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.

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:

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

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

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