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Another lighting question

reefsandrotts

reefsandrotts

NJRC Member
I'm looking to change the lighting on my 150,I'm leaning towards a T5 12x80 72" light.
Do you think this will penetrate down 28" to the bottom being about 6-8" off the water surface?
Any ideas would be great.
Thanks
 
J

JasonR

What are you going to keep in the tank?
I don't know if T5s will penetrate that deep
If it was me for that deep of a tank I would be using MH with a T5 supplement

Jason
 
M

mott768

My experience with T5's is if the tank is deeper than 24" any light demanding corals and also clams need to be kept in the mid to upper part of the tank, I'd recommend 250w MH's with 4 80w t5's if you use the lumen max reflectors you can get away with 2 MH bulbs. I've seen it done on a 72" long tank.
 
H

harryk

It can be done. I have seen it done. On reefcentral some tank of the month winners are strictly using T5's, and their tanks are at least 24-30" tall and most of those tanks are strictly SPS and the colors are amazing with only T5's. It's all a matter of preference. I would keep any SPS on the top 2/3 of the tank though. Personally i would go with 2 x 250Mh and the rest T5's. But you can do all T5's most people will disagree but it's done all the time. Personally i might go with the all T5 route myself. I haven't made up my mind yet.

Harry
 
D

DaveK

The other question is, what kind of lighting do you have now? In other words will the T5s you want be a massive improvement?

My choice would also be for MHs. However, I would consider the supplemental T5s to be optional. With all the various color temp bulbs available today, the additional T5s are not really needed, unless you like the effect they create.
 
C

Carlo

harryk said:
It can be done. I have seen it done. On reefcentral some tank of the month winners are strictly using T5's, and their tanks are at least 24-30" tall and most of those tanks are strictly SPS and the colors are amazing with only T5's. It's all a matter of preference. I would keep any SPS on the top 2/3 of the tank though. Personally i would go with 2 x 250Mh and the rest T5's. But you can do all T5's most people will disagree but it's done all the time. Personally i might go with the all T5 route myself. I haven't made up my mind yet.

Harry
Click to expand...

I'd have to agree with Harry. I know a few people who have 30" tanks with really big crocea clams sitting on the bottom doing fabulous. One of these tanks is wall to wall SPS also from top to bottom and they all look fantastic. If your water is clean and you have proper flow for what you are keeping the lights aren't going to matter as much (assuming it's a good setup of course).

Carlo
 
Edwardw771

Edwardw771

NJRC Member
i saw one of the nicest sps tanks around the other night. he runs 14 T5s. he had about 100 SPS colonies with all the rare stuff and colors that were out of this world. So impressive in fact that I'm going to run all T5s on my new 265. It was a 180 30 inches deep.

No heat and you can adjust the color with a few $30 bulbs instead of a $75-100 for a MH bulb.
 
M

mott768

Wendy, He's the reason I used all T5's on my old tank :), unfortunately it was not something I could continue doing since 12 bulbs at $25 a bulb is $300 + a year and that is also when I had 13 tanks setup ::).

I am all for T5's, always have been. When I started consolidating tanks is when I made the switch to a mix of MH's and T5's only because the cost per year for bulbs did not fit into my budget. I will say my T5 tank had the best color and growth but there is pro's and con's to everything, talk to people who run SPS dominated T5 tanks and if possible go see them. Weigh all your options and costs before making your decision and do what's best for you. good luck :)
 
malulu

malulu

NJRC Member
i like MH + T5.

I used MH 150Wx3 with PC lights on a 29" deep tank, didn't see much grow beside the sps all the way on top of my tank. some other same corals that i have are growing in amazing color in fisheye's tank with T5x4 only, i finally add T5x2 (60") on the side of my old light about 3 weeks ago, and i already see color getting better, and more furry/fussy looking corals which located in the middle height in the tank. i now have T5 on for about 6 hours per day, and increasing one hour per week, can't wait to see the final outcome in the next 2 months.
 
P

pnoyreefer

I agree with Harry and Carlo. "It can be done" Lots of threads ion Reefcentral about it.BUT I will go with MH and T'5 combo. People use T5's over MH for heat purpose too.
 
C

coralnut99

I think you've got about every possible opinion here by now. Probably the best suggestion is to get a look at a tank that's similar to what you have planned, and judge for yourself. The only thing I'll really add to this is you may want to stay away from 6 foot T5 fixtures. In my opinion 4 footers are fragile enough. Also it's much easier to find anything for a 4 foot fixture or 2 3-foor fixtures for that matter. Not that I've checked, but I would bet it's going to cost more to ship 6 foot lamps when the time comes. Fwiw, I'm one of the ones that had to move away from MH because of heat issues. So give some thought to the cost of a chiller in your decision-making process.
 
D

DaveK

Quite a few good posts here.

When making a selection also consider the TCO (Total Cost of Ownership). Be sure to count the power consumed and the buld replacement costs.

For example, if you use 6 T5 bulbs, and you replace them once a year and they are $30 each, you'll be spending about as much as it would cost to replace 2 MH bulbs at $90 each.

This is why there is often not a clear cut choice when it comes to lighting.
 
C

Carlo

That's very true but I'd have to give the nod to T5s on lamp replacement. The intensity and color shift occurs much faster in a halide bulb then a tube (T5/T8/T12). Halides usually need replacing at about 9 months but most push it to 12 months. T5 are usually good for 18-24 months and some push it even farther then that.

So on lamp replacement I'd have to give the nod to T5s. Also depending on the type of lamp used some can be had for around $10 at your local hardware store as they are used in industry settings.

Carlo
 
reefsandrotts

reefsandrotts

NJRC Member
OK thanks lots to think about now.
Wendy AWSOME site that tank is unreal.
The price difference between the 12x80 T5 and the 3x250 HQI with 4 80 watt T5's is only $100.00,so I'll do more research and keep checking here for more thoughts.
Thanks again
Jim
 
D

DaveK

Carlo said:
That's very true but I'd have to give the nod to T5s on lamp replacement. The intensity and color shift occurs much faster in a halide bulb then a tube (T5/T8/T12). Halides usually need replacing at about 9 months but most push it to 12 months. T5 are usually good for 18-24 months and some push it even farther then that.

So on lamp replacement I'd have to give the nod to T5s. Also depending on the type of lamp used some can be had for around $10 at your local hardware store as they are used in industry settings.

Carlo
Click to expand...

Well, I see we disagree on some of the minor points. I find MHs to be a lot more stable than any fluorescent tube, and find I can get 12-18 months out of the MHs, but only about 12 months out of a tube. This is for typical MH bulbs 6500K to about 15000K. I have never used 20000K MH bulbs, but I believe they are the ones with the shorter life.

Yea, there are some good prices at the local hardware store, especially for bulbs that would usually be used in a household fixture. You do have to check them out carefully. Some look ok buy are not really full spectrum.
 
C

Carlo

Here's an old article but a great deal of it still holds true.

http://www.icecapinc.com/rev1.htm

Carlo

PS I've always run PCs or Halides but due to the nature of my work I now have lots of different lights to play with and experiment on. I've been observing some nice things with lights other then Halides and especially T5s which I never would have believed a year ago.

The one thing I really like about T5 strips is your ability to really fine tune the spectrum of light you run which isn't nearly as easy with Halides. On my main system I've got a combo of 10K & 20K Halides (2 each) and 4 8.5K tubes to whiten up the look a bit.

Personal opinion only but I don't care for the blue look of tanks with the green corals becoming NEON looking. I used to, but my tastes have changed more to a natural look. Obviously my personal preference has nothing to do with it but the point was that with multiple tubes you can work the lamps to get the look you want which is much easier then with Halides.

Another neat thing you can do with T5 setups is set yourself up with a schedule that allows you to change one lamp each month to make it seem as if a whole paycheck doesn't go into switching out your lamps in one month. :)
Overall this is probably better for your corals also as they don't get a sudden shift in color spectrum or intensity change all at once like with a halide lamp change.

BTW, if you really want to build your own setup don't overlook T12 VHO actenics which are arguably the best.

Carlo
 
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