trying to decide on what diy lighting.

[new2saltyfish]

i have a 55 gallon that right now has 192watt pc's and i want to upgrade. i want to build a diy setup inside a canopy instead of just putting the light on top of the tank. it's 4ft long. i would eventually like to keep a clam, maybe a few nice sps way up top but not many. so my question is shoudl i go t5 or metal halide. i was leaning toward t5 because ive heard metal halides cost a lot to run but i figured id ask people with the experience. if you were in my position what would you do? thanks for any help

-paul-

 

[dz6t]

A watt is a watt. T5 is not cheaper to run. When you use less watts, you get less light.

 

[Liam]

A watt is a watt. T5 is not cheaper to run. When you use less watts, you get less light.

simply not true Dong. Show the data that suggest a 400 watt 20k halide provides the same light as a 400 watt 10k halide.

They both use 400 watts don't they??

 

[smcnally]

A watt is a watt. T5 is not cheaper to run. When you use less watts, you get less light.

True...Watts are watts...but what you are missing here is that watts really don't mean squat. Par and spectrum mean EVERYTHING. One great thing about T5 is that you can have a bunch of bulbs all varying in temp a bit to achieve a nice color and still have great PAR.

 

[dz6t]

The t5 guru on RC went back to halide. Period.

We are talking about t5 and halide here...again, and again.

I bet you a 400w 20K halide beats out 150w 6500K halide.

Watt does matter.

 

[Liam]

i have a 55 gallon that right now has 192watt pc's and i want to upgrade. i want to build a diy setup inside a canopy instead of just putting the light on top of the tank. it's 4ft long. i would eventually like to keep a clam, maybe a few nice sps way up top but not many. so my question is shoudl i go t5 or metal halide. i was leaning toward t5 because ive heard metal halides cost a lot to run but i figured id ask people with the experience. if you were in my position what would you do? thanks for any help

-paul-

to light your 55 enough for what you wan't to do you have many options and many things to consider.

If you go the halide route you are going to need 2 halides to get light to all area of the tank.
If you use 175 watt bulbs that gives you a total watts used of 350
If you use 250 watt bulbs you will be using 500 wats total

If you use T5 you will need 6x 54 watt bulbs with decent individual refectors.
this will use 324 watts.

I see the point dong is trying to make about watts used being the same but not all the watts used go to producing light,some are converted to heat which will not light your tank. Also the spectrum or color of light produced by those watts will affect their usefulness.

Metal halide is a point of source light therefore(depending on the reflector) the light is normally more intense right under the bulb. T5 light is uniform across the complete length of the bulb.

Metal halides will normally increase your water temperature more than T5's. T5's have a greater surface area and are therefore easier to cool with fans.
This is something to consider if you do not have a chiller or central ac in your home.

IMO i would use T5's providing you buy the decent individual reflectors.
second choice would be 250 halides and although 175 watt halides would suffice i see no point to using them as you will get more par from the T5's which use less electricity.

 

[Liam]

The t5 guru on RC went back to halide. Period.

We are talking about t5 and halide here...again, and again.

I bet you a 400w 20K halide beats out 150w 6500K halide.

Watt does matter.

oh somebody had better call the manufacturers pronto and cease T5 production because some SELF PROCLAIMED expert is now using halides again.

Dong i see what you saying but your one sentence blanket statement is simply not helpful IMO.
as we all learn,there are pro's and con's to every method in this hobby,no 100% right way of doing things.There are though options to consider to make the choices that suit each of our situation the best.

 

[new2saltyfish]

well i do have central ac, but i still would like the easiest possible to maintain, because im new to the hobby. so if i were to go t5 route, would the corals still keep the vibrant colors they have under halides? and does anyone know a good place to buy all of the diy stuff? thanks a lot everyone, and input thus far has been a big help

-paul-

 

[willray]

Shoot! Just use both!
I have been useing 4 t5's with quality reflectors overdriven from the begining and was been able to keep clams,sps....Maybe not the fastest growth but still good growth and coloring.I did go with halides and t5 because I wanted that shimmer.On the market now are strips with high output leds(piont of light source) in 10K and420mn.The 10k will give that shimmer that so many of us look for in halides.
A watt is a watt as far as electic consumption...but how that energy is used determines everything....a quality ballast that uses the electricity to it full advantage is going to have a better output than a cheap one.Regardless of what you use proper cooling can have a big impact on the life span of the bulbs...all bulbs.As Liam said t5 have greater surface area but imo reqiure greater cooling because of that surface area.I'm useing 2 110cfm fans running at about 90cf ea. one in one out on the t5's yet on my halides ea one has it's own fan running at about 13 cf drawing drawing out only so most of the heat from the halides goes into the room.As Steve said the beauty of
t5's is the almost endless bulb combos that can be done to achieve.
Reefgeek.com

 

[randoma]

I find that colors aren't quite as good with T5 as MH. However, I suspect that has more to do with bulb selection than with the lights themselves. Crap MH bulbs will have poor color too.

 

[Joshbd]

Hellolights

I've ordered from Hellolights a few times before and they have always been very helpful. You should be able to purchase everything you need (except for the canopy itself) from there:

http://www.hellolights.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=708

 

[nichols]

I personally like the look and shimmer of a crisp white MH bulb supplemented with VHO actinic.
As for equipment, keep an eye on the equipment for sale forum on the BRS. People leave the hobby or change setups often. You can find some good deals.

 

[Liam]

I have found water quality plays an equally important role in coloration of corals.I suspect more light equals more growth but as far as color,i would say very low PO4 and spectrum are key.
I have tried pretty much all the light combinations out there along the way.
Out of halides in the 175's,250 and 400 and T5 my corals had there best coloration under T5,hands down,not even close

Reefgeek would be the best place to try IMO,they can offer good advice also.

 

[randoma]

Liam, what were you using for bulbs/color of bulbs?

 

[Liam]

Liam, what were you using for bulbs/color of bulbs?

i used six 39 watt bulbs overdriven to 60 watts with an icecap ballast,indivudual reflectors.

bulbs were 2 ATI blue plus,2 UVL actinic O3(these are the only true actinic T5 bulbs on the market) and 2 korallin zuchte coral lights.

 

[Reef55]

Liam, didn't you start using Zeovit around the same time you switched to T5 though?

 

[Liam]

Liam, didn't you start using Zeovit around the same time you switched to T5 though?

yes i did,thats why i mentioned water quality is the key.
I did'nt want to start a zeovit debate though

 

[Reef55]

yes i did,thats why i mentioned water quality is the key.
I did'nt want to start a zeovit debate though

agreed, but I felt it was relevant to your statement that you had your best coloration when you were using T5's. Your lighting was not the only thing that changed in your tank... your water quality and how you went about getting the water as good as you had it drastically changed from when you ran metal halides to when you had T5's. What your tank would have looked like with halides and the zeovit system you don't know

 

[smcnally]

The t5 guru on RC went back to halide. Period.

We are talking about t5 and halide here...again, and again.

I bet you a 400w 20K halide beats out 150w 6500K halide.

Watt does matter.

That is the most rediculous thing I've ever seen you say...of course the wattage makes a difference (especially when you triple it ), but that's not the point I was making. The point I was making is that you can still reach very acceptable levels with lower wattage. A racecar would get you to work faster but do you need one? So why don't you just put 1,000W MH on your tank then, Dong?

Bottom line is that he can do what he wants with T5. I was all for MH until I switched over to T5. Now I know for a fact that T5 are great. They run MUCH cooler, are easier to get the color you want, and are cheaper to maintain. On top of that you don't have to wait for them to cool down before firing them back up, you won't scald yourself if you accidentally bump into them, and they won't blow up in your face if water splashes up on them. Both are great lighting, but I just prefer T5 over MH after owning both. If I were to keep a ton of SPS again the only change I would make would be to change some of my bulbs to 6500k and maybe add one more bulb which would bring my wattage up to about 200W.

 

[smcnally]

agreed, but I felt it was relevant to your statement that you had your best coloration when you were using T5's. Your lighting was not the only thing that changed in your tank... your water quality and how you went about getting the water as good as you had it drastically changed from when you ran metal halides to when you had T5's. What your tank would have looked like with halides and the zeovit system you don't know

But what about my tank? My colors pop, and I have a Maxima on the sand bed which has been growing incredibly. My water is far from crystal clear. In fact, I had my skimmer shut down for the last month and just put it back on line.