T5 Lighting

Red Coral Aquariums · #1 01-21-2009, 04:27 AM

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

lorenz0 · #2 01-21-2009, 04:44 AM

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 · #3 01-21-2009, 04:50 AM

Quote:

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 · #4 01-21-2009, 05:06 AM

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 · #5 01-21-2009, 02:41 PM

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 · #6 01-21-2009, 09:51 PM

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.

lorenz0 · #7 01-21-2009, 10:12 PM

K so now comparing against 2x250watt MH using luxmax 3 with 14,000k ushio bulbs. I didn't go all the way down but this is just to show. still started at surface reading, than about 8 inches down, than 16 inches down... about. Same settings and both tanks have had the lights on for over an hour and a half.

Surface readings

8 inches down readings

16 inches down readings

Now the whole point to me doing this test was not to compare which was better but everyone knows that a good 250watt MH set up will be able to grow SPS easily. Now this shows that a good T5 set up does compare to it with close numbers. Sadly i wish t5's had the shimmer