Pc vs t5

[MBryant]

I have a friend who has a 55 tank he was wanting me to build for him bc he's a newby and just wants me to do it "mylilreef you know who I'm talking about" anyways he has a light fixture that holds four pc lights 2 420nm and 2 10k. Now I run four 48" and two 36" t5s so i don't know this question. Is pc close if not the same to the par of t5s. what do you think. Should he buy new light fixture or just run with his pc's

 

[GregC]

Really depends on what is going in the tank. If the tank is going to have softies ect, the PC's will be fine, but if you plan on having any SPS, then T-5's are def the way to go. PC's will not support SPS adequately.

 

[cjilge]

Really depends on what is going in the tank. If the tank is going to have softies ect, the PC's will be fine, but if you plan on having any SPS, then T-5's are def the way to go. PC's will not support SPS adequately.

nailed it on the money! Softies he's ok, any sps and you'll need to go t5. pc is no where close to the output of t5's

 

[MBryant]

Yea he will probably have all leathers and zoas. Doesn't want to keep up with the sps. So I guess he got lucky

 

[Mylilreef]

matt, one thing i know he needs, if you havent already done it is put those lights on timers, last time i was visiting he didn't have any on there, so it didn't have the lights on as long as they should be and was very spuratic. which we all know makes our corals not very happy. does he still have any mojano or aiptasia, or did i zap them all last time i was over there? also i tried before, but maybe you can try and get him to join COMAS like us. the information he will learn will definitly help him along. i agree on the lights, just make sure he understands that different corals have different light demands and need to be placed accordingly..

 

[Tek]

I had PCs on a 55G before and they were not strong enough for even LPS in a 55G unless the corals were really high up.