What does everyone think of T5's for reefs

marcingo · #1 03-23-2007, 10:07 PM

Thanks for the advice. I went to take a look at that unit and was very dissapointed. The only one he had running barely lit up a fresh water tank. When I talked to him on the phone he told me each bulb had an individual reflector but when I got there it didnt- maybe thats why the light was so dim on it.

kwirky · #2 03-23-2007, 10:31 PM

they might be normally driven too (NO), and not high output (HO). I've got a coralife aqualight NO T5 light for my FW tank. It's two NO bulbs sharing a reflector packed together, and it's not much light.

When you finally see a proper HO driven T5 light with parabolic reflectors, you'll be amazed at it's brightness.

sorry bout recommending gold's. thought you were in calgary. J&L's a good place to order stuff from. I've gotten quite a bit from there.

marcingo · #3 03-23-2007, 10:45 PM

no problem. It might have been normal driven but I also asked if it was HO T5 and he assured me it was. Would the NO t5 be thin bulbs as well? because these were pretty thin.

Rumika · #4 03-23-2007, 11:59 PM

I hope you don't mind me asking a question but this is also interesting to me. I have a 90g FW that I will be looking at changing over to SW so I am looking for a light fixture for it as well.
Would you know what kind of depth the HO T5's are good for? Also Sean, would you suggest some name brands to look for. I believe you pay for what you get and you may pay more for it in the beginning but in the long run it is worth it.

Thanx

kaboom · #5 03-24-2007, 03:12 AM

Don't waste your money on T5"s. Get the real thing, metal halides. I don't know why people think it's cheaper to run t5's, the wattage of 8 x 54w is 440w, that's not much less than 2x250w MH, and you get the penetration that is essential for deep tanks and sps corals. The only time I would consider t5's is if I want going to keep LPS and soft corals only. Most people eventually migrate to harder to keep corals, and MH upgrade becomes the end result. Why not just start with MH and safe yourself a bunch of money and headache. I am speaking from personal experience and I've read too many of these "upgrading thread help". Hope this helps.

Doug · #6 03-24-2007, 01:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kaboom

Don't waste your money on T5"s. Get the real thing, metal halides. I don't know why people think it's cheaper to run t5's, the wattage of 8 x 54w is 440w, that's not much less than 2x250w MH, and you get the penetration that is essential for deep tanks and sps corals. The only time I would consider t5's is if I want going to keep LPS and soft corals only. Most people eventually migrate to harder to keep corals, and MH upgrade becomes the end result. Why not just start with MH and safe yourself a bunch of money and headache. I am speaking from personal experience and I've read too many of these "upgrading thread help". Hope this helps.

Thats a pretty bold statement. Are you saying my T-5 bulbs wont grow sps in my 16in. tall 30g? Not to mention the oodles of T-5 lit tanks I have seen elsewhere.

Now I agree with your view on costs & power and I have been a metal halide user since the 80,s but there are many ways of keeping corals.

kaboom · #7 03-24-2007, 02:30 PM

There are a lot of ways to grow corals and there are alot of ways to waste money. I've done them both. IME, T5 does not penetrate very well, therefore good for shallow tanks and corals that doesn't require intensity. To the naked eye it appears a littly hazy, like a slightly overcast day

. MH on the other hand is a sunny day, and don't we all love sunny days

.

The reason why I stated that is because most people start out with lighting, or other equipments, that are gearing for the current interest, and perhaps lack the future interest for keeping SPS(everyone's goal

). Investing in something for the long run is always wise and saves you money in the long run. IMO, T5 cannot bring out the vibrant colors of the corals that MH can, and that is truely the main objective, isn't it.