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Who is keeping SPS under T5

Daniel

Daniel

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
Who is keeping SPS under T5?
What size is your tank?
How many T5 do you have
Is it a retro?
How deep is the water level?
How high dose the light sit from the water.
 
M

mr_X

i have sps in multiple tanks with different lighting. i have 2 x 54 watt t-5 HO (1 daylight, 1 actinic) over a 12" 30 breeder and i have some birdsnests and green tipped pocillapora in there, very colorful and doing well. they are a retro kit with an advance ballast from hellolights.

i also have a nova extreme 4x 54 with a shared reflector over another 30 breeder that has plenty of sps in it also.
 
Daniel

Daniel

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
How deep is the water level?
How high dose the light sit from the water.
 
C

CONSTANTNE

I have a 4 x 24w bulb tek fixture for my rimless 25g. My water level is 13 inches deep with the fixture being about 6 inches above the water surface. Im still debating if I should lower it more or not but so far SPS growth has been pretty good.
 
Daniel

Daniel

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
I think it might not be enough light for My SPS. From my sand bed to the top of my water is 25"
I was looking at Current USA 72" 12x39w Nova Extreme Pro. It dose come with SLRs single lamp reflectors and two cooling fans. If I went that way I know I would have to replace 6 of the current 10,000k lamps for something better.
Any and All info would help.
 
JRWOHLER

JRWOHLER

I have 120 G 4x2x2 about 20 inches to the bottom.
I have complete mixed reef under 8x54W.
Suggestion...you can keep the bulbs that it comes with and rotate them through as replacement bulbs. So that eventually you use them all. That is what I did with mine. I had 4X10K and 4Xactinic to start then after couple months I replaced 2 with 12K and 2 with Giesseman super actinic.

Clam that we have gotten last years frag swap on the bottom is growing like crazy. I have learned that some LPS have to be pretty far in the shade even on the bottom. So overall you can keep anything IMHO in T5. And if you don't believe me check out JerseyWendy's tank. One of the new guys has T5 fixture and it is really amazing as far as his growth goes over the last year.
 
asonitez

asonitez

Lol.. I had a 54 Gal Corner and got a 36" 250 MH w/ 2 65w PC's. I upgraded tanks and got 3 175w MH's with spider Reflectors on a 90 Gallon. I also used 4x PC's over a 90 Gallon. I traded all that stuff for a Current Nova Extreme 8X 54w T-5 setup without the individual SLR reflectors. It just had 1 big reflector. It was a great light especially after ordering new bulbs from ReefGeeks. I lvoed that light my corals, anemone, fish, and everything flourished under that light without a doubt. It also had the moonlights which were a nice touch. I Upgraded to a tank custom 180 Gallon with weird dimensions and purchased a Dual 2X 250w w/ 4X 65w PC's. It was nice but not as bright as I wanted it to be. I also didn't experience the bet growth (prolly bulbs). I traded all that stuff and got 3 IceCap Pendants which was probably the best color and Light coverage I have ever had.

I like T-5's. I love the uniform light color spectrums, and the growth I saw and the power consumption. I hated not having the shimmer lines, The fans were a bit lousy and I realized that even though the contents in the tank were different it felt like any other fresh water fish tank.

I love the metal halides, dead silent operation, excellent coverage, easy to replace, good bulb choices, and depending on the bulbs you get you don't need actinic supplementation. I plan on getting some VHO actinic to hang with the pendants. I would go back with a T-5 Setup if I found one for a good 6' tank and I got to choose the bulbs.
 
M

mr_X

cost and heat aren't much of an issue really. when you think about a 6' tank and how many t-5 lamps you'll want to put over it, the electricity used will be about the same as with a trio of halides. also, i think that halides put out heat that is centralized and concentrated, as opposed to the t-5 lamps which have less heat but over a larger surface. i bet they are about the same in terms of heat v.s. lumens.
i'll tell you this much, the nova extreme pro i used to have over one of my tanks had quite a bit of heat being pushed out of the fixture by the 2 fans. it was by no means "cool running".
 
JRWOHLER

JRWOHLER

Mr X I disagree completely and I know the math is out there to back me up so am not going to do it again. My T5s are not that hot. I have seen some nice MH burns something that I have never had with my T5s. Unless you are talking a deeper then standard 24 inch tank I believe it to be preference really.
 
M

mr_X

you must have misunderstood my earlier statement. your disagreement is welcome, but i was pointing out that the heat is less and spread out over a long bulb instead of concentrated in one spot. it doesn't matter if you "do it again" or not. i'm trying to help this guy decide with what i have experienced. you, might not want to bother, even though you have some factual evidence to back this up. i'm sure i'm not the only one who would like to see it.
no worries ;)
 
JRWOHLER

JRWOHLER

T5 vs. Metal Halide: Finding The Energy Savings

Compiled by FacilitiesNet Staff

Metal halide lamps are a fixture in industrial and warehouse space. But today, a number of lighting systems offer alternatives that can slash energy costs. T5 lighting systems are one example.

Delivering high-lumen output, new T5 HO (high output) and T5 VHO (very high output) fluorescent lamps provide an energy-efficient option for a variety of industrial and high-bay applications previously dominated by metal halide technology.

The smaller diameter of T5 lamps contributes to overall luminaire efficiency. Here's how T5 vs. metal halide lamps break down: Compared to 400-watt universally mounted metal halide lamps, T5 VHO lamps can save up to 40 system watts per fixture and deliver as much as 75 percent longer lamp life. Maintenance and relamping costs can be reduced as well, experts say.

What’s more, T5 systems can bring other bottom-line benefits. A 400-w standard MH system mounted on 20-foot centers meets the ASHRAE 90.1-2001 standard of 1.2 w/sf, calculating to 1.15 w/sf. Replacement with four-lamp T5 HO fixtures comes out to 0.59 w/sf, a reduction large enough to qualify for tax deductions under the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct).

Amalgam technology helps these systems deliver greater light output over a wider temperature range. The systems are optimal for applications such as unconditioned warehouses, shop floors, factories and big box retailers.

T5 systems provide white light without color shift, as well as the benefit of controllability through dimmers or occupancy sensors, according to lighting experts. What's more, the applications for T5 HO and T5 VHO lamps are rapidly expanding.

T5 systems give industrial users the best of both worlds — the long life and energy-efficient benefits that fluorescent technology has to offer with no sacrifice in light output.



Sources:

A New Era for Lighting by John L. Fetters

Lamps & Ballasts: Move from Good to Better
Click to expand...

From saltwaterfish.com
baytran7
Yellow Tang Join Date: Sep 2004
Posts: 288

T5 vs Metal Halide debate answered

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When you have a fixture that claims X watts, you have to also consider that (X= Input power). The true power you are using due to inefficiencies such as (Y=magnetic/copper loss) is equal to X+Y. For Example:

Metal Halides:
Claim:
250w puts out 16500 lumens
Actual:
295w total due to inefficiencies (Y) puts out 16500 lumens

T5s
Claim:
54w puts out 5000 lumens
Actual:
62w total due to inefficiencies (Y) puts out 5000 lumens

What does this mean?

(2) 250 watt Metal Halides
you burn 590 watts to get 33000 Lumens with Metal Halides

(6) 54 watt T5s
you burn 372 watts to get 30000 lumens with T5s

Now if you love the Heat, High energy bills and the Shimmer Effect of Halides then the Metal Halide if the fixture for you.

If you want the most bang for the buck then T5s are the fixture for you.

I won't get into power compacts or T8s because those are not worth the research. Plus they are not enviroment friendly due to the higher mercury levels.

All this Data is gathered from the Sylvania + GE 2006 catalogs so you can find out for your own which you want better. I did this because I got tired of people saying "You can only keep this animal with Metal Halides + Chiller." Wrong..... It's not about the Watts per gallon.

There is also things that contribute to lumen gains/loss, here they are in order of most impact
reflector design
Height it is from top of tank
Y factor
Operating temp of lamp
age of lamp
Click to expand...


Just a couple of the many articles you can find if you google T5 vs MH analysis.
I am glad to help, but since I am sure you all know how to google something I figured you could find some yourself. I admit I missed your "less heat" part of the comment since the rest of it was stating "cost and heat aren't much of an issue", sorry about that.
 
M

mr_X

then if that's the case, i'm not far off on my original statement. the amount of wattage doesn't differ that much between the t-5 and MH in the article you posted, so the amount of energy/heat should be similar, but just spread out instead of concentrated.
 
M

Mbodell

Heat doesn't equal light output. The heat is a byproduct of the design.

With MH bulbs the heat comes from the filaments burning very hot and exciting the gases in the bulb. In fluorescent bulbs the gases are excited by electrified mercury vapor which reacts with the gases in the bulb to produces UV energy which then reacts with a phosphorus coating on the inside of the bulb to produce light. Since the light isn't generated by high temperature reaction, the bulbs are cooler by design.

Wattage is just the amount of power you need to power the bulbs. Lumens is a measure of the output of the bulbs. Since the gas mixtures are different, they will excite at different energy levels yet can still output the same light.

I hope that makes sense. I have a very in depth photography book that goes into very technical detail about all of this, but I won't go there.
 
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