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what's better T5 or Power Compact for a 30 gallon?
- Thread starter Vaceek
- Start date
T5 hands down.
My suggestion for bulbs UVL Aquasun 10K, ATI Blue Plus, and Geissman Actinic. I don't run the ATI, may someday, but the results that I have seen are great.
Fixtures...you will want a minimum of a 4 bulb maybe 6 bulb fixture.
Tek, Catalina Aquarium(what I have), Coralife all make fixtures. Price point is something to consider. Tek does not come with bulbs the others do, though you will want to swap the bulbs sooner or later.
My suggestion for bulbs UVL Aquasun 10K, ATI Blue Plus, and Geissman Actinic. I don't run the ATI, may someday, but the results that I have seen are great.
Fixtures...you will want a minimum of a 4 bulb maybe 6 bulb fixture.
Tek, Catalina Aquarium(what I have), Coralife all make fixtures. Price point is something to consider. Tek does not come with bulbs the others do, though you will want to swap the bulbs sooner or later.
Phyl said:
if its a standard 30 gallon, sure but that really depends on the dimensions of the tank.
Unless the 30 is 24" tall T5s are a much better solution. With the limited water heat will be a problem with MHs over the tank, requiring a chiller in the summer or some serious fans/evaporation. I've seen some T5 tanks that are better than some of the MH tanks I've seen. Unless you have enough flow for the light you have you'll cause the corals to not be able to respirate. They'll essentially suffocate (the more light you have the more flow that you need to carry the "exhale" away from the corals).
I stand by my opinion that no matter how tall a 30g tank is MH is overkill.
I stand by my opinion that no matter how tall a 30g tank is MH is overkill.
just saying, my 29 is only 18" tall and its doing great under a metal halide. I run a small fan over the water and I keep my temp under 80 degrees and although there is some evap its not that bad.
I guess its all just a matter of preference but I really enjoy the shimmer effect I get with my halide. Although I wouldnt mind having some t5 actinic supplementation.
I guess its all just a matter of preference but I really enjoy the shimmer effect I get with my halide. Although I wouldnt mind having some t5 actinic supplementation.
I dont want to turn this into a t5 vs halide debate because the original poster is comparing t5's to PC's. From my experience, t5 is more energy efficient, runs cooler, and lasts longer. On the other hand I have used high polished parabolic german reflectors with individual power compacts and have gotten BETTER results than t5's that were contained in a hood system like the Current brand hoods.
I think what a lot of people fail to recognize is that the light that gets into your tank is HIGHLY dependant on how you reflect it in. I would certainly use a power compact light kit from AHsupply.com over any t5 system out there. I've just had better results.
I think what a lot of people fail to recognize is that the light that gets into your tank is HIGHLY dependant on how you reflect it in. I would certainly use a power compact light kit from AHsupply.com over any t5 system out there. I've just had better results.
I was not trying to debate your opinion, which you certainly have the right to, I think we can agree to disagree that MH is overkill for Nanos. Why do I disagree? Because you can get closer to the 10wpg mark with halides than you can with t5's on a 30g tank.
so like i said, Vaceek if you want to be creative check out AHsupply.com. They are amazing to do business with and provide super easy retrofit kits that anyone can mount into a hood. Their reflectors are probably the best you can find out there. You could easily keep soft corals with one of their setups.
vangvace said:
Well like I said in my last post, what it comes down to is how much light is getting into the tank. Watts per gallon gives you a basic framework of judging the amount of light you need. Of course there are many variables such as reflective surface around light, depth of tank, type of lighting etc. WPG is not a good standard on tanks under 10g and over 75 gallons. Otherwise, it is a good standard to go by as long as the other variables are kept in mind. IME if you were to use a miro reflector with PC's at exactly 3 wpg, you will get the same light into that tank if you were using crappy coralife reflectors at 4-5 wpg.
Thats why I think t5 is overhyped only because the reflectors on MOST of these units are flat and the bulbs are squeezed into these tight little spaces. Not to sound like a broken record but the reason why I like metal halide pendants so much is because of the the spacing of the bulbs and the broad area/angle of reflection you get from those reflectors.
Wow im getting a nice post count going here! Just kidding, Phyllis
I think WPG is good when it comes to MH and PC lighting .... gets slightly skewed with T5 and well can you imagine 900 W of LED lighting ;D .. would be like putting your tank in a microwave.
Getting back to the PC vs T5.
Assuming you have good bulbs in T5 lighting and a decent reflector(actually the par readings are interesting in the single vs individual reflector, I would sum it up as follows...the single reflector has slightly lower but wider coverage area then the individual reflectors, VS no reflector which is really crappy) I would pick the T5 lighting. I would in this case pick T5 for the following reasons; one bulb life(PC shorter), two heat(more) produced by PC, and three penetration of light(greater) by T5. I suppose length of the tank might make one fixture a better fit then another, there are some actual 30in bulbs for T5 but more common 24,36, and 48.
Getting back to the PC vs T5.
Assuming you have good bulbs in T5 lighting and a decent reflector(actually the par readings are interesting in the single vs individual reflector, I would sum it up as follows...the single reflector has slightly lower but wider coverage area then the individual reflectors, VS no reflector which is really crappy) I would pick the T5 lighting. I would in this case pick T5 for the following reasons; one bulb life(PC shorter), two heat(more) produced by PC, and three penetration of light(greater) by T5. I suppose length of the tank might make one fixture a better fit then another, there are some actual 30in bulbs for T5 but more common 24,36, and 48.