[Dingo]

Originally Posted by WhiskyTango

Too bad the MH waste so much power as heat, otherwise with those peaks at 420, 540 and 580, the 10,000K MH would definitely be the one-stop-shop..

agreed... but I dont see what all the hype about t5's being more energy efficient is for!?

If your using 250 watts towards light your getting 250 watts of light output... Roughly we are turning the 250 watts of electricity into photons. To measure this efficiency, we rate PAR. look at this article now... watts are almost the same, PAR is still lower for t5!

Advanced Aquarist's Online Magazine - Feature Article: Quantitative Comparison of Lighting Technologies: Metal Halide, T5 Fluorescent and LED

[Tangster]

I myself would not give a hoot in hell with a $100,00 kicker added on for all the T5 ever made , I guess if you want to keep corals they will work ? But time will tell that also I recall the early in 90's and wow P/C's keep any corals you want yes Huum Power compacks LOL

Until a better ligting is cheap enough I'll keep my M/H and VHO's I hvae had several of the LED solairurs to crap out also at several K$ a pop crazy
I'll stick with what I know to be proven and over many yrs .

[railroader46]

Halides and T5s is whats going on mine. Mainly 500w of halides and 2x54 T5s this should grow any thing I want.

[Tangster]

Originally Posted by railroader46

Halides and T5s is whats going on mine. Mainly 500w of halides and 2x54 T5s this should grow any thing I want.

But I'm guessing your t5's will most likely be used for Actinic sublimation ? Thats all I use my VHO tubes for . I run 20 lamps just 6 hrs a day and the VHO from 6:30 am till 10:00 Pm .

[railroader46]

Thats all they will be used for. Ati true actinics.

[slocal]

Originally Posted by Dingo

The icecap will be nice!
Good bulbs are:
Iwasaki, South Pacific Sun (I like these a lot, so does Tangster), Ushio, Phoenix, and XM are all good ones. Reeflux has nice color but they go bad faster than others.

If you want data like PAR, color temperature, efficiency, or a plot I can help you out

I've seen Iwasaki's and was a bit weary since it's not a name I've heard get thrown around a lot. I guess that's because I haven't been in the MH world for too long. The tank will be a mixed reef as the contents of my 29g will be moving. Acans, Pocillopora, Birdsnest, Montis, Acros, Trumpets, Torch, etc will be going in there. I was told 14k would be a decent mix for them, but I welcome all opinions.

Originally Posted by Tangster

I'd ask what type reflectors and lamps are you going to be using ? They are more important then many think all are not equal, I have some that would make a 175 w do more then a 250 with a lesser type.. If you have just the simple 1/2 U shaped parabolic then I'd say 10" tops Hamilton's simply use the Magnatek or Advance Iron core ballast I have replaced a ton of them in their little boxes . It will do fine thats all the ballast/transformers I ever ran , I have ran many test using one or the other and there are just to many variables to say this one is better then that one . The electronics are a little better and more efficient but a 35.00 one like I run last 20 yrs and I have never had a electronic to last all that long.

I have these that just came in. Sunlight Supply Reef Optix 2 reflectors. Thanks for the advice, Tangster. I'd like to think Hamilton is around for such a long time.

[Dingo]

Originally Posted by slocal

I've seen Iwasaki's and was a bit weary since it's not a name I've heard get thrown around a lot. I guess that's because I haven't been in the MH world for too long. The tank will be a mixed reef as the contents of my 29g will be moving. Acans, Pocillopora, Birdsnest, Montis, Acros, Trumpets, Torch, etc will be going in there. I was told 14k would be a decent mix for them, but I welcome all opinions.



I have these that just came in. Sunlight Supply Reef Optix 2 reflectors. Thanks for the advice, Tangster. I'd like to think Hamilton is around for such a long time.

The color temperature will change based on the type of bulb and even the ballast you use. Im surprised you havent heard about iwasakis... they are THE lights for growing corals (just not good color at all). If you want to stick with 14K I would say Phoenix, Ushio, or SPS... all good for this color

If you dont mind the extra price, go with lumen max reflectors... i promise you will be more than satisfied!!!
http://www.saltysupply.com/ProductDe...ign=GoogleBase

[slocal]

Originally Posted by Dingo

The color temperature will change based on the type of bulb and even the ballast you use. Im surprised you havent heard about iwasakis... they are THE lights for growing corals (just not good color at all). If you want to stick with 14K I would say Phoenix, Ushio, or SPS... all good for this color

If you dont mind the extra price, go with lumen max reflectors... i promise you will be more than satisfied!!!
http://www.saltysupply.com/ProductDe...ign=GoogleBase

I'm not concerned about color as much as I am getting the right light in to my tank. I mean, we all like a bit of blue in there and I suppose my t-5's can help out with that. Iwasaki should still be the one to go? If so, what color temp would you recommend?

Those LumenMax's look great, but they won't fit in my canopy. Those things are freakishly massive

[Dingo]

they have different sizes, even one for a nano tank!

But i pulled some charts for you:
Real yellow color

Nice crisp white


Medium blue

And darker blue


The charts show how much of each wavelength is emitted from each light

[slocal]

Originally Posted by Dingo

they have different sizes, even one for a nano tank!

The charts show how much of each wavelength is emitted from each light

Ah, I'll have to look for one small enough. Thanks for the tip.

What I'm seeing from the 10k bulbs is that they seem to still have a bit of blue in the 420nm range. Is that visible? I do like the fuller spectrum they provide.