T5 Lighting question

C

Charlie's Angel

New member
I am putting together a 96x30x30 with the help of a LFS and have some lighting questions. I do not want to go with halide, but would prefer T5 for various reasons. Will be keeping softies and LPS and want to know about T5 penetration. I am looking at Aquatinics and TEK. Any experience advice would be great.

Thanks
 
30" deep tank is going to be tough to get many types of LPS to be happy with T5's. Make sure you're positive about your choice.
 
Yeah I know...I just do not want the chiller that will be needed with the halides...my thought is that if needed, I can upgrade in a few years and then add the chiller...Also, I talked with Tom at Aquatinics and beleive the Solar Flares they make will be fine with the LPS.
 
Halides do not always = chiller. I have a pair of 250w halides on my 120g, along with VHO actinics, and have no temp issues at all.
 
Interesting...Is your tank located in the basement? I do not want to get the halides, set them up and then have to shell out X dollars for a chiller if needed. This seems to be an area to save some upfront cost and that would be nice.
 
My tank is in the basement. The sump is in the room behind the tank, so this open arrangement in an area that is pretty consistent with temp helps a lot. I have an open top canopy that helps dissipate the heat and have not needed any fans. Since you are doing this tank behind a wall, you could do just about anything you want with the lights. My suggestion would be to do like what was suggested above and suspend them from the ceiling, giving you the ability to have them as close or far away from the water as you wish. And also since you're behind a wall, the lights won't be enclosed, which will help with heat dispersal, and even if there were a heat problem, the first thing you could do is install fans to blow across the top of the tank area, which would probably help considerably with keeping the heat down and would be MUCH less than a chiller to deal with.
 
My setup will be very similiar to yours. How high would you recommend the halides be above the water and still be able to penetrate down to 30"? When I was looking at halide, I was thinking 48" Aqualight Pro 250W HQI. However, I could get the retro for cheaper and if the chiller is not needed, I would fine.
 
Figure out what setup you're going to use; i.e. 4x250 MH or 10x54w T-5. Figure electrical costs, bulb replacement costs, initial cash outlay for fixtures and bulbs, etc.

If you're handy at all, the T-5 will probably come out cheaper both to run and to set up.

When you have a couple of extra days, read this thread
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=679852&perpage=25&pagenumber=1

It should answer just about any questions you might have.

(I recently switched from MH to T-5s. Now I have 2x39watt T-5 & 2x75 watt VHO)
 
And I doubt I'll use anything but MH on mine...sorry Steve. ;) I've seen both MH and T-5 tanks and I prefer the halide ones, but do agree that each has positive aspects to its applications.

With regards to the penetration, like I said, mine are on a 120 that is 2 ft deep and my stuff down lower gets plenty of light. My lights are currently about 9 inches above the water. I think it would simply be a matter of planning out the placement of whatever corals you plan to keep. Obviously, the higher light demanding ones would need to go higher.

But yes, your particular setup screams of retro whichever way you decide to go. Since your system is in another room and concealed, you can do all kinds of things and it doesn't matter how good it looks or whether or not it will fit in a canopy. Whichever you choose, just hurry up and do it as I want to see your tank start filling in. ;) :lol:
 
Sounds great...thanks everyone for all the help...I will be ordering the tank in the next 5 - 10 days. The stand and wall in my basement are being put together by a friend of the family (a carpenter by trade). I will start a thread once production gets under way. However, I am not very handy and will readily admit that I will not be too involved in production / build. Doing more research and design.
 
I would rather have a retro because they're better

cons about the fixture:
1. only really expensive ones come with good individual reflectors, which is starting to be realized as necessary for T5 and higher light loving corals....I have indy reflectors, but they aren't the "god's gift to women" ice cap ones everyone kills for

2. ridiculously tough to change bulbs in the fixture...huge pain in the ***

3. more difficult to control lighting patterns, etc (i.e. having actinics come on half hour early is not possible with mine unless I want 3 actinics in a row...which I dont)

I think that a retro kit with individual reflectors and good ballasts will provide you with the light you need


to add another twist to the chiller debate....I have 6 t5s over my tank and my water is starting to get too hot....Im in an apartment and I use my AC 24/7 and keep the place around 75 degrees...but my tank is starting to creep up to 82+....this goes to show that there are other factors besides light (in my case I have a sedra 3500, mag12, mj1200 and seio in about 70g of total water)
 
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