T-5 HO Compared to PC...

[taketz]

Long story short, I have a Workhorse 5 ballast which will light PC's, which I already own, and t5 HO.


Now, does anyone actually know how many Lumens/Watt or Par/Watt a T5HO bulb puts out as compared to a PC bulb? I looked around for a bit and couldn't find the answer so hopefully someone here can produce a link to some info.

Thanks!

 

[pjf]

Here are some efficacy figures and graphs.

• PC or pin-based high-wattage compact fluorescent lamps (HW-CFL) generate 50-70 lumens per watt: http://lightingresearch.org/programs/nlpip/lightingAnswers/HWCFL/HWCFL-efficacy.asp
• T5 lighting produces 90-100 lumens per watt: http://www.lrc.rpi.edu/programs/nlpip/lightingAnswers/lat5/pc1a.asp

T5 fixtures with individual reflectors will direct even more light into your aquarium that would otherwise be wasted.

 

[B33FST3W]

T5 > PC

 

[rickh]

Here is some food for thought guyZ.

Take a typical commercially produced light that you could put over a 2' wide tank, the figures are similar for 3 or 4 foot lights. A standard 2 bulb 24" PC light uses two 65 watt bulbs that produce about 65 lumen/watt. Thats 2x65x65=8450 lumens. The newer t5 bulbs produce about 90 lumens per watt. The Current USA 24" 4 bulb T5 light ( please don't start telling me about the reflectors) yields 4x24x90=8640 lumens. The T5 unit uses less electricity, but the light output is about the same. Go figure