T5/HO?

[possum]

Has anyone here ever tried the new T5/HOs? If so how do you like it? What kind of corals would i be able to keep with 6 54w T5/HOs on a 55 gallon tank? Would i be better off getting PC ?

 

[Biggen]

From what I have heard, T5's are better than PC. They even come close to MH as far as intensity goes. I think if I ever do another SW tank, I may try them instead of MH.

I'll let one of the other guys answer your question about your bulb choice, though, as they will know more about it than I will.

 

[Hara]

I think you would be better off with a mh pendant, especially if you want clams.

 

[possum]

how many pendants would i need for a 55 gal? One for each side right?

 

[ReefRaff]

I'm not sure but I just wanted to say that from my understanding (and I'm not trying to convince anyone not to use MH) but In a MH ( and you would want 1 per two feet of tank length) the intensity of the light is directed in one area more or less, hence the reason you need one per two feet. in the T5/HO's the intensity (being close to MH) is spread accross the whole tank, instead of being consentrated.so instead of the tank being bright under the MH's it would be bright everywhere in the tank. HTH

 

[aldo]

this is realy not a reply but more a ?
VHO 440w 66 gal dept 20" 65P live rock will I be able to keep all types coral in tank -brain -polyps musro -s-coral h- coral -sp-and some CLAMS?????????
T U Green as a lime

 

[Hara]

If you expect to put high light needing critters over the full portion of the tank, then you would need two. If however, you center the high needs stuff, the rest of the tank will be adeqautely lit for medium to low light corals.

 

[aldo]

then you would need two.

thank's Hara,
So long as I can have 1 or 2 of h & L light I would be happy I think .
After seeing your gallery I wonder -------IT'S REALLY GREAT !!!!!!!!!!
As for the QUOTE I don't understand I hope you don't mean 2 tanks. (No NO NO not now). My L VHO 4x110= 440w.

 

[Hara]

Hi Aldo,
In my opinion, the VHO is not strong enough for clams and High Lighting
requirement corals. The needing two comment, was for metal halide pendant
lighting.
Hope this un confuses things a bit.

 

[possum]

So basically what your saying is that if i get one MH light and put it directly over the center of the tank it would light the center enough for High Light stuff and the rest enough for low light stuff. Sorry if i am being confused here i have been sick and meds are messing with my brain LOL.

 

[possum]

Also i was wondering if i get like a 20000K bulb will this eliminate the need for actinic tubes?

 

[gooyferret]

T5HO will support clams in a 55 gallon, i have done research all over the net and talked to personal friends and co-workers about the lighting. Read my thread here: http://aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=177&start=30

This will help explain a little better than me typing a whole lot more.

From what I have heard, T5's are better than PC. They even come close to MH as far as intensity goes. I think if I ever do another SW tank, I may try them instead of MH.

Biggen is pretty correct and all the other posts are very correct also, except the MH by Hara using 2 pendants is far more costly when you can spend half the $$ on T5ho's HTH

 

[Hara]

how many clams are you growin?.....i have 14 in my tank...do you have any experience with t-5 to show growth rate? I would be interested in seeing it as I just bought 2 1000 watt MH to place over clam tanks...i will send them back and get t-5 if you can show me growth studies.

In this hobby, you pay dollars for the ability to grow what you want.

 

[Hara]

I just came home and did some more research on this topic.
Here are some links I encountered:

http://www.clamsdirect.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?p=1414
A quote from this page:

You are very right about the Crocea clam. I was a little overtaken by the hype about T5's here in Europe with many saying they are MH replacements. Thats not the case as I found out. The Crocea clam with its very high light requirements just didnt get enough light in my tank and the middle of the mantle began to fade. I have however managed to grow a few SPS coral frags under T5's. But one must realise that it would only work for shallow tanks. The light souce to substrate in my nano tank is less than 10 inches.

http://dougc3.home.mindspring.com/Reefpage/T5.html
This person had some experience with the T5's documented and decided to finally leave them behind.

http://www.waterzoo.co.uk/equip/Aq. lighting.htm
This site which loves T5's also acknowledges that MH are still the best you can buy, especially for deeper reef aquaria.

I did some quick research on the T5 systems, and from what I read, they just make it so you can put more bulbs in one space. They definitely seem to beat PC's, but don't seem to be able to match up with the single spot intensity of a MH bulb.
I really didn't find any site that claimed that T5's are THE thing to have if you want to grow clams or other high light requiring species.
What I did find, is that it is "possible" to use T5's to have clams etc in your tank, if the tank
is not deep at all. As soon as you get a deeper tank, MH seem the way to go.
Imo, to take an example of putting 300 watts of lighting over Possum's 55 gallon tank, the 300 watts in T5 lighting would not produce the same intensity as the 300 watts a MH system would.
I did not read in his original post that he was looking for the cheapest way out, rather assumed that he wanted the best possible lighting source for his tank.

 

[gooyferret]

sure talk to almrc4 lori is running t5ho's on her tank and i have read MANY good things on europe web pages for growth of corals i guess when lori got her t5's she was very impressed give her a pm HTH

 

[gooyferret]

Hara Just seen you online and missed you.... 6 T5HO's are able to produce more lumens than that of a 400 watt MH. They burn more efficent and less heat. So not even considering the reflectors or depth of tank...I would really appreciate and understand what your saying. Depth of tank is irrelevant what is relevant is the lumen output and kelvin spectrum. So if T5HO can equal or produce more lumens than a MH what makes MH more intense? Because correct me if im wrong intensity is based off photometric tests of lumen output.....SOOO with that in mind does WATER have a mind of its own...OH MH light you can come through, but wait T5HO you cant? Theres no logic with that reasoning from what i can tell. So what im trying to understand is what makes MH light more intense when lumen output is equal?

Those websites you gave are totally irrelevant....they are taking 6.5k's vs most likely a 20k MH well of course clams will flourish in a 20k and not a 6.5k the spectrum of light is totally different...they should at least make their accusations accurate. Just another point i wanted to bring up. HTH

 

[Hara]

Those websites you gave are totally irrelevant....they are taking 6.5k's vs most likely a 20k MH well of course clams will flourish in a 20k and not a 6.5k the spectrum of light is totally different

Actually the first link was talking about a 20k and 8k bulb.

I think the depth of a tank is definitely relevant, unless you want to put all your high light corals in the top 30%. MH will penetrate deeper just because it is a single point light source and everything is more focused. With t5's, vho and pc's the total lumen rating gets diffused over the length of the entire bulb. While the coverage area is indeed bigger, it will have less intensity per inch and not penetrate as deep.(although indeed the MH will cover less area than a VHO or T5 bulb) You can fix the intensity per inch by adding more bulbs under a hood because they are so small, but that will not make the penetration any deeper.
Hence my opinion is that T5's and VHO's can work fine for high light requiring species if you have a shallow tank or put the specimens somewhere in the top of your tank, although the later can be a pain to accomplish.

Because correct me if im wrong intensity is based off photometric tests of lumen output

Sure, but a)at what depth and b)measured on a single spot or as an overall value?

I do find this useful. Could you perhaps provide a link to a site that has these comparison tests in lumens between T5 and MH that you keep referring to? Thanks

 

[gooyferret]

Actually the first link was talking about a 20k and 8k bulb.

This is still irrelevant in reference to T5HO's and MH considering she is stating on using MH with the combination of T5's. She doesnt dipict wheater what kind of fixture and how many only that lighting consists of 1 MH 250 ushio and 1 39w 20k and 1 39w 8k. If your going to make 2 T5's compare to 1 MH then thats not even a close comparison.

I think the depth of a tank is definitely relevant, unless you want to put all your high light corals in the top 30%. MH will penetrate deeper just because it is a single point light source and everything is more focused.

Im sorry but i would have to disagree and let me explain. The first part is talking about depth of tank, well depth will matter and the water is the factor of that, not the lighting or lumen output. I know what your trying to argue but its still not relevant. Lets think about the sun for a minute for me to better explain. We all know the sun is the most abuntant and powerful light source their will ever be.

So lets think, we have the sun millions of miles away. Is it more a MH or a T5HO, i know what your thinking its a MH because of the single point of light. 8O Oh im digging myself in the hole now but wait its not a MH its more like a T5 because of the fact is
#1 the distance
#2 and it covers millions of square miles of ocean light is distributed evenly acrossed.

Heres another thought:
I have not seen any photometric reports on a MH for aquarium fixture use from my work or never have seen it on the net.
but what i have gotten is:

400 watt MH puts out 26,200 lumens.

6 bulb 54watt T5HO puts out 30,390 lumens

 

[ReefRaff]

I have a Qestion: do Lumans add up like 1+1=2. i.e if t5/ho put out 30,390 lumans accross the whole tank, and one 400w MH puts out 26,200 in one spot. on a 55g you would obviously need two MH's. so would two MH's (one every two feet) put out 52,400 lumans? compared to the t5's 30,390?

Thanks Tim.

 

[alrmc4]

what a great question tim tagging along very interesting.
hara i believe if you read doug chambers web page he did not give up on the t5s because they were not doing the job for the corals and clams on the contrary he had great response his problem was he did not like the look of the t5s on his tank he likes the blueness of the vhos that you just can not quite achieve with any of the others so that would be a consideration for anyone look at the color of the tank do you like the crisp white or do you personally prefer the bluer ting i think that would be something to look at before you decide as far as clams go moonpod has a bunch of them in a 180 with t5 lighting.