The results are in

[StirCrazy]

Well I went to Safari's today and took some PAR measurments on various lighting setups. The PC and T5's had pretty much brand new bulbs and the MH were well used bulbs. Sence I could not rearange the lighting setups on the tanks in the store the MH readings were taken over a greater distance which means that they would have had an even higher output if all the distances were equal.

the first was a 55watt PC, at a distance of 6.5" from the meter (1.5" air 5" water) its reading was 139 units of PAR (rounded up to next whole number).

the next was a HO T5 running two 24 watt bulbs, at a distance of 6.5" from the meter (1.5" air 5" water) (same size as PC unit) it's reading was 216 units of PAR (rounded up to next whole number).

then a 250 watt mogal set up at a distance of 12.5" from the meter (7.5" air 5" water) with old bulbs, its reading was 363 units of PAR (rounded up to next whole number).

and finaly was a 250 watt hqi combo fixture which was a distance of 11.5 (6.5" air, 5" water) it had a reading of 524 units of PAR rounded down to whole number.

so what does this tell us, when chosing between VHO/PC and T5, the T5's are the way to go, as it gives you 64% more PAR output

but if you want the higher intensity and punch, you still want to use MH as your main lights and suplement for color with T5's.

So there it is in black and white, T5's are and exelent upgrade for vho and PC tanks but a down grade for MH tanks.



On a Side note I did buy a T5 unit for my fresh water tank today sence I wanted to pugrade from the T8 setup I was using. as well as 3 bags of florite, but thats another thread.

Steve