Twisted
01/17/2007, 07:38 PM
If anyone is curious about this newer form of reef lighting. I just went out on a limb and ordered a Tek lighting fixture for my 55 gallon.
It is a 6 bulb 54 watts per bulb. According to everyone I have talked to that has ran this set up I will be able to keep any type of coral, and even clams.
Just a few points on why I went with this system over metal halides.
1:money, this set up was $310 for the whole fixture, retros were about the same price.
2: bulbs, these bulbs last a year easy according to most people I have talked to that have used them. Metal halides last what? about 6 months max?
3: again bulbs: replacment bulbs are $24 bucks each for the spendy ones, Halides are what $150 for the good ones? I can replace all 6 of my bulbs for the cost of one halide?
4: Heat, this has less to do with it then most of the others, but T5s are a flourescent light and naturally run quite a bit cooler then halides. Although I was told that a cheap fan set to the side blowing across the surface of the bulbs on the T5s will not only increase thier present use, but increase the life of the bulbs.
5: electrical bill, running these lights has been compared to running 2 150 watt halides from what I understand, but the T5s are supposed to be more light efficient then the two 150 watt halides, and you are talking about my 324 watts compared to the 300 watts you have in halides, plus atleast two 65 watt PCs for actinics for a total of 430 watts. My eletrical bill will be lower!
there were a lot of ther things I took into consideration too but most of it was word of mouth, not actual facts.Like all the science minded people talking about how lumens <the usual measure of light> has nothing to do with how well a light works in reef keeping, wattage means nothing, they claim everything is based on pars...I think it was pars. And that T5s are able to create more Pars then halides. The other big thing they talk about is depth, according to most of the people that use T5s the T5 set up can actually get the pars deeper then halides can. As with anything in this hobby nobody will have the same experience.
Once I get it <hopefully Friday> I will try to post some before and after pictures. I am upgradeing from 4X65 watt PCs so there should be a huge increase for me.
HUGE FOOT NOTE!
This is all based on a Tek lighting system by sunlight supply which had a reflector for each bulb not just one large reflector, and this is where the key to the whole set up is.
It is a 6 bulb 54 watts per bulb. According to everyone I have talked to that has ran this set up I will be able to keep any type of coral, and even clams.
Just a few points on why I went with this system over metal halides.
1:money, this set up was $310 for the whole fixture, retros were about the same price.
2: bulbs, these bulbs last a year easy according to most people I have talked to that have used them. Metal halides last what? about 6 months max?
3: again bulbs: replacment bulbs are $24 bucks each for the spendy ones, Halides are what $150 for the good ones? I can replace all 6 of my bulbs for the cost of one halide?
4: Heat, this has less to do with it then most of the others, but T5s are a flourescent light and naturally run quite a bit cooler then halides. Although I was told that a cheap fan set to the side blowing across the surface of the bulbs on the T5s will not only increase thier present use, but increase the life of the bulbs.
5: electrical bill, running these lights has been compared to running 2 150 watt halides from what I understand, but the T5s are supposed to be more light efficient then the two 150 watt halides, and you are talking about my 324 watts compared to the 300 watts you have in halides, plus atleast two 65 watt PCs for actinics for a total of 430 watts. My eletrical bill will be lower!
there were a lot of ther things I took into consideration too but most of it was word of mouth, not actual facts.Like all the science minded people talking about how lumens <the usual measure of light> has nothing to do with how well a light works in reef keeping, wattage means nothing, they claim everything is based on pars...I think it was pars. And that T5s are able to create more Pars then halides. The other big thing they talk about is depth, according to most of the people that use T5s the T5 set up can actually get the pars deeper then halides can. As with anything in this hobby nobody will have the same experience.
Once I get it <hopefully Friday> I will try to post some before and after pictures. I am upgradeing from 4X65 watt PCs so there should be a huge increase for me.
HUGE FOOT NOTE!
This is all based on a Tek lighting system by sunlight supply which had a reflector for each bulb not just one large reflector, and this is where the key to the whole set up is.