t-5 lighting review please.

[kurtflys]

Can anyone tell me about this light and how it performs. And how frequent you have to change the light Bulbs for good performance.If you have pictures of the light in action I would appreciate it.
48 inch 8x54W Sunlight Supply Tek Light High Output Fluorescent Lighting Fixture. Thanks , Kurt

 

[nikon187]

It works fine, i never had a problem. It works even better with some fans blowing across the the bulbs. I change my T5 yearly for optimum growth

 

[swhaley40]

Kurt, its not a bad fixture and can for sure get the job done, but for a little extra cash, the ATI sunpower 6 54 would be MUCH better.

 

[reef_corgi]

I have a ati 6x54w sunpower on my 90. It is alot of light.

 

[kurtflys]

I will have two look into the ati . I have a 92 gal right now but looking at getting a 120aga and I would like two buy a light that would work with this aquarium. I am using a mh with two pc on the 92gal and I am happy the it right now. but I would like to get away from the heat of the 250mh. + the power it uses. I like the defferent bulbs of the t-5 and the colors. the cost of the 250mh bulbs for replacement is $75-90 one time a year + the two pc at $30 I have too replace . If I can get a year on the t-5 bulbs I thank it might be cheeper in the long run.

 

[reef_corgi]

kurtflys,

I use to have 2 x 150 mh plus 4x54w t5 on my 90. Every year it cost me around $250 to replace the bulbs. In addition, I have to deal with the heat and costly electric bill.

I am happy with the ati sunpower 6x54w. If I have a 120 aga, then I would get ati 8x54w powermodule or 10x54w. I saw Greg at reefgeek.com over the weekend, and he mentioned the powermodule is really heavy compare to sunpower. It is also expensive compare to the sunpower. So far, there are many reefers happy with it.
It is the link to the ati t5 thread. http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=989789