T5 lighting for SPS?

[Stones]

Thanks for the compliments Ryan. Here is a pic of my tank from a few weeks back. Forgive my photography skills as I can't seem to get the white balance set correctly for the life of me.



I'm using the Sfiligoi Stealth 8 x 54 watt fixture and the only corals which I keep are SPS. I thought that after switching from 2 x 250 Watt metal halide that I would have to shuffle some corals around to move them higher in the tank but that has not been the case. I can keep acros on the sandbed with no ill effects. My corals are also starting to colour up much faster than when I was using metal halides. I recently moved this reef in September of 2008 and after which almost all of my acros browned out on me. I was using the halide setup until December of this year with near zero improvement in colouration. As soon as I switched to the T5 fixture, I noticed colours were coming back in less than a weeks time. The colours still aren't anywhere near what they were before I moved but at least im making some progress now with the new fixture.

I don't have the links handy but I've read through a thread on RC where 8 x 54 watt T5's (in a TEK fixture) were compared to 2 x 250 metal halides and the T5s actually came out on top for par readings, even though they used less watts. T5's also produced more even par readings throughout the tank whereas the par readings with the metal halide varied considerably due to shadowing of the point source.

I would definately recommend T5's to anyone thinking about making the switch or just getting into keeping SPS. With that said, I would not recommend T5's for all setups. Tanks over 30" deep or cube type tanks would be situations where using metal halide setups would work much better than T5's.

[jus68]

Stones,

Would you please tell us the T5 bulbs combination you have for your setup and what make?

Thanks,

[Stones]

Originally Posted by jus68

Stones,

Would you please tell us the T5 bulbs combination you have for your setup and what make?

Thanks,

I'm currently using: 4 Aquascience Blue (22K) bulbs, 1 KZ Fiji Purple, 2 KZ New Gen Coral Light (14K), and 1 Aquascience Special (15K, but looks like a 10K). In reality, my tank actually looks quite a bit bluer than the picture as the white balance on my camera is impossible to get set correctly.

Next bulb change I'd like to try all ATI bulbs since progressive reef now carries them as the pro colour is more subtle than the fiji purple. I'm not a huge fan of the Aquascience Special (15K) either and next time I'd swap it out for another KZ New gen or an Aquascience Duo (17.5K) if I choose not to go all ATI.

Regarding the par tests done on RC, I can't find the thread but I seem to remember the T5 unit being a TEK while the metal halide was a 2 x 250 retro with lumenarc type reflectors. Neither of the setups were being overdriven and the PAR readings were very close which only proves that T5s can produce the same or similar light intensity to metal halide.

If you were to compare apples to apples and make the comparison more fair, you would have to pair up an ATI powermodule or Sfiligoi Stealth against a high end metal halide fixture like Sfiligoi or Giesmann. That being said, both setups used in the test were choosen because they were readily available for purchase and represented the most commonly employed fixtures used for either metal halide or T5s. I'm sure higher PAR levels could have been achieved had they used higher end fixtures but even then PAR readings would likely have been similar as adding active cooling to T5's makes a huge difference while using a better reflector/bulb combo for metal halides also makes a huge difference.

[Whatigot]

haha...
long story short, you're good either way.

[lastlight]

Actually I think the lumenarcs pump far more light into the tank than any of the high end pendants so even more cudos to the t5s.

[i have crabs]

length can also be a factor, as my 48" llight with 8 bulbs puts out twice as much par as 8x24"bulbs in my cube

[Stones]

Originally Posted by i have crabs

length can also be a factor, as my 48" llight with 8 bulbs puts out twice as much par as 8x24"bulbs in my cube

You are correct that the 48" fixture will have a higher PAR output than the 24" fixture with the same amount of bulbs. Length however is not the determining factor as T5's will produce identical PAR ratings along the length of the bulb no matter where you take the measurement. The reason why the 48" fixture will produce more PAR is due to the bulbs being 54 watts as opposed to 24 watts. The same increase in PAR would also be seen if you were to overdrive the 48" T5 bulbs on an icecap ballast.

Have you done PAR testing on your two different fixtures? I'm always curious to see results from different T5 fixtures.

[Whatigot]

Originally Posted by Stones

Thanks for the compliments Ryan. Here is a pic of my tank from a few weeks back. Forgive my photography skills as I can't seem to get the white balance set correctly for the life of me.



I'm using the Sfiligoi Stealth 8 x 54 watt fixture and the only corals which I keep are SPS. I thought that after switching from 2 x 250 Watt metal halide that I would have to shuffle some corals around to move them higher in the tank but that has not been the case. I can keep acros on the sandbed with no ill effects. My corals are also starting to colour up much faster than when I was using metal halides. I recently moved this reef in September of 2008 and after which almost all of my acros browned out on me. I was using the halide setup until December of this year with near zero improvement in colouration. As soon as I switched to the T5 fixture, I noticed colours were coming back in less than a weeks time. The colours still aren't anywhere near what they were before I moved but at least im making some progress now with the new fixture.

I don't have the links handy but I've read through a thread on RC where 8 x 54 watt T5's (in a TEK fixture) were compared to 2 x 250 metal halides and the T5s actually came out on top for par readings, even though they used less watts. T5's also produced more even par readings throughout the tank whereas the par readings with the metal halide varied considerably due to shadowing of the point source.

I would definately recommend T5's to anyone thinking about making the switch or just getting into keeping SPS. With that said, I would not recommend T5's for all setups. Tanks over 30" deep or cube type tanks would be situations where using metal halide setups would work much better than T5's.

Isn't that pretty much a top top of the line t5 fixture?(sfiligoi)
also, what t5 fixture, bulbs, reflectors and ballasts vs what halide fixture, bulbs, reflectors and ballasts were used in this comparison?

[Rbacchiega]

Yes, Stone's is the top of the line, but I too remember the thread on RC where they compared a TEK unit to Metal Halides. I have Metal Halides over one of my 90s, but am very seriously considering changing all my tanks that aren't overly deep over to t5s. The 50 gallon will be getting a 6 bulb unit..

[Whatigot]

well yeah, but I bet if you compared a top of the line halide unit (like a sfigoloi)or one of the better combos a la sanjay, you might find a different result to that comparison.
Maybe not, but certainly the RC~ thread you guys remember was far from definitive.