T5' vs. VHO

[rwp1202]

Looking to get a small frag set up going in my basement. I set up my 40 gal long about 3 months ago to let it cycle and stabilize. Now it is time to ask Santa for some lights.

I'm thinking of a VHO retro kit (IceCap 660 ballast), but I've heard some people talk about t5's as well. What does the voice of experience say? I would consider MH, but I am nowhere near ready to grow out SPS's.

Also, with the IceCap, am I stuck with all 4 bulbs on/off at the same time, or can I wire it as 2 + 2 on separate switches?

 

[oldreefer76]

With the 660 ballast you can run either one, it really comes down to a matter of what you are wanting to keep, bulb prices for both in 48" run about the same, though with the T5 you will need to run individual reflectors on each bulb to get optimal out put and will need to run fans to cool the tubes as the 660 will overdrive them

 

[Tbohinc]

I would go with the t-5's

 

[aninjaatemyshoe]

You can get more out of just regular HO (not overdriven) T5s with individual reflectors than you can with VHOs over the same area. Overdriving T5s with an Icecap ballast makes the difference even greater but at the cost of bulb life. You absolutely need to actively cool all bulbs in an overdriven T5 setup. You probably should actively cool regularly driven T5s anyway. I don't know if this is the case with VHOs.

 

[CleveYank]

Icecap provides diagrams for 2 3 and 4 bulb setups. The wiring diagram for 2 to 4 is different. If you did some fancy wiring to a set of switches and some wire loops with cancel switches on, you could technically go from 2 to 4 and back provided you had the power off during the changes. But you cannot go while it's running from 2 on and then have the other 2 come on to my knowledge. You would cross the wiring and most likely cook the ballast and probably void the warranty or keep blowing fuses by the gross.

You can look up diagrams online.

I'd go with the T5's over VHO's. Have not used them. But I have seen them over a tank in Amish country that had some sps and it looked great.

Before I saw the...well Light...and got into MH's I used 4 VHO's to light my 1st 90 gallon reef. I never needed to add fans to cool the bulbs. A 40 is less volume and shallower so who knows?


Wouldn't a 4 bulb T5 with new icecap, sockets, standoffs, and reflector almost = the same amount of money for a hamilton 250 MH dual double bulb retrofit with sockets and bulbs and everything? That is if you were heading down the MH avenue later anyway?

 

[oldreefer76]

True the T5 would cost as much to retro fit as the 2x250 MH, but the MH will use 2x the Electricity though

 

[aninjaatemyshoe]

I like metal halides just about as much as I like T5s, but the Hamilton retros are just awful. They call a half box of metal a reflector? A good T5 setup would pretty much blow that away, especially if you're considering overdriving with IC. Now, if you were comparing them with Lumenarcs or something...

Now that I think of it, if this is a frag tank, you might want to look into buying a light mover. Google Light Rail. With that, you could use just one 250W MH pendant for the entire tank. IMO it is by far the most efficient way of lighting a tank.

 

[itZme]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11123520#post11123520 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by oldreefer76
True the T5 would cost as much to retro fit as the 2x250 MH, but the MH will use 2x the Electricity though

Each of my 4x48" T5 IceCap660s draws about 370watts so it is not really half the wattage but is considerably less than what you would see with 2x 250 MH.

I also do not have any active cooling on any of my overdriven T5's but do have the parts and plans to add them soon. In my opinion the best thing about T5 is that you can play around with bulbs so much that there are almost an endless number of color combinations.
I use one 6500k bulb, 2 super actinic, and one 10,000K on each 75g. I think I will go with a bit more blue next time I buy bulbs.

HTH