T5 Lighting

[Stones]

Originally Posted by daddy01

Hi,
Interesting thread..I have a chance to obtain 36" T5 housing and was curious bout t5's myself . So if you get T5 housing with individual relfectors and good quality bulbs they are as efficient as Halide? or am I misunderstanding something?
My tank is 36"X18"X18" and am running Coralife 36" 2X96W bulbs the T5 fixture would be better?
Jim

Basically what it comes down to is whether or not T5s would be best suited to your aquarium system. There are many threads on RC with actual data comparing metal halide setups to T5 setups and most of the time PAR readings are fairly similar with metal halides typically producing slightly more PAR than T5s. Depending on the bulbs, ballasts, and reflectors used, either metal halide or T5s can produce more PAR so it really depends on the equipment used as well. With T5s, you do have a more customizable light spectrum though as there are many different bulbs you can choose from.

I'm sure that you would be more than happy after making the switch from PC to T5's. Just make sure the T5s are High Output (HO) and not normal output (NO). As you said, individual reflectors as well as high quality bulbs such as aquascience, ATI, KZ, giesmann, etc will make a huge difference in performance.

[RuGlu6]

I go tT5 Tek 6 lamps fixture SPS color and growth is good
i got pink and green SPS growing.
The key thing is the reflectors though.

[lorenz0]

I am actually planning on purchasing a par meter just to measure everything. Another big thing with t5's is what you are using to cool them. The cooler the bulbs are, the higher output your going to get.

What some people have to remember is there are fixtures out there that do amazing jobs. For instance, Nova extreme pro's. If you change the bulbs with a better bulb you would be suprised with what they can grow. Tek's are great but the down fall to them is that they don't have fan's. If they came with fan's they would be competing with the ATI fixture imo.

For me, i am running aqua science bulbs right now but would like to try out KZ next.

Bulb selection is a huge factor. some people go for looks but will get minium growth and than curse that their sps is not growing when in reality if they changed out a few of your bulbs things can change dramatically.

[Red Coral Aquariums]

I have a submersible light meter at the shop if anyone wants to borrow it.
Kevin

[lorenz0]

I will be there tomorrow. can post some numbers comparing a MH set-up and a T5 set up. lol jdigitals 2x250watt vs my 6x54watt t5HO. thats if its ok with him...

[brickwood]

Originally Posted by lorenz0

I will be there tomorrow. can post some numbers comparing a MH set-up and a T5 set up. lol jdigitals 2x250watt vs my 6x54watt t5HO. thats if its ok with him...

Can't wait to see the results.

[lorenz0]

K talked to him. shall get some numbers tomorrow. only difference is his tank is 20" tall and mine is 16" i believe.

When i was refering to cooler bulbs i was mostly thing of using a fan to blow across the bulbs. But like i have mentioned before, cheaper fixtures (TEK, NEP) can produce great results. Sure the ATI is an amazing fixture but for me, a bit out of my price range and for your average reefer they don't want to spend more than $500-700 on a fixture. Its not just the fact that I am running a TEK but alot of people look down on them.

[Canadian]

Originally Posted by lorenz0

I am actually planning on purchasing a par meter just to measure everything. Another big thing with t5's is what you are using to cool them. The cooler the bulbs are, the higher output your going to get.

This isn't true. If you cool a T5 lamp too much you drastically drop the output. Therefore attempting to add active cooling to a lower end T5 fixture is more complex than just blowing air over the lamps. Some lamps have cold spots at one end of the lamp and others don't - this changes the position where the air flow should be directed. The optimal operating temperature is somewhere around 115F (45 degrees C - see this reference: http://www.lighting.com/content.cfm?id=2071&page=/). Above or below that and you see degradation in lamp output and changes in ballast wattage draw --> poorer efficiency.

The biggest problem with respect to gaining even greater wide spread use of T5 lamps in reefkeeping is the general ignorance regarding output and optimizing color and PAR by changing numerous variables (reflector design, lamp choice, ballast choice, active cooling, etc.). MH tends to be the default because it has been around a long time (with good reason) and its application is fairly well understood. In North America we still don't have a good handle on what constitutes an ideal setup (hence seeing Sunlight Supply Tek lights being recommended over and over again despite their poor reflector design and lack of active cooling). And then there's that shimmer issue . . .

[Powertec]

Could the reflectors in the tek fixture be changed out to higher output individual reflectors that clip on?

[JDigital]

Originally Posted by Powertec

Could the reflectors in the tek fixture be changed out to higher output individual reflectors that clip on?

The reflectors in Tek's are individual reflectors.