T5s or MHs

[stilgore]

I have been doing some reading on lights and I was just trying to get a general concensus on whether you all think T5s can replace MHs? They are more energy efficient aren't they?

Thanks,
Stil

[Woodstock]

I have seen some AWESOME sps reefs lit by t5s and have read of other people switching their MH for t5's.... other than that, I have never used t5s. HTH

[Warnberg]

It's all I have ever used for a couple of reasons:

1) Canopy on new tank would not allow for Halides
2) Heat from halides, unless suspended, may crack an acrylic tank.

Now my tank sits in my living room and it is the center piece in that room and the last thing I wanted to do is either have to have a custom hood built and possibly have to listen to fans or suspend them above the tank....

So I went with T5's and am glad I did, IMO they run cooler, will keep SPS's just as well as Halides, less electricity useage and the only thing you loose is the shimmer lines which didn't matter to me.

[stilgore]

Great, I would like to try them out rather than going with MH. I was reading that T5s don't have a true actinic (sorry for spelling?) bulb. Do you use VHO actinics or does T5s have a good actinic bulb?

I just got my first tank (120 gallon reef ready) and hope to get into sps corals down the road. Any suggestions as to what kind of T5 set up I would need?

Thanks again,
Stil

[Vanquish]

Bro, should you decide to use T5s for keeping SPS, suggest you get good quality tubes....

[stilgore]

I don't have a problem getting high quality bulbs. I was looking to see if someone could recommend how many bulbs I might need and what combination of bulbs I might use.( I saw that they have blue bulbs, sunlight, aqua, and true actinics)

I'm looking for something bright with not too much blue tinge to it. My favorite lighting combination so far has been 2 10k MH with 2 VHO actinics at my LFS. That combo seem to really show some brilliant colors.

Thanks,
Stil

[Warnberg]

Here is what I would suggest if you want to keep sps's under T5's:

1) over drive the bulbs with a eletronic ballest like an IceCap 660.
2) Use a good high quality individual refector (reflector per bulb) like IceCaps SLR reflectors.
3) Use good, highend bulbs....

Now depending on the color/look you want you can use any combination of the following:
6000K Midday Sun T5 HO Fluorescent (yellowish look)
6500K Daylight T5 HO Fluorescent (not as yellow)
11000K Aquablue Plus T5 HO Fluorescent (light blue)
Actinic/Blue Plus T5 HO Fluorescent (very blue)
Pure Actinic 03 T5 HO Fluorescent (purpleish)

I really like this combo in my tank which also gives some high par values and nice color (front to back):
Actinic/Blue Plus T5 HO Fluorescent
6500K Daylight T5 HO Fluorescent
11000K Aquablue Plus T5 HO Fluorescent
Actinic/Blue Plus T5 HO Fluorescent

I have been getting all my stuff from reefgeek.com

[cheeks69]

What size tank do you have and what are the dimensions ? Yes people have been having great success with T'5,s but depending on the size of the tank you may need alot of them if you want to keep any light demanding Acro's or Clams. Also keep in mind that the people that use them that I know of replace the bulbs every 6-8 months so the cost could be considerably higher long term then Halides.

[stilgore]

I just got a 120 gallon. Thanks for the input..I will check some sites and see what catches my eye.

So I should run 6 or 8 bulbs?
And, how many should be daylight or aqua or actinic?

As always thanks for the info

Stil

[cheeks69]

If you like SPS I would go with as many as you can fit over the tank. As far as the bulb combination it's gunna be difficult to say for sure, alot is going to depend on what color you like and how your corals do under that light. Warnberg has some SPS under T5's I would go with his recommendation.

[Warnberg]

My tank is 8 feet long and I am currently running 8 54 watt T5's driven by two 660 IceCap's
As Cheeks asks what are the diemensions of your tank? I am assuming it's 4 feet long but how wide and deep is it. My tank is kind of unique as it's a tall tank, so it's 8 feet long, 30 inches tall and only 18 wide.

[stilgore]

My tanks is 48 x 24 x 25. Thanks for all the good info so far. Do you think I would be ok with 6 54w bulbs and that 660 ballast?

Thanks again,
Stil

[Warnberg]

This is what I would suggest....
http://reefgeek.com/products/categor...ng/104435.html

The 660 will power 4 of the lights the 430 will power 2, this will give you a dawn dusk effect with the following bulb combo:
430 = 2 Actinic/Blue Plus T5 HO Fluorescent or 2 Pure Actinic 03 T5 HO Fluorescent (purpleish) this depends on color preferance

660 = 2 11000K Aquablue Plus T5 HO Fluorescent (light blue) and 2 6500K Daylight T5 HO Fluorescent (not as yellow)

[stilgore]

Great, thanks for the advice. I'll take a look and see which one I will finally go with. As usual, you all have not hesitated to keep me informed so I can make the correct decisions as I begin setting my tank up!! I will post some pics as I get goin. Right now I am working on the plumbing and having a blast.

Laters
Stil

[BoomerD]

Just to give you an idea of what can be done with just T-5's:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...pagen umber=1
and part 2:
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...hreadid=813873

It's been said that perhaps he was a bit heavy with the photoshop color intensity slider. MAYBE, but that still doesn't discount a hella beautiful tank...