Metal Halide vs. T5

[Covey]

As the resident T-5 troll here and the new owner of 2x400W halides I can tell you one advantage that t-5 have over MH that hasn't been brought up. Basically even light spread with the T-5 you get the intensity spread out evenly across the tank. Now with almost 70% more wattage in a given space that side is far more shadowy. It might not seem like much but the hardcore T-5 crowd has reported more natural looking even looking growth. Not everything growing to a point. Especially true for like table acros. The T-5 guys are not getting the recession at the shaded base like some MH guys report.

T-5s:
1) 40% more energy efficient
2) Cooler running
3) T-5HO overdriven can do ANYTHING a 250W MH can do.
4) Even light spread
5) Longer bulb life

MH:
1) Nothing T-5 yet will compete with a 400W MH PAR wise (maybe t-5VHO someday)
2) Simmer
3) Easier to wire. (T5 considered a 2 ballast, 6 bulb, 12 endcap setup. With extensions that 48 electrical connections versus 6 connections for my MH setup.)
4) Easier to do maintenance around.

[90_Berlin_joe]

Covey, you mentioned Overdriving a T5-HO, how is this done and can it be done on a TEK 8 bulb hood or is is it already done hense the HO label?

Since I have never ran a MH setup I will not put my 2 cents in on that. However I have been running a TEK 8 bulb setup and can not get enough. My bulb setup are 4 10k Aquablues, 2 Pure Actinics(purple) and 2 Actinic Plus(blue) on a 90gal. This changing from a Coralife 260watt P.O.S. The tank is much more alive, all softies are loving it my black and orange sun coral are always out and the neon colors in my mushrooms are more vibrant than when i bought them at the LFS under their MH setups.

[Willieo101587]

Man, 8 bulbs seem like much more than I am running, even though yours is 90 gal Berlin Joe. I only have 2 10K's and 2 actinics. Is that enough or should I ditch 1 or both of the actinics? Also, Covey, what's overdriving and how do you do it?

[Noble]

I just put a 24" Nova Extreme on my 54 corner and it is bright. I noticed the actinics are not as blue as I thought they should be. They are in the 460nm range. I'm gonna buy the 420nm actinics to see if I can get more blue from the lights. Hopefully it'll make a better dawn/dusk effect and I think it would be better for the life in my tank.

[Covey]

Overdriven T-5s:Basically it is running them on a Icecap ballast. The icecap runs more than the rated wattage thru the bulb. In the case of 48" T-5s it drives the 54W bulb to 80-85W. That is a really world increase in output no marketing BS.
The Salt Creep did testing with a PAR meter maybe we can get him to chip in.
I believe it was some thing to the effect of:
24W to 50W
54W to 80-85W
80W to 100W

My personal experience and that of quite a few other Icecap user is the bulb life was actually BETTER on the overdriven Icecap.

So whats the catch. The ballast is $160 vs like $49 for a Triad. Or even cheaper for a Workhorse ballast.

[Alque01]

Got to keep this thread going. There is a similiar thread Pro-T5s on reef central, but I would like to hear honest comparisons between the too formats.

I am currently searching for a lighting system for my 90 gal set up. The tank is 24inches tall and I dont want waste money on something that I will have to replace in when I want to upgrade my corals.

I want to do LPS, SPS, softies, and maybe a clam. Tell me what yall think.

[Bruce]

Check out this guys reef tank, all t-5ho. http://www.notlehs.com/

[90_Berlin_joe]

ALQUE01,

I just added the TEK T5-HO 8-bulb unit to my 90 gal. Love the light that it give off and the different selection of lights available. The draw back with going with the hood unit is that there are no Lunar lights and the unit is 1" wider than the 90gal tank (i.e. 18" wide tank, 19" wide light hood). Easily taken care of with a custom hood that I am in process of building.

From what I am seeing, everything in my tank is looking great. My mushrooms are all open and not reaching. My finger leather is nicely expanded and from the look of things i might start adding in some clams and other light intensive items.

History, i went from a 260watt coralife hood with only 2.8 watts per gall to 4.8 watts per gall with 40,000 lumen's.

[Bruce]

Yup, those t-5hos are great, i got around the moonlings by just hanging them over the lights and aiming at the tank, if you are going to put it in a hood remember to add fans

[R34dawn]

Don't worry Alque! this thread be around somewhere, I hope this morning my wife gave me the ok on my T-5HO....yep! she is my bookkeeper lol... so I put my order in this morning, well around noon, however I probably won't get them till Friday after next. but at least they are on their way! she knows what's best for our tank