MH's vs. T5's

[hammcd]

id be hard pressed to make myself go to T5s..MHs just let u grow anythign u want..if i were to change id experiment with LEDs for the heat factor but i love my MH lights..plus LEDs are still expensive although they more than makeup for the cost of buying bulbs

 

[smallblock]

If your going to be on a budget I would go t-5s, everyone is saying MH will grow anything. This may be true but you have to have pristene water quality to grow the coral they are talking about. If your not going to spend the money running gfo carbon and doing consistant water changes your not going to be able to keep those corals any way. I like t-5s better myself. My point is it takes more than just powerfull lights to keep the harder corals so be prepared and plan for water quality equipment as well.

 

[smallblock]

blakejohn;673385 wrote: t-5's will grow anything if set up right, and very customizable. And they can be more costly than MH's as well.

I believe that, but the heat and energy cost to run MH is not cool imo.

 

[snowmansnow]

Rbredding;672999 wrote: T5's will be fine for a tank primarily loaded with LPS and a few, easier sps..

they'll run a LOT cooler than mh lamps (so you probably wont need a chiller)..

no sense in going MH or high end LED unless you're going to do an SPS dominate tank..

I'm not disagreeing, but just adding too....

T5s will ALSO grow sps tanks. NO DOUBT.

The thing is to get a GOOD T5 FIXTURE.... (GOOD t5 fixtures ain't cheap though)

Edit: THIS was my tank before the storms a few months back wiped me out with power out :/ Don't tell me a good T5 fixture won't grow sps.

For size ref.. .its a 120g tank ... 48" x 2'x2'

B
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[kenlude]

I have 8 36watt T5 and 3 250 MH on my 125g tank. I love all the colors of corals under MH. but its heat up my water so fast. Time for me to switch to LED.

 

[izoid]

What fixture were you running and what bulb combo?

SnowManSnow;673497 wrote: I'm not disagreeing, but just adding too....

T5s will ALSO grow sps tanks. NO DOUBT.

The thing is to get a GOOD T5 FIXTURE.... (GOOD t5 fixtures ain't cheap though)

Edit: THIS was my tank before the storms a few months back wiped me out with power out :/ Don't tell me a good T5 fixture won't grow sps.

For size ref.. .its a 120g tank ... 48" x 2'x2'

B

 

[snowmansnow]

izoid;673902 wrote: What fixture were you running and what bulb combo?

IMO THE TOP of the line are ATI Power Modules and Sigfoli (spelling).. however these units reflect the quality in the price. Just under these (IMO) is Aquactinics. I run the 7lamp Aquactinics Constellation.

My lamps are:

UV 75/25
ATI Blue +
GE 6500 Daylight
ATI Blue +
UV AquaSun
ATI Blue Special
ATI Blue Plus

Edit: The MAIN things to consider when purchasing a T5 unit are...

1) Does the unit have INDIVIDUAL high quality reflectors (not that parabolic nonsense)
2) Are individual on / off switches important to you
3) Does the unit incorporate active cooling? (studies show that cooling the lamps can increase PAR and lamp life)
4) Does the fixture overdive the lamps? Keep in mind that over driven doesn't always = better (my fixture doesn't over drive.. the SOLAR FLARE does)
5) How advanced do you want to get? And, are you willing to reflect it in the cost ? I know the ATI PMs are actually dimable now.. and the sigfolis do all KINDS of cool stuff.

BTW.. PM Me if you may be interested in a 48" Constellation perhaps its time to upgrade
B

 

[markv]

I ran my 180 for years with metal halides, and switched to T5's for a few years. The T5's grew my sps faster and with much better coloration. I knew they could grow sps easily, but the coloration surprised me. I recently switched back to metal halide, because I missed the glimmer lines. I'm starting to regret that decision. My tank shoots up 3 degrees now during the day when the MH are on. Bulb replacement for both fixtures was the same, but the T5 fixture used 500-watts less of electricity.

So right now, I'm wondering why I didn't stick with T5's. My tank ran cooler with them, bulb replacement cost was the same, and I saved 500-watts of electricity... Oh, and my corals looked better.

Many will question my observations as anecdotal, but I have run 400's, 250's, 175's, 150's. I've run Radium, Ushios, Iwasaki's... I've used HQI, Magnetic, Electronic ballasts. And nothing compared to running good quality T5's.

I'll keep the Metal Halides for now, since I spent money on the bulbs and drilled holes in the ceiling to hang the light. But I am admittedly regretting it a bit. I should have just kept the T5's and added some LED's for shimmer.

 

[snowmansnow]

I kind of did the same thing Mark.. I started with 400w and couldn't get my colors right.. went with quality 250HQI.. .and was not happy for one reason or another.

Finally went T5 and my corals grow like weeds, and colors are good.. but I miss the "pop" that halides provide as far as shimmer and such...

Like you say.... LED time.

I have a pendant with 24Crees on it that I'm going to re-DIY to a strip light to add this to my tank.... Just gotta figure out how to get the off the heat sink

B

 

[lilrobb]

LEDs are the future,
I got my hands on a few high power pendants - 55 chips at 3W and the PAR and color rendition makes my T5s look dull...