Lighting Suggestion

[eklikewhoa]

Dude...if your tank is 29 inches or less go with T5

30 inches or more go with halides

+1

If you like the more natural look go halides.... like being couped in an office go T5

[eklikewhoa]

Or break out the big cahones and get the Outer Orbit MH+T5HO fixture.

[geoff_tropheus]

Who do you think I am?...Derek?

[Delock]

no

but as my brother...you over analyze too much. I hate to see you pick out toilet paper

[eklikewhoa]

or bar soap....

[Delock]

underwear

[geoff_tropheus]

Its a big spend, considering until last year when I got my first T5's I have always been regular flourescent. Now those Oceanic Orginal Fixtures are going out on me after 7-8 years, and I'm looking to upgrade.

I like to be able to turn lights on and leave them on. I want something I can run for 8-12 hours, and not have to worry so much about heating up the water, and consuming a bunch of juice.

[geoff_tropheus]

Atleast when I make a decision I stick to it.)

Tp is Charmin

Soap depends on if it is hand soap or bath soap. I got my favorites...

[Delock]

go with t5 or t8

[ddaquaria]

Well with heat issues as well...

Would now if you look at it again there is only one 150w bulb producing heat vs. say 4x 39w T5s so the heat is being spread amongst the bulbs which would seem like less heat but again it's less total wattage so wouldn't that amount to less heat produced?

I find the heat was not much more and that a T5HO fixture of equivilent wattage puts out similar if not the same amount of heat.

I don't know the scientific way to explain what I mean by heat. My experience has been that halides will give off more heat than any other light I have had. One way I test this theory is how long it takes to cool off. Unplug a T5 have a day, and it usually cools within minutes. Halide, you will be waiting several more minutes for it to cool enough to touch.

Last year I converted all my tanks to 2x54 W T5HO (compared to the previous PCs). Right away we saw saving on the electric bill mainly due to needing less Watts to get the same amount of great of light. All temps in the house did not climb as much which meant the air conditioner did not kick on (again electric savings.)

Also, you know the functionality of the T5HO is there when you read about how many reefers are using them with success. Their primary con against them is the lack of shimmer, but Pros include tanks not heating up due to light, room not heating due to the light, and in some case not needing near teh same wattage to be successful.

[ddaquaria]

here is a little review of the T5 unit

http://www.3reef.com/forums/reef-lig...5-60219-2.html

[rullypullyfishhead]

drop

drop light

[geoff_tropheus]

Donald,

Thanks for the link. That unit looks nice, and their description is everything I was hoping for. It does look more bulky of a fixture compared to their generic internet photos, but I dont care.

The thing looks good.

[Delock]

Geoff,

what depth does your fish come from? this should be a major factor in buying your lights.

[eklikewhoa]

I don't know the scientific way to explain what I mean by heat. My experience has been that halides will give off more heat than any other light I have had. One way I test this theory is how long it takes to cool off. Unplug a T5 have a day, and it usually cools within minutes. Halide, you will be waiting several more minutes for it to cool enough to touch.

Last year I converted all my tanks to 2x54 W T5HO (compared to the previous PCs). Right away we saw saving on the electric bill mainly due to needing less Watts to get the same amount of great of light. All temps in the house did not climb as much which meant the air conditioner did not kick on (again electric savings.)

Also, you know the functionality of the T5HO is there when you read about how many reefers are using them with success. Their primary con against them is the lack of shimmer, but Pros include tanks not heating up due to light, room not heating due to the light, and in some case not needing near teh same wattage to be successful.

But then when you compare a 3-4" bulb running the total amount of 4-8 36" bulbs the logic would be that the T5 has more area to disperse the heat as well as spreading the workload and/or the heat so yes it would cool off faster due to it's physical make up.