Making the jump to T5 lighting from spiral fluorescent bulbs and I need help!

[PattyCakes81]

Hi guys,

Finally decided to reset my 20 gallon high tank again. After a moving to another apartment fiasco! All my fishes got beat up pretty bad and didn't survive past 1 week! I was working on move day. Never again letting anyone else move my tank! I felt so horrible and irresponsible.

I want to buy it new lamp for growing plants but don't want a regular spiral bulb lamp. Was thinking about a T5 light fixture but I don't want to spend an arm and a leg!

I want to do low light plants again like anubias nana, cryptocorynes, marimo balls, dwarf sagittaria, amazon and Parviflorus swords, and water wisteria.

As always all comments, advice and tips welcome,
Patty

 

[dougall]

What would your budget be?

You might want to consider LEDs vs. T5.. there's more flexibility with dimming and with color spectrum.. and plenty of people are using them too.

It also depends on the dimensions of the tank (20 long vs. tall vs. something else) and what sort of plants you are intending to grow...

we have had good luck with a finnex ray2 over a 20L, but it's pretty close to High light, and really needs CO2... the Planted+ 24/7 has slightly less par out of the box, and is dimmable down to how much light you will want (assuming you don't want high light)


HTH

 

[fishorama]

I have 2 x T-5s on (2inch?) legs over a 20g long (more shallow than your high) without co2. It's more than enough light for your plant list. If you can get a used T-5 24" fixture in your price range that might be good. I have no LED experience ATM, still waiting for really cheap but good 1's, lol.

I could grow most plants (low to some high-ish light; all on your list & more) in a 10g w/2 spirals (Walmart day lights, 6500k)...if you don't want to invest in new.

 

[dougall]

Ughm I just re-read.. the joys of being tired,

for lowish light plants on a 20H, I'd suggest something with a single bulb for T5HO, look into the Hagen GLO series, the reflectors are pretty awesome, or some sort of dimmable LED would be good too

 

[FreshyFresh]

Patty, as said above, skip T5 and go with LED. You have to change lamps every year at the very least with T5s over a planted tank. No lamp changes with LED. Less heat and lower power consumption as well.

 

[PattyCakes81]

I have 2 x T-5s on (2inch?) legs over a 20g long (more shallow than your high) without co2. It's more than enough light for your plant list. If you can get a used T-5 24" fixture in your price range that might be good. I have no LED experience ATM, still waiting for really cheap but good 1's, lol.

I could grow most plants (low to some high-ish light; all on your list & more) in a 10g w/2 spirals (Walmart day lights, 6500k)...if you don't want to invest in new.

Thanks for response fishorama!

1. What wattage on the T5 you suggest getting if I go that route?

2. My current fixture has three sockets for spiral fluorescent bulbs, what wattage should I get if I go this route?

I really don't want to do CO2. I would do dry ferts if need be.

Patty

 

[dougall]

Thanks for response fishorama!

1. What wattage on the T5 you suggest getting if I go that route?

2. My current fixture has three sockets for spiral fluorescent bulbs, what wattage should I get if I go this route?

I really don't want to do CO2. I would do dry ferts if need be.

Patty

The wattage used/needed by T5HO lighting is determined by the length of the tube, and (very) roughly they are around a watt per inch of fixture/bulb length. (It's more reliable than Watts per gallon... so hush!)

So if you get a 24" fixture above your 20T, you will want bulbs in multiples of 24W, you will want to aim for low to medium light, over medium you will likely want or need to run CO2.

Lighting, as always, will depend on the fixture, so the reflectors in the fixture will account for how good the light is in the tank, with spiral CFLs or with T5 fixtures with square reflectors, you will get a lote of 'restrike' where the light from the bulb will reflect back onto the bulb itself shadowing a lot of that light from the tank, causing more power to be used to create the same PAR (Or PUR or lumens, or however else you would like to measure light) My personal opinion is that you should be able to get away with or use a single Hagen GLO fixture, their reflectors are pretty good, and most of the light will make it's way into the tank so you'll use less watts to get the same result (For what it's worth, we have a single GLO light over a 40B, which has the same height as your 20H, and we grow low light plants)

with LEDs, the amount of power used will depend on the manufacturer, and the efficiency of the emitter/LED used, so it really becomes a matter of review or recommendation, but luckily they are normally dimmable, so you can turn them down if needed.

as for what wattage CFL to use, go with what has always worked, less if there was too much lightt, more if you want to try higher light plants, you can always just raise the wattage of the center bulb if you ike, they don't all need to match to work properly.


ferts are always going to help your plants, if you put in a suitable amount... but you can say the same for CO2 too... wut with lower light, either are less necessary.

 

[FreshyFresh]

~$43 for that 24" Hagen GLO fixture on Amazon, with "fast free shipping". You could buy a box of replacement ~6500K lamps for low cost per lamp, but the box will be $$. Mail ordering lamps individually every year will exceed the fixture cost every 2-3yrs. Again, I just don't see why anyone would want to buy T5 or T5HO anymore with LED as relatively cheap and effective as they are.. and this is coming from a guy who still uses T5HO, T8s AND spiral CFLs. I do have one cheap 48" LED over my oscar and severum tank that is great.

 

[dougall]

Phew, I feel young now, the oldest tech lighting I have in use is PC I think, I'm pretty sure there's no T8s in here.

Sometimes the initial cost can be a big factor, and if you buy LEDs, you're stuck with the color spectrum if fixed, and even more stuck if it starts to fail. For replacement T5 bulbs, I've bought them in the past through Aquarium society meetings/sales for $5 each, which isn't really too bad IMHO.

I really don't know too much about lower levels of light, or what LED fixtures would be suitable to suggest... but make a suggestion I know In the bedroom there are 6 tanks, 4 of which use LEDs, 2 are Finnex RAY2s which I would consider medium -> high light over a 20H, a BML fixtire which are no longer available but would be high light over a 20 (but dimmable) or a Current LED (Not Plus) that would would consider struggling to be low light over a 20G.

depending on budget, a satellite LED+ or one of the Fluval LEDs may work well for you, but it really depends on budget. I'm really not sure/experienced when it comes to some of the cheaper LED fixtures, like Beamsworks etc.

 

[fishorama]

I have both T-5 HO (high output) & regular NO (normal output) I didn't like the HOs even using just 1 bulb.

As for spiral bulbs I used Walmart daylight, maybe 15w (or 13w?) as I needed skinnier ones to fit my fixture.

If you buy a new fixture I'd say go LED but read lots. Like I said, I haven't tried them since I have so many old choices in my garage, PC, T-5, T-8, T-12, CFL