I went to the home of another reefer in a local forum I am in and got some zoas and polys a few mushrooms and a few other things. Her and her husband have a 180g reef tank that is really nice. Anyway, they have T-12 lights in their tank and at one point they turned off most of the T-12s and turnerd on 2 T-12s that she called 454 lights, these lights are a must have for my tank, these lights when turned on made the zoas and polys (how should I say this), its like the zoas and polys that were in the tank were on light switches, when the T-12 were on the zoas and polys were just setting there in the off position and when she turned on the 454s its like they just lite up, you could see every color and every detail of every single polyp in the tank even with my bad eye sight, it was truely awsome. My question: Has anyone heard of these lights and: I have 4 T-5 lights in my tank and the bulbs on the T-5s are at least half the size of the T12s, what I want to know is do they sell these 454s in a T-5 size bulb so that I could relace two of my T-5 bulbs with two of theses 454 bulbs that would fit in the T-5 housing unit.
Another Lighting Question
- Thread starter strout
- Start date
Check out this link: 454 bulb from UVL aims to fill the 420-470nm gap | Reef Builders
It's basically an actinic bulb.
What bulbs do you have in your fixture now? The 454 bulb is available in a 48-inch T5. Available here: Custom Aquatic - Store - Lighting Supplies - T5 Bulbs - [ 48 in T5 Blue 454nm Bulb 54 watt, URI/UV Lighting ]
The problem is, while actinics give a nice effect, and are really attractive, but there is a tradeoff with growth rates.
It's basically an actinic bulb.
What bulbs do you have in your fixture now? The 454 bulb is available in a 48-inch T5. Available here: Custom Aquatic - Store - Lighting Supplies - T5 Bulbs - [ 48 in T5 Blue 454nm Bulb 54 watt, URI/UV Lighting ]
The problem is, while actinics give a nice effect, and are really attractive, but there is a tradeoff with growth rates.
Theses bulbs do to ploys and zoas, like what a black light does to a black light poster, for those of you old enought to remember, lol. We only run the T-5s about three hours a day, maybe more after I get these lights,lol. We run the MHs about 7 hours per day, the T-5s are on 1 1/2 hours before and after the MHs are on. I don't run them at the same time to help keep down the heat.
I don't know what a 454 would do better then a 420 though (no not the fake holiday today 
The 420 actinic will cause the corals to fluoresce more then a 454 I would think. The wattage is determined by your light ballast. Make sure what wattage your bulbs are and buy the same wattage.
ATI makes a lot of varieties. The "blue plus" seem nicer then a regular actinic:
Aquarium Technik Innovation ATI | New ATI-T5 lamps | ATI " PRO COLOR" and ATI "ACTINIC
The 420 actinic will cause the corals to fluoresce more then a 454 I would think. The wattage is determined by your light ballast. Make sure what wattage your bulbs are and buy the same wattage.ATI makes a lot of varieties. The "blue plus" seem nicer then a regular actinic:
Aquarium Technik Innovation ATI | New ATI-T5 lamps | ATI " PRO COLOR" and ATI "ACTINIC
I talked to my LFS man about the lights I wanted, I wanted to see if he had them in stock before I ordered them. When I bought my tank I wasn't getting MH lights just the T-5s, so he sold me two sets of T-5s, on each set he sold me one white bulb and one bluish colored bulb. He showed me the color chart for the bulbs I have and said that if I take the two white bulbs and put them on one set of the lights and do the same with the bluish colored bulbs, that the bluish colored bulbs will give my zoas and polys the color effect that I am wanting. Doesn't cost me anything to see if he's right, so I will let you know about that. Its going to be a pain to take that canopy top off.
Can you please explain?Watts is a unit of power having the dimensions (energy per unit time):
Watts = Volts x Amps
The complete equation for watts is:
Watts = Volts x Amps x k(one unit length of wire)
If you have a current running in some wire, it has some length ... get it? ... but since this is true in any case whatsoever, why put it in the equation? So, if I double this "any" length, does the power consumption go up to double? Yes, even if there is no light bulb on it ... but the amps and volts remain the same? Yes, the voltage will remain the same ... if you're talking about the power company. They will ramp up their power output to match demand. If too many people put too much "extra lengths" in the circuit ... and they can't ramp up ... you get a "brown out" which is, lowered voltage.
Having said that and looking at the equation, the bulb must be really long to change the wattage.