150 mh or t5s

[ZooShark1029]

What would you use for carpet anemone 150 watt metal halides or T5s?
thanks

 

[ReefWreak]

You need to tell us the depth of the tank for either of those to mean anything. Regardless I'm going to have to go with 150w MHs, because I love MH.

 

[titus164]

I love MHs but ive seen t5 tanks recently and the coloration is amazing. Depth is a huge factor as reef points out

 

[ZooShark1029]

its like 20 inches deep but i dont care about the depth i care about which light is better for a carpet anemone ... ithink a mh wouldbe

 

[tankgeeks]

gregory, they are asking the depth of the tank the carpet anem. is going into so they could offer better advice as to which lighting would be more suitable.....

 

[macawmagic]

aka...shallow tank, t5's would work. deeper tank and t5's wont work. i think you're better with 250 hallides for that deep. 150's might be good. not sure.

 

[illal]

id go with mh cause i love the shimmer lol

 

[racermike27]

Gregory your tank is tall, almost 30" I would get the halides for sure. I would opt for 250's not 150's though. The 250's in some good reflectors will be more than enough. I am not sure the T5's would make it to the bottom, but I am not a T5 user. Maybe some of the T5 guys will chime in.

-Mike-

 

[bishoptaner]

my tank is 24" high and i run 48" t5s this is my rbta
daylights

attincs

from what i have been reading 30" in height is the max most people run t5s at. i think it really depends on what kind of corals you want to keep.

 

[bawla47]

i think even 30" is pushing it. with t5s

ive used both t5s and mh and just grown to love halides.

if its under 20-22" t5s will be more then fine.

t5s have more light output, but it illuminates every little nook and cranny, opposite of what ive grown to love with the shadows halides create.

 

[loyalrogue]

Yes, T5's have been proven to be effective for up to 30" of water penetration with no problem.
T5 have a more even distribution/spread of light than metal halides which tend to create "hotspots".
T5's also are more energy efficient (more light, less heat) and provide more par per watt than metal halides of comparable wattage and kelvin.
Bulb replacement cost is also less for T5s.
That is the upside to T5 bulbs.
The downside is as Al mentioned, no shimmer effect.

 

[ZooShark1029]

thanks everybody/.... mike im talking about my 18 gallon (got from matt) not my 150.... lol

 

[nyvp]

if your going to use MH i would use the 175 iwasaki 15k real nice bulb with better par then many 250's

 

[venom00viper]

I have a 30" deep tank and did really well with a mint green carpet for along time until he outgrew the tank. I have 2X250mh

ben

 

[smchais]

Go with both. MH like 14k and T5 supplements. I only have MH's now and while the light spectrum is beautiful with the 20k's, I miss the actinics in the morning and night.

 

[Young Frankenstein]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12310028#post12310028 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by loyalrogue
Yes, T5's have been proven to be effective for up to 30" of water penetration with no problem.
T5 have a more even distribution/spread of light than metal halides which tend to create "hotspots".
T5's also are more energy efficient (more light, less heat) and provide more par per watt than metal halides of comparable wattage and kelvin.
Bulb replacement cost is also less for T5s.
That is the upside to T5 bulbs.
The downside is as Al mentioned, no shimmer effect.

better than iwasakis 175w 15k?