Why do people hate Power Compact lights?
- Thread starter Cagdas
- Start date
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13417736#post13417736 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by phender
That's not right. There is no way a 70watt MH produces as many lumens as 200watts of PC.
Here is a 20 gal tank that I had lit with 2 x 65 watt PCs.
The red monti caps outgrew the tank in about a year as did the green one. The pink pocillapora was beautiful, as was the red echino, pink/purple stylo, etc., ect. Its just that their are better ways to go these days. Namely T5s. I couldn't keep acros colored up in this tank but they could live there.
Well, im not saying you're going to lite a tank that size under one single 70w MH...
But, with the correct placement of corals in correlation to the 70w MH, you will get better colors and growth.
I stand by my statement. I think you just didn't think of it the same way I did.
Thoe caps you were talking about grow for me under 9w of PC in a 2.5g tank. Caps aren't that light dependent, not the red one's at least.
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13419151#post13419151 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Rakie
With the right reflectors I think so. Just becaue it's T5 doesn't mean it's going to be better... They need good individual reflectors or you might as well just have PC.
Do some research
I have been, and its all just a big debate.
There seems to be no definitive answer. If I could fit 36" 39W T5s it wouldnt be a choice...but since Im constrained to 24" I figured 65W > 24W.....it was about $100 more to go the PC route also.
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13419186#post13419186 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by blazin
I have been, and its all just a big debate.
If I could fit 36" 39W T5s it wouldnt be a choice...but since Im constrained to 24" I figured 65W > 24W.....it was about $100 more to go the PC route also.
well, don't quote me on this *exactly* but I've read and seen diagrams of certain reflectors producing over 160% more light output on the T5 lighting.
As Gcarrol said, PC lights are a dead technology. Not much has changed with them, they're an obsolete lighting source.
The biggest emphasis on T5 lighting is the reflector... You do a lot of reading on it, and they'll tell you, a flat reflector is worthless. Reflectors make a big difference. Getting a good reflector can bring a lot more output from your light.
phender
Active member
One 70 watt MH gives between 3100 - 5500 lumens depending on the type of bulb.
One 55 watt PC give around 4100 lumens.
You said, "70w Metal Halide > 200w PC".
You can't just make stuff up to try to make point. Light is light. Metal Halide is not some magic wand that makes things grow and have amazing color. 70watts of metal halide would not have been enough to grow sps throughout my 20 gal tank, 130 watts of PC lights was. (And I didn't just grow red caps, but stylos, pocilli, and clams with colors that got me some very nice frags in trade)
One of the advantages of Metal Halides is that you can cram a lot of wattage into a small space. I couldn't have fit 250 watts of PC lights over my 20 gal. I could have fit 400 watts of metal halide over it. (I would have boiled the water, but it would have been bright.
)
Cagdas
New member
How about using good reflectors with PC what is so special about the T5s and reflectors. If the trick is the reflector it should work fine with a PC too isn't that right. May be the double tube design is causing the problem vs. the cylinder design with T5 is that the reason reflectors have that much effect with T5 but not PC?
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