T5 Lighting

[waipahu50]

Has anyone heard, seen, or tried these fixtures.....I know there is real good one made by sunlight supply that incorpates parabolic reflector for every single bulb.....The reflector is what many say make the brightness of the T5's.....If that's the case the one I found is only wtih one reflector for all eight bulbs.....So meaning this may seem that the fixture is less bright....well if that's true or not....does anyone think that using 8 x54 watt T5's would be brighter than using 8 x65 watt pc's....even though the wattage is higher arent' the t5's brightness would compensate for that....This is what kind of mixes me up if so can anyone help clarify this up for me....My tank is a 80 gallon tank that is around 60 inches long and about 22 inches till you touch the bottom of the tank or sand.....so basically will the light also penetrate through the water like the T5's .....thankyou for helping....

Here's a link to the fixture i found on ebay......

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 4323132237

 

[Arch01]

What kind of corals will you be keeping? 22" is pretty deep for anything other than MH to penetrate, but you would be able to keep most things higher up in the tank with either.
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[Anonymous]

I don't know the answers exactly, but I'm guessing that fixture is probably pretty bright.

If I was spending that kind of money I would go with the sunlight supply and the parabolic reflectors- is it that much more?

 

[waipahu50]

yeah it is quite a much more for those sunlight ones....about 200-300 more for the sunlight brand....and I am thinking of starting with the easier corals than maybe putting some hard corals and clams.....maybe a few here in there....

 

[elpescado]

T5 lighting is very intense compared to other bulbs with similar wattage. They make power compact lights look somewhat dim. They run as cool as standard flourescent tubes.
One of my customers is running eight 48inch T5 tubes over a 75 gallon tank and his acros, monti's, zoanthids, shrooms, clams, etc. look spectacular, show excellent color, and grow very fast.
T5's are another aspect of lighting that is very worth experimenting with.

 

[Fastmarc]

Would T5's really make 96W power compacts look dim?
I have never had the chance to see one.

 

[Anonymous]

as I understand it 48" t-5s are around 55 watts/tube or so. But with a good reflector and their small diameter, very good lighting to the tank can be realized.