Are you switching to T5

[Der_Iron_Chef]

No idea

[Veng68]

those are HO 24 inch T-5's

Cheers,
Vic [veng68]

[Jason McK]

Well that's what I had that browned out all my SPS frags.


I thought they were HO but didn't want to go off on T5 without the facts

J

[Der_Iron_Chef]

But there are TONS of other people who exclusively use HO T5 bulbs and have brilliant SPS in their tanks.

[Joe Reefer]

Originally Posted by Der_Iron_Chef

Why do you have a feeling that T5 lights are the new power compacts? And what is changing your opinion, exactly?

Me being an sps guy, my opinion is probably very biased towards keeping that type of coral. I know there is amazing "T5" sps tanks out there but if the majority is trying it and having mixed results (less than great). I feel that maybe T5's should be left for the tanks with lower light requirements. There are so many variables that can come into play. How far from the light are your sps corals?

How is the LPS growth on everyones T5 tank?

[Patrick1]

I find my 72 not too deep so there is excellent light penetration right to the bottom. Infact I had to turn them down. I am running them right now at 70% or less. I build my own canopy so all the light is focused into the tank where it belongs. I have been watching T5 for a while now on some display tanks at Golds and their SPS is excellent. I went in pointed at one of the tanks and said I want that color. Then made a few changes I like the purple in the evening, just like a real sunset. I am going to upgrade to independant ballasts after the newyear.. As for the coral I am keeping right now I have just shut down my old tank and have only been running the new system for 9 weeks now and I leave on holidays in a month so my coral stock will be minimal until after the newyear. I will keep you posted on my results in a few months.

Originally Posted by Buddyboy

Looks like a mixed bag with T5's.

Maybe 6 bulbs would of been better for your setup Jason? Do you think it was the quantity of T5 light or the quality?

Has anyone else experienced brownouts with their SPS when switching to T5s? If I make the plunge I would like to know I could try SPS in the future.

How is the dimmable T5 lighting Patrick????? It must be awesome!!! Do you find 4 x 54W is enough for your tank? What kind of coral are you keeping?

[Doug]

I wish I could take close up pics to show the growth & colours in my corals. However Mike has been over and can vouch for the difference, as it was 2 months since he last seen my tank.

Whats a halide? So many of them, just saying I would use halides instead is a broad statement. I ran 175w 14K,s over another aquarium and they cant even compare to my T-5,s. Not even my 250 14k over my 45g cube did as well as these. Darned if I know.

When we say this though, what other factors come into play. Who knows. Why are some having success and some not? Same as every other aspect of our hobby I guess. Like BB or DSB.

I played with T-5,s before but always went back to halides and even participated in a thread where I agreed the halides were better for the corals. However I have never given the 4ft. HO,s a fighting chance, which is what I,m doing now.

Why a reference to compacts? Maybe these are no comparison. Why would sps corals not grow under enough light of any kind? Its like the old saying they dont do well under vho lights, yet a few years ago, a friends 120, lit with 6- 4ft. vho bulbs would make you cry if you seen the colours in his sps. Now thats 6- 110w bulbs compared with 4 or 6 54w bulbs. Again, I dont have an answer. He now has a larger tank and runs 400w halides. He would use 6ft. vho bulbs if he switched but he would never go back to T-5 bulbs, that he ran on it before. Mind you he only ran 4 sets of 3 fts. So 8-3ft. HO bulbs. He to thought they were great at the start but in the end, basically threw them away.

I will be interested to see how Mike,s does under the 8 bulb fixture in comparison. Now how the heck can that not be enough light in a 24in. deep tank? Wholey mackeral.

I know mine are doing well now and only time will tell what success they will be. I have 4 clams and they are doing great, except for my fight with pinched mantle. I do know, that I watch my corals closely for change or colour loss. At least I have not had any that bleached like under my halides.

All that being said, success will be when or if my tank & sps ever look like Jason,s or others running their halides. Hard to argue against that.

[clipperfish]

I run both Mh and t5 use t5 for dawn and dusk , and two 400w mh raduim 20,000k for daylight .

[fishoholic]

Originally Posted by Buddyboy

Looks like a mixed bag with T5's.


Has anyone else experienced brownouts with their SPS when switching to T5s? If I make the plunge I would like to know I could try SPS in the future.

We had 3 sps frags under our t5 lights in our 120g and they all started to die off. We moved them to our 30g that has MH and they all made an amazing come back plus have grown like crazy.

[Snappy]

I like the MH look but I did recently add a T5 fixture into the mix. I thus answered no to the question as I am not switching but just using them as a supplemental light source.