Too much lighting?

Hi st9z, how deep is ur tank? If its more than 20", you will not be able to have corals that need intense lighting. Do some research before you go and spend hundreds of $$$'s. Deep tanks usually need MH's.

 

+2 on that one. You can never go wrong with MH's 8) There won't be anything you couldn't keep with them.

 

i agree with fritz.i have 4 54watt t5 with sepperate reflectors.the advantage with t5's is void without individual reflectors.with thicker bulbs,the light reflects off the reflector back onto itself, increasinge heat,and decreasing light and the length of the bulbs life.you will only fit 4 t5 with reflectors above a 55 gallon tank.however,thats all the light you'll need.in fact you will need to find ways to shade your mushrooms.they will shrivel till they get used to the light (maybe several months).in my tank(55 gallon)the light is still intence at the bottom.don't worry to much about electric usage with these lights,its not much.only thing using less electric is the LED lighting.

 

You contradicted yourself on that. From what you said about the reflector on the nova extreme, individual reflectors would increase all of that more so. The diameter of T5 bulbs is the same for ALL T5 bulbs, T5 is the diameter rating, it doesnt mean anything more then that. T5HO is a high output T5 bulb, its not bigger or thicker then any other T5 bulb, even normal output fluorescents.

With my nova extreme 4x54w T5HO light, I have awesome coloration in corals, EXCELLENT growth. My tank went from evaporating 10g a week to 2g a week, and my temp dropped 2 degrees.

My only complaint is the fan sound gets annoying if there is no other sound going on like a music or tv.

 

What are you planning to keep... I dont think its too much light. More light the better(for most things)

 

When i bought my T5s a couple of months ago i did weeks of research and one of the things that i read was that T5s with individual reflectors directed more of the light into the tank compared to single reflector kits. I agree with geekdafied in that t5s don't change in bulb diameter. T5s are only as good as their reflectors. Like mentioned before if your tank is more than 20" go MH.

 

My tank is 16" deep.

Geekdafied are you having any trouble with ur nova unit? BTW do you have any pictures of your tank?

 

No troubles whatsoever! I dont have any recent pics of my whole tank. I'll see what I can do about pics though. My tank crashed back in march, so its been one thing after another with it since then, but its all back in order now. Then I had a another tank get fried, the tank I had put everything in when my display crashed.

 

ziggy222

Originally Posted by ziggy222
the advantage with t5's is void without individual reflectors.with thicker bulbs,the light reflects off the reflector back onto itself, increasinge heat,and decreasing light and the length of the bulbs life.


ok geekdafied.i can see now how you may have taken that in a way that was misunderstood.i'll fix it here.
ziggy222
the advantage with t5's is void without individual reflectors.with thicker bulbs,(such as t8vho , t12,and the twin bulbs power compact that are nice but don't alow as much light to reflect from the reflector back into the tank)the light reflects off the reflector back onto itself, increasinge heat,and decreasing light and the length of the bulbs life.

 

T5s should have a fan running to reduce some heat (In the tek it actually gives more light output about 30%) Alot of people choose T5s because of
1. Heat
2.Space
3.Electricity bill cheaper
4.Bulbs cost less than MH
5.Bulb longetivity

T5s are dont give off so much heat as MHs but they still heat up fairly nice.
Alot of people choose T5s because they are thinner thus could cram more light into tank.T5s are cheaper to run than MHs. Also Bulbs cost less than MHs. And you could usually use T5s bulbs longer.

I like my T5s but I have to admit Metal Halides are nice.

Just my opinion.