Quote:
Originally Posted by imisky
i believe you just contradicted yourself in the first few sentences. you said that you dont need a huge selection for great color on bulbs but yet you later go on to say that the cheapest lights dont give the best colors...so does that equal to bad colors since your using cheap NO florescent? or do you mean for $20 you can get decent colors.
this hobby is constantly developing, lighting is one area that seems to get alot of focus on it. There is a reason why most SW reefers are using MH and T5s instead of T8/T12s they just arent very efficient, for actinic VHO is the best ive seen but for lighting a full blown SPS tank it just doesn't cut it and im sure you agree. you could argue that GE 6500k + supps could be good but would you yourself go that route with SPS the investment into lighting like that would just become a disaster in the end when the SPS turn brown.
comparing T5HO without reflector to T8/T12 NO ODed is just not a very good comparison. T5HO produces much more use-able light than the same length T8/T12.
this is by no means saying the information you provided is wrong, its just not very practical in use for SPS these days. MH and T5s are more effecient at the task then the T8/T12s
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I don't believe I contradicted myself at all, I simply stated that you don't need 10 different types of bulbs to get color from your SPS. You can supplement standard 6500K with blue and red bulbs (available for plants) which will help with color pop. I then went on to say that you can get better color with other lighting but it costs more. The subject is cheap lighting, not what produces the best color and is most practical. Overdriving a T8 is suppose to produce similar par as a T5 from what I understand.
It's by no means the best lighting alternative, simply a possibility and something that could be done for cheap. That's it.