Strictly T5 thread

[Canadian]

Leah,

The Tek light isn't crap per se. It's just that a lot of hobbyists seem to see the recommendations regarding using T5s and then go out and buy something like the Tek fixture thinking they're getting a good T5 fixture. Unfortunately, they're missing most of the critical design components of a good T5 fixture. And as I've stated previously the initial savings of buying a cheaper Tek are eventually obliterated when your lamp replacement is sped up, and your output is diminished so you have to run more lamps to achieve the same output produced by a higher quality fixture.

With that said, I ran a Tek light temporarily on my SPS dedicated tank for about 7 months and it kept things alive but they certainly grew slower. Something like a Tek light would be fine for a soft coral or LPS tank and obviously will work with SPS - it's just not even close to the best option for an SPS tank. And users need to understand that while they're "using T5s" there's a HUGE difference when you're comparing output and efficiency from fixture to fixture.

The most cost effective lighting solution is still MH in my opinion. The up front costs and lamp replacement costs on a quality T5 fixture make them a nice toy with which you can more readily manipulate color. However, there are other down sides to T5s for lighting an SPS tank such as the dreaded pastel coloration or "chick corals" (Brad loves this look).