T-5 HO?

[Feron]

I know there's alot of posts here about lighting... but there also seems to be a vast amount of differing oppinions.

I know I need better lighting down the road.
I've got the standard cheapy-comes-with-tank dual tube flourescent light which gives me a whopping 1.3 watts per gallon or something silly like that.

For the near term, my tank will be FOWLR, but after a year or so (sounds like a good comfort zone) I will try my hands at a full reef.

I'm the kinda guy that wants to have the best/most appropriate gear (if not blatently overpriced), but I have a couple of limitations (I think).

First.. I don't want hanging lights, whatever I get has to sit on the tank itself.

Second.. I have a canopy, and want to keep it. The current pos light unit I have fits in there no biggie, but I've heard better fixtures produce more heat and would need venting. Venting will be difficult with my canopy there.

So today I saw DrFosterSmith.com running some sales on their T-5 HO lighting.

Is this stuff any good for a reef tank (does it put out the appropriate type of light, sufficient enough for corals?)?

Here's a couple of links from there:

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/Prod_Display.cfm?pcatid=12772&ref=3532&subref=AY&N=2004+113175

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/Prod_Display.cfm?pcatid=12105&ref=3532&subref=AY&N=2004+113175

The tank is a standard dimension 90g aga reef-ready.

As always, advice is greatly appreciated!

Thanks

 

[greenmaji]

T-5 HO is intence lighting that from what Ive read you really cant move your inhabitants away from short of shading them under the ledges of your rocks.. Ive seen posts over at RC were guys couldnt keep there LPS corals happy from too much light.
from the posts I remember the corals were closed brain and hammers if I remember correctly..
he ended up swiching back to MH and the situation was all better (you can move corals away from point sorce lighting)..
so.. T-5 HO seems to have a point of too much for some inhabitants.. If you want to plan your tank around all inhabitants needing the same amount of light then its very doable IMO but if some need more then others things can and have gotten dicy for others..
you didnt give a height for your canopy.. you might have room for a nice MH PFO retrofit kit from Hellolights in there.. the price isnt too bad the bulb replacement is the worst part of it.. and in some cases its about the same (if you need more then 2 T-5 HO's to do the job)
The best performing MH ballast on the market currently (since my last reading on the subject a couple of months ago)
http://hellolights.com/pfo25du25hqi.html
pair that with 2 reflector kits (they were about 30 bucks each last time I looked) and you would have 500 watts of MH powering goodness the doc fosters kit that has near the same amount of wattage is nearly 400 bucks on sale.. hmmm..

and what did you mean by venting is your canopy closed in the back?

 

[Feron]

It's not closed, but it's in a recessed wall area that is just high enough to remove the canopy.. so there's not much space for circulation...some, but not enough to bleed off the heat effectively (I imagine...)
I was under the MH's were more expensive and put out way more heat... maybe I'll have to do more reading and less assuming eh..

I'll post more about the dimensions of my cabinet once I get home..

 

[greenmaji]

let the MH users talk you into MH.. there are plenty of them running them in ways I would have never imagined possible (from my assumptions about heat and space) some have them mounted very close to the water with nothing more then a fan that come on wired up with the ballast (so when the ballast powers up so does the fan).. In a open cabnet.. so there was no ducting or forced air movement

by the way.. I didnt include the links to bulbs in my previous post because those very in price depending on the brand and kelvin (and starting type to some degree) the PFO HQI ballast can power up any of them so that purchase would leave you wide open for posiblities in the chosing bulbs department..

HTH

 

[Feron]

hehe well.. I'm looking to get a 'package' of sorts...
Electricty and I are not really good friends... I'd prolly electrocute myself, my dogs, my cats and all my potential fishies just trying to get the thing set up.

 

[greenmaji]

hmmm.. let someone post on that (Ive never been afraid of opening up appliances and reparing them or at least atempting to, even the TV and its huge capasitors 8O silly teenager )
the lighting systems from hellolights are pretty popular with the not so technical croud so Im assuming there have been some buyers out there that didnt have an electricitans knologe before ordering there setup. maybe some will respond.. hopefully..

 

[greenmaji]

this option is nice..
http://hellolights.com/buildyourown.html
though they dont have the PFO electronic ballast as an option..
maybe it would be a call in order (or the PFO is too plug and play for the build your own setup)

If you really knew what corals/light needing inhabitants you wanted it would be easier to tell if T-5 HO would be an option.. or what type of light needs could be expected..

 

[Feron]

It's more that I want an all-round decent option for corals and anemones down the line.
I'm already well versed in tradeoffs (many critters look cool, but they'd eat this or that or explode etc etc), so I can live within the median.
It'll already be a peaceful community reef-safe tank by the time the corals show up, so I'll be well versed in "oh that's cool...can't have it tho".

The last thing I want is to buy 'the right thing' twice...that's why I thought the t-5 would be good, as I could potentially get lower wattage bulbs (I assumed anyhow) upfront and step up as needed...

Don't wanna fry nothin in the meantime tho..

 

[Feron]

Ahh and forgot to mention, I have a 5.5" clearance from the inner lid to the top support of the canopy...

and my dumb butt didn't think that I don't bother with the canopy's lids, so there's plenty of air circulation... (I like to crack the inner glass lids a little a day to help the air exchange..)

 

[drillsar]

Ok since we are on subject what would be the best lighting for a 55gal? Also how much would my electrical costs go up? Thats what im nervous about my wife will kill me/

 

[Feron]

Hmm.. Guess I still don't get it... I thought it was all about the wattage (being between 3-5w per gallon) and the temerature (10k K or above ish).

Bang for buck, seems like the T-5 is the best... actinic and 10k lights at 432w is 400$.. similar all in one type hood thing that I don't wire together myself using mh 10k and actinic cf is like 800 plus..

They are putting out the same kinda light, right?

<confused>

 

[brett7768]

im running 4 39w T5s, and although i dont have any corals yet (or fish for that matter) they seem really bright and give out minimal heat.