T5 lights vs pc

[Lilsoulja2301]

Im currently running my tank on pc lights. some of my corals arent fully openning and i really just dont like them. I was told to get metal haglides but i recently visited the aquarium store and the lady told me about these t5. now please tell me if this is all true. she told me t5's do not heat up your water. she also said that they conserve more energy than pcs so the light bill should be lower. she said you can grow pretty much everything but psh or something like that. and she also said they were the best thing on the market and were better than haglides.. what do you think? I need help!

[hhaase]

It really depends on the installation. With equal ballasts and reflectors, T5's are about 10% more efficient per bulb from the numbers I've found. But, most PC fixtures that I've seen aren't engineered very well which really cuts down on their output considerably. They tend to have poor or no reflectors as well as poor ballasts, this really gives them a bad reputation. Normally, you need to run more wattage of PC's to get the same output as T5's, which is where the higher cost factors in. But at equal wattage, the cost will be the same.

What is your current light setup? Have a canopy on the tank, that can fit a retrofit setup? What corals are you currently keeping?

-Hans

[Lilsoulja2301]

Right now i have small stuff such *** zoanthids, polyps, xenias, things like that. so ur saying my light bill shouldnt change? and are my inhabitants gonna do better with t5s? I have two pc ballasts with 2 bulbs each. I dont have the dawn/dusk effect and im craving that blue look in my tank

[Lilsoulja2301]

my locak aquarium store is selling me a 4ft ballast with 4 bulbs included..is that enought for my 90 gl tank and fir 380 is it a good deal?

[sebrofjr]

Originally posted by Lilsoulja2301
my locak aquarium store is selling me a 4ft ballast with 4 bulbs included..is that enought for my 90 gl tank and fir 380 is it a good deal?

What brand of ballast is it, and what brand of lights? dusk/dawn effects usually are only available on ballasts with 6 or more lights from what I've seen. Also the ballast makes a big difference, especially the reflectors. You want to look for one with individual reflectors for each bulb. Then there is the option of a magnetic or electronic ballast. I like Electronic as they don't produce heat and don't make any noise, since there is no heat, some models don't even require a fan (just more stuff to break down IMO).

Do a bit of research and dont buy the first set of lights that gets thrown at you, or you'll regret it later on.

Some good brands are Icecap, ATI, and Tek-Lights (what I have). depending on what you want to keep in your tank will determine if you want a 4,6,or 8 bulb.

[FirstContact]

Shop around and compare prices. Check out MarineDepot.com and CustomAquatics.com.

Also, T5s are way much better than PC (power compacts). You'll get shimmering with the T5s. Individual reflectors for each bulb on the T5 rack is recommended over a single reflector that serves for all bulbs. T5s are very energy efficient and the bulbs themselves do not cost an arm and a leg. You can do many corals with T5s. I'm just starting with corals. But ,I understand corals with PCs are very limited.

[Lilsoulja2301]

48 inch Current USA 6x54W Nova Extreme Pro T5HO 3-10k/3-460nm Actinics would these be a good set to buy?

[hhaase]

Originally posted by Lilsoulja2301
Right now i have small stuff such *** zoanthids, polyps, xenias, things like that. so ur saying my light bill shouldnt change? and are my inhabitants gonna do better with t5s? I have two pc ballasts with 2 bulbs each. I dont have the dawn/dusk effect and im craving that blue look in my tank

It all depends on what size PC's you have now. If you have 4x55w bulbs (22" long bulbs) right now, then the NovaExtreme you mentioned will make your power bill go up. However, it will likely be a big improvement for your corals as well.

If you have a 4x96w setup (34" bulbs), then the NovaExtreme will make your power bill go down. But if it will be better for the corals or not all depends on what you have right now.

If you had a picture of the current installation, or a model number / name off the unit, it would give a better indication of what to recommend. It's unusual, but there are good PC installations out there and a good PC setup can be better than a poor T5 setup. The devil is in the details. But with very rare exceptions, the fixture you mentioned will be an improvment.

-Hans

[Lilsoulja2301]

Hans, can i have your email so that i can email you pics of my lighting?

[jenglish]

T5HO are not much better than PC if they both have a poor reflector. A parabolic SLR puts T5HO way over PC. Add in the effective life of a PC (6 mos) versus T5 (15-18 mos) and the greater variety of color choices. T5HO wins hands down.

[stingythingy45]

Originally posted by jenglish
T5HO are not much better than PC if they both have a poor reflector. A parabolic SLR puts T5HO way over PC. Add in the effective life of a PC (6 mos) versus T5 (15-18 mos) and the greater variety of color choices. T5HO wins hands down.

15 -18 months might be a stretch.
If they're over-driven them with a 660 ballast it's more like 8 months.

[der_wille_zur_macht]

Originally posted by jenglish
T5HO are not much better than PC if they both have a poor reflector.

That's because, effectively, PC IS T5HO, except of course PC tubes are bent back on themselves which introduces all sorts of efficiency problems - you can't properly design a reflector for them, there's tons of restrike, and the bulb basically cooks itself.

However, T5 aren't exactly shockingly powerful without good reflectors, so make sure the fixture you're looking at has the best.

I was told to get metal haglides but i recently visited the aquarium store and the lady told me about these t5. now please tell me if this is all true. she told me t5's do not heat up your water. she also said that they conserve more energy than pcs so the light bill should be lower. she said you can grow pretty much everything but psh or something like that. and she also said they were the best thing on the market and were better than haglides.. what do you think? I need help!

Keep in mind that she's trying to sell you something. Of *course* the product she has is going to be "the best thing on the market." T5 is a great lighting technology, but that doesn't mean it's automatically the best, or even "right" for everyone. If you cram enough tubes in a T5 fixture to get it near the output of a typical MH fixture, I can garuntee you that the amount of heat transferred to the tank will be in the same ballpark, all things considered. That said, it's easy to design a system with either technology that will or won't be powerful, and/or will or won't cook your tank. Generalizations like "MH cooks your tank, T5 always runs way cooler" do nothing but spread misinformation and hurt the entire hobby.

Pick a lighting technology based on what YOU want and need. IMHO, the choice between T5 and MH boils down to personal preference. T5 fixtures can be a little thinner and more compact if that's your thing, since the tubes are so small. MH gives far, far better shimmer and contrast effect, which T5 will never touch - it's just physically impossible with a distributed light source.

With either technology, you can pick your desired output - for MH, you need to choose a fixture with the correct number of bulbs to cover your tank (typically one bulb per two feet of tank length), then pick the wattage and style of bulb based on how much output you want. For T5, you just get a fixture that matches your tank's length, then pick the number of tubes (and wether you run them HO or VHO) to determine output. In either case, look for a fixture with good reflectors and high quality ballasts.

[hhaase]

Originally posted by Lilsoulja2301
Hans, can i have your email so that i can email you pics of my lighting?

Sure thing.

hans@siegecraft.us

If you want, I can post up in here what the actual setup is, so the other guys can have a better idea?

[DSR]

I picked MH lights because of the shimmer and because I really wanted a clam at some point. So I think the best advice is to decide what you want to do with your tank (think long term) and then go with the light that will suit those needs. Once the decision is made buy the best you can afford (there is no reason to go cheap on one of the most important aspects of the hobby).