T5 Vs T8

[l337dave]

def think I'm going to go luminaire, don't want to have to worry about melting and flooding

the US link wont ship to the UK so I guess that's a non starter, I did find this on ebay tho:

ebay link

does anyone know of a link to somewhere that explains WPG @ depth for differant types of coral, if such a thing exists so I can work out what I am limiting myself to..?

thanks,


dave.

 

[Chac]

That Luminiare looks good, I actually got my halides from this place & the service was great

74W - IMO you will have to stay away from SPS, nems & most Clams

Softies & some LPS woul dbe fine under this light level

Are you going to add an Actinic somehow

 

[l337dave]

it's even better than that actually!

I emailed them and in three weeks they'll do a black one (which I like better than the silver) like the 'PL' ones that they are advertising at the mo only in the 80cm length which will be a perfect fit for the juwel and has 2x55's in!

hurrah!

they come with bulbs - 12k, but I don't know what sort of light 12k is, do 12k's shine white or blue..?


dave.

 

[SkiFletch]

Usually white with a little blue but it does vary from manufacturer to manufacturer. The general rule of thumb is 10k is white while 20k is blue

 

[l337dave]

Usually white with a little blue but it does vary from manufacturer to manufacturer. The general rule of thumb is 10k is white while 20k is blue

ah okey, higher the K the more blue in it

@Chac: what benefits would an actinic bring..?




dave.

 

[N1z]

Its like a light to photosynthesis the zooalleath (way off in spelling!) but its wot the coral has in side of it, a symbolic algea i believe.

 

[Chac]

Usually white with a little blue but it does vary from manufacturer to manufacturer. The general rule of thumb is 10k is white while 20k is blue

ah okey, higher the K the more blue in it

@Chac: what benefits would an actinic bring..?

dave.

The only benifits are

1 ) The Actinic Lighting (IMO) softens the harshness of my Metal Halides

2 ) They allow my fish to settle at night after the Main Halide kight goes off (Actinics are on a further 1 1/2 longer) rather than plunging the livestock in to complete darkness

3 ) They make certain corals fluoresce

 

[heirfaus]

Can someone answer this?

Why does everyone worry about wattage. Wattage is GARBAGE. And has nothing to do with aquarium health. Am I wrong? Temperature of the light, ie Kelvin scale, and lumins output is what we should worry about right? What if my light puts out 10 bazillion lumins on a 5 watt fixture and your's puts out 2 lumens on a 75 watt fixture? Which is more efficient? So wattage means nothing and light temperature and efficiency of the light fixture means everything. So really if someone has a 100 gallon tank and the buy a 100 watt lamp and you say good choice, you may have just given the worst advice ever because that 100 watt lamp may be horrible inefficient and put out lumins too low for an aquarium too flourish.

Am I wrong

I had a total of 38 watts on the original lamps on my 55 gallon tank and it was kinda dark. I just bought a new lamp fixture wich is 56 watts. Good watts for my tank right? Well in reality the lamp is MUCH more efficient and the brightness in my tank is about 3-4 times with the old one. I only added 18 watts, but this lamp is MUCH more efficient, ie more lumins per watt.

 

[Adrinal]

You are correct. Watts Per Gallon is completely misleading.

 

[BINKSY]

Interesting subject,

Iam looking at upgrading my lighting to T5, i have a tropical community tank which i wish to plant, i have been looking at the Arcadia I Bar light system heres a link 1st4aquatics.com


First of all any one using these, and would i need to intall any fans to extrat the heat away from the hood,

Many Thanks

Gordon

 

[N1z]

They are good i havent got one personally but what would seem a better idea if you want to keep hood panels, you dont need fans IMO thgh.

 

[l337dave]

okey I'm almost set on a PC Luminiare that I've found on ebay, the last thing I want to check out is the power useage of PC over MH

example:

if I have a unit with 1 150w MH in vs a unit with 110 - 144 of PC's which one will cost me the least in electricity bills.

first guess is that it would be the PC's 'cause they are less watts but do I remember from somewhere that MH are better in terms of efficiency?

if MH's are a lot cheaper to run I'd consider one but I'll probably need to think about how I am going to hang it...

thanks,


dave.

 

[SkiFletch]

The PCs would be less electricity for sure. Less wattage and more efficient. An electronic ballast metal halide (175watt) would be more efficient than an equal wattage of flourescents, but not a magnetic ballast (150)