Whats the most dominant successful Light fixture for SPS? Metal Halide or ATI T5 ????
- Thread starter luk81a
- Start date
this is me
Active member
I agreed. It's too bad that it's almost impossible to find a recent fixture that still have VHO.
trueblackpercula
New member
I have am still running VHO but its hard to get replacement bulbs because the shipping cost more then the bulbs these days. I was also told that within two more years they will not be allowed for sale. So the Led company's but hurry up.
toothman
Premium Member
Have 3 lights 2 at home and one at the office. Current lights Led ai sol at office. Metal halide with t5 and one with t 12 vho.
The t 5 color is very not nearly as good as the t12 vho. The vho actinic is a true violet actinic that makes greens pop etc similar to leds, the t5 actinic are purple white. I regret purchasing the t5's and would rather have t 12 vho.
I would call Hamilton Lighting directly, I was not aware that t12 may be discontinued, they could advise you better.
But anyway metal halide plus with t 5 or t 12 would be best.
The t 5 color is very not nearly as good as the t12 vho. The vho actinic is a true violet actinic that makes greens pop etc similar to leds, the t5 actinic are purple white. I regret purchasing the t5's and would rather have t 12 vho.
I would call Hamilton Lighting directly, I was not aware that t12 may be discontinued, they could advise you better.
But anyway metal halide plus with t 5 or t 12 would be best.
toothman
Premium Member
Have 3 lights 2 at home and one at the office. Current lights Led ai sol at office. Metal halide with t5 and one with t 12 vho.
The t 5 color is very not nearly as good as the t12 vho. The vho actinic is a true violet actinic that makes greens pop etc similar to leds, the t5 actinic are purple white. I regret purchasing the t5's and would rather have t 12 vho.
I would call Hamilton Lighting directly, I was not aware that t12 may be discontinued, they could advise you better.
But anyway metal halide plus with t 5 or t 12 would be best.
The t 5 color is very not nearly as good as the t12 vho. The vho actinic is a true violet actinic that makes greens pop etc similar to leds, the t5 actinic are purple white. I regret purchasing the t5's and would rather have t 12 vho.
I would call Hamilton Lighting directly, I was not aware that t12 may be discontinued, they could advise you better.
But anyway metal halide plus with t 5 or t 12 would be best.
REEF SMAC
New member
I guess I'm not convinced this will happen.
Although this is a great visual affect, the heat produced by the MH (or T5 even) will degrade these heat sensitive LEDs too much. Unless someone comes up with some kind of heat tolerant LED.
As for the OP,
T5 or MH work just fine for shallow tanks but for deeper tanks MH are still the dominant fixture.
JPMagyar
New member
"Just the facts please Ma'am"
Fact: By far the most common lighting found on RC TOTMs is 400 watt Radium or ATI Blue Plus T5s.
Fact: By far the most common lighting found on RC TOTMs is 400 watt Radium or ATI Blue Plus T5s.
I don't believe there is any dominant "fixture" but there are definitely dominant bulbs. It is true there are plenty of lights that "work" for growing SPS, but there are some lights we know that work REALLY WELL for growing SPS and those are 400 watt Radiums combined with UVL Super Actinics or ATI Blue Plus T5s. For the absolute best results, guaranteed, those are the two choices most often used by SPS reefers with colorful tanks and lastly T5s placed together in groups of 6 or more clearly can reach just as far down as MH.
Here is a SPS tank with an 8 bulb ATI fixture that is 2 inches shy of 2 feet deep:
and here is a tank that used 400 watt Radiums that shows how fast SPS grow under 400 watt Radiums:
June 2007
July 2009
Lot's of lights work just fine, but some lights work better than others at growing colorful SPS.
The SPS Crazy for Color Guy,
Joe Peck
REEF SMAC
New member
So far that is about the only "fact" that I personally agree with.
IME Old school Iwasaki, 10K, and even 12K work better for GROWING SPS. Every time I have run them side by side with radiums in my tank the growth under the 10ks is always more.
I personally think that Radiums are the most popular for the glowing blue tank look they provide. The way they make the colors of your corals florescence, the way they make your colors really pop.
These are the reasons I still use them today. Not for their growth, although their growth rates are decent as well.
Sorry but this part isn't really too clear to me quite yet. So please do educate me. I'm here to learn.
Instead of just posting another shallow SPS tank running T5s. Please post some of those 36" and deeper tanks to show how these T5s can reach just as far down.
How about that public aquarium with their 6 foot deep SPS tank that traded in their 1000w MHs for T5s. Somehow I guess I missed that too. So please post that one as well.
trueblackpercula
New member
I would have to say that I have been running a 400watt radium with 150watts VHO and just love the look and growth. Buy I will say that the best bulb I ever had but can't find anymore was the 400watt aqua none t bulb this thing was incredible . I truly believe nothing come close. And yes my tank is 30 x 30 x 31 deep so LEDs just aren't going to cut it alone, we'll not with today's LEDs fixtures
JPMagyar
New member
Sorry but this part isn't really too clear to me quite yet. So please do educate me. I'm here to learn.
Instead of just posting another shallow SPS tank running T5s. Please post some of those 36" and deeper tanks to show how these T5s can reach just as far down.
How about that public aquarium with their 6 foot deep SPS tank that traded in their 1000w MHs for T5s. Somehow I guess I missed that too. So please post that one as well.
No worries mate! I love a good discussion.
First, as I'm sure you would agree the lack of a deep T5 tank is not ipso facto proof of the inability to do the job. Second let's consider basic physics.
A photon having a wavelength of x doesn't care how it was produced. A 420nm photon from a T5 has just as much chance of reaching 36 inches as a 420nm photon produced by a metal halide lamp. The penetration of a light source is a function of the photon flux (density) and photon wavelength. We have at our disposal a common meter used in the hobby made by Apogee that tells us once we add 6+ tubes of T5 light in a tight row we begin to see densities of photons at the surface equal to those produced by 400 watt metal halide lighting. Is it the same as 1000 watt metal halide lighting? No. Is it practical for a 1000 gallon public aquarium to use several dozen T5s? No. Will an 8 bulb T5 fixture grow coral at 36 inches in a home aquarium? You bet, because the photon density at the surface will easily reach 1500 umol/m2/sec and that is enough to create 100 umol/m2/sec at the bottom of a 36 inch tank. Sadly I don't have any photos of such a tank, but I'll keep looking :reading:
The SPS Color Crazed Dude,
Joe
this is me
Active member
Joe,
When you say tight grouping of T5, is this individual T5 with individual reflector in close approximenity to each other or a group of T5 in one large reflector?
When you say tight grouping of T5, is this individual T5 with individual reflector in close approximenity to each other or a group of T5 in one large reflector?
JPMagyar
New member
If you were to keep a log with photos, you might have some ground breaking work here because although your comments are similar to the long held consensus the only study of which I am aware that actually examined this belief found the exact opposite:
Red Light Generated by the Lamps
While no trend seems apparent with either PUR intensity or the amount of blue light generated by these lamps and Acropora solitaryensis growth rates, the same can not be said when we examine the amount of red light and how it correlates with coral growth. See Figure 5. The more red light a lamp generates correlates fairly well with low growth rates.
Again I am in no way trying to be "smarmy", I'm only interested in learning the facts as best we know them today. Funny thing is they keep changing year to year in our hobby :beer:
Joe
JPMagyar
New member
Hey Nick,
Clearly the advent of individual T5 reflectors of high quality greatly altered the equation with regards to fluorescent lighting. T5 technology is the same as the old T12, using the same gases, but the difference was the cooler temperatures which improved lamp efficiency and the development of individual reflectors which made T5s so much better and enabled fluorescent technology to match the photon density of metal halides.
JPMagyar
New member
Not a photo of a 36 inch tank, but . . . .
Here's a shot of my tank. It's only 24 inches, but I would note that I moved my lights up from 4 inches above the water to 10 inches above the water because the light was too intense on the bottom, reaching 400+ umol/m2/sec before turning on the 4 x 150 watt MHs and I prefer readings of 100 to 200 on the bottom. Given that I was easily able to generate 400 at 24 inches and the fact that on average PAR readings drop from 400 to 100 with about 12 inches in depth change, I am fairly confident that this fixture with 16 T5 lamps could easily hit 100 umol/m2/sec at 36 inches of depth. I'm actually planning a totally new tank for this spring so maybe I'll go back to a deep tank and test this theory for myself
Joe
Here's a shot of my tank. It's only 24 inches, but I would note that I moved my lights up from 4 inches above the water to 10 inches above the water because the light was too intense on the bottom, reaching 400+ umol/m2/sec before turning on the 4 x 150 watt MHs and I prefer readings of 100 to 200 on the bottom. Given that I was easily able to generate 400 at 24 inches and the fact that on average PAR readings drop from 400 to 100 with about 12 inches in depth change, I am fairly confident that this fixture with 16 T5 lamps could easily hit 100 umol/m2/sec at 36 inches of depth. I'm actually planning a totally new tank for this spring so maybe I'll go back to a deep tank and test this theory for myself
Joe
coralreefdoc
New member
Are those Sfiligoi Stealth HQIs you're running there, Joe ?
JPMagyar
New member
Why yes they are! I got them in August because I have always lived in envy of Krzysztof's tank and he uses T5s. I must admit I am absolutely in love with T5s for SPS coloration. Sadly, this is NOT the cheapest or most efficient setup one can have, but the results are worth it to me :celeb2:
Joe
Moser
Active member
Not true.
I have Pacific Sun 200W Anniversary edition LED fixtures over my smaller tank- for about 18 months.
If I run them at 50% they are ok. If I hit 100%, they bleach every single SPS in the tank, including those on the floor of the tank at 30" deep.
LED's have no problem punching deep.
Mo
Moser
Active member
Not a photo of a 36 inch tank, but . . . .
Here's a shot of my tank. It's only 24 inches, but I would note that I moved my lights up from 4 inches above the water to 10 inches above the water because the light was too intense on the bottom, reaching 400+ umol/m2/sec before turning on the 4 x 150 watt MHs and I prefer readings of 100 to 200 on the bottom. Given that I was easily able to generate 400 at 24 inches and the fact that on average PAR readings drop from 400 to 100 with about 12 inches in depth change, I am fairly confident that this fixture with 16 T5 lamps could easily hit 100 umol/m2/sec at 36 inches of depth. I'm actually planning a totally new tank for this spring so maybe I'll go back to a deep tank and test this theory for myself
Joe
Hi Joe,
What do you define as too intense and what effects did you notice?.
Thanks
Mo
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