Possible T5 to MH upgrade -- Questions

[brannock_16]

Hello everyone,

In an attempt to ever increase the beauty and possibilities of my tank I am considering upgrading my lighting from my current tek 6 bulb, 48 inch T5 unit to an all in one MH unit. I have been having great success with my tek with my lps, but would like to see more colors pulled and increased growth in my sps. Therefore I am considering the swap to MH.

First and foremost, I know little to nothing about MH, ballasts, bulbs, etc. With that in mind, what all in one unit would be best for a standard 120, being heavily stocked on lps, but contemplating more sps and high light nems in the future?

Next, what kind of energy consumption increase would I expect to see from going to MH?

Also, what kind of increase in evaporation would I expect to see? I run an open top system with no canopy and currently evap about 1-1.75 gallons per day.

Finally, what kind of suggestions, advice, etc would you guys offer to someone contemplating such a switch? Is it worth it in terms of coral colors, growth, etc? Do the benefits exceed the costs (increased electricity consumption, increased evaporation)?

I thank everyone in advance and am pretty open to suggestions (except for going LED, I'm a college student and those costs are far too much as of now).

Robert

 

[redtop03]

I would suggest replacing 1 or 2 of your T5 lamps with LEDs,you can still use the fixture you have now and not add any heat to your tank.....halides are great for coral growth but consume a lot of power and create a lot of heat,the LEDs will add the shimmer like halides too

 

[brannock_16]

I would suggest replacing 1 or 2 of your T5 lamps with LEDs,you can still use the fixture you have now and not add any heat to your tank.....halides are great for coral growth but consume a lot of power and create a lot of heat,the LEDs will add the shimmer like halides too

That sounds like an interesting alternative. Were you suggesting removing a couple t5 bulbs and replacing them with a DIY LED component or using a 48 inch LED tube that would fit into my existing fixture?

If the second option is what you suggest, do you have a suggestion on a brand or color spectrum of LEDs that I should utilize? I do run a predominantly blue look to my tank if that matters.

Thanks in advance,

Robert

 

[akma]

If you have an ato and mo heat problems i would go back to mh. Its just personal preference but ive had tge best growth and colord from them for sps. A mh fixture witg t5 supplement is sick. I actually sold my ai led and went back to t5 for its color spectrum for my lps.

 

[redtop03]

That sounds like an interesting alternative. Were you suggesting removing a couple t5 bulbs and replacing them with a DIY LED component or using a 48 inch LED tube that would fit into my existing fixture?

If the second option is what you suggest, do you have a suggestion on a brand or color spectrum of LEDs that I should utilize? I do run a predominantly blue look to my tank if that matters.

Thanks in advance,

Robert

I was just making a suggestion that could potentially save you some money,I'm honestly not too familiar with LEDs except that they use a lot less power and a few people seem to be having good results with 'em....

I'm still using MH/T5....MHs are great for coral growth,and with the right bulbs,the coral looks amazing under 'em,but they have their down sides too....heat and power consumption

LEDs are still fairly new but seem to be improving daily,I have read threads that suggest they are better for a mixed reef with only a few SPS up high in the tank rather than a predominately SPS tank,and I've read threads that have burned their SPS with LEDs from excessive light but I really don't know...

I plan to eventually change from MH to LED whenever I can afford to and see for myself,I know for color pop from your coral it's gonna be hard to beat T5s,whenever I do go to LEDs I plan to mix them with T5 like I suggested that you could do...

the power consumption is whats getting to me,I'm running 4x250w MHs with 4x54wT5HOs on my DT and 2x250w MH with 4x65w PC on my frag/fuge tank,I guesstimate about a third of my electric bill is for my aquarium

but to answer your question,I'd remove 2 bulbs from you current fixture and replace with something like what Paul B built....here's some pics of his set-up,he used square aluminum tube to mount his LEDs on,each one of these tubes could be put in your fixture in place of the T5s without too much modification

you could use 48 LEDs,24 royal blue and 24 cool white 3w Cree XP-E LEDs with 4 of the dimmable ELN 60-48D meanwell drivers for about $500 from here http://reefledlights.com/led-kits/cree-xp-e-kits/ I'm sure there's other venders too if you search some but these are what I've been looking at,according to what I've been reading,24 LEDs,half blue,half white are equivalent to a 250w 14k MH but you could go all blue for a 20k look or all white for a 10k look...if this is true,you'd be getting the equivalent of 500w of light for about 150w power consumption

 

[brannock_16]

I was just making a suggestion that could potentially save you some money,I'm honestly not too familiar with LEDs except that they use a lot less power and a few people seem to be having good results with 'em....

I'm still using MH/T5....MHs are great for coral growth,and with the right bulbs,the coral looks amazing under 'em,but they have their down sides too....heat and power consumption

LEDs are still fairly new but seem to be improving daily,I have read threads that suggest they are better for a mixed reef with only a few SPS up high in the tank rather than a predominately SPS tank,and I've read threads that have burned their SPS with LEDs from excessive light but I really don't know...

I plan to eventually change from MH to LED whenever I can afford to and see for myself,I know for color pop from your coral it's gonna be hard to beat T5s,whenever I do go to LEDs I plan to mix them with T5 like I suggested that you could do...

the power consumption is whats getting to me,I'm running 4x250w MHs with 4x54wT5HOs on my DT and 2x250w MH with 4x65w PC on my frag/fuge tank,I guesstimate about a third of my electric bill is for my aquarium

Thanks for the suggestion. I just got back from my LFS and the owner showed me his Vertex Illumilux LED fixture. Since I have $200 in gift certificates to his shop I think I might pick one of these up for some shimmer effect and accentuating lighting. This thing blew my mind!

He said it utilizes 3 watt Cree LED's, there is virtually no heat transfer, the bulb life span is incredible, and he offered the 48 inch unit to me for 20% off and a free mounting kit. I am STRONGLY considering this option!

 

[redtop03]

Thanks for the suggestion. I just got back from my LFS and the owner showed me his Vertex Illumilux LED fixture. Since I have $200 in gift certificates to his shop I think I might pick one of these up for some shimmer effect and accentuating lighting. This thing blew my mind!

He said it utilizes 3 watt Cree LED's, there is virtually no heat transfer, the bulb life span is incredible, and he offered the 48 inch unit to me for 20% off and a free mounting kit. I am STRONGLY considering this option!

that's cool,I editted my last post and added a bunch more stuff to it you might want to take a look at

 

[brannock_16]

that's cool,I editted my last post and added a bunch more stuff to it you might want to take a look at

Thank you very much for your input. It is much appreciated.

 

[redtop03]

Thank you very much for your input. It is much appreciated.

no problem,my pleasure...good luck which ever way you go,I always prefer to DIY when I can but without a machine shop,there really isn't a lot of ways to DIY a light fixture and it look as good as a factory made unit....the Vertex Illumilux is a nice looking fixture and if you're not completely happy with the color spectrum,there's ways to improve on that too...some of the LED manufacturer are adding red and green LEDs to the mix now they are expensive but what they'll save in power consumption and bulb replacement will pay for itself after a while IMO