t5

[Poseidon]

will a t5 be able to reach a 24" depth on my tank?
what wattage would i need and how efficient are they?

im thinking about swithing my 250w metal halides to t5's... over my 180g tank

 

[pulpfiction1]

t5 should easily reach 24 inches,as far as wattage,my 5ft were HO at 87 watts a bulb,i believe they come in 28 to 54 watts.here is a pdf from one lighting source

http://www.lrc.rpi.edu/programs/nlpip/lightinganswers/lat5/pc1a.asp

 

[Poseidon]

how are they efficient wise in comparison to metal halides?

 

[jones02]

my 90g is 24" deep and i have t5s and i have sps in my tank no problems, and the fixture is about 6.5" above the tank.

 

[pulpfiction1]

how are they efficient wise in comparison to metal halides?

i think depending on the MH and the T5,if your running 4 T5 bulbs at 54 watts vs 2 MH at 250 or higher each,and then there is the heat issues.............

 

[phatpaco]

how are they efficient wise in comparison to metal halides?

My hydro bill dropped quite a bit when I turned off the halides and went to T5's! Mind you my halides were made in the late 20's...lol...

 

[teebone110]

T5s should be no issue for depths of 24 inches. You may get better results with SPS higher up in the tank. Depends on what you are keeping.

 

[reeffreak]

IMO I dont think there is a comparison between the two ..  between the heat and high electricty bills from halides and no heat and low electric bills from T5 , it was an easy pick for me . Sure halides give great growth and color but T5 has it beat again this is my opinoin .

 

[Poseidon]

well i calculated it out and my halides are costing me almost 175$ a MONTH... i need to switch to t5's...

the light i have is an old hamilton tech...

any opinions on what type of:
wattage
colour(s) {atinic etc}
make models are good?
what a price range for a 5-6ft used fixture should be..
how many bulbs are better, 4? 5? 6? 8?

thanks!

 

[reeffreak]

the more bulbs the better for many reasons , color combos , growth ... for the make or model depends on how much you want to spend I would look into Sunlight Supplies Tek line good prices and amazing light , I have used a tek the whole time in the hobby and never had a problem at all the unit im using now was manufactured in 2005 still going strong. For a used fixture it would have to be 6ft they dont sell 5 i dont think 6 bulb your looking at maybe $300 if you look hard enought theres great deals out there . Im picking up saltys ATI power module tomarrow its an 8 bulb brand new that fixture runs $1000 . HTH

 

[jones02]

+1 on the tek,n I'm runnnning a tek elite, has built inn cooling annd better reflectors. Havnt had a problem with it and looking for a 36" for a frag tank.

 

[Duke]

well i calculated it out and my halides are costing me almost 175$ a MONTH... i need to switch to t5's...

i think you could have miscalculated that out man.


500w x 8 hours a day x .11c kw/h your more like 14 bucks a month.

 

[reeffreak]

[quote author=Brandon link=topic=3112.msg25414#msg25414 date=1347314873]
well i calculated it out and my halides are costing me almost 175$ a MONTH... i need to switch to t5's...

i think you could have miscalculated that out man.


500w x 8 hours a day x .11c kw/h your more like 14 bucks a month.
[/quote]

was going to say $175 a month time to shut er down

 

[Duke]

[quote author=Duke link=topic=3112.msg25417#msg25417 date=1347316278]
[quote author=Brandon link=topic=3112.msg25414#msg25414 date=1347314873]
well i calculated it out and my halides are costing me almost 175$ a MONTH... i need to switch to t5's...

i think you could have miscalculated that out man.


500w x 8 hours a day x .11c kw/h your more like 14 bucks a month.
[/quote]

was going to say $175 a month time to shut er down
[/quote]

lol, the opp grow op division probably would shut it down for you.

 

[Poseidon]

well i didnt do the math like that...
i did this... our power bill normally... 600$ ( we have a farm... shop etc)
power bills after i got my tank: 800$... all my pumps are minimal wattage,
i started turning the halides on less, 1 halide from 4-11 and the other 2 from 5-930
and our bill dropped 40$ the next month.... for the 3 years we lived here its never had more than a 5$ change until i got my tank...

i dont know the math behind it, but in reality, this is what its costing me

 

[reeffreak]

well i dont think it matter how u did the math a watts a watt I cant see the halides puttin you up to $175 a month thats insane I wouldnt even be able to keep a tank around if it cost me that much my wife would shoot me , how old is the unit your using ? you could buy a used t5 fixture every month for that price

 

[jones02]

ya thats crazy! i have 2 different systems going and im paying 140 for hydro with my whole place lol

 

[Poseidon]

Ya I still live at home so currently my parents are footing the bill but there starting to complain...
I can't blame them.... So ya, hence the reason I'm upgrading to t5