Flea Posted August 21, 2003 Share Posted August 21, 2003 Ok I have a 29 gallon tank and I bought the T-5 lights for it. It's (4) 24W bulbs...(2) 10000k and (2) actinic. I love it in my tank. It's as bright as MH with less heat. But I haven't seen a lot of ppl using it or even talking about it. Is there something I don't know about it? Link to comment
Physh1 Posted August 22, 2003 Share Posted August 22, 2003 Not trying to be mean here but...... It's as bright as MH with less heat.I doubt that. The light output really isn't very close to MH lighting. Sure that is a good amount of light for your tank and you should be fine with it and the corals you are keeping. It's fine lighting but not as good as a MH setup. Cameron Link to comment
serjuanca88 Posted August 22, 2003 Share Posted August 22, 2003 I don't get the trend behind T-5 lights. THey are very expensive. You could get VHOS or Metal Halide for about the same price. Link to comment
Nishant3789 Posted August 22, 2003 Share Posted August 22, 2003 theyll get cheaper soon enough i suppose, i think they are just more practical in europe though where its harder to find powercompact lights. Link to comment
serjuanca88 Posted August 22, 2003 Share Posted August 22, 2003 Yah, what about VHO's. A 24 inch T-is only 24 watts, where a 24 inch VHO is 75watts. BIG DIFFERENCE, same in not lower price for VHO's. Link to comment
Kingpin Posted August 22, 2003 Share Posted August 22, 2003 sorry about stealing your thread but, was is a T-5? i have a 50w T-4 reading lamp i want to use for my nano but dont know if thats good or helpful. any ideas? Link to comment
DeskJockey Posted August 22, 2003 Share Posted August 22, 2003 I don't get the trend behind T-5 lights. THey are very expensive. You could get VHOS or Metal Halide for about the same price. Well thats if you dont know how to shop. I got a 46.5" T5 retro for my 55g (Im using them to supplement actinic) & they only cost me half of what a VHO retro would cost and they are just as bright (as VHO's), no lie. I bought them because the 2 96w PC's werent cutting it. So I thought Id give them a try. Electricity is $$$ out here so it was another advantage. They also run cooler than the PC's and the VHO's. As far as intensity, no I wouldnt compare them to MH's. BUT they are very effective for actinic if you wanted to go that route. Link to comment
adinsxq Posted August 23, 2003 Share Posted August 23, 2003 btw.. "pc" tubes are t5/t4 Link to comment
AbSoluTc Posted August 23, 2003 Share Posted August 23, 2003 Actually, PC's are not measured by T's. That is the measurment for linear flourescents mostly. Link to comment
tow-up Posted August 23, 2003 Share Posted August 23, 2003 ok heres the scoop. realux is making t-5 retros which are supposed to be equivalent to pcs. lfs around me got a bunch of them in. they seems pretty nice as he lit one up for me. but still was not close to halides. they just didnt give that "hunny call the eye doctor" effect as my mh's do. Link to comment
adinsxq Posted August 23, 2003 Share Posted August 23, 2003 Originally posted by AbSoluTc Actually, PC's are not measured by T's. That is the measurment for linear flourescents mostly. "power compact," compact fluorescent, CFL... all of these are the same thing. T5 (T4) BIAX tubes. Link to comment
foo Posted August 24, 2003 Share Posted August 24, 2003 T5 only indicates a 5/8" diameter tube, however this doesn't tell the whole story. Tubes can be linear, U-shaped, sprial, circline or biax/PC or some other weird configuration. Too make things more complicated, different manufacturers bulbs perfrom differently. For example a 28W Panasonic PC won't light on a Fulham Workhorse 4 ballast reliably but a 28W PC of the same bulb shape and size of another manufacturer probably will. So not all bulbs are created equal. And supposedly these T5 HO tubes are supposed to be more equal than others. I think what Flea was asking about were the HO linear T5 tubes and fixtures that have been getting so much hype lately. I was kind of curious about these things too. If you read some of the marketing they claim to last up to 2 years before needing replacement, be more energy efficient and brighter than the alternatives. I'd like to know more details, like do these things require a special HO capable electronic ballast like an Icecap? I would expect so but I haven't seen any articles talking about that. Has anyone seen a fair and unbiased review of these HO T-5 aquarium lamps anywhere yet? Please post a link if you have one. Link to comment
adinsxq Posted August 24, 2003 Share Posted August 24, 2003 and foo saves the day again. you are my hero x2 Link to comment
DeskJockey Posted August 25, 2003 Share Posted August 25, 2003 foo- Mine are running on a workhorse 5 ballast and the bulbs are made by ATI I believe. I havent seen any sites or articles with any in depth info or measured data. I hope Sanjay (http://www.advancedaquarist.com/) will find the time to review these soon. I know they have been raising a lot of questions. I figured Id give them a try since I found a good price, and see for myself. This is where I got my retro http://www.happyreefing.com/index.html Ill try to take some pix tonight so you can get an idea of how they look. Link to comment
FrogO2 Posted August 26, 2003 Share Posted August 26, 2003 My buddy just got new T5 pendant setup for his 80 gal. and they sure are bright. The nice thing is they spreed the light evenly over the whole tank unlike MH. The spectrum on the T5s are supposed to last over 3 years. He runs them of the Icecap ballast. He also has a 80 gal. with MH on top right next to it. I say the T5 are just as bright. Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.