Any opinions, I've been hearing great things about T5's but I've only ever had compacts....
If this were a three way boxing match.. who should I put my money on??
halides with t5 as supplements....hands down
It's pretty undeniable that all of the cool kids over the pond (eurpoe) are running mainly T5s and have abandoned MH. We here on this island (NorthAmerica) are always late to follow...
That doesn't mean T5 > MH though... I run MH + T5 combo...
If i was setting up a new tank, 24" shallow or less, I'd go 100% T5's... simply cause I could mix-and-match color combos all day long...
PC - well they suck... nuf said IMO.
great topic, always wanted to know the bottom line to lighting. k t5' is a given that is the favourite amongs most people. what is so bad about PC lighting ? and what about t8 lighting ? though with t8 it is more of a size issue, that it is not readily available......or maybe i just get confused when it comes to shopping for lights. lol
The question is, how much money do you have to place your bets with?
If you're going with a budget solution, here's one I did for around $40. For an experiment I bought a silver bathroom light fixture, compact fluorescents, PVC piping, and a replacement lamp cord and put those items into a standard fluorescent hood that only had one 20W T8 bulb and here's the results:
(https://www.ovas.ca/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi612.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Ftt203%2F5Bees%2FDSC00009.jpg&hash=3b306e05e51c713e72d481d3f872c1d38fa9328b)
to
(https://www.ovas.ca/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi612.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Ftt203%2F5Bees%2FDSC00019.jpg&hash=85e92e3888c832115aafa8f52e7ef3acd486f59a)
first photo new tank setup Feb 16th, 2nd photo Feb 24th, I made the switch about Feb 19th/20th.
T5 come in different flavours: T5, T5HO (high output 2x normal T5) and T5VHO (very HO, I believe 2x T5HO). Most common are the T5HO these days, their light output is somewhat comparable with PC, but they seem to be cheaper to operate/replace in the long run. There is also a much greater variety of T5HO bulbs out there. Sorry, can' help on the reef part.
You can easily got with an all t5 setup. I use a 4 bulb setup on my 75 gallon, and I keep whatever I want (I'm not interested in sps). Check out my recent thread called "Full tank shot" in the saltwater section. You'll want to go with at least 4 bulbs, unless all you want to keep are low light corals like mushrooms and zoas, but you can always go with 6 bulbs depending on the dimensions of your tank, then you can keep all sorts of stuff. T5s create a lot less heat, are easier to maintain, use less power and have more available options for color.
T5's only come in High Output or Normal Output. VHO doesn't exist in T5, people do use icecaps ballasts to overdrive the bulbs but that decreases the life of the bulb tremendously. The most important things for an excellent T5 set up is individual reflectors, active cooling on the area of the bulb with the label, and good quality bulbs. You can keep anything under a proper T5 set up.