to all t5 users that keep sps

[adambirk]

hello every one,

i am in the middle of peicing my upgrade together and am really at a crossroad with lighting. i had origanally planned to transfer my mh lighting over to my new tank but have really been considering t5s.

Mainly it is the heat issue and the colors i have seen from the t5 tank pics. so i guess my question is do the t5 owners ever regret swiching over?

my new setup is going to be an sps tank so i want to have the best lighting i can possible afford. i have been real happy with my halides(gallaxy ballast and radium bulbs) for both growth and color. but i hate the heat. my tank is in my living room and i dont have a problem keeping my tank cool. i have a problem with having to run my ac at full blast to keep my house cool from the excess heat from the tank.

so when i buld my new setup i am seriously considering t5s.

just wanted to hear some feedback from 75 users. also i would be getting either a tek fixture or ati not sure yet, but i would like to know if i can put these inside a canopy if i make sure that i have great ventilation inside my canopy? i just dont like my front room looking like a landing strip and a canopy keeps the light out of my eyes and in the tank.

any thoughts or comments are greatly appriciated. thank you

 

[skimmy]

I was skeptical moving from mh to t5's but, i'll never go back.
love the coloration and growth i got from even rare, hard to grow sps like oregon tort and red planet.
with led's you can replace mh shimmer as well.

 

[douglam]

i miss the shimmer but thats it. everything else is better with t5s

 

[Henry Bowman]

Went T5 a few years back and havent looked back. ATI units are great. A friend has one and it is everything that it's cracked up to be. I have an Aquactinics Solar Flare and like it.

I run 3 ATI Blue + and (2)Aquablue Specials and 1 Fiji Purple. I like the color etc.

I think that there are some engineer types (not me) that will say 400watts of T5's will generate close to the same heat as 400W metal halides. At least I have read this before. But the T5's just dont heat my house up like the MH's. They do put off some heat but not half what the Mh's do.

My un educated but somewhat experienced .02 Cents worth...

 

[Goodwood]

I made the swap 1 month ago from 2 X 400w MHs to 8x54 ATI PM. I had to keep my A/C at 73/74 8 months out of the year to keep the tank under 84.

The ATI is dead silent, looks fantastic, and has caused some bleaching (impressive PAR #s).
Most importantly my A/C is now set at 78 and the tank stays at 78 without a flux. I can tell you I am saving well over $100 a month on electricity while not compromising on PAR.

If you can live without "the" shimmer, you will love t-5s.

 

[bigsittingrock]

It seems to me they put out the same amount of heat but it's dispersed the length of the bulb. The reason I switched from MH to t5 was space in my canopy. Now I will not go back. Like Skimmy, the colors became incredible in the SPS.

 

[jflick345]

Has anyone here used either of those fixtures inside a canopy? I'm interested as well. I would like a fixture but am thinking about a retro b/c I don't know if they work with the heat getting not escaping as readily as an open top.

 

[drchayus]

in a canopy, i would go with retrofits. you won't be paying for the casing, and they are more easily cooled. alternately, you could lose the canopy and drop an ati or aquactinics fixture right on top of the tank, eliminating any light spill-over. i would avoid the tek fixture as there are no built in fans. I love t5s because you can really play around with the colors and there are plenty of high quality bulbs to choose from. and yes your living room will stay cooler

 

[Mr. Thingdoer]

I agree with everybody else. I switched to T5's and have gotten my SPS to color up so well that it's brought new joy to the hobby. I'm really proud of my tank now.