Thread: t5 vs pc
View Single Post
  #8  
Old 07-18-2006, 06:51 PM
midgetwaiter midgetwaiter is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Calgary
Posts: 546
midgetwaiter is on a distinguished road
Default

I'm using 2 Coralife dual T5 strips (2x14w normal output) on my 20 gal and 1 strip on my 13 gal (15" high). I started with them on my old 15 because I got a really good deal on them and after upgrading the tank I'm sticking with them anyway because I'm pretty happy with them.

There is something with T5s that leads to greater intensity than you get out of PCs or thicker fluorescent tubes. I've had more than one reefer actually look at my tank and then turn to me and say, "T5s? really?" I think they they just do a good job of emitting light over the entire length of the tube, something you don't get out of regular NO or VHO tubes. Whatever it is it works.

I don't keep anything that requires really high light levels but have been successful with softies, xenids, zoas, mushrooms frogspawn, open brains and ricordias. Nothing you couldn't keep with PCs too but IMO the T5s do it better. My pink zoas which are real light lovers are going crazy.

One of the drawbacks I've found are that the lamp intensity seems to be really high for the first hundred hours or so. It's normal to see a sharp decline in output during this time but in seems to be a big change with these fixtures. I bleached a BTA and a ricordia with a new fixture a while ago. Be careful changing lamps. The actinic bulbs they come with really suck too, they don't put out much at all. I switched mine with 20000k blue bulbs and am much happier. T5 actinics in general don't have a great rep. Non coral things like macros and coraline don't seem to like these much either.

In your case I'd probably not recommend you bother upgrading with these unless you went for HO T5s with individual reflectors. I don't think you'd see enough of a change over the PCs you have to justify the expense. A Tek fixture with 3 or 4 HOs would be a pretty big improvement though.
Reply With Quote