What light?

[logan 12]

I am ready to replace my lights over my tank. The tank is a 55 gallon with mostly soft coral in it. I was wondering if I should just replace the bulbs in the light I have know, which is a PC with 2 antics and 2 10,00k bulbs. Or buy the Nova Extreme T-5 HO Retrofit Kit. Which contains 1 antic bulb and 1 10,000k bulb. The kit comes with individual reflectors for each bulb. Just wanted to know what you guys think I should do? The T-5 ligh or stay with the PC's. Because of money issues I can only do one of these two choices anything else is out of the question at least for right now.

[saltyseaman]

Could you link to the T5 unit your were thinking of getting? What is the price difference between sticking with PCs and switching to T5s?

[logan 12]

There is no way I can afford the T5 unit that I want. There is really not a big price difference between the T5 and replacement bulbs that I mentioned above. I am just not sure about the T5's I have never had them before.

[tcottle]

How many watt of PC light are you running now?

[logan 12]

I am running four 65 watt bulbs right now.

[Benny Z]

what bulbs, though? 10k, 50/50, or 2 10k + 2 actinic?

[philagothos]

He says in the original post that it's 2 10K & 2 actinics.

[Benny Z]

d'oh!!! missed that.

[philagothos]

I just looked at the Nova retrofits. Unless you've heard really good things about them, I would pass. The reflectors look poorly designed compared to Icecap's and even Sunlight Supply's. The cheapest price I found on them was at Dr. F&S where they were $136 w/generic bulbs. For $159 you can get a Tek 2 kit (with your choice of top quality bulbs) from Reefgeek that will blow away the Nova setup. Also, the Geek will upgrade the reflectors to Icecaps for a small fee. It's only $23 more and will be a MUCH better setup.

Just my $0.02.

-Kevin

edit - I just looked at shipping on the 2 sites and F&S is $5 more to ship, so it's now only an $18 difference. You can also sell your PC setup and probably just about break even, if not come out ahead financially and in lighting. :D

[philagothos]

S'alright Ben, happens to all of us.

[logan 12]

So if you had to pick between replacing the PC bulbs or the Tek 2 kit with icecap reflectors which one would you go with.

[philagothos]

Tek 2 with Icecaps, in a heartbeat. Lower operating cost, fewer bulbs to replace, lower bulb replacement cost, better quality lighting, less heat put into the tank, and the list goes on and on. But then again, I may be biased, I've been a T5 guy since I got in the hobby. :) You'll also have less wattage, but probably more PAR (depending on bulb choices).

[logan 12]

So what two bulbs would you go with. Also does wattage matter with T5's because I still want the corals to thrive in the tank.

[tcottle]

I'd be concerned about going from 65W x 4 PC to 54W x 2 T5 (even with good reflectors) Operating and maintenance cost aside I do not think that you would be putting more light in the tank. FWIW my 58g softie tank was run on 96W x 2 PC. It did fine but the softies took off when I went to 250W MH (10K XM)

[philagothos]

T5s (when set up properly) are up to 3x more efficient than PCs. So 108w of T5 can produce as much PAR as 324w of PC. Bulb choice is largely a matter of personal preferance. What color of a tank do you like? For extra punch you could get 2 Aquablue Plus, but that might end up being too much light for your corals that are accustomed to PC. I would probably go with an Aquablue Plus and a Super Actinic for a nice 14K kind of look. Your best bet might be to head over to the lighting forum and look at the T5 Q&A thread. Ask Grim what bulbs he suggests for your setup. I'm a T5 fan, he's the T5 guru. Link: http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=10326471#post10326471

Oh, and you have a PM.

[philagothos]

My money would be on the T5s stomping the PCs, especially with 2 Aquablue Plus bulbs.

[logan 12]

I like the 14k look. I have a 29 gallon tank with a MH over it with the 14k bulb in it. Not really into the blue look if that what the aqua blues look like.

[logan 12]

Tcottle I love the idea of MH, but there is no way I can afford them right now.

[logan 12]

According to the grim reefer I need 3 T5 light bulbs at least that what he PMed me.

[syrinx]

Many if not all the popular PC bulbs are in fact T-5s. The difference is only straight or curved. The straight bulbs are more easily fitted with optimum reflectors- the curved ones are better at getting more bulb in smaller spaces. People often seem to overlook this point and say the bulbs are 3x brighter, while it is reflectors that create the more usable light.

[logan 12]

So which ones would you go with syrinx?

[syrinx]

I Would have to see them both in action to know. I would be reticent to put 2 bulbs over a 55 of anything. But if i did i would make sure the reflectors and bulbs were absolute top of the line- otherwise I would stick with the PCs which have worked for you in the past. I would almost wonder if you couldn`t figure out a way to make a hood with your PCs annd perhaps one or two straight T5s. Perhaps not changing the actinic pcs even though they are old- their color shift is much less noticable than the regular daylights- and that might open up some cash for a T5. My earlier comment was not ment to disagree with phils advice- rather to clarify, and he has pointed out some good information.

[logan 12]

Thanks for everyones help out on the light situtation. I learned a lot more about T5's. But I decided to stay witht the PC's and replace the bulbs, since they have not let me down so far.

[humbugy]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10326618#post10326618 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by philagothos
T5s (when set up properly) are up to 3x more efficient than PCs. So 108w of T5 can produce as much PAR as 324w of PC. Bulb choice is largely a matter of personal preferance. What color of a tank do you like? For extra punch you could get 2 Aquablue Plus, but that might end up being too much light for your corals that are accustomed to PC. I would probably go with an Aquablue Plus and a Super Actinic for a nice 14K kind of look. Your best bet might be to head over to the lighting forum and look at the T5 Q&A thread. Ask Grim what bulbs he suggests for your setup. I'm a T5 fan, he's the T5 guru. Link: http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=10326471#post10326471

Oh, and you have a PM.


im just a stickler for numbers, do you have a link you could point me too?????

[philagothos]

Not off the top of my head, but the numbers are out there if you want to search for them. The linked thread might be a good place to start, but it's split several times, so finding info easily can be a pain.

[humbugy]

ya i know, i started reading it last nigth, it seems to be about 240 pages.... :)

[philagothos]

There's another called the "T5 Glare-athon" or something like that. I think it might be a little shorter (probably only 120 or so pages ;)). IIRC, it is the thread where Grim first started publishing PAR numbers on T5s. The Q&A thread devolved into everyone asking which bulb combinations would be best and most of the useful information got lost in it. Now it's more like an "Ask Grim Which Bulbs to Use" thread.

[humbugy]

lol, exactly what i need, more pages :rolleyes: