T5 Lighting

[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.

[digital-audiophile]

I think the TEK is great, I had way more issues with heat from MH lights. (I have a nice burn scar to prove it)

I see a lot of set ups where people add a bank of fans to their TEKs perhaps something I will try down the road.

[lorenz0]

K guys so here are some numbers from my T5HO TEK (bulbs are 10,000k; fiji purple; 10,000k; fiji purple; 10,000k; reef blue. all bulbs are aqua science. I measured first at my sand bed, than top of the rocks (which is mid tank) than surface reading. Measure used was a milwaukee smark luxmeter sm700 on the 20000/50000 x 100lux setting. Tank is 16" deep and the light is 3-4 inches away from the surface.













Also for fun, my 20" NEP using stock current bulbs (3 10,000k; 3 aticnic's). One reading at surface and the other is the sand bed.

[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.