Looking for live sand & lighting question

[hustla22]

Anyone have live sand to give away or sell for cheap? I need about 40 lb of live sand. I bought some but I gave it away because I wasn't really to use it and didn't want it to sit in the bucket for long.

Now for the lighting question; I heard that t5 HO lighting is better than power compact, but how much better? t5 HO lights are supposedly 3 times more intense than PC lights, so does a 108 watt t5 HO (with single reflectors) light fixture out perform (or is comparable to) a PC light fixture with 260 watt output?

 

[sohal1025]

Thats a good question. Better send that one to the lighting forum.

 

[serpentman]

Re: Looking for live sand & lighting question

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15225943#post15225943 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by hustla22
Now for the lighting question; I heard that t5 HO lighting is better than power compact, but how much better? t5 HO lights are supposedly 3 times more intense than PC lights, so does a 108 watt t5 HO (with single reflectors) light fixture out perform (or is comparable to) a PC light fixture with 260 watt output?

Although that is about right in theory, don't get too hung up on wattage. You really need to consider tank dimensions when considering lighting options. T5's will have more intensity and will "punch" deeper than PC bulbs and they last longer assuming they are sufficiently cooled. However, you also need to make sure you have enough bulbs to cover the square footage of your tank. For instance, you can run 2 x 54w bulbs on a narrow tank. However, if your tank is 18" front to back, you'll probably need more bulbs.