t5 vs mh's setups
 

I recently seen a fellow reefers lighting setup and he had I think it was 8 t5's
bulbs and i was surprised of what corals he had in his tank doing very well. and how little heat there was coming off these types of lites. I was thinking of getting mh's or something like the coralife pro setup with the mh 150 or 250 watts or should I just go with a T5 setup or mh mix now. I know the saying get the best lighting a person can get when buying. Would I be limited to what corals I can have with the t5 vs mh? and the cost and maint to upkeep them. Just looking for some imput.

Lighting choice depends on a lot of things. Type of corals you want to keep and depth of tank are a couple of them. I like my T5's as they run cool and quiet (no ballast buzz from them), but I don't think they have as much punch as MH lights do for deeper tanks.

Wait til after MACNA, going to be a lot of nice lighting options in Canada after then.

Such as? Units or bulb selection? Or both?

i prefer metal halides because they open alot of options for corals, good penetration, and can't beat that shimmering effect :wink:

I agree that MH seems to be the right way to go. Luckily there are some options out there with a mix of MH and T5HO so you can have the best of both worlds. I would look in that direction. I think OA carries some like this that still look sharp like the Coralife.

I think HO T5's are good enough for just about anything, given that they're under a good reflector, etc. Haven't we all seen photos of stunning SPS-dominant tanks in Europe that use T5's exclusively? And check out this TOTM in March 2005 on reefkeeping.com.

Or maybe I'm just wrong :)

IMO there are several factors on which to base your decision but I think the two most significant are appearance and cost.

Personally I would treat T5 HO and MH as equally efficient. So if you were thinking of 2 x 150W MH on a 4' tank then you are looking at a 6 x 54W 4' T5 setup. Despite a lack of hard data you will see people claiming that T5's are WAY more efficient than MH. I find that hard to believe considering T5 is the same fluorescent technology from T12, T8, and PC only with a better reflector. The heat difference comes about because heat is distributed along the entire length of the T5 lamps vs a much smaller volume in a MH lamp.

Pricing on a 6-lamp 4' T5 is comparable to a dual MH unit. Long term lamp replacement costs may be higher than MH if using aquarium grade lamps. On the plus side you can mix and match spectrums to get the look you want. With MH you are stuck with one bulb type.

I agree with Mr. Alberta...

One can argue the difference in output of MH vs T5, but the serious thing to consider is which will be best for your application. T5's are good for long and narrow tanks. MH's are good for lighting multiple "square like" areas.

one serious consideration is with my T5's, NOTHING could be kept in the upper 8 inches of my tank without it bleaching. I'm suspecting if I had a two bulb MH setup, I could have placed corals at the top of the tank, as long as they weren't directly under the bulb.

Comparing MH's to T5's is like comparing apples to bananas, and you really have to think over the needs of your tank before you make your decision. They're both great, they're just so different.

I liked my T5 setup, but I feel if I had a MH setup, I would have liked that too. Oh and don't stress too much on bulb choices either, because you'll get to try something else in 6-12 months anyways ;)

Fluorescent or MH?