Which to choose.... T'5 or HQI?
 

I have a 29 gallon nano and am looking to upgrade the lighting. Any thoughts about which to go with? the T-5's or the HQI? i know the HQI gives off more heat, but do the T-5's give off the same light as the MH's?

I have softies and LPS in there right now but would like to brighten up the tank and give my zoos more colour and later on have some SPS.

I was going to go out and buy 2 Viper T2 70watt HQI units today but i thought i would do some more research first.

Is 250 watt overkill? or is 150 watt ok? with T-5's they only add up to 96 watts...

Any input would be appreciated.

Sorry... i meant to put this in the lounge forum... i dont know how to change it.:redface:

Everything I kept under my halides I can keep under my t5's. Short of the different visuals each gives (whichis up to the viewer) and the minimal heat from my t5's. they are the same (livestock sustainability). That being said i am going back to 20k metal halides with the nano cube sometime during Christmas.

Since your tank is shallow, I think you can achieve what you would like to with four T5 bulbs. Although the Vipers would be a good choice as well, I would prefer the T5s in order to have actinics.

My MH had actinics :) VHO Actinics to boot.

t5 will give off less heat for sure, the hqi 150w will be sufficient even a 70w however it may get warm in the summer also if you want more colour out of the hqi go with 20k. If it was my choice I would go with a hqi for a small tank, if your tank was wider like 3ft then t5

Honestly the best way to get an idea of what you want is to go to a store or a persons house an look at the difference in t5 and MH. Bulb choice with t5 also makes a dramatic difference, as well as good individual reflectors. There are crappy MH and T5's out there so be sure an do your homework :). Honestly for a small tank the viper would be okay, but for a 29 i would go 150 watt at least, the color from the 70 watts is not very nice. Pendants would work nicely for you tank, and they have a lot of flexibility. Some people, just cannot live without the shimmering effect of MH, while this is recreatable with LED'S, it is not the same visual. You might end up being part of the shimmer crowd. :)

its simple do both. :mrgreen: get the best of both worlds

Use the 150 watt HQI for the main light and get a two light T5 retrofit set up to use as actinic lighting.

T5's do not put out the same intensity of MH but they will grow anything, although Mh with grow it faster.

Steve

The Vipers have actinics in them??

No I did not have a viper I had a fixture from Europe is all I'll say :)

My vote is for 150w HQI, but I may be biased :P

I'm all for the HQI as well.

I just figured since he was looking at the Vipers he was looking for a clip on. I think Vipers are clip ons, aren't they? So he would need to add actinics somehow. Well he wouldn't NEED to, but it sure would look nicer. Getting a fixture with a MH and actinics in it would be ideal. Depends on budget I suppose.

Like this :)
http://www.saltysupply.com/AquaPerfe...r-p/ap2244.htm

Or for those upgrades....

http://www.saltysupply.com/AquaPerfe...T-p/ap2264.htm

^ Ya I suppose if you have a bunch of money burning a hole in your pocket eh?! Haha!

Always a big fan of T5s. So many bulb combos and less heat issues. I have also found that my corals seem to pop out a little more with T5s (back to bulb combinations again) then under mh from experience of seeing and buying frags that were under mh first.

If I was absolutely pushed and heat was not a factor, Nothing beats 10k metal halides with vho actinics, you get the grow and the color pop. But you need a lot of actinics to make it viewable, to my eyes at least. You can always go 14k,15k,20k, some use even higher kelvin bulbs than 20k. But the growth from 10k is superb, the vho actinics if done properly tramp any t5 setup i've ever seen. But its not as practical for everyone.

I still say look at diff setups in person, if you think at anytime you may upgrade, keep that in mind as well :)

Has anyone used the LED lighting? i have never seen what they are like in a tank, but they have gone down in price right now for a 24" setup. Do they give off better light and colour as an HQI?

Opinions are like a holes,everyone has one and some are full of crap. I've heard some say led are the revolution some say they are no more than moonlights.

In short buy what you can afford and like the looks of

Some halide ballasts and or cooling fans make a pretty loud hum, making them not practical for say a living room,but every t5 I've ever had was perfectlly quiet. But thaT said, I run a dual mh with vho supplement lol......but I have a special fish room. Running 2 250w halides over my 18'' deep tank has never caused a heat issue by the way 8'' above my tank