Question on metal halide and T5 lighting?

[kttsf]

My electricity bill (due to lighting and chiller) is going crazy. I thinking of changing from Metal halide to T5 but I don’t know anything about T5. I was hoping that some of you can give me some suggestions or opinions about T5.

Currently I have 250w metal halide and 2X 96w actinic for 80gallons reef/fish aquarium .
Is T5 lighting system will save me money on electricity?
What kind of T5 lighting system should I get to be equal watts to what I having right now?
How do I get started and where I can get them with good price?

Thank you in advance
Brandon

[delsol650]

Brandon,

You've seen my tank and lights... those are TEK 8bulbx54watts=432watts system. benefit is that I could totally change the color spectrum in my tank by just chaning 1 or 2 bulbs.
I have full white, partial whites, partial blues, full blues, Reds, yellows and will be getting the purples as well.... WAY LESS HEAT..

only difference in looks is the NO SHIMMER effect the MH's give off.
some say add some LED's to get the shimmer effect which I haven't tried yet...

As for PAR ratings.. this war has been going on here on RC and other boards about MH vs. T5's for a while and Im not about to add more to that flame. I'm happy with mine. and I don't run a cooling unit either.. just changed to Hydors to swap out seios and tank runs at 78-80 max.

CharlesV

[kttsf]

Thanks for the info Charles.
HOw are you doing? how's your tank goin?

[delsol650]

After the whole bad month thing.. slow starting to get it back together... lost a lot of fish/corals/inverts.... plan to get another deltec MCE600 and take out the HOB Fuge. and might go bare bottom... still contemplating that...

How's everything in your tank... weren't you moving ?

[Twisted]

I'm running the TEK fixture with 6X54w T5s and running about a 15k color range, My colors are great, growth on softies and LPS is awesome, growth on SPS in extremelt slow, but it does maintain the few SPS I have just fine.
I've had them up since January so got quite awhile before I have to replace bulbs, but when I do I am going to go a little more on the growth side.

[dswong01]

You may want to find out why your tank is running so hot. Heat may be added by your pumps or change to more efficient pumps that use less wattage or you may want to change you lighting cycle to run later in the day or evening so doesnt warm up tank during warmer afternoons. change lighting cycle to run less. Watts are watts doesnt matter if its halides or t5's. The only thing you can save if you run electronic ballast they tend to run a little less current and tend to be more efficient. and generate less heat.

[Nuuze]

Do you guys think 4 24w T5 Tek light is enough for a 24"x24"x24" 60G cube? There's also the Aquactinics 5 24w. Thank will be mostly SPS. I'm deciding between the above or 250w MH...

[delsol650]

I guess depends on how high/low you plan to place the SPS's...
Most of my SPS are in mid tank level and light is 6"-8" off the tank.

[ogredawg19]

4x24w t5 enough for 12" deep tank?

Also do I have to do some sort of light acclimation if I went from 250w mh?

[delsol650]

your good...I think...

as for acclimiatation... I believe so... I've gotten SPS/Zoos that were used to HIGH MH.. and placed it in my tank high as well thinking it was used to high light... some zoos turned black.. some SPS bleached or got cooked.. IMO don't know why so... gradual acc. is advised.