[Justin Fournier]

I have been doing a lot of thinking about lighting for my SW tank lately, and the T5's have crossed my mind.

Anyone using the T5's on Freshwater? If so, please post details & experiances.

If you've considered it, please let me know!

 

[Hanzo]

I was running on this for about a year, and it was my best excperience with lighting so fare. Here in norway you can only get T8 end T5 in the colors we need for aquariums, so no CF or anything like that. There are tons of plantgeeks who use T5 now, and more joining every day.

T5 does provide better lumen/watt output than T8. Produces say as much as 150% better, but that I really doubth. But since the tubes are so thin, you can fitt more than you will ever need over you tank. I have a bow-front tank, but this meant that only a small part og the tank could fit the whole length of the tube. So, I installed six 54W tubes over my tank, two daylight, two grolux and two full-spectrums. And boy did this work out great! Tank was pearling like crazy, and I got red color on my plants like I have never seen before. Only problem was that the T5 tubes run much hoter than T8, and so my water temperatur rised to 32degress. But I just installed a couple of fans, and the problem was fixed. During this year I never once had problems with alge or a singel species of plants.

But some months ago I decided to try out a open tank, and so I went with MH pendels hanging for the roof. This is not working to well, my red plants are looking pale, and for the first time since I startet a real plantet tank I have some slight problem with green alge on my plants. Guess this is manly due to the very limitied color range on MH...

But my advice is, try it out, it's absolutely great!

 

[Justin Fournier]

Thanks Hanzo. What size is your tank? What MH lighting are you using?

 

[Hanzo]

It's a 55G tank, 60cm high. I'm currently running on four bulb at 5200kelvin, two Osram and two AqualineBush or something like that. I have been thinking about getting 10,000 bulbs, but since nobody have a real spectrum diagram or what you call it (this color charts), I can't really find any bulb that I think would work...

Almost forgot. It's 70W's with a RX7 Socket.

 

[david lim]

Scott Heiber is someone knowledgeable to ask.

I'm about to get into a t5 system too. The only problem in the US is that there aren't as many bulb choices as the PCF. It would be nice if there was a 9325K GE bulb in t5, but all I can find are standard 10000k, 5000k, etc. I ordered a 6x39w system to run on a 58g tank. It'll be a couple of weeks before I get it. T5's seem to be a great solution. We've got a system running at the store and the plants look great. They are bright!

 

[ShaneSmith]

Whats the advantage of t5 over PC? You could just put two 96 watts for cheaper and get great coverage right?

 

[plantbrain]

T-5's quite a bit cost more than PC's watt for watt.

It'll be awhile before they become popular here in North America.

Regards,
Tom Barr

 

[freshreef]

im using t5 mixed with t8's for more then 3 years now and 2 months ago i installed new tank with 6 T5 only, 3*osram 860, 2*osram 830 and one osram 840
great lights
http://grm.m.walla.co.il/briefcase/...033026779/200403222340341366/SIDESHOW2105.jpg

 

[gnome]

My experiences with T5's are limited to 2.5-gallon tanks (12" 8W tubes).

You can read about my recent light experience:
http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=948

Unfortunately, I'm starting to see some various types of algae (most likely because it's an 18000K - meant for SW macro algae), but growth is still much better, as are color and light distribution. Once I figure out how to balance the nutrients, I think all will be well.

-Naomi

 

[gnome]

T-5's quite a bit cost more than PC's watt for watt.

You ain't kiddin', Tom! I went price shopping locally for a 12" Power-Glo, and the best I could find was $16.99! I finally ordered it from Big Al's; they were selling it for $8.99.

Then again, the Power-Glo was probably the most expensive of the T5's. I saw the same watt/size bulbs advertised on BA's for like $4.99. But I've found that you usually get what you pay for. I remember the Colormax was not impressive at all when I first installed it. And it only got worse from there...

-Naomi

 

[freshreef]

can u specify what t5's do u all use? im from israel and i can get here only osram 3000k 4000k and 6500k . no special t5 for the palnted tank, they r doing great but wanted to know if there is something special for the planted tank in far america :lol:

 

[david lim]

one of the nice features about a t5 is that more efficient reflectors can be placed on them compared to a pcf. The single tube structure allows for a more parabolic shape over the entire bulb as compared to the parallel linear bulbs of the pcf. AHSupply makes a great reflector but there are still flaws as when the two parallel bulbs shine directly into eachother. This does not occur with the t5. Essentially you could get less wattage t5's for the same amount of light as a pcf. But for comparison a 54W t5 should be near equivalent to a 55W PCF.