T5's
- Thread starter Reefcraze_1
- Start date
DrHank
Well-Known Member
I've been looking at this 120w T5 unit from Premium Aquatics.
TX5 Series Aquactinics 24" 5 lamp T5 fixture - no lamps: Premium Aquatics
That is one of my favorite fixtures. Should work great.
TX5 Series Aquactinics 24" 5 lamp T5 fixture - no lamps: Premium Aquatics
That is one of my favorite fixtures. Should work great.
Kerchakone
Member
Are these any good? I have a 36" wide 20" deep 46 gallon. I was looking at the 6x39watt. I don't think they have individual reflectors so I was going to go 6 bulb. Would that work for a crocea you think?
Aqua Medic Ocean Light T5 Fixtures - Salty Critter - Your Saltwater Specialists
Aqua Medic Ocean Light T5 Fixtures - Salty Critter - Your Saltwater Specialists
prow
Well-Known Member
get a fixture with individual reflectors. that aqua medic does not have them. the one drhank linked will work. i like the sunlinght supply fixtures. here is a link to one. call and ask greg if you can get it with new tek 2 reflectors. http://www.reefgeek.com/lighting/T5...-Output_Fixture_with_Bulbs_by_Sunlight_Supply for sure get a fixture with individual reflectors, you can always take a reflector off if the light is too much. its much harder to add reflectors.
I have seen tanks with T5's and HQI's side by side and there's really no comparison AFA intensity goes and all the tests done at RC show that T5's give ya nowhere near the amount of PAR that MH bulbs will give ya. Now it's true you'll get better coverage with T5's if not using a good reflector but even that will change if you use a LumenArc reflector with your MH's.
Now in shallower tanks T5's can work very well but if you want to keep light demanding Acro's and Tridacnads such as Croceas/Maximas you'll need to place as many bulbs as possible. If you can fit 6 54 w bulbs that's the way I would go.
Now in shallower tanks T5's can work very well but if you want to keep light demanding Acro's and Tridacnads such as Croceas/Maximas you'll need to place as many bulbs as possible. If you can fit 6 54 w bulbs that's the way I would go.
prow
Well-Known Member
humm, have you read throught he T5 Q&A thread on RC. many many many tests done on that thread. my own test show 80wT5's and 250w mh(watt for watt)where very close at 18" under the water line. i have clams and acro's under 3 80watt T5's doing great. dont forget the watts on the T5 bulbs. 39watt bulbs and 80watt bulbs are not the same light. if you compare a 250watt MH and 3x80watt T5 they both do great. now take the 250w MH and compare to 5x54w T5's, the T5's might not be as close. but if you take a 150w MH and compare to 2x80w T5's the T5's out do the MH. just something to consider. everyone keeps lumping the T5's as if the bulb wattage means nothing. example, the thinking that 6x39w bulbs is the same as or more than 4x54w bulbs, this is not so. the 4x54w bulbs will provide much more PAR at deeper depths than the 6x39w bulbs even though less watts are used. watt for watt T5's and MH is about the same.
Prow I know many people who are successful using T5's and some of them have tanks loaded with SPS and Tridacnads BUT the tanks are relatively shallow AND they're using a ton of bulbs so the cost in the long run could be considerably higher especially if your replacing these bulbs every 6 months due to the fact these bulbs are being overdriven, this shortens their lifespan.
Have you checked this thread at RC ?
Reef Central Online Community - T5 lamp PAR readings
prow
Well-Known Member
yup, read through that one. shows good results but only compares T5 bulbs with other T5 bulbs. in the Q&A thread there are some test comparing T5 and MH. i change my overdriven bulbs once a year. but your right after all is said and done they are about the same price. for me though the price of buying and running a chiller had to be factored in. in some areas this is not a concern and MH would be a better choice, there is no dout good and bad with each. just depends on your system and its needs.
Rcpilot
Has been struck by the ban stick
I am amazed that people are only using 216w on a 75g. That's about 2.3w per gallon.
I just bought this 6 bulb unit. It's 24" long, so it uses the 24w bulbs. That gives me 144w -- or about 4.8w per gallon.
Am I going to burn my zoas, polyps and mushrooms with this unit? It sure sounds like it, if I'm reading you correctly. I plan to get some SPS and LPS soon. I'm pretty loaded with zoas and mushrooms right now.
It's a 30g tank and measures 24" deep.
Catalina Aquarium
I thought I was doing good. Now I'm worried that I bought too much light. :bouncebox
I just bought this 6 bulb unit. It's 24" long, so it uses the 24w bulbs. That gives me 144w -- or about 4.8w per gallon.
Am I going to burn my zoas, polyps and mushrooms with this unit? It sure sounds like it, if I'm reading you correctly. I plan to get some SPS and LPS soon. I'm pretty loaded with zoas and mushrooms right now.
It's a 30g tank and measures 24" deep.
Catalina Aquarium
I thought I was doing good. Now I'm worried that I bought too much light. :bouncebox
Rcpilot
Has been struck by the ban stick
Me neither. I thought you had to get up around 10--12w per gallon to actually worry about burning things. But, I see a lot of discussion about burning stuff with WAY less light than that.
I still don't think 4.8w per gallon is anything to get excited about. I wish I had 6w or 7w per gallon.
If my zoas get any better, I'm gonna have a reefgasm. I got some really cool stuff--at least I think so.
prow
Well-Known Member
forget about the watts per gallon. 2x24watt bulbs will not have the punch a 39watt bulb will have. 4.8watts per gallon of 24watt bulbs is not the same as 4.8watts per gallon of 54watt bulbs.
another example of forget about the watts per gallon thing. if you put 6x24watt bulb with good individual reflectors vs 6x24watt bulbs without reflectors or with not so good reflectors, huge difference. but yet still the watts per gallon are the same.
another example of forget about the watts per gallon thing. if you put 6x24watt bulb with good individual reflectors vs 6x24watt bulbs without reflectors or with not so good reflectors, huge difference. but yet still the watts per gallon are the same.
Octoman
Well-Known Member
I have also struggled with wpg on T5 bulbs. I've seen first hand that individual reflectors can make a huge difference! A lot of light can be wasted with poor reflectors or if 4 bulbs share one vs. having individual reflectors. The light energy from the bulb winds up being reflected back into the bulb or into the bulbs next to it. I replaced 4 - 96W pcs with 3 - 80W T5s (with individual reflectors) and, although I don't have an empirical measurement, there seemed to be significantly more light and better colors.
And the output of the bulb is greater exponentially versus bulb length. Larger bulbs pack more punch than two bulbs half their size (eg. 48" vs 2-24"). Even if you look at watts per bulb, it doesn't line up in a linear way - 2x24w = 48w < 54w for a 48". Or for 60" - 80w > 3 x 24w bulbs or 1.25 x 54w bulb.
It's can be difficult to apply wpg to T5s because of the many different configurations of the hoods that are out there.
And the output of the bulb is greater exponentially versus bulb length. Larger bulbs pack more punch than two bulbs half their size (eg. 48" vs 2-24"). Even if you look at watts per bulb, it doesn't line up in a linear way - 2x24w = 48w < 54w for a 48". Or for 60" - 80w > 3 x 24w bulbs or 1.25 x 54w bulb.
It's can be difficult to apply wpg to T5s because of the many different configurations of the hoods that are out there.
prow
Well-Known Member
no your not missing anything on the watts to bulbs. we were taking about watts per gallon and T5's burning corals. i was trying to point out that you can not go by watts per gallon on that. in reefcraze 1 tank he was thinking 4or6 39watt bulb T5 fixture for his 36x19x18. we were saying that 4 should do and 6 might be to much and burn his lps. Rcpilot did not think 4.8watt(not where this number came, maybe overdriven bulbs but we will work normal outputs) was too much for his tank 24x19x18. i was saying forget the watts per gallon because the 39watt bulbs punch more through the water.prow am I missing something.. isn't the watts per bulb dictated by the bulb length?
Allen
so
6x24w T5 on Rcpilots 24x19x18(35gal)=144w or 4.1w/gal
6x39w T5 on Reefcraze 1 36x19x18(55gal)=234w or 4.2w/gal
both are 19" tall tanks. both lighting setups give about the same watts per gallon. but the 39watters will punch through the water more and the corals on the bottom will get more light vs the corals under the 24watters even though the watts per gallon are the same.
Oh yeah.. that's dead on... if they are of the same depth then for sure the 39ers will really make a huge difference on the same corals at the same depth.
This is why the "watts per gallon" rule is really only for a beginner to get an idea of a lighting fixture. When we get into specifics as far as different intermeidate critters we need to evaluate the tank as a whole and not even look at the "watts per gallon" theory.
Good work prow
Allen
This is why the "watts per gallon" rule is really only for a beginner to get an idea of a lighting fixture. When we get into specifics as far as different intermeidate critters we need to evaluate the tank as a whole and not even look at the "watts per gallon" theory.
Good work prow
Allen
Saltwater Noob
Member
great thread I will keep watching What dose the 6500K 10000K 12000K mean in the daylight bulbs the higher the K the deep it gose in the tank?
What dose the 6500K 10000K 12000K mean in the daylight bulbs the higher the K the deep it gose in the tank?
prow
Well-Known Member
thanks, i think its a big reason we have such disagreements, even among those that have used them, on what can be supported at what depth. i have 80watt bulbs that supports everything i have put on the bottom of my tank. my friend too, his tank is 26" tall. all the lps you see in my chronicle have been moved to the corners becasue of burning. my tanks 6' the bulbs are 5', even with no coverage on the sides the lps still are not all that happy. all the sps and clams are though:invisibleOh yeah.. that's dead on... if they are of the same depth then for sure the 39ers will really make a huge difference on the same corals at the same depth.
This is why the "watts per gallon" rule is really only for a beginner to get an idea of a lighting fixture. When we get into specifics as far as different intermeidate critters we need to evaluate the tank as a whole and not even look at the "watts per gallon" theory.
Good work prow
Allen
i find most that talk about T5's are usually talking about 39w bulbs. for many its so hard to get them see around the gal/w rule and look at the bulb. maybe because the various wattage MH bulbs are about the same size compared to T5's bulbs. i dont know, but you really can not compare to MH's in the traditional sense.
Exactly! You're not comparing apples to apples. So many variables and factors involved. Really what's most important is Wattage to depth and even THAT leaves many variables NOT factored in. That's why there is no hard & fast way to know for sure what will work on EVERY tank. You've done a good job of trying to digest and explain it though.
Allen
Allen