I was just sitting here looking for lights for a new tank and see they still sell them. are t5 and mh still a thing, do people still use them? If you do post pics of your tank and how old the tank is. Also how long you have been using t5 or mh.
Are t5 and mh lights still a thing?
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They are still proven tech that grows coral fantastically . If they did consume so much power and produce so much heat, I’d use them over LED
Guys I'm not looking for lights lol I was just wondering if anyone still used t5 still
Yes. Probably the cheapest way to grow coral. No shimmer though. Looks boring to me but they are tried and true. IMO metal halides are not worth the energy costs and you may need to plan for heat management.
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Yes. Still the golden standard in my opinion. I always used t5s. When I got into the hobby it was power compacts, t5s or metal halides...vho and over driving fluorescents was also a thing. Leds were just moon lights. We are all trying to replicate the sun, i feel t5 and mh come closest. I only switched to, two black box leds two years ago. And they are decent, have shimmer , but so did metal halides and t5s
I actually switched from LEDs over to a LED/T5 hybrid fixture last year, big proponent of it! I use a 36’ AquaticLife Hybrid fixture with Nicrew Hyper Reefs, you can find both on Amazon!
Okay, serious question: what are LED's missing that a T5 will add? Particularly that just adding another bank of LED's won't accomplish, with less power draw and no ballast to deal with?
Easier to get full light coverage with T5s — less shadowing and no disco ball effect. People do add additional LEDs to account for this (AI Blades, Orphek O3s/O4s, etc.), but it's just more straightforward with T5s. (I run a single LED fixture and just live with the shadows
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Hmmm. Okay, I see that, I guess, since it's just a long bright analog tube, instead of numerous discrete digital elements. I was curious because I see T5's still seem to have a lot of fans, but I was never happy with mine.Easier to get full light coverage with T5s — less shadowing and no disco ball effect. People do add additional LEDs to account for this (AI Blades, Orphek O3s/O4s, etc.), but it's just more straightforward with T5s. (I run a single LED fixture and just live with the shadows
For me, the ability to ramp the lights up and down has always been the single biggest draw to LED - I always kinda hated the way the fluorescent lights just snap on. That and I always felt like the twin T5's on my 55 were grossly under-powered. At the time, adding MH's was the logical next step, but also were a whole other hassle, ala wiring/hanging, heat, power draw, and cost, and not practical in the apartment I lived in back then. Also, discovering that my newly-purchased bulbs were actually old stock
I have yet to see my tank with water - much less aquascape - under my twin LED's to be certain what it looks like, but tbh I don't think I mind a bit of shadowing here and there, as I like the contrast it provides, at least in some of the other tanks I've looked at. I do know I'll need to add more lighting as time goes by, but I have a feeling I would be better served by more/better LED's, unless there's been some advancements with T5's in terms of adjustable brightness and total intensity I've missed out on that are still cost-competitive with LED.
