actually last 2 or 3 years.

[StirCrazy]

There might be some cost advantage to T5's if they actually last 2 or 3 years.

The first link you posted showed a 20% drop off after 2 years, that seams consistant with other floressent tubes, like VHO and PC.

so if we are changing out VHO actinics after 1 year I would suspect you will be changing out the T5 actinics after 1 year. The article you posted claims 18 months, so I am guessing that is what they are basing there cost figures on.

what I would like to see is some direct comparisons against VHO bulbs as the T5's will not be suitable for deeper tanks that have SPS at various levels (acording to the manuafactuer).

Steve

[Bob I]

.

what I would like to see is some direct comparisons against VHO bulbs as the T5's will not be suitable for deeper tanks that have SPS at various levels (acording to the manuafactuer).

Steve

Sure, but it also true that some people keep only shallow tanks, and do not think you need SPS corals to have a reef tank. :rolleyes:

[smokinreefer]

i believe the point was made, to give us an idea of how strong these bulbs are compared to MH bulbs...basically saying they may not be able to replace the role of MH lighting in the hobby. :rolleyes:
after all, the hype surrounding these T5, is that they may be the "new" reef lighting trend.
and no, MH are not strictly for sps tanks.
so, sure it may be a viable option for you shallow tank keepers, but for others who need stronger lighting, (for sps or not) it just may not cut it.

[smokinreefer]

from what i have read, it doesnt look like T5 is going to be "the" lighting option for everyone to strive for...

from the german tank info...
32 x T-5 used all together each 54 w on an ~12' tank,
would compare to 16 x T5, on a 6' tank, which would mean 864Watts.
kind of what i run now, with a mixed tank as well, but, only difference with me, is that i am able to keep high light corals on the sandbed, but then again, my tank is not as deep as the german one. so this isnt really the best comparison...oh wait, Brads tank is deeper than mine and he is able to keep high light corals near/on the botom as well.

also...from the link provided...
you ought to use three 54w T5s to replace each 150w metal halide.
it does look like they are recommending a watt per watt comparison as well.

i guess we will just have to wait until someone has used them long enough to give some realworld observations.

[Bob I]

Also, 32 X 54W light = 1728 W total or between 2 to 4 W per US Gallon. I thought you needed more light than that to keep SPS but that tank looks amazing. :eek:

I would not get hooked on that figure. That number is for the everyday T12 tubes. T5s , and Power Compacts have a much greater Lumens per watt output.

[StirCrazy]

.

Sure, but it also true that some people keep only shallow tanks, and do not think you need SPS corals to have a reef tank. :rolleyes:

Funny, I read that over and I do not recall saying that the only type of reef tank that people have is a deep and has SPS.

What I did say and will say again is that "the T5's will not be suitable for deeper tanks that have SPS at various levels"

and of course if you can read between the lines by saying this I also infer that it will be fine for (some)shallow tanks, mixed tanks, softy tanks, and LPS tank. I say some because you can have a shallow tank with extreamly high light requirments.. or there are some softies that do better with MH and there are LPS that do much better with MH (as I have seen on my tank when I switched from PC to MH.

Have a good day
Steve

[Bob I]

.

Sure, but it also true that some people keep only shallow tanks, and do not think you need SPS corals to have a reef tank. :rolleyes:

Funny, I read that over and I do not recall saying that the only type of reef tank that people have is a deep and has SPS.

What I did say and will say again is that "the T5's will not be suitable for deeper tanks that have SPS at various levels"

and of course if you can read between the lines by saying this I also infer that it will be fine for (some)shallow tanks, mixed tanks, softy tanks, and LPS tank. I say some because you can have a shallow tank with extreamly high light requirments.. or there are some softies that do better with MH and there are LPS that do much better with MH (as I have seen on my tank when I switched from PC to MH.

Have a good day
Steve

I did not want to make any accusations, but perhaps it sounded like I did. I only wanted to make sure that those of us who do not have any SPS corals did not need to feel like second class citizens. It just seems that when reading some posts there is an inference that if it is not good for SPS, it is no good period. That is sometimes the feeling I get when reading posts.. It is probably not intended as such, but can easily be interpreted that way.
:redface:

[StirCrazy]

I would never say that LPS and softy tanks are "second class" I do have two big LPS and several mushrooms and some zoooooooooosss :mrgreen:

heck my tank has just as much "others" as it dies SPS so if you are second class, I am the one that the SPS class doesent want to tell there family about :wink:

Steve

[Pro Fish Keeper]

Of topic question do you know the difference between VHO and T-5 bulbs? or are they just a varyation of VHO's?

[StirCrazy]

T5's are just a different size of tube. a VHO is a T12 so it is 1.5" diameter.. a T10 is 1.25" and a T8 is 1" so a T5 is 5/8" diameter. and PC is a T4 base. what they have found is that if you pump the same power into a smaller diameter tube you get a more intense light.

so basicly both a T5 and a T12 are normal floressent tubes, a VHO T12 is designed to handle more power than a standard T12. and the same holds true for T5's.. there are HO (high output) and NO (normal output)

Steve