ClayTheSavageFraser Posted March 12, 2010 Share Posted March 12, 2010 Do you think I should replace 1 of my 3-400w metal halides and 2 of my vhos with an 8 bulb t5 fixture? I am thinking I might get more light displacement and less of a swing in heat! Plus it'll help my electric bill!! So right now I have three metal halides and 2 actinic vhos. I could take out the middle part of my lighting set up and install the 8 t5 fixture and run 3 actinics in it and 5 10ks! HMMMMM? Clay(scratch) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonBoy Posted March 12, 2010 Share Posted March 12, 2010 I wouldnt I love metals especially if you have stony's but thats just my opinion Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gabe Posted March 12, 2010 Share Posted March 12, 2010 Woa! 5 10K's! Thats a lot of white. I have a 6 lamp fixture that came with 4 10K, and 2 460 actinics. Totaly washed out the colors. Bought 2 deep blue, removed 2 whites, worked well for a year. Now a I am down to just 1 10K, 2 actinics, 2 deep blue, 1 indigo sun. Favorite combo so far,(clap) good growth of all corals. I am just 18" deep though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsoz Posted March 12, 2010 Share Posted March 12, 2010 Short answer- no. Don't do it. Long answer- I have a 6 bulb 4' TEK light over my 75g tank. I like it mostly. I think I would like the shimmer effect better. I know a lot of my corals don't grow very fast. I am thinking it is because of my light. The colors are not great either. I have a piece of Elephant skin from Kilmca that is a nice green color in his tank. Under my lights it is an ugly orange. To get better growth, you have to sacrifice the fluorescence from the actinic. Don't do the 10k bulbs if at all possible. go with 15k, or a mix of different bulbs, but heavy on actinic and actinic whites to get better colors. I also have 2 tanks side by side. both are 40b and they are connected to a common sump. Over one I have an 8 bulb 3' TEK light, over the other a 150w MH 14k pendant. The MH is very under powered for the tank (the edges are almost totally shadow) but where the light is at there is great growth. In the other tank, with the T5s, there is a lot of light, but I tried growing anemones, and they didn't do well. I moved them to the MH side and the growth just started taking off. That sold me on the power of MH. I would like to get a dual 250 for the pair of tanks and see how it does. dsoz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Berger9953 Posted March 12, 2010 Share Posted March 12, 2010 The shimmer is nice, but the heat and the money is very high with mh. If you don't minding spending the initial money for the 8 bulb, your long term bill will go down. I'm a huge fan of t5ho's and I say go for it. They're life span is so much longer than mh, and the replacements are a lot cheapter too. What one were you looking at? Does it have indivivdual reflectors? And typically I like the white more than the blue IMO. It gives everything more of a tropical feel:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClayTheSavageFraser Posted March 12, 2010 Author Share Posted March 12, 2010 I already have one over my display refugium, it's a sunlight supply fixture. I would still have 2 metal halides on the tank. Clay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
undrtkr_00 Posted March 12, 2010 Share Posted March 12, 2010 You don't necessarily have to trade off color for growth too much. According to the T5 "expert" on RC, the PAR for blue lamps like the ATI Blue Plus and Giesmann Actinic Plus have as much or more PAR as most daylight (10k) bulbs, and still give you the blue tint and fluorescence you are trying to get. Plus, Clay would still have the shimmer from the halides at both ends. I think it's worth a try if you have the cash. Anyone else do a hybrid T5/halide setup (apart from just actinics?) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nyles Posted March 12, 2010 Share Posted March 12, 2010 I have had both, and I like the look of the MH, the light from t-5 has no shimmer. Cost of electricity for me was negligible savings with T-5, but heat is the big savings with T-5 in my opinion (with my system I had) When faced with a choice for cost T-5 when faced with what looks and works best MH. I will setup a 225+ gallon and when I do it will most 100% sure be MH (14k) I think your really going to hate the color of the 3 act and 5 10k, you should consider a few higher temp bulbs in the config, not sure of brand your looking at. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Algae Posted March 12, 2010 Share Posted March 12, 2010 Very good advice. I Just put in some ATI Blue Plus. High PAR, and nice color. You don't necessarily have to trade off color for growth too much. According to the T5 "expert" on RC, the PAR for blue lamps like the ATI Blue Plus and Giesmann Actinic Plus have as much or more PAR as most daylight (10k) bulbs, and still give you the blue tint and fluorescence you are trying to get. Plus, Clay would still have the shimmer from the halides at both ends. I think it's worth a try if you have the cash. Anyone else do a hybrid T5/halide setup (apart from just actinics?) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7Max-GTE Posted March 12, 2010 Share Posted March 12, 2010 I don't think you have anything to vent the heat in your hood, Clay. I would look into that first, because halides are generally the recommendation, especially for a deep tank like you have. You can get some cheap computer case fans and wire them up in your hood to vent a LOT of the heat out. Also I don't know what spectrum your bulb is on your halide, but im partial to the 20k look personally. I would look into different bulbs before a new fixture personally. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7Max-GTE Posted March 12, 2010 Share Posted March 12, 2010 Oh! Also if you go with the t-5's, check out this post. I'm going to run this combo in my tank once I get some cash. http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1792570 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lancecobb1 Posted March 12, 2010 Share Posted March 12, 2010 I have 8 t5s on my 120 and I love them! I get good growth, and love the different choices of bulbs. I have 5 ati blue plus, fiji purple,65k, and a 10k and love it! brings out all the different colors...I do like the shimmer of halides though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClayTheSavageFraser Posted March 12, 2010 Author Share Posted March 12, 2010 I don't think you have anything to vent the heat in your hood' date=' Clay. I would look into that first, because halides are generally the recommendation, especially for a deep tank like you have. You can get some cheap computer case fans and wire them up in your hood to vent a LOT of the heat out. Also I don't know what spectrum your bulb is on your halide, but im partial to the 20k look personally. I would look into different bulbs before a new fixture personally.[/quote'] I have 4 fans in my hood. my spectrum is 14k! I am not buying a new fixture I already have it. It's not gonna cost me anything except time. I think I will try it and then if I don't like it...or the corals don't like it then I am going to go back. Sound like a plan? WoohoO!! Clay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
undrtkr_00 Posted March 15, 2010 Share Posted March 15, 2010 Yeah, let us know how that works. I'm very interested. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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