Lighting help

hondadude2k5 · #1 06/27/2007, 08:13 PM

Hoping someone could help me out here. I was always told that a good rule of thumb was 3.5 - 4 watts per gallon of water was good lighting. So I have 110watt PC's on my 26gal bow front. I have been hearing that T5s are awesome lights and they are comparable to MH in some cases but T5s have a lower wattage rating. How does that work out? CurrentUSA has a fixture out that is 2x24watt T5s so total 48watts. How is that better than my 110watt PCs? or even comparable to VHOs or MHs?

jenn_jeffery · #2 06/27/2007, 08:22 PM

Be sure whatever t-5 setup you get is the HO (high output bulbs) and that each bulb has it's own reflector. The individual reflectors really help with the amount of light the tank gets, as opposed to the amount of light the tank 'loses' when it disperses out further instead of down into the tank.

Most people seem to go with the retrofit kits-buy a ballast, wire, reflectors, endcaps and the bulbs, hook it all up, and you're good to go. This only works if you're willing to screw it directly into your hood though....

pupfish · #3 06/27/2007, 08:51 PM

Actually have those Currents. There aren't individual reflectors and the fan on my 48" is a little noisy (surprising since my Orbit PC is freaky quiet). The 24" don't have fans. They are over a FW planted tank with same lighting requirements. It still cranks out a lot of light for the price. Problem is, you can't retrofit with any known individual reflectors (that I've heard about). As far as reef application is concerned, you might have to put the higher light needing corals in the upper 1/3 of the tank. Also remember, regardless of what kind of flourescents you use, 16"-18" depth is max for penetration (supposedly). My Orbit PC is blasting enough light I HAD to put my orange monti's in the middle of the tank, and the stuff on the bottom is doing fine. But there's no beating the look of T-5 HO's, that's for sure.

There's an insanely long and informative thread by that Sanjay dude (grimreefer) who did a bunch of reef lighting studies. Wish I had the link(s) - its been broken into at least 3 parts - to it. Should be easy enough to find. Something like "The T5 and T5HO thread" or something under the lighting forum.

Meredith

Bring snacks and aspirin if you go.

jenn_jeffery · #4 06/27/2007, 09:05 PM

We bought the reflectors, endcaps, ballasts and bulbs--I'll see if I can get my husband to chime in on this thread since he's the one who put it all together...

OceanLyons · #5 06/27/2007, 09:15 PM

Ice Cap ballast (the repairable factor and awesome customer service makes it worh the price)

Individual reflectors for sure. Just like Jen said.

On my 55g I run two 54W HO T5s with reflectors, and four 110W VHO bulbs on two IceCap 660s (gives me the room to add more lights as tank size increases). One fan.
I have clams and SPS. Couldn't be happier. Everything looks good.

I don't think I will ever run halides because I never want to have a deep tank. Just lots of reef space.

Jaqux · #6 06/27/2007, 09:40 PM

If you want the power savings, of T5, you need a setup with good, individual, parabolic reflectors on each bulb. Without them, T5 efficency is little better than compacts. The Current fixtures don't have individual reflectors.

As Oceanlyons said, Icecap has the best ballasts (and T5 reflectors), but the icecap ballasts may be overkill for a 26 gallon. They crank out alot of light by overdriving T5 builds. I don't remember the Icecap overdrive rate on a 24W bulb, but they overdrive a 54W bulb to 80W if I remember correctly.

If you have the some time, read the last several pages of the T5 Q&A thread in the equipment forum. Questions get asked over and over again so there's no need to read the whole monsterous thread. If you just want to buy a pre-built unit, ask them who builds good ones these days. If you want to go the retro-fit way, reefgeek.com has a good selection. I bought everything but ballasts from there. I got T5 spec ballasts off ebay for cheaper. And some day I'll get time to swap out one of my spec ballasts for the icecap 660 I bought used. 8)

OceanLyons · #7 06/27/2007, 09:56 PM

This is something that might work...

http://www.reefgeek.com/manufacturer...Retrofit_Kit_w!_Bulbs_by_IceCap

OceanLyons · #8 06/27/2007, 09:59 PM

Link's not working.

Browse by manufactor (IceCap). They have a retrofit (2 x 24W) for $139.00

Wildcatreef · #9 06/27/2007, 10:18 PM

Start looking at the par that lights put out and not the total watts of energy they use, from what I have read that seems to be the most important factor.