Aqua light T-5 Opinions

[afilter]

Ok, Lighting is the one thing on my system that is lacking and preventing me from getting an anenome and experimenting with some corals.

Recently visited a LFS and one of the staff pointed out the Aqua light T-5. The 48" is 56watts, but he said it is more like 125 compared to PC and is not as hot and uses less energy.

I just purchased a new 90g so $ is an issue. These light were priced $89.99 for 48" with lamps which make them more affordable and I could probably fit about 3 on my tank for the cost of one PC.

Anyone use these and have an opinion?

TIA,

[DragonForce]

You could build your own metal halide setup for the price you would be spending on that stuff, and it sounds like the LFS guy is full of **** saying that 56 w is more like 125.

[mykpoz]

not entirely full of *beep*

its said that the t5's are more efficient and put out better light then PC's so he is just comparing it to something you might understand when looking at the pure watts of the bulb. I do think the 48" t5's are 54w, but I suppose there are some out there that are different.

Just FYI i have a 4 t5 setup on my 75g, things are growing wonderfully...I have several stonies that have flourished since I have gotten them ranging from monti's to acro's

One thing i have heard many people complain about is the actinics... some manufac. have a more a purplish/blue.... just make sure you can try to see the color so you know you will be happy.

but i do like my t5's around my area they have a good rep.

[afilter]

[quote="mykpoz"]not entirely full of *beep*

its said that the t5's are more efficient and put out better light then PC's so he is just comparing it to something you might understand when looking at the pure watts of the bulb.

I believe this is what he was referring to the amount of lumens it puts out is something like 2-3 times other lights. He also said they run cooler and use less energy.

The light output looked good and I could always switch out a couple blue atinics if not happy. These were also the super slim ones, which is what I assume you have. When you say you have 4 on your 75g does that mean 4 bulbs or 4 light sets. I am curiou because a 75g is the same dimension of my 90g.

TIA,

[afilter]

Sorry, I could never figure out how to do the quotes.

[mykpoz]

my setup is the coralvue retro kit from captivereefs.com (although they had just moved to slidell and are probably out of business for a while..)

the 4 lights consist of 2 10,000 and 2 actinics' They are very cool... if I accidently touch them while messing with the tank, I honestly barely notice it. I also get a bit of shimmer on the bottom, but no where near what you get with MH...

The bulbs are also supposed to last 2x as long as PC's as well, this I am unsure of...

If i had it to it all over again, I would have gone with something like this... http://cgi.ebay.com/T5-HO-8-X-54-wat...QQcmdZViewItem

I have liked the individual reflectors more and more... and a guy that I know locally who originally set up a 8 bulb setup actually leaves 2 of teh 8 off all the time, as it was too much light.

Here is a picture of my tank with the lights on, not the greatest pic, but you will get the idea...

[afilter]

OK, so you have 4 bulbs total (2 of each). The lights I am looking at are the slim ones from Coral life called "aqualight T-5" that include complete housing, reflector, bulbs and on/off. I am considering 3 of them which would be 6 bulbs total, which may be plenty based on what you describe. At the 48" length 3 will still be comparable to one PC.

Can't access ebay link right now, but I will check it out later. I did look on ebay last night and think I found the same ones I was looking at for $48/each with shipping of $17 which is still a deal compared to $89.99 local. Maybe they will even combine shipping.

[afilter]

OK, I found these units for $52.99 for a 48" at another LFS. They are pretty new and they just started carrying them. The manager who I normally trust said because the output is so much higher than the pc a 56 watt unit compares to a 130 watt PC. So with 3 of them (6bulbs) I could easily do soft corals and with 4 I could even try some hard corals.

Anyone else seen these?

http://www.elmersaquarium.com/h107_aqualight_T5.htm

Seems like to good a deal for a lighting option. Ultimately I could get what I need for $150-200 and scrap my current lighting.

[katz]

just my $0.02. cheaper is not always better. make sure the t-5 bulbs you are going to buy come with parabolic reflectors. i have 6 x 54w tek-light system that come with parabolic refelctors. the parabolics are designed to reflect virtually all the light into the tank vs. some cheaper brands that are nothing more than cheap mirrors. i also have a 90 gal tank and have used the lights for almost 8 months. trust me when i say that this is plenty of light to keep softies, lps, sps, clams virtually anything. my tank is 24" deep - 3 inch sand bed.

katz

[malkore]

it's really those parabolic reflectors that make T-5's so much more powerful. the reflectors just work better on the basic round bulb shape, as compared to the best PC reflectors (the MIRO's that ahsupply.com sells), because of the twin tube PC shape...there's going to be restrike and lost light, and the reflector just can't concentratte the light as much.