T5 lights fact or fiction?

[fleetbox]

I have been doing a little research on T5's. Claims that these lights can produce plenty of light for sps, last 1.5 yrs per bulb, and cheaper to replace bulbs for prices in the $10.00 range.

Does anyone use these lights and if so how would you compare them to VHO?

 

[invincible569]

Fleet, i have been using a T5 Blue bulb for over 2 yrs now and love it. It is used as supplemental to my MH's and other VHO Actinics. It gives it a nice color that washes out any yellows the MH's produce. It definitley makes a big difference in the look of the tank. Supposedly this bulb spikes stronger than a Radium and im sure it helps color up some of these corals. There are definitely some people running T5's only and have a beautiful tank like danano.

Now, the cheaper part I dont agree with. The bulbs I buy are $20-30 a piece.

 

[jetaero]

I kept my old reef under my 8 bulb t-5 setup... I only used it for 6 months before upgrading my tank, but I kept a derasa and maxima clam under it and lots of types of LPS, SPS... The colors were pretty good as well... The only thing is I know you should change the bulbs atleast once a year...

-Josh

 

[fleetbox]

I have done a little more research and found some pretty interesting stuff.

1. Mushrooms are very hard to keep. How do they do in your tank?
2. Most sps love the light.
3. Watts has very little to do with the intensity these lights bring to the table. I read that some people have DOWN graded to MH!
4. Claims that this system almost stops the growth of most corals.

Maybe it is more about how you aclimate your current corals to the light. I would like to hear from you people who use them about how your life reacts to them and what is not a good idea to grow in your tank. I did want lots of light but did not want to run a chiller. Any ideas on how to accomplish this?

 

[tasos]

Many people in Greece use T5 bulbs and seem to enjoy it .Also many use PCs and have also good results with sps,lps and softies.The matter is about height I think ,if the tank is too deep you maybe have problems.
Mushrooms are hard to grow under strong light.keep them in shadows .

 

[fleetbox]

Also many use PCs and have also good results with sps,lps and softies.QUOTE]


PC's! How shallow of a tank would you have to have? I like the look of PC and the coolness (as in not much heat) I would love to see a pic of such a tank. I would also be in mushroom heaven.

 

[jetaero]

Mushrooms are easily kept under t-5s the intensity of the light still is given by wattage and the needing is by depth... my old tank I had the on was a 55. hmm pcs I must say DO make heat as with any light... I'd say my 432w t-5 fixture was just about as hot as my 260w PC fixture at the end of the day...
Also as I said before I kept all types of corals under my t-5s... And I have done the same with PCs but PCs are even more demanding of a shorter area...

-Josh

 

[MikeS]

The problem with using any type of flourescent bulb as the primary light source for high light demanding corals is the fact that they just don't have the water penetrating power that MH does. Total light output may be comparible to a similar wattage MH setup, but because of the fact that the light generated by flourescents is spread out over a long tube instead of concentrated into a very small area like the MH bulb does, you simply don't get the same water penetrating power.

I have read several posts from people that keep SPS under non-MH setups, but I think there are a lot of varibles that need to be looked at....ie. species of SPS coral, placement in the tank, amount of flourescent light provided, ect...

On the PC's...watt for watt they have the best water penetrating power of any flourescent on the market currently. However, there has always been some debate as to the quality of spectrum produced by these bulbs. As for heat....I have a VHO/PC combo above my reef, and I can testify first-hand that my 55W PC's produce a considerably larger amount of heat than my 110W VHO's.

Sure. you can keep higher light demanding organisims under an adequately intense flourescent setup...I have a large t. derasa clam that has been doing quite nicely under mine for many years now...but if your goal is to keep SPS and you don't want to be restricted by light at all, your best bet is still MH's....

MikeS

 

[jetaero]

I'm with you there mike... The exact reason I upgraded to MH... well actually it was that my blue tort was only slightly blue after a month not so purple... but MH fixed it up perfectly..

 

[tasos]

As I said I've seen sps growing prety good under PC's with 2 clams accompanied !The only problem is that the corals didn't show any colors from the begining .That means that either the didn't have colors ,or the PCs could not help them synthesize !
It is true though that PC's generate a lot of heat ,also in my tank!
Can anyone create a rule or compare lighting by wattage?A 1 watt/litre with PC's is or is not by any chance the same with the 1 w/l of MH's ?

 

[jetaero]

it has been said 6-8 wpg(watts per gallon) for lighting intensity... but that is more of a myth... you should always look at depth and other factors... also you must look at the fact that if you have high wattage actinic it will not effect you as much as high wattage 10,000k

 

[fleetbox]

Sounds like T5 lights are too new and few people are using them. if they are they are suplimenting them with MH. I will pick up a 4 bulb VHO. I have the 4X65watt PC's. What bulbs would you recomend? All 10K VHO and super actinic PC? Mostly softies and LPS, few SPS, a couple of clams, rose anenome.

 

[jetaero]

I would say it would be better to just get a 175w MH around the same price

 

[fleetbox]

After thinking about all this I guess I am right back where I started. LOL. I will just go ahead with 2X175 MH with 3 or 4- VHO. 100 gal 60 long tank.

 

[jetaero]

That should do you good... you could even do 250s if you wanted I probably shouldnt encourage

-Josh

 

[MikeS]

T5 bulbs will definately find their place in the hobby...watt for watt they have superior water penetrating ability compared to T12 style bulbs because of their small diameter, and they have specturms basically identical to VHO and NO's...the best of both worlds. Once they become more affordable and mainstream, look for them to be a very popular choice for non-MH softie and LPS tanks.

MikeS

 

[fleetbox]

I am trying to stay away from a chiller. I think i will be OK with 175 watt W/ fan in sump and in hood.

 

[tasos]

it has been said 6-8 wpg(watts per gallon) for lighting intensity... but that is more of a myth... you should always look at depth and other factors... also you must look at the fact that if you have high wattage actinic it will not effect you as much as high wattage 10,000k

6-8wpg of what type of lighting(MH's,PC's,VHO's,fluoresence )

 

[prow]

well i have done some testing with the T5s. at 20" below the water line MH and T5s have about the same par reading. you can not go by watts. you must look at the lumen per watt to get the intensity. lets see if i can remember.
vho=35 lumens per watt
pc=45lumens per watt "vho and pc might be mixed up."
T5=75lumen per watt
MH=85lumens per watt.
the T5 and the MH are right these are averages of 5 different 250watt 10k MH. and avr for 3 different T5 bulbs. just to dispell the myth that T5s are just small pc's. so if you can get the same wattage of T5 to fit you can keep the same things under it. say a 4 foot tank= 2MH 250watt thats 500watts. you will need 9 T5 54 watt bulbs to match the same intensity. a 6 foot tank 3 250 MH thats 750watts plus the supplement lighting. hard to fit the need bulbs to match the intensity with the T5s. as far as how deep the go depends on alot of things mostly on what is in the tank. the MH hits the water surface on a focused spot=the refract/reflect point in more intense at the point. flourescents hite the water suface more spread out. not as intense in a given spot as MH. however same light within the whole tank. remember light is aborbed no matter what direction is goes. MH just focus on one spot and thus the lighting is not absorb in that spot allowing it to refract deeper at that focused area. if nothing is in the water colum to absorb the light any lighting will countinue to travel until it is fully absorbed. once the light hits the bottm sand it reflects back and refracts again=greater light intensity at the bottom. basically flourescents provide a greater surface area to allow for greater absorbtion of light. intensity wise T5's are about the same as MH.

 

[jojo]

hmmm. Well what are your goals with this tank? I have seen many t-5 only lit systems that have been very succuesfull in keeping softy's and lps especialy if you plan on keeping rics, acans, blasto's and things like that you would pobly be better of with t-5's and save ALOT on your electrical bill and heat output. But if your are hardcore into sps I would recomend going with halides.