Thread: PC vs. T5?
View Single Post
  #1  
Old 03-23-2008, 10:57 PM
Myka's Avatar
Myka Myka is offline
Moderator
 
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Saskatoon, SK.
Posts: 11,268
Myka will become famous soon enough
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Telford View Post
I'd love for you to come by sometime and give me some advice.
I can definately do that sometime. I think those canopies are actually just decorative, and are empty aren't they? Do they have any lights built into them, or is it just a "shell" sort of thing? In that case, I'm sure you could get a MH light in there, and I think that's your best option. I'd probably overdrive a 250w mogul bulb with an HQI ballast to get that depth out of it without getting silly on the heat.

Quote:
Originally Posted by banditpowdercoat View Post
what about if you cant have a good reflector for T5's My tank has 2 24" T5's built in, but the reflector part is only 1/4 circle and is white, not polished alum. Would it be wise for me to get a newer T5 fixture, or PC?
Get a newer T5 fixture.

Quote:
Originally Posted by 'Ol Nobodaddy View Post
What makes T5's so effective is the highly polished individual reflectors, without them there effectiveness drops dramitically.
He's right. When I said that T5s are (generally) good for 18" depth, that is a high quality ballast, high quality reflectors, and high quality bulbs. If you don't have all three, then you may as well have PCs.

Quote:
Originally Posted by skylord View Post
What do you base your LED experiance on? The manufacurer, not PFO/Solaris says the bulbs will last 50,000 hours. The math says thats over 11 years. If they are exagerating and inflating the numbers....lets say by 20%... then they will last over 9 years.
I used to sell the Solaris lights. Albeit, I sold them when they first came out, and they were having troubles with banks of lights burning out prematurely (like in a week). They say they'll last 10 years, but have they spent the last 10 years testing them or what? I said I am still on the fence with this one. I think that LED is going to be where it's at. I don't think that LED is where it's at yet. They need improvement. I bet in 3-5 years they'll be 10x better, and 1/4 the cost. I'll stick to T5 and MH until then.
__________________
~ Mindy

SPS fanatic.

Reply With Quote