considering changing to t8's over t5's for soft corals,(beam angle disgusion)

[shrimphead]

So I have a little frag tank with mushrooms in it which is currently under t5s. They've been been growing ok but I think they would prefer a little less light (currently under about 70 par).So I'm considering new lighting. I think I read somewhere that coralmorphians in the ocean tend to grow more in the shade and not in direct sunlight so I was thinking that they the beam angles they receive would be quite wide or softer light so for example they could be receiving the same intensity of light as a coral that lives deeper that is in direct light but the 2 will receive different beam angles(would that be right?). This raises some questions, how or does the light angle effect the coral if at all and bringing t8's back into the discussion don't t8's give off a bigger spread and wider beam angles than t5s so would t8's mimic a shaded area on a reef better?
What are your guys thoughts on this?
Also would like to hear from t8 users or past users.

 

[organism]

T8's are really low output lights, even mushrooms wouldn't grow well with them. What is the spectrum and bulb brands of the T5's you're currently using? Usually the issue people have with mushrooms is the spectrum more than the intensity, my guess is you have some 9000-6500k bulb in there?

fwiw my mushrooms get blasted with light along the lines of 3-500 PAR, but the light is mainly from royal blue LED's. If I hit them with near that amount of yellow light they'll turn white and die off in no time, so chances are your issue is unrelated to PAR.

 

[shrimphead]

Basically I have a actinic and a pink, it was a t5 led combo but the leds were to much for them(they were putting out about 80par, full spectrum ) so I've turned them off. I know what you're saying about the yellow, but they must receive some. It's not like my mushrooms are suffering, they're splitting and I cut them all up into about 6 pieces and put them on rocks and they're about back to their original size after 6 weeks but I think there's room for improvement. I basically want to try and create something as close to what they're used to in the ocean and so am wondering if t8 is the way forward? Any t8 users out there?

 

[shrimphead]

I should have maybe posted this in the coralmorphian area, is there a way of moving it?

 

[organism]

Basically I have a actinic and a pink, it was a t5 led combo but the leds were to much for them(they were putting out about 80par, full spectrum ) so I've turned them off.

How big is your tank that you only have two T5's over it? I don't get it, what's the issue you're having with your mushrooms? Too much light is not the problem here, I'm thinking the opposite along with the light being too yellow depending on the spectrum of that pink bulb (which is?...).

I know what you're saying about the yellow, but they must receive some.

They don't need any yellow at all. You could have only actinic bulbs over your tank and they'd do great.

It's not like my mushrooms are suffering, they're splitting and I cut them all up into about 6 pieces and put them on rocks and they're about back to their original size after 6 weeks but I think there's room for improvement.

What specifically needs improving?

I basically want to try and create something as close to what they're used to in the ocean and so am wondering if t8 is the way forward?

It isn't. LED or better bulbs/fixture would be forward, T8 is backwards. It's why you're not going to hear from T8 users, there aren't any.

 

[shrimphead]

Sorry I'm not very good at explaining things but don't think your getting what I was trying to discuss.
I just wanted to discuss beam angles and how and if they effect different corals. t8 give off wide beam angles LEDs give of narrow beam angles. So shaded areas of reef where some corals prefer than direct sunlight must receive wide angles of light and less narrow beams so if we were trying to replicate a shaded area of the reef you would choose a light that gives off wide spread of light say t5 or even wider spread would be t8s.
maybe beam angles don't really matter at all but thought it was worth a discussion :beer:
o the t5 tubes are: red sea spec pink, powercrome pure actinic.

 

[organism]

What beam angle affects is intensity, for instance LED's actually have an angle of 175 ish degrees, but you can put optics on them at lower angles like 60-90 in order to increase the intensity. You're pushing more light onto a smaller surface area, which increases the efficiency of your light. Instead of 20 LED's over an area you can focus the beam and get the same amount of light with 5 LED's. This is why T8's don't work well for reefs, the intensity isn't there.

I still don't understand what the issue is with your mushrooms, but what size tank do you have? The pink T5's are meant to be used in conjunction with several other T5 bulbs and aren't really meant for a 1:1 ratio. imo it's not easy to get a decent spectrum from a 2-bulb T5 fixture, but your colors must look pretty weird with 1 pink and 1 blue...

 

[shrimphead]

Ok I see what your saying about beam angles totaly makes sense, but I wondering on how it effects corals.(not from an intensity point of view) for instance I've seen examples of people running narrow beam angled leds over their sps tanks and reported the difference in how they grow up and not out very much if you know what I mean. Thats probably because of shading but corals are built to catch light from many different angles so it could be some are better at catching light in shaded areas?
yea t5 combo was in junction with the leds at first, It was quite a full spectrum light but was too much light so I had to turn the leds off. so I'm going to change it to probably 4 smaller t5 tubes but had considered t8s.