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Originally Posted by Fish
and the consensus there is that T5ho without good reflectors is about the same as PC, but T5ho with good individual reflectors (like sunlight supply or icecap) is stronger than halide. Infact, there are instructions for how to acclimate your tank when you switch from halide to T5ho so that your corals aren't burnt.
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look at the main company there.. IceCap... this wouldn't be the first time they underhandedly spread false info to sell there product.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fish
For example, I have been told that the 96w Tek fixture over a 30gal tank might be too intense for some softies, but even a 175w halide wasn't too much light over my 20gal. And a more recent post claims that halide drops off quicker as it gets closer to the bottom???
I Or are all the RC posts just over-hyping T5?
Thanks,.
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I would have to say way over hype.. that would be saying that T5's are brighter than the sun. A big clue is that if a T5 drops off faster with depth it is less intense.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fish
ps - I should add that in the same thread, it was reported that halides with a new kind of "luminarc reflector" are brighter than the Tek T5ho.
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the problem is that companies rig tests, by comparing there absolute best T5 output against a MH output it is very easy to make the MH seam like it has less output.. I can do it here with the same bulb... it is all the angle and location you take your readings from.. thats why when I was testing bulbs I made a fixed bracket that I could only adjust to ensure it was directly under the middle of the bulb.
Ok now for the "T5s make my tank brighter than MH" argument... yes it is true, visually there is an appearance that it is brighter but in reality it is not.. the reason for this is that like VHO and PC a T5 spreads light evenly and if you have 5 bulbs over a tank you are lighting the whole tank evenly reducing shadows so it gives the appearance of a brighter tank. With MH you get more shadowing on the edges depending on the reflectors spread and because it is a point light source there is more shadowing on the edges, but if you look at what really counts, intensity, MH wins hands down.
If anyone in Victoria has an actual T5 set up with 10 or 20K bulbs I can bring my jig over and do some actual PAR measurements to show how much difference there really is.
Steve
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