t5 or led

How long is your tank?

 

6ft long 18inches front to back 23 tall

 

I would personally do the leds if the cost is so close IMO but then again I love the led route.

 

Orphek is supposed to be releasing their PR-25 par38s within the next 2 weeks. I would think you could do a 125 with about 4-5 bulbs.

 

im pretty sure I was told by someone i think it might have been boost LED that we would need 3 of the fixtures for the 6 foot tank, so it would be like 1200. for the 3 units

 

I was hoping do to the no coral in the tank and the fact I will need to spend 800 on two lights and 300 on a skimmer that I can wait on the third light. I will place what coral I get at one end and add the other light a little later.

 

Personally I would really consider this:
ATI 60" sunpower w/ 6 bulbs for $680
http://www.reefgeek.com/lighting/T5...nPower_T5_High-Output_Fixture_w!_Bulbs_by_ATI

This fixture should easily light a 6' tank and provide enough light to keep anything you would want. It's only 480 watts and you would need at least 3 LED fixtures to light a 6' tank. The approx 75-100 watt savings it would take several years to get your money back on the LED. If you ran the lights for 10 hours/day in states like CA where we pay $.30/kwh LED choice would save you approx $75/year in electricity. In a state that pays $.08/kwh you only save $30/year. FYI, there are states that pay as little as $.04/kwh and those stated would only save $15/year.

The main advantages of T5 right now is the fact that you can customize bulb choices on all T5 fixtures. If you don't like the look swap out a bulb or two. Very few LED fixtures allow future upgrades of LEDs.

 

You account for electricity but not for replacing the bulbs like twice a year. And with the Leds some of the fixtures to can control the blues and whites independently to get the color you want...at least if you go DIY I know you can.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

 

My bad, I missed that. You are correct, I did forget to offer a full comparison. First off most people in this hobby do not keep the same lighting for more than 3-4 years. The ATI does not overdrive the bulbs so bulbs should be replaced every year. If your tank is not an sps only tank, could you get away with waiting longer? Sure, with the efficient reflectors on that unit, you will still get great output.

***price in 2, 3, & 4 year comparison is done to factor in savings if you would have selected LED***

ATI 60" 4 bulb T5 for mixed reef
$520 upfront, $100/year for bulbs
2 years = $620, 3 years = $720, 4 year = $820

ATI 60" 6 bulb T5 for sps dominated
$680 upfront, $150/year for bulbs
2 years = $830, 3 years = $980, 4 year = $1130

Boost LED MU135
$1200 upfront, savings of $25-$75/year for electricity (remember you will not see huge savings unless you are in a state with huge electrical costs like CA)[
2 years = $1150 to $1050, 3 years = $1125 to $975, 4 year = $1100 to $900

Orphek LED PR156w (if you can get away with 2 now that they offer wide angle lenses, if spead is not sufficient, you wil need 3 adding another $859)
$1720 upfront, savings of $30-$100/year for electricity (remember you will not see huge savings unless you are in a state with huge electrical costs like CA)
2 years = $1660 to $1520, 3 years = $1630 to $1420, 4 year = $1600 to $1320

One more thing, the T5 may have a higher resale value since who knowas what people will be willing to pay for a used LED. Keep in mind what a 4 year old used plasma TV can sell for. Yeah, not much.[/SIZE][/FONT]

 

The thing is my tank is 72 inches not 60 and the light i need has 12 bulbs not 4 so if you get bulbs at 20 bucks a piece and you do that for five years you are at 700 for the fixture 1000 for the bulbs so with out and electric savings I am around 500 ahead. I know I have to wait 5 yrs but if you think the price of bulb and electric isn't going up we are all confused.