Reef lighting

[rusty]

Hello I have spent a couple hours reading and surfing the net this morning about this question, What are the best lights for my tank? the tank is only 10 inches tall, now the problem I have is I know a could two 250 watt halides over it and my sps will grow great, but I am looking for some thing that will produce the same results for cheaper. The thing with the halides is that I don't like how much power they suck back, does anyone know any articles or test done to see if the same wattage of VHO sucks back as much power? Or would I be better off going with T5's and if so how many would I need to be equivilant to 2 250watt halides? The tank is 45L x 20D x10H just looking for your guys opinion

[Ruth]

There is a link I was trying to find to a guy's tank in one of the Scandinavian countries that only uses T-5's and has some good information on it. His tank is spectacular by the way. Try searching (if you can get in) on RC. I have 6 T-5's as supplimental lighting on my 190 and like them so far - much better than the supplimental PC lighting I have on my 230. With a shallow tank you can probably get away with T5's.

[rusty]

You say that you have 6 t5's supplimenting does that mean you are also ruuning a halide?

[Ruth]

Yeah I also run 3 400W MH lights but that is on a 190g SPS tank Rusty. I looked for that thread on RC but couldn't find it again. This guy just ran about 8 T5's on I think a 100g tank and it was one of the nicest tanks I have ever seen. He was from Norway or Sweden I think. On a 20" tank you are probably going to get pretty good penetration with T5's

[rusty]

Do you think that T5's are better that VHO? Thats what I am torn between.

[Ruth]

I don't, I like the look of VHO better and you seem to get better coralline growth with VHO. I don't know how they compare as far as par goes though but I am sure that one of the people that know a lot more about that than me will chime in.

[mr_alberta]

You need to figure out if the initial cost of investing in a new lighting system will pay itself off in savings from less power consumption and in what period of time.

Since you already have the MH setup, your initial cost would be very low whereas if you were to try T5's, you'd need to buy a ballast (Ice Cap, Triad, or other), standoff, bulbs, reflectors, etc). I'm not saying don't try it (cause it would be cool ), but you have to sit down and calculate it out to see if you are indeed, actually saving money in the long run.

Also, if you keep reading the thread, he swaps out his bulbs every 8 months...so 8 new bulbs every 8 months...adds up pretty quick since those bulbs are about $40CND each...

[rusty]

"Since you already have the MH setup" Quote newguy
Actually Harvey this is for the two new tanks I made this weekend Kind of what I am reading here and elsewhere It reallly depends on what you want your tank to look like The cost difference is not that huge. Hmmmm more reading needed, Keep the comments coming Another quick question than any studies done on what will grow corals faster T5, VHO, or Halides... Articals or links please.

[mr_alberta]

If you want growth, you can't go wrong with Iwasaki 6500K bulbs...

[rusty]

Sweet that you get that sweet yellow glow!