Lighting Poll

[Fish]

Steve,
I should have been more clear - I never said that that Icecap claimed 'so and so' about their reflectors - I said that Icecap reflectors are better. That is the result of par readings comparing their output to that of the Sunlight Supply/Tek reflectors and the Aquatinics reflectors. This information is from the RC thread, and it has had over 4,600 posts so far. Allegedly, T5 bulbs are a complete waste of time without high quality reflectors. All I was wondering is what was going on with some of our members here.
I pride myself on keeping an open mind in this hobby and it has helped me overcome some misconceptions that people have. For example, I chose to ignore the "canister filters are not for saltwater" doctrine and a lot of nano hobbyists have benefited from my nano design.

I still remember when all the stubborn old PC users would get in 'lighting fights' and post pics of how they could keep anemones just as well as the halide guys and gals. I was/am a strong proponent of halide and watched as each one of them eventually made the switch as well. I believed that halide was, hands down, the best way to go and I wouldn't recommend anything else. However, at the same time, I never assumed that mankind had reached the pinnacle of aquarium lighting and that halide is as good as we are going to get.
It sounds like that's how you feel about it:

"I would have to say way over hype.. that would be saying that T5's are brighter than the sun."

No one is saying T5ho is brighter than the sun. No one is saying (I hope) that halide is as bright as the sun. What I am suggesting is that T5ho, with the proper reflectors, is brighter than halide. Of course I would love to see some canreefers do the testing, that way I wouldn't have to blindly accept the findings of our American counterparts. However, from seeing Nate and Paul's Tek fixtures, I don't see how a 175w halide bulb could ever possibly put as much light/PAR into the tank as 175w of T5ho. And the very fact that the readings on a halide need to be taken directly under the bulb is another point for T5 in my books - I would really like my whole tank to be well-lit; left to right, front to back, and not just in a certain spot.

I don't mean to be argumentative, I was just hoping that some of the people who were disappointed with T5 could qualify their results. If they were using good gear like the Tek or Aquatinic fixtures, than I've got a real problem because all that info on RC was baloney (and I wasted multiple hours of my life reading it). If however, they were using ebay or catalina specials with cheap reflectors, than I'm not too worried, because the T5 experts themselves have said that their performance would suck.
Hopefully together we can figure it out.

Peace,

- Chad

[Pan]

heh, now add to this discussion the LED fictures...ie solaris ( ithink thats them)

[Fish]

aww crap... no wonder I can't sleep at night ( :

Solaris looks awesome and has great possibilities! - too rich for my blood though. Who knows, maybe LED is the future....?

[Doug]

Comparison is actually hard to do without using some measuring device as Steve mentioned. I believe the thread on Rc Chad mentioned, does have lots of par measures.

I will agree with Chad, that my 4 T-5,s are brighter than my two 175w halides. No disputing that. What they will measure at the tanks bottom is another question.

Then again, I,m comparing with 14K 175w bulbs. If I used the new Iwasaki 14K bulb, I would assume the halides would be brighter. So there,s the problem.

My friends 250w 14K halides is not as bright as all his T-5,s. A pair of 400w 14K,s are a bit brighter but throw a pair of 65K Iwasaki,s on and wholley mackeral.

[Reefer Rob]

If somebody in the Lower Mainland has a light meter and they want to take some measurements, they could measure my lowly 324 watts of T5s I have now, or wait until I set up my 180, it will have about 800 watts of T5 lighting over it. That sounds like more fun

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by Reefer Rob

If somebody in the Lower Mainland has a light meter and they want to take some measurements, they could measure my lowly 324 watts of T5s I have now, or wait until I set up my 180, it will have about 800 watts of T5 lighting over it. That sounds like more fun

Ok when you do this make sure it is a PAR meter not a lux or what ever meter. To bad you wern't on the Island as I do have a PAR meter.

Steve

[kwirky]

There are a lot of factors to consider for the "best" light.

I think individual applications can be deciding factors for "the best light". Square tanks vs long/narrow tanks, deep tanks, shallow tanks, etc etc.

I think cube tanks are best lit with MH lights. T5's are good IF they're propperly reflected. And a properly cooled fixture (not the sunlight supply fixture) can get almost DOUBLE the output (can't remember the name of that 'better' branded T5 fixture). I'm really contemplating voiding my sunlight supply warranty and carving holes in the top of my 8 bulb fixture for ventilation fans. Heard you get about a 75% increase in output by running the lights cool.

about those solaris lights, I think of them as buying your fixture, AND your next 8 bulbs at the same time. That's something I rather would NOT like to do, since it can be great to experiment with a different bulb combination when you change lights. Sure you can change the colour, but you're just decreasing output with colour changes. The good thing going for the solaris fixture though is the fancy cloud effects it's computer can do.

I was pricing out the components of the solaris for a while, and those 1-2W LED's get pretty pricey once you work in the cost of their power supplies. Not very economical to DIY...

speaking of economical, MH wins as king for costs if you understand how to solder a capacitor