T5 lighting advice needed

B

beeven

AC Members
Feb 12, 2008
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Washington, DC
Friends,
I'm looking to upgrade my PC lighting to T5 HO lighting. Currently I have the Coralife Aqualite PC, 2 64W and 2 64W Actinics. I'm looking at getting the Tek T5 HO lighting system to replace it. My two questions are:

1) Would the upgrade be worth it?

2) Which Tek T5 HO should I go with? The 4x54W system or the 6x54W system. Is there a major difference between the 4 and the 6 light configurations in terms of lighting intensity or does it just cover more area in the tank?

Any input would be useful. Thanks in advace.

Steve
 
Yes it would be well worth it as the T-5's put out about 3 times the useable light that PC's do. What size tank is it going on and what are you planning to keep, corals, anemones, clams as this can make a difference between the 4 and 6 bulb setup.
 
My tank is 75G. I have an assortment of soft corals and LPS. My intention was to go with the T5's so that I can keep some SPS. However, I just got off the phone with my LFS and they said that 4x54 T5's would actually be a downgrade in terms of wattage, the 6x54 T5's would be an upgrade but he said it would only be a slight upgrade.
 
Wattage is merely a measure of energy consumed, not light output. T5 HO and PC lighting do not generate the same amount of light on a per watt basis. Having formerly used PC lighting and switched to T5 HO, I can tell you first hand that 4 x 54w T5 HO is even visually brighter than 4 x 65w PC lighting. The key to T5 HO lighting is to utilize the individual reflectors on each bulb, as it increases the amount of light reaching the tank by 200% - 300% (depending on where you look). If your LFS truly thinks 6 x 54w T5 HO is only a slight upgrade over 4 x 65w PC lighting, it's pretty obvious that they haven't ever tried T5 HO lighting, or at least not with an objective mindset.

For comparison sake, there's five 54w T5 HO bulbs on our 90g (3 are overdriven on an IceCap 660 ballast). There's a variety of SPS growing in the upper half of the tank, although that was not my original intention (I've been holding them in there until our SPS tank is ready for them). These SPS are not just hanging on, but actually growing with good coloration. If you want good flexibility as far as placement goes with SPS in your 75g, I'd highly recommend the 6 x 54w T5 HO set-up. And yes, the upgrade will definitely be worth it.

One last thing... If / when you upgrade, it will be very important that you acclimate all of your corals to the new lighting set-up. I started out running our T5 HO set-up for just 4 hours a day at first, increasing it by 1 hour every 2 weeks until I was back on my normal lighting schedule. I saw no ill effects in any of our corals as a result of the initial shortened photoperiod. All of them survived the change over, have been growing better, and have nicer coloration since I switched to the T5 HO lighting.
 
I recently did the same thing. I used to use a 96watt Coralife PC light as secondary lighting on my Reef tank. I switched it out for a 2 bulb, (forget the wattage) T5 fixture and it is visually brighter. I just wish I could change out the PC's in my Coralife Aqualight Pro for t5 bulbs now.
 
I dont have the numbers right now but 4x65 watt PC's about 1 foot above the water surface and about 16 inches of water depth gives about 60 par at the substrate, 4x54 T-5's at same higth and water depth gives about 175 par at the substrate and 2x250 DE MH gives about 200 par at the substrate. These numbers were taken with a Quantum par meter so going by those readings the T-5's put out 3 times the useable light than PC's and were only about 10% lower than the MH's. With 6 T-5's with individual reflectors and quality bulbs you should be able to keep anything you want and just about anyplace you want in your tank. The WPG rule was used back when everybody was running the same lighting and that was with T-12 bulbs, with the different types of lighting the WPG rule doesnt work any more.
 
Just did a bit more research and I guess my LFS guy is dumb ***. Thanks for the info guys. FSN77, your's was particularly useful.

I think 6x54 is the way I'd want to go... just to give me the flexibility to put sps wherever I like them. Thanks again guys.
 
You're welcome. We're all here to help.

Good luck and keep us posted!
 
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