T5 or metal halide?

[coralosity351]

What's better? Longer lasting? Cheapest long term?

 

[FL_Reefer]

They are both good and do the job. Price wise depends on how big of a tank your trying tonlight. I run both with a reef bright XHO.

 

[Black Pearl]

They are both good and do the job. Price wise depends on how big of a tank your trying tonlight. I run both with a reef bright XHO.

Best of all worlds

 

[coralosity351]

It's a 55 gallon tank

 

[FL_Reefer]

Well you would at the least need 2 250w MH so that's areond $200 or so a year in bulbs depending on how long you run them per day. And you could probably only get 4-6 bulbs over a 55 so it would be almost the same in bulbs price. I personally love my MH and will run them forever for my main lighting but that's just my personal preference.

 

[FL_Reefer]

Best of all worlds

Ya definitely, lol I love my hamilton fixture.

 

[Bpb]

For a 55 gallon, 4x54 t5ho ATI Sunpower will give you all the par, spectrum, and coverage you could hope for honestly. I love metal halides...but they're wasted on such a narrow tank. Metal halides emit more of a cone of light and putting them at any appropriate distance will have you lighting your floors rather than the tank. Narrow long tanks like that have T5HO written all over them. One is not better than another fundamentally, they'll just shine (no pun intended) under different applications.

 

[coralosity351]

Ok cool thanks for the replies I think I'm gonna look for a t5 ho

 

[JOKER]

The Hamilton fixtures are nice. The Cebu sun has both

 

[Bpb]

The Cebu sun is too large. It would hang over the front and back, if you rested it on top of the rim. Suspending it (which is needed anyway) would exaggerate the problem. That fixture is 13.5" wide. A 55 gallon is only 12" wide. You should never get a light that is larger than the tanks footprint. Flush with the tank is one thing but never larger. You're literally paying money for power and bulbs for light that isn't even entering the tank. That's why a 4 bulb sunpower is the best option. The 6 bulb is also larger than the tanks footprint. 55 gallon lighting is super limited on what you can use

 

[JOKER]

That is right. The 55 I had was a custom built tank.

 

[rockskimmerflow]

For ease of coral placement, bulb customization, and electricity costs I'd strongly recommend T5HO. I run halides, t5s, and leds on various setups and I absolutely love metal halides. They unfortunately aren't a practical choice for a lot of builds smaller 90 -120 gallons. On larger systems the light coverage and bulb/electricity cost compared to T5 evens out more. Hybrid systems are excellent as well, but again typically work best on larger tanks when it's a hybrid that includes metal halides.

I think you'll fare very well with a 4 or 6 bulb 48 inch T5 system

 

[jetmaker]

If you find one of the 48 in coralife fixtures it has 2 x 150 halides and 2 x 96 watt t5

 

[Richard60]

I have 4 t5 high output lights that I am going to put on my 55 gallon tank is that going to be enough light for coral and sea anmonies please let me know there is 2 white and 2 blue

 

[Bpb]

What brand is the fixture Richard. A Tek, Aquatic Life, Hamilton, ATI, Pac Sun, or Giesemann would do the trick. A Zoomed, Coralife, or Oddysea may not have the punch due to cheap ballasts, poor cooling, and lack of efficient reflector design

 

[Richard60]

It says slimpaq on the ballast so not sure

 

[Bpb]

Be sure to use good bulbs whatever it is. Stick to ATI, Giesemann, KZ, Pac Sun.

 

[Richard60]

Ok thanks

 

[Saltine]

I recently switched from LEDS to a Marineland 150w MH with 4 T5's, adding a Reefbrite this weekend. I love the new look, so natural compared to the LED's and corals seem to love it.

Salt

 

[Richard60]

I looked at the bulb that are in the system and they are blue lite so are they good