t5 ideas for a 29gal

[mvit]

Hello everyone,
Looking to upgrade my pc lighting (2 65watt tubes in a currant usa fixture)
My tank will be softies,lps and maybe down the road some easier sps.
Tank is 12wx30lx17 1/2" deep. I definately want to go T5. I have been doing alot of research and I am still a little fuzzy.

1. Would 24" tubes be OK for 30" tank or would it be better to go with a 36" size and have a little overhang?(I do not have a canopy.If I go with a retro kit I can build one.)

2. Would 2 or 4 tubes be better? I'm kinda leanin towards 4 but I don't want to cook anything either.

3. Moneywise,Safteywise,and Longevitywise is it smart to overdrive these bulbs? Does anyone do it? I guess some of the kits with the Ice cap ballasts do this by default. Icecap has a 3 year warrenty most others are 1.

As always thanks for your input,
Mark

 

[returnofsid]

Hmmm, I'll start with the last question. I don't know that overdriving would benefit you at all unless you were concentrating on sps or clams.

In regards to 24" or 36" fixtures, Aren't there 30" T5 fixtures out there? If not, there again, it's going to depend on how you want your tank set up. Unlike MH lighting, tube lighting, whether it be PC or T5 is pretty consistent along the length of the bulb, but isn't going to spread light outside that area very well. MH isn't as consistent but spreads light more. You could go with 24" bulbs and keep your soft corals and some LPS outside the direct lighting, while keeping SPS directly under the bulbs. Or if you want the ability to keep SPS anywhere in the tank, you'll need coverage over the entire tank.

Are you sure you want to switch from PC to T5s? If you're mainly interested in soft corals and LPS with some lower light demanding SPS, PC lighting will do it for you. I had a 29 with PC lighting and kept Montipora Digitata and Monti. Capricornus very well under PCs. In fact, I had an RBTA flourishing very well under the same lighting. The RBTA is still under PCs in a 46 and has been very healthy for almost 2 years. PC lighting will limit you when it comes to the higher light demanding SPS, clams or other species of anemone though. Montipora sp. generally do pretty well under PC lighting though.

I now have a 46 mixed reef with PC lighting and a 75 mixed with T5HO. I will say that the clams and SPS do like the T5s a lot.

 

[mvit]

I'm thinking in terms of cheaper bulb replacement,more variety of bulb spectrum,and perhaps maybe future expansion,for instance having a four tube fixture and using 2 for now but having the ability to go to 4 if I have to.
I have read that the pc's are less efficiant in terms of getting light into the tank(a lot gets wasted by bulb/reflector design).
All of the 30" t5 fixtures I have seen have 24" bulbs so there would be coverage gaps I think.
In your opinion would 2 24" T5 tubes give me the same lighting intensity as my 2 65w pc's I have now?
What tubes do you use for your pc fixture and how often do you change them out?

I have the stock currant usa tubes in 50-50 actinic and 50-50 daylight links here:

http://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merc...Product_Code=PC65W-CU-D&Category_Code=PCbulbs

http://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merc...Product_Code=PC65W-CU-A&Category_Code=PCbulbs

I would like to get a little more color out of my corals, right now running both tubes the light is very whiteish without much blue.

Thanks,
Mark

 

[darklcd]

in a 29 gal if you want just fish 2 would be fine but if you want coral and everthing else then I woudl go with 4 for sure IMO 4 will give you a lot more light and it will cover the whole tank a lot better then just 2. T5 will be a lot better then PC as far as I have seen. The other thing to look at would be as 150 metal halide they are not badly priced and if you go on ebay they have lots on there for realyl good prices if its an option for ya.

I was going to use t5s but I found a really good deal on ebay that I picked up. 150 wat MH HQI w/ t5 s antics for 190 brand new for 190 have a look on there even if you just want t5s theres lots there too

 

[returnofsid]

In my PC fixture, I use a 10K bulb and an Actinic Blue. I don't change them often enough...lol. In fact, I'm getting ready to replace those as well as the 6 bulbs in my T5 fixture. They're all about 15 months old. I do think you'd get more light with a T5 fixture, IF you get the right fixture. Check out Tek 5 by Sunlight Supply. They're amazing fixtures. No matter what brand you get, make sure they have individual reflectors for each bulb OR a reflector system that wraps around each bulb. This is what makes T5 fixtures really rock. I don't think you'll save much money on bulb replacement by switching to T5s. The good bulbs aren't cheap, but they also don't need changed quite as often...or so they say. I'm also not sure if you'll be able to run a fixture without all of he lights in it. It'll depend on how many ballasts the fixture has. For instance, my 6 bulb unit has 1 ballast that controls the two outer bulbs and 1 ballast for the inner 4 bulbs. Each ballast has a separate switch, of course. So, I could run either 4 or 2 bulbs if I chose to. Here's a great supplier of Sunlight Supply systems and they're also a sponsor of this forum. I'll also throw in a great link for an RC thread on T5 HO in general. Lots of good information on there, although it's currently 11 pages long...lol.

http://www.reefgeek.com/
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1297256