Lighting Selection

[kien]

Originally Posted by BerryNice

Can someone explain the difference, advantages, and disadvantages between "compact fluorecent" T-5s (Coralife) vs. "fluorscent" T-5s (Current USA)? Preference?

Thanks,

The Compact Fluorescent bulbs that come with the Corallife fixture are not T5 bulbs, they are.. well, compact flurescent bulbs. Very different from T5 bulbs (like what the Current USA comes with).

T5s are generally brighter/more powerful and have a much more available spectrum and colour temperature to choose from. You choose from a very yellow 6500K all the way to very blue 22K or actinics and purples. There are also many manufacturers that offer the bulb so you have a lot of choice.

I have only ever seen actinics and 10K bulbs come out of CoralLife CF bulbs. I honestly do not know what the advantage of a Compact Fluroescent would be, other than energy savings. The CF would probably run cooler and consume less power? Also, if I am not mistaken those corallife CF bulbs are proprietary which means limited selection.