t5 or MH ( special case...)

[goda]

i have a canopy.. already have VHO

i have a choice.. i can turn out 4 vho's for 4 T5's or for 2 MH's

this is an acrylic tank.
the canopy is less then 5 inches tall so the bulbs would have to be lower then that ( vhos are only 2 inches from water surface)

what would you go with

i have 3 vhos in the back of the tank and those will stay there regardless of what goes in the front

i will not be ble to use individual reflectors ( i will use uvi brand which i think has internal reflectors)

but i will be able to use an icecap 660 for the t5;s

i already have an sps in the tank btw and it was doing fine for ehte past weeka nd a half

 

[Horace]

Goda, T5 w/out good reflectors are useless and a waste of time....MH will not work in a canopy that is only 5" tall.

Why exactly wont individual reflectors work?

Also, just because your SPS have lived for the past 1.5 weeks means almost nothing. SPS isnt going to just RTN and die over night if your setup isnt ideal. They will however RTN over time or turn brown/stop growing.

If you already have a 660 and want SPS ONLY, go get the good reflectors for T5.

How big of a tank are we talking and what other corals do you have already?

 

[goda]

its a 130 gallon
and sure mh will work in a canopy that is 5 inches tall.. the lfs did it... you jsutcant use a good reflector

whats in there already.

montipora that is almost 3 weeks old.. the fuzzy green acro ( milipora i think) that till today looked fine ( litteraly it looks like crap over night)

have some frogspawn in there for a few months and its doing fine. some trumpet coral. an open brain. some torch. a galaxia frag.. some ricordia and a few palythoa that im trying to get rid of

wont beable to use the reflectors for the T5 because of the price ( would ofcourse slowly add them but it just wont be right away) already to replace the endcaps and the bulbs is going to be several hundred.

i have considered removing the top from my canopy and hanging some MH over the tank but then i wouldent know what to do with my actinic vho's also MH bulbs need to be replaced to often for my liking. and for MH i think i would need to go with two 400 watt bulbs wouldent i? any one recomend a pendant style that gives good color and uses an icecap ballast ( or is just a pendant that i can hook an icecap to..... im a fan of icecap lol

 

[RichConley]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7856431#post7856431 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by goda

wont beable to use the reflectors for the T5 because of the price ( would ofcourse slowly add them but it just wont be right away) already to replace the endcaps and the bulbs is going to be several hundred.

Icecap SLR reflectors are like $25 each. You could put in a 4x54w T5 setup for like $200, everything included.

MHs in a 5" high hood is going to lead to lots of blown bulbs, and lots of heat issues.

 

[arconom]

T5's are worthless without a good reflector. That is the major key to there success.

 

[Ti]

Ditto, If you can't get that T5 reflector in, forget about it.

 

[Wiskey]

The retrofit kits from Reef Geek are 307 shipped with Gisman bulbs of your choice for 4*54W T5 with the SLS reflectors.

As others have said, without those reflectors, or the Ice Cap reflectors T5 is a waste.

I would not do MH in that small of a canopy, for a number of reasons.

HTH,
Whiskey

 

[Horace]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7856431#post7856431 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by goda
its a 130 gallon
and sure mh will work in a canopy that is 5 inches tall.. the lfs did it... you jsutcant use a good reflector

whats in there already.

montipora that is almost 3 weeks old.. the fuzzy green acro ( milipora i think) that till today looked fine ( litteraly it looks like crap over night)

have some frogspawn in there for a few months and its doing fine. some trumpet coral. an open brain. some torch. a galaxia frag.. some ricordia and a few palythoa that im trying to get rid of

wont beable to use the reflectors for the T5 because of the price ( would ofcourse slowly add them but it just wont be right away) already to replace the endcaps and the bulbs is going to be several hundred.

i have considered removing the top from my canopy and hanging some MH over the tank but then i wouldent know what to do with my actinic vho's also MH bulbs need to be replaced to often for my liking. and for MH i think i would need to go with two 400 watt bulbs wouldent i? any one recomend a pendant style that gives good color and uses an icecap ballast ( or is just a pendant that i can hook an icecap to..... im a fan of icecap lol

First, you have to realize that lighting is HIGHLY...let me say that again H I G H L Y effected by thier reflectors, be it T5, MH WHATEVER. If you put MH w/ a crappy or no reflector it will suck... PERIOD. The reflectors on our lighting systems are often the difference between an awesome setup and a down right crappy one.

Second, if you cant afford to buy some new T5 reflectors at $25/ea then you certainly wont be able to afford a new MH setup. They are usually more expensive in most cases than T5s are....

Third, MH will NOT work well in a 5" canopy because of the heat issues (you will boil your water) and if ANY water touches those bulbs they will explode. Yes explode. You will have a tank full of broken glass if any water is to be splashed on them by a fish, powerhead etc etc. For that reason alone, MH will not be an option for you. Im not sure how your LFS is doing it but it isnt safe, nor pratical.

Fourth, the wattage totally depends on the depth of the tank and the type of corals you want to keep and where. If you just want SPS in the upper portion, 250 or even 175w could do the trick, but if you want SPS low in a 30" deep tank, your looking at atleast 250w 10k bulbs or 400w bulbs (Kelvin ratings make a huge difference). So no you cant just say, "I would need 400w" because thats not necessarly the case.

Fifth, FORGET ABOUT LIGHTING RIGHT NOW....get your water parameters inline first, then worry about lighting later on. Like I said, I have seen VHO tanks with SPS do just fine if corals are placed correctly.

 

[brad23]

Well said^^^

 

[Amphiprion]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7857008#post7857008 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Horace
First, you have to realize that lighting is HIGHLY...let me say that again H I G H L Y effected by thier reflectors, be it T5, MH WHATEVER. If you put MH w/ a crappy or no reflector it will suck... PERIOD. The reflectors on our lighting systems are often the difference between an awesome setup and a down right crappy one.

Second, if you cant afford to buy some new T5 reflectors at $25/ea then you certainly wont be able to afford a new MH setup. They are usually more expensive in most cases than T5s are....

Third, MH will NOT work well in a 5" canopy because of the heat issues (you will boil your water) and if ANY water touches those bulbs they will explode. Yes explode. You will have a tank full of broken glass if any water is to be splashed on them by a fish, powerhead etc etc. For that reason alone, MH will not be an option for you. Im not sure how your LFS is doing it but it isnt safe, nor pratical.

Fourth, the wattage totally depends on the depth of the tank and the type of corals you want to keep and where. If you just want SPS in the upper portion, 250 or even 175w could do the trick, but if you want SPS low in a 30" deep tank, your looking at atleast 250w 10k bulbs or 400w bulbs (Kelvin ratings make a huge difference). So no you cant just say, "I would need 400w" because thats not necessarly the case.

Fifth, FORGET ABOUT LIGHTING RIGHT NOW....get your water parameters inline first, then worry about lighting later on. Like I said, I have seen VHO tanks with SPS do just fine if corals are placed correctly.

I agree. I like my VHO tank . Water quality is the foremost thing you should be considering, then worry about adequate circulation. If you are still not satisfied with results after tweaking the above, then feel free to upgrade lighting. I am not bragging by any means, but my VHO sps dominated tank looks better than many more brightly lighted tanks. While higher intensity lighting is important, IMHO, good water quality/parameters and time are all you really need.

 

[locofish]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7857008#post7857008 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Horace
First, you have to realize that lighting is HIGHLY...let me say that again H I G H L Y effected by thier reflectors, be it T5, MH WHATEVER. If you put MH w/ a crappy or no reflector it will suck... PERIOD. The reflectors on our lighting systems are often the difference between an awesome setup and a down right crappy one.

Second, if you cant afford to buy some new T5 reflectors at $25/ea then you certainly wont be able to afford a new MH setup. They are usually more expensive in most cases than T5s are....

Third, MH will NOT work well in a 5" canopy because of the heat issues (you will boil your water) and if ANY water touches those bulbs they will explode. Yes explode. You will have a tank full of broken glass if any water is to be splashed on them by a fish, powerhead etc etc. For that reason alone, MH will not be an option for you. Im not sure how your LFS is doing it but it isnt safe, nor pratical.

Fourth, the wattage totally depends on the depth of the tank and the type of corals you want to keep and where. If you just want SPS in the upper portion, 250 or even 175w could do the trick, but if you want SPS low in a 30" deep tank, your looking at atleast 250w 10k bulbs or 400w bulbs (Kelvin ratings make a huge difference). So no you cant just say, "I would need 400w" because thats not necessarly the case.

Fifth, FORGET ABOUT LIGHTING RIGHT NOW....get your water parameters inline first, then worry about lighting later on. Like I said, I have seen VHO tanks with SPS do just fine if corals are placed correctly.

Are you sure that if water touches MH bulbs they'll explode? My MH pendant by accident fell into the aquarium, the bulb was on and it didn't exploded.

 

[Horace]

Loco, how long was the bulb on? If the bulb is at full temp, yes, it very likely will explode if water hits it.

 

[goda]

yeah iv seen blown bulbs before...

horace. my water is fine.. one of the main reasons i wanted to upgrade lighting is everything looks crappy under the VHO;s..

what are thes geismen bulbs. are they as good as the UVI/ uri bulbs?

 

[locofish]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7860096#post7860096 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Horace
Loco, how long was the bulb on? If the bulb is at full temp, yes, it very likely will explode if water hits it.

It wasn't at operating temperature, maybe 1-2 min after start up.

 

[Horace]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7860617#post7860617 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by goda
yeah iv seen blown bulbs before...

horace. my water is fine.. one of the main reasons i wanted to upgrade lighting is everything looks crappy under the VHO;s..

what are thes geismen bulbs. are they as good as the UVI/ uri bulbs?

Well frankly adding T5 wont make the tank look much better than VHO... unless you just plain dont like the color of the light in which case T5 does have alot of options for mixing and matching bulbs. Yes the geisman bulbs are good.. So are the URI and Ati bulbs are also decent.

The only way your going to get a different look is by going MH...which IMO DOES look alot nicer than any flourescent, but that is just my opinion. I have had both T5 and MH and MH is by far my fav. My buddy also has a VHO tank and he is now changing to MH after seeing my new setup