Upgrading To T5's

[spongy]

Hello all,

I've had the chance to inspect the damage to my lighting unit today now I've got over my hangover from last night and its not looking good,

Both bulbs have blown, and the ballast is fried.

Im just going to buy another light unit, I've been looking today, an overhead luminaire is out of my price range even though I think they look great,

Is it worth upgrading from T8 to T5 lights?

I dont really understand the benefits or differences of them, i always thought a florescent light was a florescent light.

Ive seen this kit and is it worth it???...

http/www.ebay.co.u...4380#vi-content

 

[Livewire88]

Hello,

I have just upgraded the lighting on my Roma 200 to T5's, I use pressurized Co2 and I can say the lighting upgrade was very worth while.

My plants now pearl heavily every day, where as with the T8's they would only pearl slightly. Also the light now reaches the bottom of my tank so I should be able to grow HC and other carpeting plants in the future once I re scape. Dont get me wrong my plants grew fine under the T8's but the T5's have made quite a difference.

The lighting unit you have linked to is a straight swap if you have that tank but you may be able to save some money by purchasing a twin T5 ballast and 2 T5 tubes. you would have to fit all this to your existing hood tho.

 

[DrRob]

In a nutshell, T5's are generally higher Wattage for the length, and produce more light per Watt than the T8's.

Whether it's worth it or not depends on what you want to achieve with more light, or if you even want more light.

 

[spongy]

I don't run co2, I've just got what I'd call a normal set up.

I think the t8s' provide plenty enough light, its just I'm intending to keep the tank for a long time so it may well be worth investig in good quality kit,

I'm still an amateur so this is still all pretty new to me, I'd love to get an arcadia luminaire but its out of my price range, its Christmas soon, I'm a bloke so haven't done any Christmas shopping either yet!

But I need to get some lights in soon otherwise my plants and tank will begin to suffer. I'm torn between investing and making do.

I've also got to fork out for my football ticket for the mighty Brighton & Hove Albion vs Newcastle in the FA Cup 3rd round, another £40 on top of my season ticket

Why does everything break at exactly the wrong time?

 

[Aquamaniac]

T5 are a great improvement over T8. The question is do you need it?
As you said you do not use co2,and i'm assuming you don't have a heavilly planted tank also.
In that case swapping to t5 is not really needed as you will not gain much from the extra light intensity without co2. What you might gain is algae.
I used to run my tanks with t8 and always had a very good growth and no algae. When i got my t5 luminaire i got the same wattage i had with with t8. I did not take in to account the extra light intensity and efficiency of the t5. As a result i had all sorts of algae problems in the first months and ended up using only half the light bulbs.
Bear in mind that light does not really cause algae problems. Flutuations in co2 do it but if you add more light your plants will want more co2 and nutrients.
To finish t5 are definitely a good investment for a planted tank.But if you are on a budget and your setup do not require you to have high light replacing your t8 unit with another T8 should sufice.