More fuel for the T5 fire

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by Canadian

Steve,

1) How are you measuring and comparing the intensity of T5 lamps to MH? Are you fishing around for a spot of highest intensity or mapping out a grid both horizontally and vertically?

2) What specific T5 lamps were in the T5 fixture you measured? Did the fixture use true individual parabolic reflectors? What fixture was measured? Did the fixture utilize active cooling? How old were the lamps? How high above the water were the fixtures?

I'm all for "measuring" things in an attempt to quantify differences but if there's a complete lack of control and standardization then the comparison is as useful as "MH sucks and T5 kicks a$$".

And to be fair, I use both MH and T5 in combination

hey Andrew, good to see you back on again, I didn't do a map, but I did deviate up to 8" from the center line of the MH at a depth of 12" (under water) and it still maintained almost double the intensity of the TEK light directly under the bulb. and to be fair I did try to find the highest point of light under the T5 to see if I could get a higher reading. the T5 lights had maybe 5 days use and the MH was about 6 months old.

Now one thing is that I do not believe in the grid measurements, but rather realistic ones. we don't worry about light in the corner on our tank why should we worry about it for testing. I rather will test the usable area in a tank with water. I have done all over readings on my tank just out of curiosity though and I can tell you my old AB's put out more light in the dimmest area at a depth of 23" of water and 6" of air than my PC's did 6" directly below the bulb. on my standardized jig I can only get to with in 3" of the glass so on a 24" wide tank I can measure the middle 18 inches but since we all try to keep the glass free for cleaning I decided this was realistic.

At one time I was in the process of gathering equipment and building a black box tester but after I bought 4 ballasts and 12 bulbs I changed my mind and decided to go with practical "as used" testing. one thing I haven't tested and would like to is this solaris, but I don't know anyone local that is rich enough to have one

Steve