T8 vs T5 Lighting

DansMarineTank

DansMarineTank

This ship is England!
Dec 13, 2004
352
0
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42
Ipswich (UK)
Hello All,

I am looking to upgrade my lighting as i am after some simple corals. At the moment I have 2 X T8 18W 1 marine white one Marine Antic over my 40G which has just live rock and the clowns in at the momnent

I am looking to keep some star polyp and a leather toadstool for my clowns like Mogurnda in the post today!

The lighting upgrade i have seen is built for my tank and it will upgrade the lights to T5 2 X 24 watt. will these bump up the lighting by much?

not sure what the difference is between t8 and T5
Cheers Dan
 
High output (HO) T5 lamps put out a lot more light per watt than T8s, especially if the lights have good reflectors that make use of the skinny shape of the T5s. However, two 24 watt lamps, even if they are T5s, will not be enough to support most soft corals.

I should also be honest and point out that the clowns took a few years before they decided to move into the leather, so there are no guarantees.
 
cool thanks for your response! they host a bundle of macro algae at the moment and the keep getting tangled up so i really wanted to remove that and offer them something else!

your pictures were great btw!
 
I wouldn't count on them hosting in what you want them too, mine move around the tank every few months to something different.
 
The numbers on fluorescent lights after the "T" refer to the tube diameter in eighths of an inch. Hence T5s are 5/8ths of an inch in diameter and T8s are one inch diameter.

Morgurnda is absolutely right. If you're going T5s, be sure to get high output ones with individual reflectors or you won't be getting much of an upgrade on the T8s.

My clowns have decided that they're gobies and have dug out a little depression in the sand where they hang out and defend. This is despite having frogspawn, hammer, galaxea and a big ball of chaeto around.
 
powercompact

i would just go ahead and buy powercompacts there is no way those soft corals with thrive with anything less. i would look in to buying a current satellite fixture with 2 bulbs.

_____________

29g- saltwater

Penguin 350 filter
Sea-clone 100 skimmer
Maxijet 1200 powerhead

2x65W power compact with lunar lights

40-lbs live sand
35-lbs live rock
1-small female yellow tang
1-cardinal
2-false clowns
1-saphire damsel

55g-Cichlid

Emporer 400 filter
2 x Powersweep 228 powerhead for undergravel filter

1-8" red devil
1-7" black african knifefish
2-plecos (7"&13")
6-black convicts

20g-long

penguin 200 filter

black convict breeding pair with about 120 fry
 
clay, your little list is way long.

heres a link on t5's... theres some good info in there. if its just for softcorals power compacts are fine.

link
 
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