Going from T-5 to MH..anything i need to know?

I dont know 72, maybe. Personally, I do run 3 small 4" fans that use like 4 watts each. But, if that is the tradeoff for the glorious look of MH, compared to pastel T5, I'll take it.
 
Haha, ok. At least you didn't say "but they shimmer". I hate that argument.

And I can't afford to run my home at 72 degrees. My power bill would be $500...I know...I've tried it before...
 
au01st;297544 wrote: Haha, ok. At least you didn't say "but they shimmer". I hate that argument.

And I can't afford to run my home at 72 degrees. My power bill would be $500...I know...I've tried it before...
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I upgraded my AC last year after ours did, its super effecnt, cut my power bill down to less than half. Also has dehumidifier, which is awesome..so keeping my house at 72 isnt a problem
 
rostato;297460 wrote: I just like saying BOOOOOO, I could care less.
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Honestly, I am on that boat too. I will boo any opportunity I get.

I think arguing MH vs T5 is poo as well, since they are so different, and partially preference, so comparing and arguing is like apples and oranges. I love MH, but on the same token I have no chiller and good par, so I will probably not try the MH again anytime soon just as a precaution to mesing that up for me.

Honestly my favorite thing about my t5s is that my canopy is 3.5" tall, which I think looks great instead of a taller one.

Check ou tthis low profile nugget of engineering. Its sick-nasty
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But they DO shimmer. At that is a million times its weight in gold. To me, thats a FAR better reason that "its economical". I run my house at 72, run 3 400 watt MH, plus another 150 on the 30 cube, and my electric bill is $150 a month. But if you cant dio it, so be it. But tahts no reason that its better than MH.

To me, aquariums look FAKE with fluorescent lighting. Like Im watching it on TV, rather than real life. And Im notr talking that HD Blue Planet stuff. Low grade, rabbit ears. Or those black light posters. Yeck.
 
Ok, so you wanna start a brawl, eh? Well I think the shimmer is compensaton for a flat, static aquarium full of poo. So there.

I can get shimmer with my LEDS. You have to stand 8" from the tank and look in the dark recessed areas, but it is there. And it is boring. Shimmer is what attracts fish to lures, monkeys to coins, and women to Marines (shinny buttons). I am none of those. ;)
 
And Jeremy, did you say once your tank is in the basement? That would help a lot, too. I'd love to have a pad with a basement, as I bet it can really make the heat a big non-issue. Someday when I graduate with an archi degree, which may be worth more as toilet paper in this economy.... :(
 
The shimmer is one of the main reasons I run halides.

Start your photoperiod at 4 hrs a day, then each week increase it by 1/2 hour. That is what Coralvue recommends for their Lumenbright reflectors, and what I did, and I still bleached two acros. And I was going from 250 watt DE to 250 watt SE halides. It is the LB reflectors that can bake the corals. It really is that good/efficient over other halide reflectors.

Matter of fact, from the coral's growth needs, you really don't need more than a 6 hour photoperiod with LB reflectors.

I also saw a two degree temperature drop in my tank temp because I had to raise the LB reflectors higher off the water than my DE halides so as not to bleach/kill the corals.

So you can actually lower your tank temp and decrease you photoperiod with LB reflectors over other halide lighting products. Don't know about LB reflectors vs T5s though.
 
bratliff;297560 wrote: But, I don't ever remember seeing a power head in a reef in nature. :confused2: I know my aquarium is a "fake reef" and I happen to like the look my flourescents give me.
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Exactly, fake is just another opinion based on what one percieves as 'natural'. Obviously most all of our tanks are very fake, in no way imitating nature since we have fish and corals from all over the world compacted into a tiny box. It really is a potrait that we compose ourselves. But the sun does shimmer somewhat, so maybe that is the connection in MH's realness.

And yes the LB reflectors are awesome, and I would want them if I ran MH, but man they require a high-altitude canopy!
 
Derek_S;297564 wrote: Exactly, fake is just another opinion based on what one percieves as 'natural'. Obviously most all of our tanks are very fake, in no way imitating nature since we have fish and corals from all over the world compacted into a tiny box. It really is a potrait that we compose ourselves. But the sun does shimmer somewhat, so maybe that is the connection in MH's realness.

And yes the LB reflectors are awesome, and I would want them if I ran MH, but man they require a high-altitude canopy!
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IMO, that argument is a crock. If it werent, wed all have dead or fake corals in our tanks, and wouldnt care about nuisance algae. We ALL strive to have our tanks look as natural as possible. If they made invisible powerheads, we'd all have them. Are you REALLY trying to say you try to make your tank look FAKE??!! C'mon, youre not fooling me.

There is a reason we all drool and whine when we see the Blue Planet specials with teh shimmering blue water and crisp white light- Its gorgeous. Why are you trying to downplay the appeakl of that?

I get it- to each, their own. What I like, otehrs dont. And it is personal preference. And, in my prefernece, since we all try to make our aquariums look, and behave as naturally as possible, MH are the only real lighting choice for that.
 
Derek_S;297557 wrote: Ok, so you wanna start a brawl, eh? Well I think the shimmer is compensaton for a flat, static aquarium full of poo. So there.

I can get shimmer with my LEDS. You have to stand 8" from the tank and look in the dark recessed areas, but it is there. And it is boring. Shimmer is what attracts fish to lures, monkeys to coins, and women to Marines (shinny buttons). I am none of those. ;)
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lol. That's A material :).
 
Shimmer is created because there are only a few points of light entering the water in a halide lit tank. You can replicate that with t5s at dawn/dusk if you use a single t5 bulb on a small reflector. Can't do that with all your bulbs on of course because when you put all that shimmer together from each bulb and they blend together and cancel out the look.
 
Yeah, I'd say that if my coral naturally is brown in its shallow reef environment, I'd prefer it turn purple under my 400W Radium err whatever.

So yeah, I'd say I am reserving a high degree of artistic license when composing my tank, especially since i have corals and fish from multiple locations around the world who dont coexist naturally. I have only been diving on one reef, but I'd say you'd be hard pressed to find one that looks like a nicely composed tank. But, I guess it depends on the person's tank. Maybe a biotype or whatever is closer, but I just dont think a tank that houses animals from Australia, Indonesia, Japan, etc's main concern is a natural 'environment'. But what do you call natural? What is in the ocean? I guess this gets deeper than the surface, as a definition of 'natural' can get really abstract.



jmaneyapanda;297618 wrote: IMO, that argument is a crock. If it werent, wed all have dead or fake corals in our tanks, and wouldnt care about nuisance algae. We ALL strive to have our tanks look as natural as possible. If they made invisible powerheads, we'd all have them. Are you REALLY trying to say you try to make your tank look FAKE??!! C'mon, youre not fooling me.

There is a reason we all drool and whine when we see the Blue Planet specials with teh shimmering blue water and crisp white light- Its gorgeous. Why are you trying to downplay the appeakl of that?

I get it- to each, their own. What I like, otehrs dont. And it is personal preference. And, in my prefernece, since we all try to make our aquariums look, and behave as naturally as possible, MH are the only real lighting choice for that.
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MH are so much better looking than T-5's. The only cool look of a t-5 or (VHO), is the actinic look at dawn & dusk. but really, who cares? I have no chiller.

I think low wattage pumps like vortech & tunze help more with tank temp anyway. a few fans over your sump will do the trick usually if you have issues. I removed my fans a few months back when I realized that it wasn't the lights, it was the ph's. But that was a long time ago! doh!

yeah, I think shorter photo period is ok, but more importantly, I believe it's the intensity that has more of an effect. screen.
 
ZDaytonaRoadster;297910 wrote: ...you guys are de-railing me thread
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Your right an I apologize. But I think you have the best advice here already. Start with a low photoperiod, and either raise the lights or use a screen/mesh to reduce the intensity. Definatly do both as just a low photoperiod still ramps up the photosynthesis really quick and can burn the corals(so I've read).
 
Got my lights today, need to run to homedepot tomorrow to finish the set up...wow its like night and day..soooo much more light, i cant believe the difference..I &lt;3 the darkside
 
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