T5HO vs MH! Ahhhhhhh the confusion!

[mrhasan]

Alright once again I am posting something regarding lighting :redface:

So I got my permission from required source to upgrade my lighting. Currently running coralife 30" 2T5HO fixture over my 12" high 20 long gallon. Colors don't just pop in my tank. Everything looks so less colorful. And not to forget about all the beautiful brownaporas I have :neutral:

So I am stuck between quad fixture T5HO and MH.

T5HO = bulb replacement cost is high
MH = heat issue over a shallow tank and putting 10" over the tank will get too much spills (or am I wrong?)

I am willing to buy anyone of those as long as I get great coloration of my corals. They are growing good and I have no complain about that other than just the color. I don't have A.C. in the room and the room temperature stays 75-77F.

Shoot the suggestions/opinions :D

[Proteus]

I would go t5 on that tank.

[mrhasan]

I would go t5 on that tank.

Thanks :D

Yah I was also thinking that too. Putting a MH over 10" from water surface is just too much I presume.

Which T5s do you recommend? I am a coralife fixture fan (they are cheap :mrgreen:) but ATIs have great variety of bulbs but their fixture worth like 2 months of my grocery shopping :|

I have the growth; all I want is the colorrrrrrrr (oh and the growth too :mrgreen:)

[Proteus]

As long as your happy with it who cares. Really I bought a fixture off eBay. Put decent bulbs in it a couple months later. Worked fine. He'll still working on my brothers tank. When ballast burn out you can replace them with your choice

Since you've given up on sps you may get a little more time out of the bulbs too

[subman]

I would go LED's lol
But I agree t5's over that tank would be great.
I prefer geismann lights but I've heard atis are good as well.
It depends on how many bulbs you are running but I found a Fiji purple brought out the colors along with an actinic or two.

*I just re read and saw you were looking at fixtures, I would get whatever you like I find in t5's the bulbs made the difference the fixture and ballast meant zero, **

[mrhasan]

I would go LED's lol
But I agree t5's over that tank would be great.
I prefer geismann lights but I've heard atis are good as well.
It depends on how many bulbs you are running but I found a Fiji purple brought out the colors along with an actinic or two.

Thanks for the suggestions :D I see all the high end T5s are mosly 24" and 36". I don't know why 30" is so unpopular and has only bulbs from coralife :S I would really like to run 10k, acticnic, fiji purple, red or something with some quad fixture but the bulb size gets my options really limited :(

Disclaimer: LED is totally out of question. I don't want to sell my kidney to get one. JK :lol: They are just way out of my budget. I mean WAY WAY out of my budget. Electricity bill is not my concern since my landlord pays it and I prefer to save $20 each month for new light instead of putting in $400 at once :P But I wish Radions had 0% INTEREST STUDENT LOAD FOR LED program :razz:

[mrhasan]

I would go LED's lol
*I just re read and saw you were looking at fixtures, I would get whatever you like I find in t5's the bulbs made the difference the fixture and ballast meant zero, **

The size is my limiting factor. Most of the great bulbs are only 24" and 36" :(

[subman]

Whats a corallife fixture cost?

[Coralgurl]

What about supplementing with LEDs? I have 2t5hos and vertex illuminux on my tank. I just checked pricing and you should be able to pick up at a reasonable price. This gives my tank the shimmer and I get great coral growth. Then you are still only changing 2 bulbs, no heat issues and not breaking the bank.

[mrhasan]

Whats a corallife fixture cost?

I think I can score a quad fixture below $100.

[mrhasan]

What about supplementing with LEDs? I have 2t5hos and vertex illuminux on my tank. I just checked pricing and you should be able to pick up at a reasonable price. This gives my tank the shimmer and I get great coral growth. Then you are still only changing 2 bulbs, no heat issues and not breaking the bank.

Those are still above $250 which is kinda too much for me right now to spend :(

[kien]

I would put a couple of kessil LEDs over that tank myself. The kessil 350 puts out a lot of light for half the cost of a radion. A lot of people are growing SPS under kessils.

[mrhasan]

I would put a couple of kessil LEDs over that tank myself. The kessil 350 puts out a lot of light for half the cost of a radion. A lot of people are growing SPS under kessils.

I wish they were within my budget :mrgreen:

[mike31154]

L E D. Upfront cost may be higher than T5HO or MH these days, but in the long haul, they will save you $$$$s when you start to factor in bulb changes, which are not generally required with L E D. Radion has all the bells & whistles, many of which we never had using T5 & MH, so if you can do without all those b&w's, there are plenty of cost effective L E D solutions out there. Won't be long & T5 tube & MH bulb selection will be even harder to source. If cost is really that much of an issue, keep your current T5 set up & DIY a L E D supplement of some sort.

[Coralgurl]

Ya, a bit pricey still (i hadnt looked at pricing on them in a while, thought they would have dropped a bit more) but you would save the difference with 1 set of bulb changes. Go with the t5's.

[mrhasan]

L E D. Upfront cost may be higher than T5HO or MH these days, but in the long haul, they will save you $$$$s when you start to factor in bulb changes, which are not generally required with L E D. Radion has all the bells & whistles, many of which we never had using T5 & MH, so if you can do without all those b&w's, there are plenty of cost effective L E D solutions out there. Won't be long & T5 tube & MH bulb selection will be even harder to source. If cost is really that much of an issue, keep your current T5 set up & DIY a L E D supplement of some sort.

I tried DIY led once but the cost started building up so I stopped. LED do save lot of money in the long run but I really don't want to spend on it since after graduation (hopefully by the end of next year), I will definitely be getting an LED because I believe price of LEDs will drop SEVERELY (possibly by 50%+) with way cooler techs. I just need something that will keep my corals pretty for a year or something.

Look at how radions keep on changing their models. And to make things worse, they only reimburse USA customers :neutral:

[mrhasan]

Ya, a bit pricey still (i hadnt looked at pricing on them in a while, thought they would have dropped a bit more) but you would save the difference with 1 set of bulb changes. Go with the t5's.

LED prices are not dropping any time soon till China comes up with something like Rad-ions LED :P

Yah I can see people are not for MH. T5s my options i presume.

Thanks for the suggestions :D

[Coralgurl]

All LEDs will continue to evolve as time goes, less than a year ago, people didn't think LEDs could sustain a reef. Ecotech will keep upgrading their models, us first gens paid a premium for them, 2nd gen offers more for less $$$. Jump in when you can, there will be more options available when you do, and 6 months after that, prices will have dropped again and there will be even better products available.

4 bulbs a year will cost close to $160-200 to replace- there's your fixture :lol: but you have to live within your budget, once you r done school, you'll be able to do more - like a bigger set up :lol:

[mrhasan]

All LEDs will continue to evolve as time goes, less than a year ago, people didn't think LEDs could sustain a reef. Ecotech will keep upgrading their models, us first gens paid a premium for them, 2nd gen offers more for less $$$. Jump in when you can, there will be more options available when you do, and 6 months after that, prices will have dropped again and there will be even better products available.

4 bulbs a year will cost close to $160-200 to replace- there's your fixture :lol: but you have to live within your budget, once you r done school, you'll be able to do more - like a bigger set up :lol:

Haha. Yah that's the most and still half of 2nd hand radions :P

Oh yah once I am done with my school and get a job, I will stop counting gallons and start counting tanks by dimensions :D

[Coralgurl]

Radions aren't the only option, just an expensive one. My Illuminux can be expanded and is programmable, but I just have it on a light timer and don't plan on expanding it.

[mrhasan]

Radions aren't the only option, just an expensive one. My Illuminux can be expanded and is programmable, but I just have it on a light timer and don't plan on expanding it.

Ah you are just wasting the beauty of LED! :razz:

[Coralgurl]

Nope, keeping it simple! They work fine as they are, set and forget.

[mike31154]

Radions appear to have caught your fancy, but like Coralgurl says, there are plenty of less costly LED options out there that will grow your coral nicely, especially for a 20 gal long tank. Kien's idea for a couple of Kessils sounds like a good match.

[mrhasan]

Radions appear to have caught your fancy, but like Coralgurl says, there are plenty of less costly LED options out there that will grow your coral nicely, especially for a 20 gal long tank. Kien's idea for a couple of Kessils sounds like a good match.

Haha I know. I don't know why but I seems to be biased towards radions and kesil. They just look so cool :mrgreen:

[Madreefer]

Sorry dont take this the wrong way but the title of your thread is a big topic from years past. With the amount of people going to LED you shuld be able to find fixtures of both for a pretty fair price. People say that Coralife is crap. I ran Coralife fixtures for years and they never let me down. But I will agree that any Coralife bulb is crap and stay away from them. Theres alot of info on your question if you use the search button.

[mrhasan]

Ok so seems like 30" fixtures are kinda RARE in the market so I am thinking of 24" /36" quad fixture whose legs can be adjusted to fit 30" length. I have decided to get either 36" Odyssea quad fixture or the 24"/36" Fishneedit quad fixture:

http://www.aquatraders.com/36-inch-4x39W-T5-Aquarium-Light-Digi-Timer-Fixture-p/52324.htm

http://www.fishneedit.com/3ft4bulbs-with-l34.html

Will 36" fixture be overkill for my shallow tank? Anyone got any experience with these fixtures?

[Arok3000]

Why not get the 30" FNI fixture?
Its actually the same as the 24" fixture, just longer so it looks a little more adequate over the tank. I ordered the same one since I didn't like the shortened look of a 24" fixture. Search around a little though and you'll find a lot of 20g longs with 24" bulbs.

http://i55.tinypic.com/2qve42x.jpg

[mrhasan]

Why not get the 30" FNI fixture?
Its actually the same as the 24" fixture, just longer so it looks a little more adequate over the tank. I ordered the same one since I didn't like the shortened look of a 24" fixture. Search around a little though and you'll find a lot of 20g longs with 24" bulbs.

http://i55.tinypic.com/2qve42x.jpg

They ran out of stock :( And they don't know when they gonna get that size. And that's why looking into alternatives. I know 36" fixture will fit since the legs can move all the way but not sure about the 24" fixture. Odyssea's 36" looks damn cool since the lights are controllable with the built in controller + cheaper than FNI 36". Hows your fixture treating you? Growth?