T5 Bulbs

Some people are raving about the intensity of these bulbs with certain ballasts, anyone check them out?

http://www.happyreefing.com/t5horetrofits.html

 

8)
I'm a new member and starting out a 125G long reef tank. Since I'm new at this, I've hired someone to start off my tank. I'm in the process of finding new lighting and he recommended the T5s setup on my 6 inch canopy. He told me that they are a lot brighter than power compact and will last a lot longer also. I have about 75lbs of Marshall Island live rock and another 75lbs of dead live rock with live sand. Only going to softies and LPS. Have you heard anything new about these lights?

 

Another thing. It seems to me they are popular in UK. Here is a link on some info of T5.

http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/pfk/pages/show_article.php?article_id=75

 

You know I wish I knew more. From the threads I have seen, some were happy, others didn't like the color, others thought they cost too much.

I haven't seen a consensus yet. They seem promising though.

[flash=468,60]http://www.3reef.com/fish/sitepics/threesteps3.swf[/flash]

Small world!
I work in Jack London Square.
Welcome to 3reef! Thanks for joining

 

[quote author=Nukeproof link=board=lighting;num=1037477572;start=0#1 date=06/25/03 at 10:35:21]
I've hired someone to start off my tank.  I'm in the process of finding new lighting and he recommended the T5s setup on my 6 inch canopy.  He told me that they are a lot brighter than power compact and will last a lot longer also.  I have about 75lbs of Marshall Island live rock and another 75lbs of dead live rock with live sand.  Only going to softies and LPS. [/quote]

If you are still in the planning stages and would like us to reveiew any suggestions your reef contractor has come up with we would be more than happy to assist/review/critique.

For instance, what depth of aragonite or oolite sand are you planninmg to use?

;D 8) :

 

If you are still in the planning stages and would like us to reveiew any suggestions your reef contractor has come up with we would be more than happy to assist/review/critique.

For instance, what depth of aragonite or oolite sand are you planninmg to use?

Thanks Craig for the assistant.

He recommended a light sand bed 1" or less and a DSB refugium (I could only put a 10G, he wanted 20G). Using aragonite, I think. More corse one for the refugium.
On the lighting, since I want to keep my canopy, I think Metal Halide might be out. Although the LFS has it on top of their tank. My canopy also have two 36" top instead of one 72" top so I could only have 2 set of 24" VHO in there, no sure that's enough light. I was leaning toward the JBJ PC retros or the CSL (cost about $150 more for 2 36" retros) but he said T5s might work better.

 

Hey Nuke -

I checked out that link, thanks. That is more info than most of the pages I found.

I just dug around a bit and from what I can ascertain, the big sellling point so far with T5's is the estimated life span (up to 3 years with 20% loss) and less heat than halides.

They need an electronic ballast though.

And they don't think they will be good for tanks more than 18" tall.

How tall is your tank?

 

A T5 fixture with a well designed reflector and proper lamp spacing should blow away any HID regardless of how deep the tank is. My company just built our first T5 HO fixture and so far the results are great.

I do not understand why anyone thinks that they are not good for a deep fixture. The lamps last longer and push out more lumens. There is virtually no color shifting. The other benefit of the T5 fixture is you can have multiple lamps which means multiple switching. You can not do that with a MH fixture. Not to mention the T5HO is much more energy efficient.




and the LED Moonlight Option feature (with seperate switch)



If you have any other questions about T5 technology, just ask me. I am in the lighting business and I can tell you why Home Depot, Wal Mart, and a number of other companies are switching to T5HO from MH.

My email address is [email protected]

 

That's a nice looking fixture. 8)

How much are those bulbs?
If they are $30, that is 30x6 when it's time to replace.

One thing I like about halide (other than the shimmer effect ) is that it is fewer bulbs to replace.

If they really last 3 years, maybe it would work out in the long run.

How much heat do they put out? Is it similar to PC lights? I am surprised by how much heat my PC's put out.

 

The price of the T5 HO Lamps is currently $25.00 - $30.00. I imagine as they become more popular the costs will decrease. In terms of needing to buy 6, that is not neccessarily the case. I think 4 T5HO lamps would replace a MH. It all depends on how many lumens you want to push into the tank. The shape of the T5HO and small diameter makes it a much more effective lamp. It gets many more lumens per watt than an HID. The other benefits is that the T5 lamp has no color shift and the fact that you have 6 different lamps that can be quickly turned on and off allows for some flexibilty. The other thing is that MH do not last as long as T5HO. We are using a programmed rapid start ballast in our fixture which should extend the lamp.