T5 or MH for sps coral
- Thread starter baruchbl
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Unarce
Unshackled
Originally posted</a> by jwre
I am very happy with my T5. The colour is better than with MH IMHO.
Very nice colony, jwre!
I've heard that the T5 fixtures in Europe are superior to the ones we have here. What's your take?
I don't want to argue the capabilities of either. Frankly, you can pink up a birdsnest easily with blue MH or blue T5 lighting.
Horace
New member
Here is my pink BN under 250w Phoenix. I think its obvious that its not MH vs T5 here... You can get great colors with either, you just need to have the right setup.
For more pictures of my tank so you can see the colors of other stuff, take a look here: http://s156.photobucket.com/albums/t35/bischofk/Feb-19-2007/?start=all
For more pictures of my tank so you can see the colors of other stuff, take a look here: http://s156.photobucket.com/albums/t35/bischofk/Feb-19-2007/?start=all
jwre
New member
Thanks Unarce,
it is made by the german company "ATI " and it has little cooling fans on top of the tubes.
They claim that this improves the output of light with 20 %.
A friend of mine measured the light intensity at 60.000 lux.
He assured me that this is close to the output of 400 watt halides. The difference is only that the spectrum of the T5
is much better for coral tissue.
So imo it is not only a matter of pinking up the coral.
The tubes of an other german company "Korallen Zucht"
are also remarkable. I have 16 tubes of 54 Watt. 6 of the tubes are 'fiji purple' ( really puple ! )and 10 'coral light' ( mixture of white and blue )
Serioussnaps
New member
Those ATI fixtures are sweet. That is what I am going with when i set up my big display tank, however, right now I am having issues with growth and my T5's. I use alot of blue plus because it gives me insane colors, particularly blues and purples but I am not getting the growth I want. For me the debate is still open on whether I prefer T5's or MH.
In my opinion with both, T5 or MH, it's possible to get colorful corals with a good growing rate.
But in Germany, where the electricity costs are unbelievable high (people in USA should be very happy about their costs), it's important to use an cost-effective lightning system for the future, which produces less warmth and high PAR.
Especially in the summer it's impossible to install an air-conditioning system with these costs here.
That's one reason, why in Germany (and other european countries) T5 is very popular now and a standard choice by lots of coral farmers.
So, under this discipline T5 could be a little bit better choice for the future. Because T5 has a little higher PAR at same wattage than MH. A lot of energy of the MH-system goes lost in UV and warmth and not in photosynthetic light. This is a fact. Test T5 and MH with an PAR-meter at same wattage and spectrum you will be surprised. Only in big sized tanks with an high depth but a short length, the MH is much better. Because the wattage of bulbs depends on their length - this could be a disadvantage of T5.
Both systems should be equipped with good reflectors - that's clear - to get the maximum of their power.
The light of T5 (also other bulbs) reaches the corals from all side - not only from above - less "shadow-effects" - another advantage for T5.
The MH looks really more natural - and if you don't have to think on electricity costs you could choose an MH with a little more wattage than T5 and you have an optimal lightning system.
For SPS I recommand e.g. 1,2-1,3 Watt/Liter MH or 0,9-1,0 Watt/Liter T5. Under this lightning configuration most corals would be colorful and have an excellent growing rate.
Look here this beautiful tank of Iwan Lässer which runs only with T5:
http://www.hausriff.ch/4534/108355.html
Any questions?
Sudad
But in Germany, where the electricity costs are unbelievable high (people in USA should be very happy about their costs), it's important to use an cost-effective lightning system for the future, which produces less warmth and high PAR.
Especially in the summer it's impossible to install an air-conditioning system with these costs here.
That's one reason, why in Germany (and other european countries) T5 is very popular now and a standard choice by lots of coral farmers.
So, under this discipline T5 could be a little bit better choice for the future. Because T5 has a little higher PAR at same wattage than MH. A lot of energy of the MH-system goes lost in UV and warmth and not in photosynthetic light. This is a fact. Test T5 and MH with an PAR-meter at same wattage and spectrum you will be surprised. Only in big sized tanks with an high depth but a short length, the MH is much better. Because the wattage of bulbs depends on their length - this could be a disadvantage of T5.
Both systems should be equipped with good reflectors - that's clear - to get the maximum of their power.
The light of T5 (also other bulbs) reaches the corals from all side - not only from above - less "shadow-effects" - another advantage for T5.
The MH looks really more natural - and if you don't have to think on electricity costs you could choose an MH with a little more wattage than T5 and you have an optimal lightning system.
For SPS I recommand e.g. 1,2-1,3 Watt/Liter MH or 0,9-1,0 Watt/Liter T5. Under this lightning configuration most corals would be colorful and have an excellent growing rate.
Look here this beautiful tank of Iwan Lässer which runs only with T5:
http://www.hausriff.ch/4534/108355.html
Any questions?
Sudad
Last edited:
Navyblue
Low maintenance first
I run 2x150W 7000K MH with 4x54W of blue T5 (2 tubes are still not yet installed).
Although most would call their set up "MH supplemented by T5", I'm not sure what to call mine. Probably T5 supplemented by MH, as T5 is turned on for much longer than the MH.
I am no lighting expert. But the spectrum chart of a 6500K ish MH bulb seems to look a lot like sun spectrum. So I use it to give my tank a mid noon boost for 6-8 hours. The blue T5 are used to boost up the blue spectrum to simulate the condition at a half a dozen feet or so deep in ocean.
MH is strong in the red but weak in the blue department, so I get the MH to give me more red and the T5 give me more blue So I assume I got all my bases covered.
Sudad,
That tank is so unreal!
Although most would call their set up "MH supplemented by T5", I'm not sure what to call mine. Probably T5 supplemented by MH, as T5 is turned on for much longer than the MH.
I am no lighting expert. But the spectrum chart of a 6500K ish MH bulb seems to look a lot like sun spectrum. So I use it to give my tank a mid noon boost for 6-8 hours. The blue T5 are used to boost up the blue spectrum to simulate the condition at a half a dozen feet or so deep in ocean.
MH is strong in the red but weak in the blue department, so I get the MH to give me more red and the T5 give me more blue So I assume I got all my bases covered.
Sudad,
That tank is so unreal!
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