T-5 lighting systems

[crrichey]

Hi all. Just thought that I would start another thread on T-5 lighting. Just wanted to hear how people felt about these systems. Right now I am saving up for a 48"system for a reef aquarium in the works.:D

[Cody M]

I love mine! I have the 4-54w tek light om my 80 gal lps reef. I used to have 6-65w pc bulbs on there and the t-5 are much brighter.

Cody

[spdu4ia]

i have a 48" dual MH and t5 lighting system and i LOVE IT. i will never use anything else but mh and T5.. and i even have T5's on my sump.

[moonpod]

Was using a T5 only array for my 180 and these were my impressions:
Light in the upper 2/3rd and the middle was fine. But b/c the bulbs only come up to 5ft long (same wattage as side by side 3 ft bulbs), the ends don't get lit too well and the bottom is a bit dim. Also for whatever reason, my sps growth was SLOW, but color was fine. I do NOT feel that anything suffered for lack of light w/in the areas I mentioned that were lit well. Also, very little shimmer, but yes, a little.

I have since converted to a DE/T5 setup, and I think this is better, but despite close to the same wattage, it's a WHOLE lot more heat. And I am hanging the pendants w/a real open setup. I added 2 6" fans to keep the heat input down. The 100cfm orions that I used w/my T5 array weren't enough w/the DE to keep the heat input similar.

[crrichey]

Would using two 24" systems provide me with more light than with just 1 48" system???

[Tomzpc]

I just replaced the lighting for my 90 gallon mixed reef from 6x110 watt vho to 8x54 watt T-5 (sunlight supply tek-light). The light looks brighter (with less wattage) and since I have a great deal of water surface movement in my tank I actually get some decent glitter lines from the T-5's,believe it or not. I'm very impressed with these lights and am very happy with the purchase.

[senorjim]

I bought the T5 36" canopy (6 bulbs- 2 sun 2-blue 1- aqua 1-03 ) from Reefgeek and that is used on a tank that measures 36"w X 24"d X 28"h.

I bought an anemone (long tenacle) will he do fine? Also, what is recommended using the T5, SPS or LPS? If both, I would like to get some recommendations... Let me know.

I do have good waterflow, since I have a Tunze 7400/2.

[PRC]

I have eight 36" (39W) T5s on my 220 and I think they're great. I bought the retro kit from Reefgeek and I'd highly recommend both the kit and the store. I'm considering going to six or eight 60" (80W) bulbs though. I'm not sure of the bulb prices on the 24" or 48" bulbs, but something to think about before you consider going with two 24" instead of one 48" is that the bulbs are probably about the same price but you'll need twice as many!