Thoughts On This Light

[gone fishin]

Thinking about 2 of these for my 90 gallon tall, right now its low light with plants because my current light is dying. I would like to get out of the low light category and eventually add CO2. If you have a better suggestion please let me know.

Link to light

 

[Old Scales]

Those would work great on your 90G tall. One would give you medium light at about 2.5 wpg. Two would get you over 4 wpg but with the multiple programmable timers you could adjust the levels a lot. The spectrum of the bulbs is great for plants too. The price is pretty nice too compared to how much it would be for LED's that bright and that length. I'd find a discount site to buy bulbs online though. They need replacing after about a year and eight bulbs will be a chunk of change. Eight of the top of the line Geisemans would run you about $160 bucks before shipping. There are places you can get bulbs for as little as $4 each. Also be prepared for adding a carbon source and a balanced Macro & Micro fert regime with that much light. IMO It's a good option for the money. Good luck, OS.

 

[gone fishin]

I have tons of ferts and good substrate from back when I had better lighting, just been in limbo for a while

Be nice to have a decent wow tank again.

 

[misterc007]

I like it, I have one its been running for 2 years and I haven't had any problems. Personally I don't think you need 2. I have a 55 and I can only run 2 bulbs. I would just get 1 first and see what you think. The timer is nice you can run all kinds of different scenerios with it.

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

Thinking about 2 of these for my 90 gallon tall, right now its low light with plants because my current light is dying. I would like to get out of the low light category and eventually add CO2. If you have a better suggestion please let me know.

Link to light

Imagine if you bought two, you'd have to replace 8 bulbs annually.. that would be quite expensive. T5HO can vary greatly in intensity based on reflector quality. You can probably achieve close to those two fixtures if you instead got 1 that has higher quality reflectors on "each" bulb. It might be a little more expensive in terms of up front cost, but annual bulb replacement costs to effectiveness ratio would favor getting something like an Aquatic Life fixture. Just one with high quality reflectors on each bulb, rather than a single decent reflector over all the bulbs.

.http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0030...mp_s_a_1_4&qid=1391368376&sr=8-4&precache=1an

Just my 2 cents, since I'm actually into LEDs. I've never actually owned a T5HO.

One would give you medium light at about 2.5 wpg. Two would get you over 4 wpg

Oh dear, are my eyes deceiving me... WPG mentioned in the same context as T5HO? OS?

 

[Old Scales]

LOL Brian, That's the old school coming out. I don't know what else to benchmark any flourescents by other than WPG. I know you LEDDERS use Par but what is there in modern terms for T5? Yeah it's getting kinda awkward. lol Help me if you can. OS.

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

LOL Brian, That's the old school coming out. I don't know what else to benchmark any flourescents by other than WPG. I know you LEDDERS use Par but what is there in modern terms for T5? Yeah it's getting kinda awkward. lol Help me if you can. OS.

No prob, OS. I use this nifty thread on TPT to get a good estimate. Variables such as distance, reflector quality, and number of bulbs are considered. I also think the bulb itself is important too as I am led to believe (since I don't own t5) that Geissmann (sp?) Bulbs also make a difference.

Here's that thread.. I trust it because I know hoppy really knows his stuff. I consider him one of the gurus out there.

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?p=1038305#post1038305

Edit

Apparently there's an "updated" thread to the one i linked to (which is still informative)

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=184368

 

[Old Scales]

Thanks man! Those write ups are just what this old *art needed to get updated with the times. I saved them for future reference. Holy Moly! By it, my Quad T5HO Aquatilife is about 100 par at the substrate. The Ray2 had some awesome PAR figures in the LED's. I can imagine what Ian086's XB BML fixture is going to give him. lol. Good thing he got the dimmer! OS.

 

[misterc007]

Thanks man! Those write ups are just what this old *art needed to get updated with the times. I saved them for future reference. Holy Moly! By it, my Quad T5HO Aquatilife is about 100 par at the substrate. The Ray2 had some awesome PAR figures in the LED's. I can imagine what Ian086's XB BML fixture is going to give him. lol. Good thing he got the dimmer! OS.

So since were on the topic?? I know that WPG pertained to the older style flo bulbs and not HO's but I don't know anything about par figures. What is considered high or medium with regard to par? What do you think 2 54 watt Ho's 6 inches above water and say 20 inches above substrate would be? any idea?

 

[Old Scales]

Mister,
Click on Brian's links right above my last post. It's got the info you need in them. OS.

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

Quoted from source below:

PAR Values (Source) -
Values between 10-30 are considered low light.
Values between 30-80 are considered medium light.
Values between 80-120 are considered high light.
**Keep in mind that these values are what is currently accepted by the community as accurate, and aren't set in stone.​

 

[misterc007]

Sorry about that guys I didn't see the link. I'll check that out thanks for sharing the info.

 

[misterc007]

Gone Fishin,

So how deep would your tank be to the substrate?