t5 vs compact or vho

[bobkat330]

i built a hood 18 " off the water of a 29 gal running a 150hqi and what other lighting should i run vho, cpf or t5 all light will be 24" long need some input i was thanking 4 t5s two blue two white and a luner ligh?????

[Bitricker]

PC are slightly more efficient, T5 have slightly better spectrum, VHO will give you the most power for a given length but are the least efficient of the 3, of course you will be buying less bulbs so it would probably balance out.

[CA2OR]

You could also consider LED's.....it's just a thought.

[pledosophy]

PC are slightly more efficient' date=' T5 have slightly better spectrum, VHO will give you the most power for a given length but are the least efficient of the 3, of course you will be buying less bulbs so it would probably balance out.[/quote']

 

Why do you consider PC's more efficent then T5's?

[new school]

ive used all 3 of these and found that my pc's never lasted as long, plus about 60% of them cracked at the joint union. had excellent success with vho and t-5. i like to try new things, so i switched when i noticed pc bulbs becoming more difficult to find. vho's were very good to me, yet i decided to switch to t-5, used my same icecap ballasts to overdrive my t-5 bulbs apun seeing you get a 10% increase in par and lumens, but again the bad news was that t-5 bulbs didnt last quite as long from the heat and overdriving them.(minimal) i like the color options from t-5 bulbs. the highly coveted 454vho color(gas) is now available in t-5 from uvi.even in 24" length, also the ati blue-plus is becoming a big hit among t-5 only and t-5/ halide combo tanks. you cant go wrong with vho or t-5 whatsoever. it may take you some time to get a good bulb combo to aquire the color in your tank you desire. the white bulb may make your tank too white or yellow. you can also try a pink(its actaully pink/white) or the uvi actinic white in place and you will get excellent green pop and red pop. try it only if your not happy with your original combo.

 

hope this helps.

[nwcoralfarm]

To be honest with you I can't imagine you needing more light then a 150w over the top of a 29g and you could choose from a spectrum of colors and brands. Unless you are just looking run a spread lighting cycle with them, in which case I would suggest t5's simply because you can buy a wider array of light spectrum's and they are more reliable then PC, and smaller and more compact then VHO. I would say that if you were running a 10k metal halide and 2 actinic t5's that you would have more then enough light

[reef165]

I just upgraded ( IMO ) to T-5's on my tank and WAW! I had 4 4foot VHO's on it and I replaced two of the VHO's with 4 T-5's ( they equal the same wattage, the two VHO's and the 4 T-5's) and the light looks to be doubled. Everything in my tank looks allot happier!

[jason7504]

Iam currently running 150w MH and 4x24w on my 34g and i love the t5's. They are way cooler, last longer and have better colors then PC. I would go with t5's

[andy]

T-5 is *much* more efficient than either CF or VHO -- you'll get a lot more light per watt out of the T-5 bulbs.

 

A good rule of thumb is:

 

CF < VHO < T-5 = MH ~= current generation LED < next gen LED

[mltnguyen]

I like the T5 HO bulbs much better then the CF and VHO bulbs.

[Gabe]

I would agree with the t5 crowd. Lots of output, very little heat, many color choices, lasts longer than pc, mh, (not sure about vho).

I have 6 on a 55g; 2-deep blue, 2-460 actinic, 1-10K, 1-Indigo sun (kind of lavender). sps, lps, zoas, other softies. Everything grows, and looks great.

[finch6013]

How are T5's Par per watt compared to VHO? Is there an actual number of PAR/watt?

I am considering using 24'' VHO actinics that are 75w. The same length bulb in t5 is only 24w. Does anyone know how the two compare?

[new school]

finch 6013, if you go on r.c and do some searches you will find exactly wha your looking for.....i seen several threads on vho par from different bulbs at diff depths and the same info with t-5 bulbs.

[andy]

This isn't a be-all end-all, but it is roughly useful as a rule of thumb kind'a thing:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luminous_efficacy