Suggest MH or T5?

[erickcooper]

I just upgraded my 75 to a 125. I had the Aqualight Pro with 150MH and compacts. I haven't been around for a while and now see all the T5 stuff. The light system is two short for a 125. I really am unsure about what to get, but I would like to have a bubbletip and a clam perhaps. I don't think I want to go with any hard corals but I'm not sure. I've had a lot of success with mushrooms (who hasn't) and star polyps and really like them, but I want more variety.

1. Should I do MH again or T5????
2. Would T5s limit me too much?
3. I do think T5s use less energy, right?

 

[stancfii]

I would suggest going with 2 250w Radiums on m80 ballasts or select a watt ballasts on the 250HQI (sometimes called super lumen) setting, and some good reflectors. You could keep your clam directly under either of the halides, the bubble tip will walk until it is happy, and there will be more than enough light for shrooms, zoas, and lps. You can put SPS towards the top of the tank easily, should you decide to try them out too. With the radiums, you don't need supplemental actinics (saving you some money), and on the HQI setting you can get 18months out of the bulbs. Should you decide to do a SPS dominant reef down the road in a year or two, all you have to do is add some t5 supplements. How easy is that?

 

[fishgate]

Led

 

[alton]

I would suggest going with 2 250w Radiums on m80 ballasts or select a watt ballasts on the 250HQI (sometimes called super lumen) setting, and some good reflectors. You could keep your clam directly under either of the halides, the bubble tip will walk until it is happy, and there will be more than enough light for shrooms, zoas, and lps. You can put SPS towards the top of the tank easily, should you decide to try them out too. With the radiums, you don't need supplemental actinics (saving you some money), and on the HQI setting you can get 18months out of the bulbs. Should you decide to do a SPS dominant reef down the road in a year or two, all you have to do is add some t5 supplements. How easy is that?

+1

And if you are looking at 6 x 80 w on the T5 there will only be a 480w to 550 watt difference between the two choices. That equates to about $20 in Electricity a year

 

[erickcooper]

I would suggest going with 2 250w Radiums on m80 ballasts or select a watt ballasts on the 250HQI (sometimes called super lumen) setting, and some good reflectors. You could keep your clam directly under either of the halides, the bubble tip will walk until it is happy, and there will be more than enough light for shrooms, zoas, and lps. You can put SPS towards the top of the tank easily, should you decide to try them out too. With the radiums, you don't need supplemental actinics (saving you some money), and on the HQI setting you can get 18months out of the bulbs. Should you decide to do a SPS dominant reef down the road in a year or two, all you have to do is add some t5 supplements. How easy is that?

+1

And if you are looking at 6 x 80 w on the T5 there will only be a 480w to 550 watt difference between the two choices. That equates to about $20 in Electricity a year

Wow! Thank you both! That's way more to think about than I originally intended. I've been happy with the hallides, but everyone keeps talking about T5s. I've read enough about LEDs that I really don't think I want to use them on my tank. The electricity savings is attractive, but I don't think I can do what I want with them. I just read an entire thread about people who want to go back from their LEDs to their T5s or Hallides.

 

[stancfii]

You also have to replace the t5s every year @ $160, or two halides every 18 months at $180. That's $120 over 3 years you save with just halides.

 

[grigsy]

You wont go wrong with either.

Personally, I like metal halides better or a combination of Metal Halides with T5 HO

 

[bif24701]

I haven't read one post where someone didn't like the new Kessil A360WE and considered going back to MH

 

[machote]

Led

 

[mhucasey]

You cant go wrong with either but I like the tweakability of the T5s. Im a bulbaholic!

 

[Fphipps]

If you were to go with T5 you could get away with a 60" ATI 6x80 fixture. I was considering switching from my LEDs to the T5 but I couldn't make up my mind on bulb combos and I also do not like the flat look for the T5 enough to drop the cash on it. I do want to switch to halides once I save up some money and learn a bit more about them. But from what I have read and been told, the 60" ATI fixture will do great on a 72" tank

 

[rsaha]

I have heat problems so I run 2x250 Phoenix 14K with a Blue plus and True Actinic in the cooler months and an 8 bulb T5 in the summer.

T5 - you get better coverage across the entire tank and have the ability to really tweak the colours you want by swapping out bulbs.

MH - you get that wonderful shimmer but are pretty limited in the bulb choices these days. A lot of the 250W bulbs are really quite dim I find (especially 20K bulbs). You can check out Sanjay's lighting guide for detailed plots/PFID on many MH bulbs. Radium 250K SE are really wonderful looking on an HQI ballast.

 

[erickcooper]

Hi, all. Thanks for the responses. I decided to go with the T5s. I bought the 72" Aqualife 6 lamp (well 12 total I guess) T5HO with the timer. I can't believe I only now have one power cord!! The time is cool. The whole system is a little more blue than I prefer so I may have to change out some bulbs. But, the light is even across the whole aquarium now. And, it doesn't seem to be as hot as the halides. Anyway, here are some new pics and then a pictures of my coral beauty. The bulbs really blue her up!!