ho vs. t5?

[keithcrmr]

i had posted a thread a few weeks ago asking about te 440 watt vho system i had planned on installing and was given the approval by all in the forum.. i ahve a 55 gal and today when i went to purchase i began a conversation with another reefer who had been in the hobby for over 10 years he had claimed he seemed very knowlgable and suggested that i look into the t5 lights and that with the propper reflectors and using vho ballast that i could get a very close outout level to the vho with less heat and money... he then began ex;plaining the different varrieties of colors offered by the t5s as well which i guess will add more color to my tank so long story short i left my lfs with no lights and a headache please help!!!

[prow]

T5's are very nice. depending on the ballast, if say a icecap ballast, the T5's will be way stronger than the VHO's, very close to MH. not sure about using a T12 only ballast with T5's though.

what kind of corals are you planning?

in my chronicle you can see my tank with T5's. i must say though i am upgrading and put all those corals on the sand and the past couple months they have really colored up and growth rates look better too. i think my T5's setup is too much for most of my acros unless they are under the 15" mark they are doing better now on the bottom.

[BigAl07]

Hello and good morning keith

I went back and read each/every post and honestly there was no definitive conclusion/approval to lights made. You were offered several "ideas" and you even asked about the Outer Orbit Extreme by Current. I even sent you a very helpful PM where you can get some EXCELLENT advice for quality lights etc.

If you're wanting T5's (HO) that's a good choice to go with as long as you provide ENOUGH bulbs with the right ballast and quality reflectors. I am a fan of T5's even though I'm running an Outer Orbit Pro unit on my tank. It combines T5 and MH's in one neat and easy to use fixture and looks great on the tank.

Keep in mind that you can get different "colors" of light from T5's but also from MH (VHO's). I don't think (someone correct me here) you can run T5's on VHO ballasts. That part needs to be looked into. There are BETTER ballasts than some but they are still HO ballasts. It's just two different technologies.

I read through each of your threads and see you want to try and keep a clam or clams as well as anemones. You'll need to stay in the high end T5's (not an economical fixture) or Metal Hallides. The good news is that T5's will be less expensive initially AND in the long run. With MH you run the risk of increased tank temps (insert chiller needed here), increased electricity ($$) and increased cost of bulb replacement (MH bulb aren't given away). So if you can get a quality T5 fixture go for it.

I hope that helps.

[Tru2nr]

i would suggest a t-5 bulb with an icecap 660 ballast it will overdrive your bulbs to roughly 80w per bulb and will give you better lightning then with a t-12vho even though they are rated at a higher wattage also the heat will be less with the t-5's and if you have a canopy you will be able to fit more into your canopy...would recommend a retrofit kit without a ballast and purchase the ice-cap 660 the only thing is that the 660 while overdriving your bulbs which is nice will drop the life of the bulb by a couple of months but the t-5 bulbs are relatively cheap so it all depends on your pocket book

[prow]

good post allen. it made me have to post this to clarify my post

note on my system i am running 6x80w T5 bulbs with individual tek reflectors on 660 icecap ballasts(overdrives them to 100w). the 80w bulbs are very strong and my tank is only 20" tall, a ton of light. using 54w bulbs on a 20" tall tank will not have the same effect even if the watts/gallon are the same. jsut an FYI.

allen is right, if your debating between MH and T5's, only quality T5 setup compare. VHO's are not even in teh same class. now "cheaper" T5 setups might compare to VHO's- one of the perks about T5's (good setups) you can go from high light output to mid by just removing/replacing the reflectors. also there are icecap retrofits that use SLR reflectors. FYI SLR or TEK reflectors are the two best and in a league of there own, both are far superior to the next inline.

[keithcrmr]

ok so what you guys are saying is a good t-5 setup is supperior to the vhos for this i thank you i was very confused by all the different opinions on lighing from the serveal lfs in my area...is it possible for you to post a link for me to view the cost of a complete retrofit kit and the icecap 600 ballast...thanks again!

[Tru2nr]

champion lightning has real good prices also marine depot is pretty resonable

[prow]

i get mine here
this link is for the icecap SLR retrofits. they come with SLR reflectors and the high out put setups are normal powered T5's running on either a icecap 430, accustart or vossloh-schwabe ballast. they are high out puts, much more light than VHO's a little less then MH but in the ballpark. the very high out put setup are the same but run on a icecap 660 ballast which overdrives the bulb and is comparable to MH. http://www.reefgeek.com/lighting/T5_...Retrofit_Kits/

this link is for the TEK 2 retrofits. they are the same as above but only use accustart or vossloh-schwabe ballast for the high out puts and come with TEK 2 reflectors. the very high out puts on these also use icecap 660 ballast
http://www.reefgeek.com/lighting/T5_...Retrofit_Kits/

either one of these type setups are good and you dont need the very high out put ones (with icecap 660 ballast) unless you are going for a sps/clam tank or tall tank. the SLR reflectors use to be the best reflectors followed by the TEK reflectors. now they have a retrofit with the TEK 2 reflector, they are supposed to be a little better than the SLR but not sure on that, still both of these are top notch.

[keithcrmr]

thank you for the links everything looks good but how does the 48 inch high output with 4 light and rflecor compare to my original idea of 4 110watt vho with two ballast... im sorry for all the questions but this is my first tank of this size dealing with the reef and i want to get it right and do it the right way...thanks for all the help!

[prow]

how do T5's compare with VHO's? mmmm, about the same as if you compared VHO's with MH on PAR outputs. normal driven T5's are still powerful lights. 4x54w bulbs will put out about the same or more PAR as 4x110w VHO's, but the T5's are doing it running on 216w where as the VHO's need 440w to compare.

[jski711]

IME I run a 6 bulb tek fixture about 6-8" off the water and any type of sps does fine low bin the tank. I personally would not overdrive the bulbs, it cuts down on the lifespan of the bulb. However, if you could not fit the amount of bulbs u want in your canopy then I would use less bulbs and overdrive them. HTH.

Jake