What Type of lighting hangs over your SPS tank?

[karsseboom]

Can you please define pop because that is usually caused by more of the blue spectrum and its more of an art then just placing bulbs over your tank. This thread will become quickly a debate of LEDs vs halides vs T5 any choice works well.

Halides plus T5
Pros great color on sps and fast growth
Cons lots of heat and higher electric bills

T5 alone lighting
Pros great colors on sps less heat then halides good growth on sps
Cons bulbs only last 6 months

LEDs
Pros unlimited lighting possibilities great growth almost no heat
Cons fixtures are expensive and may need more then one fixture per tank depending on size.

I use LEDs and not to sway you in any way but I simply love it.

T5 bulbs only last 6 months? Simply not true

I can run the t5 on my powermodule for over 12 months and they are still producing nice par with little change in spectrum.

I have never heard anyone changing there bulbs on a ati fixture sooner then 9 months. Next time you post somthing about t5 make sure your familiar with the lighting.

 

[Boboli]

Three Radions with TIR. Way to much light for my shallow tank. I now have the center one turned off and have lowered the intensity to about 50%.

 

[chefzif]

Bobali looks like the radions are working well for you! how long have you had them over yor system? Tank looks great! Chef!

 

[symbiodinium]

I am surprised at the percentage of LEDs in use over SPS tanks. Myself I just upgraded, bought a Hamilton Caymon MH fixture, 20K XM DE and Lumatek dimmable electronic ballast. If I need more I will add some LED strips from Vertex to supplement my tank.

I will wait till the LED technology settles down, I really like the Kessils and look forward to see how they evolve.

 

[MedRed]

I am surprised at the percentage of LEDs in use over SPS tanks. Myself I just upgraded, bought a Hamilton Caymon MH fixture, 20K XM DE and Lumatek dimmable electronic ballast. If I need more I will add some LED strips from Vertex to supplement my tank.

I will wait till the LED technology settles down, I really like the Kessils and look forward to see how they evolve.

I'm not surprised. I've seen the steady decline of halide fixture and bulb availability over the years. It's been obvious to me that LEDs are displacing older technologies. It was painful for me to try to find matching halide pendants to light my tank. Eventually I gave up.

 

[trueblackpercula]

T5 bulbs only last 6 months? Simply not true

I can run the t5 on my powermodule for over 12 months and they are still producing nice par with little change in spectrum.

I have never heard anyone changing there bulbs on a ati fixture sooner then 9 months. Next time you post somthing about t5 make sure your familiar with the lighting.

Sorry to have rattles your cage but here is a link that shows T 5 bulbs last 9 months. That simple means they are exhausted so replacing them every 6 months is a better choice because you and I both know they loose there color and output unlike LEDs that las 50,000hours plus
http://www.marinedepot.com/Current_...ariums-Current_USA-CU02135-FILTBUT5HO-vi.html

 

[Sherlock1]

Im using Ai Sol Blues and running at a max of 70% power for 5 hours with ramp up and down either side. Seems ok but am capping the PAR at approx 280 so could go hotter.

 

[nbgen12]

Sorry to have rattles your cage but here is a link that shows T 5 bulbs last 9 months. That simple means they are exhausted so replacing them every 6 months is a better choice because you and I both know they loose there color and output unlike LEDs that las 50,000hours plus
http://www.marinedepot.com/Current_...ariums-Current_USA-CU02135-FILTBUT5HO-vi.html

I change my T-5s every 12 months, everything looks great. 9 months being quoted by an online retailer of equipment sounds like they are trying to get more frequent bulb sales to me....

Changing T-5 bulbs every 6 months is completely unnecessary...

 

[Patrick Cox]

ATI Dimmable Sunpower. Love it!

 

[CeeGee]

T5 bulbs only last 6 months? Simply not true

I can run the t5 on my powermodule for over 12 months and they are still producing nice par with little change in spectrum.

I have never heard anyone changing there bulbs on a ati fixture sooner then 9 months. Next time you post somthing about t5 make sure your familiar with the lighting.

For real. Going on 14 months in my ATI Powermodule. Getting ready to start replacing the bulbs but in no real hurry. Everything looks fine.

 

[karsseboom]

Sorry to have rattles your cage but here is a link that shows T 5 bulbs last 9 months. That simple means they are exhausted so replacing them every 6 months is a better choice because you and I both know they loose there color and output unlike LEDs that las 50,000hours plus
http://www.marinedepot.com/Current_...ariums-Current_USA-CU02135-FILTBUT5HO-vi.html

The link you posted says 9-18 months. These are not metal halide bulbs. The fixture they are ran in makes a big factor of the lifespan. I have been dealing with t5 for a while now and know how cooling bulbs in the proper way will determine the life. I'm not down playing LEDs but that fact you said they need to be replaced every six months is way out there and nobody that runs ati fixture is replacing them at 6 months. It would be safe to say that 9 months is the least amount of time to change the bulbs.


http://www.zeovit.com/forums/showthread.php?t=27589

 

[trueblackpercula]

The link you posted says 9-18 months. These are not metal halide bulbs. The fixture they are ran in makes a big factor of the lifespan. I have been dealing with t5 for a while now and know how cooling bulbs in the proper way will determine the life. I'm not down playing LEDs but that fact you said they need to be replaced every six months is way out there and nobody that runs ati fixture is replacing them at 6 months. It would be safe to say that 9 months is the least amount of time to change the bulbs.


http://www.zeovit.com/forums/showthread.php?t=27589

Not trying to debate at all just posting what I can find. I did a google search about T5 bulbs and most people are changing them even sooner. It comes down to how long you run them. Example was if you run them 12 to 14 hours a day they would need to be change more often. So if the lights come on a 800 am and go of at 10 pm like most reefers gun your bulb life would be less then 9 months.
Hope this helps

 

[animalkingdom]

N So if the lights come on a 800 am and go of at 10 pm like most reefers
Hope this helps

big assumption here...and you know what they say about assuming...

I wouldn't say most reefers run their lights 14 hours

I think I trust first hand experience with T5 more then what you found online anyway

Anyway I am an LED user now and do like them a lot.

 

[k_red_raider]

Currently have a Aquaticlife fixture over my tank with two halides and two T5's. I am in the process of gathering supplies to put two 240W halides with reflectors and a supplement of LEDs to try and get the both of best worlds. The LEDs will just be for the "atenic" sp.. look and will not have any white bulbs.

 

[galleon]

Unsupplemented 400 watt Iwasaki. Base horizontal.

 

[AmherstReef]

I run a 6 bulb T5 fixture over my 90 now but with my tank turning primarily SPS, I'm thinking I need to upgrade my lighting, probably a DIY LED.

And just my two cents I change my bulbs every 9-12 months.

 

[LoJack]

I have ordered my ATI Sunpower 8 x 54 watt Unit and it's on the way. I will likely go back to LED one day, as most have mentioned its slowly displacing the older technologies. Some websites are no longer even stocking metal halide and T-5 fixtures, and I can only assume they are going to get even harder to come by in the future.

As for the bulb life, I have literally spent around 50 hours reading about T-5 lighting for SPS tanks over the last 7 or 8 days, and a big determining factor in bulb life is the quality of the bulb, the quality of the fixture, the cooling approach utilized by the fixture, and the length of the photo period.

ATI, Korallen-zucht, and Giessman seem to be rated highest. And I haven't found anyone running actively cooled ATI Fixtures changing their bulbs before 9 months, most getting more than a year out of their bulbs.

 

[TOM BLEVINS]

We have a 300 with 4 - 250 radiums and 8 -4' t5 antinics, just purchased
4 used Kessils 350w I am planning on adding this weekend.

see how things go.

Tom

 

[toofrigginswt]

We have a 300 with 4 - 250 radiums and 8 -4' t5 antinics, just purchased
4 used Kessils 350w I am planning on adding this weekend.

see how things go.

Tom

Tom, so the kessils will be in addition to your current setup right? Or are you removing the halides?

 

[64Ivy]

Still going old school with 400W 14K MHs. Still happy with the results, though one of these days, I plan to add some led, T5, or VHO actinic supplementation.