LED vs T5 vs ?

[shred5]

Yes, But I think the biggest difference is the way that heat is dispersed. MH directs almost all of the heat produced straight down into our tanks. T5's disperse heat more evenly but still direct much of it to the tank. LED's direct most of the heat they produce AWAY from the water, thus limiting the effect on our tank temps. I LOVE MH/T5, but living in Phoenix (where it is already in the 100's) I simply cannot deal with the heat they direct at my water.

I would bet most if not all people have not had heat issues with T-5..

Been in the hobby 30 + years and never did I have a issue with heat on a t-5 ever or any other Fluorescent fixtures. I run some t-5 now and some leds and neither have a issue with heat.

Halides do produce a little more heat but that is also blown out of proportion.

 

[lpsouth1978]

I would bet most if not all people have not had heat issues with T-5..

Been in the hobby 30 + years and never did I have a issue with heat on a t-5 ever or any other Fluorescent fixtures. I run some t-5 now and some leds and neither have a issue with heat.

Halides do produce a little more heat but that is also blown out of proportion.

Halide heat my be "blown out of proportion" in Wisconsin, but in Phoenix It is 1000% in the right proportions!!

 

[shred5]

Halide heat my be "blown out of proportion" in Wisconsin, but in Phoenix It is 1000% in the right proportions!!

Our summers can get pretty warm here.. July and August can see temps above 90 pretty often...
Even though rare we do see temps 100+ here in the summer. Yea you guys see it way more often but hot is hot.
Here it can be the humidity. Plus this thread is about t-5 not halides.

Thing is most people air-condition their houses now a days.

 

[Amado]

Our summers can get pretty warm here.. July and August can see temps above 90 pretty often...
Even though rare we do see temps 100+ here in the summer. Yea you guys see it way more often but hot is hot.
Here it can be the humidity. Plus this thread is about t-5 not halides.

Thing is most people air-condition their houses now a days.

hot is not hot people in Phoenix die from the heat. I don’t think you have much death by heat in Wisconsin lol

 

[shred5]

hot is not hot people in Phoenix die from the heat. I don’t think you have much death by heat in Wisconsin lol

Most people do not keep their fish tanks outside.

Does not matter a watt is a watt period.

250 watts of led, fluorescent, or halides produce the same heat.

Halide produce a little more through UV radiation... Could some have issues sure, small tank, keep their house warmer do not vent the hood right, etc. Most wont with halides and certainly not t-5. This thread was about t-5 anyway not halides.

I am done with this conversation believe what you want to believe.


Edit: oh and by the way People do die of heat in WI and it is the biggest weather related deaths.
I figured it would be from snow but I guess it is not.

 

[Lousybreed]

Absolutely a fair comparison.. They all have almost the same coverage.
Also they use banks of leds so their is less self shading so to me they are some of the better fixtures out right now.. They are also higher quality fixtures.

All are mainly for two feet of coverage except the Atlantik which is a little more.

A 4' t-5 would compare to two fixtures from those manufacture..

I work in the lighting industry and I deal with this stuff everyday.. We specify millions of fixtures a year.
almost weekly I take classes on lighting or meet with lighting manufacturers.

Look at PC bulbs they can still be found in the hobby and they were never even that big.

Also the trend for Radions is raising them higher and running closer to full output. Even if you do not run them at full they are pretty close.


I have never heard anything about anyone needing a chiller with t-5.. People use that argument for halides.
Halides do produce a little more heat through UV and a little less energy efficient.

Again a watt of heat is a watt of heat.. It is how it works.

All I am saying is there is not a big difference. I am not even picking sides on which is better. I have ran them all and still run both right now.

You can believe what you want.

Very fair message. I do agree that a 120 gallon tank could be lit with either an 8 bulb ATI or two Radion 30’s. Both pull around 400watts. Two radions is about $1700. A 4 ft ATI fixture with bulbs is $870. It’s going to take about 9 years for the LED’s to break even. Again it’s your choice. Both will do the job, there is mounting evidence in the aquaculture industry that there is a statistical difference in growth rate of corals grown under LED’s but if you want a nice looking tank with a lot of control of your lights then LED’s are a great option. If you want to save money, grow corals faster, but lost that control of spectrum go T-5. Considering that the ATI fixtures have two plugs you can run actinics separately so you have some control.

 

[Superlightman]

Look I think there are a lot of opinions going on here. Let me address. I have wholesale accounts. The statement that the margins are higher for T-5 is not true. The margins for LED are about 10% higher. Bulb cost is something to consider. Every 18 months. Your average LED light fixture has a failure rate at 4-5 yrs. So bulb savings aren’t as much as you might think. watt for watt, measured with a par meter, the difference between power consumption amounts to savings around 10-20 bucks a year in the best case with LED. Again when people’s opinions are being used, there can be no conclusions made. I have all the data to address these opinions. Take out marketing hype, The most economical way to light your tank is with metal halides, then T-5 lighting. ATI fixture with ATI bulbs. I have exhaustive 5 yr life time cycle studies on all technologies. But people don’t like metal halides. They assume a lot of things about halides. They are slightly less efficient however if you have to heat your tank overall (meaning your heaters are used for more than 6 months out of the year, which is probably 50% of reef tanks) then halides are number one. Heating a tank can be your biggest energy consumer of your tank. If you live in a hot climate T-5 are a better option.

Halides are more economic than t5?
Wich one gave you the best results?

 

[Lousybreed]

Depends where you live. In WI for me halides help with heating my tanks and more than offset the heating costs associated with electric heaters. I love the Phoenix 14k and ushio 10k bulbs