Which T5 should I get

[TheMikey]

Announced last night on our Saskatoon and area reef board was that The Reef Shoppe in Lloydminster would be carrying Aquaticlife T5HO fixtures! You should check them out, the owner is a stellar reef nut

[Canadian]

Originally Posted by TheMikey

Announced last night on our Saskatoon and area reef board was that The Reef Shoppe in Lloydminster would be carrying Aquaticlife T5HO fixtures! You should check them out, the owner is a stellar reef nut

Those AquaticLife fixtures don't have active cooling as far as I can tell.

[Canadian]

Originally Posted by Treebeard

The ATI fixtures are very sexy looking! Are they available in Canada?

As far as I know the only retailers are in the US. Progressive Reef can special order them but they simply purchase them from Reef Geek at a lowered price and then sell them to the customer.

And this is part of the problem with T5 fixture recommendations in Canada. Aside from Fauna Marin and Sfiligoi (basically the two most expensive fixtures you can purchase), none of the better fixtures are retailed in Canada. As a consequence you see people simply recommending the best thing readily available in Canada (Sunlight Supply Tek fixtures) but they're recommending low-level fixtures as if they're good quality. Unfortunately our dollar is so weak right now it's hard to justify purchasing from US retailers but if you want a good T5 fixture you basically have to either buck up for the Fauna Marin or Sfiligoi, or purchase a less expensive fixture in the US.

[Myka]

Originally Posted by Canadian

WHAT!? Hardly. I would argue the Tek fixtures fit somewhere between bottom of the barrel and mid range - hardly "one of the best". Mid range would be something like an ATI Sunpower which has active cooling with an acrylic shield in place. One of the best (upper range) would be something like maybe an Aquactinics Constellation and then ATI Powermodule, Fauna Marin Star Fire, Sfiligoi Stealth,.

As far as PAR goes, Tek is one of the better brands (I did mean to say better, not best...oops). An Sfiligoi (or any of the others you listed) doesn't put out any higher PAR reading than a Tek. Sure you get all the fancy schamncy fans and dimmers n shizz, but that doesn't exactly make your corals grow any better.

[Phanman]

Have you looked at the aquactinics fixtures? I got mine from Golds in Calgary and love it.

[Canadian]

Originally Posted by Myka

As far as PAR goes, Tek is one of the better brands (I did mean to say better, not best...oops). An Sfiligoi (or any of the others you listed) doesn't put out any higher PAR reading than a Tek. Sure you get all the fancy schamncy fans and dimmers n shizz, but that doesn't exactly make your corals grow any better.

Are you kidding? That is so patently false it's actually comical.

Those "other" fixtures put out 30% more PAR (and this has been confirmed by several independent readings - not based on manufacturers claims) than a Tek and this is almost directly attributable to the "fancy schamncy[sic] fans" that provide active cooling to run the lamps at optimal temperature (in addition to superior ballasts and reflectors).

Ignorance is really leading to some poor recommendations and translation of information on this site lately . . .

[Phanman]

Ive read as well that Tek fixtures do put out alot less par then the fixtures mentioned already. Active cooling does play a large role in PAR levels as well....

Check out Grims thread on RC. He's done alot of testing and confirmed by others as well.

[Canadian]

Myka,

Sorry if it comes across as if I'm lashing out at you. I've been reading a lot of really bad advice on this site over the last couple months (most of it coming from inexperienced hobbysists) and I've basically been biting my tongue because I didn't want to stir the pot. But I guess the misinformation finally got to me and I had to say something.