what give you better growth?

[ca2or]

wow MH is dominating T5

 

[Dave@ARA]

Wow,..interesting,..?

 

[Acronuts]

So sorry my reflectors are lumenmax. I thought for the money that 250's would give me plenty of light and save me on electric.My grwoth has been great. Of course I have only been into sps's now for a almost a year.

There is really no answer to this question. Not one poster has mentioned what reflectors they are using, which makes a huge difference in the amount of par reaching the tank. An ATI fixture will "outgrow" an old 250w spider reflector MH setup, and a pair of 250's in a Lumenmax setup will "outgrow" a Current t5 fixture.

 

[RGibson]

For years i have been using Iwasaki 175 watt 15,000 K metal halide lamps and the tank could not be better.

 

[luke33]

Used both. I had a 600w t5 IC retro with ati bulb's for 3yrs with mixed reef. And now i use a 3x250w mh with m80ballasts, phoenix 14k hqi with lumen elite reflectors. I think both of these setups work very well, but for sps the mh's give better growth. The softies grew faster with the t5's (mostly zoa's). Personally what helps my sps grow the best is consistent water conditions and ALOT of flow. I think these two things are more important than which light you use.

 

[scrapz]

400W radium > t5 > 250W radium

 

[oceanparadise1]

from my exp using both MH hands down

 

[downhill_biker]

This is crazy. I mean there are so many factors in growing coral, and you are asking people their opinions, most of which will just go with whatever they have...not any info that is backed by science.

If you want me to play that game I use 2x400w radiums driven by PFO pulse start ballast in lumenmax XL reflectors.

I get serious growth, I mean it blows people away when they come over, but...is it from my lighting? Or is it because I keep my ca at 500, alk at 13, and mag at 1500? Or is it because I have 100% random flow using 2x seaswirls on returns and a vortech MP40w? Or is it because I do water changes every 6 months. Or is it because....

There are a lot of variables here, so take the info you receive with a grain of salt. Best thing I can say is that reflectors make a HUGE deal. Once you have the PAR you want you need to make sure your ca, alk, and mag are high enough to support the corals growing at the increased rate. After you have the chemistry where you want it, you need to make sure the corals get the flow they need so that the ca, alk, and mag is actively available. So, so many variables...

 

[naldopr]

many of the amazing tank that we see now in t5 where run by metal halides
I think many of them switch for economical reason or just want to see the difference. and both seen to work.
for me radium/t5 are the best

 

[Reefinginpasadena]

i really like my fixture right now, its T-5s with MH cant do wrong using both i voted MH though it seems to grow sps faster at least in my opinion.

 

[mojo]

ballast and reflectors do pay a big roll in the output. I did some par readings on tanks with both t5s and MH. One tank was a 90g with dual 250w radiums on galaxy ballasts with lumen max 2 reflectors and 2 t5 54 w bulbs. has great par and good growth for his sps.

My tank is smaller and uses a 6x39 sunpower and have similar par results. the one thing with t5s is you dont get the shaded areas you do with halides. I have posted pictures of these results.

 

[JNye]

the one thing with t5s is you dont get the shaded areas you do with halides.

good point. I actuallly consider this a good thing as I keep a mixed reef and I really like to fill in the lower light areas with acans and such, too me this gradient of light is a pro not a con. If i kept like 90% SPS, I'd have all T5s for sure, more light everywhere. But like was stated earlier, start with enough PAR, that is what matters, then move on to flow, chemistry, nutrient export, feeding...husbandry!

 

[Dylan]

Does anybody think that T5s look nicer than halides? I love halides for the shimmer but they seem so.. dim sometimes. The cleanest tanks I've seen had clear backs and were lit with T5s, like the TOTM right now.

 

[SunnyX]

Does anybody think that T5s look nicer than halides? I love halides for the shimmer but they seem so.. dim sometimes. The cleanest tanks I've seen had clear backs and were lit with T5s, like the TOTM right now.

I think T5's, if done right, look better than MH's. I dont know if I have posted this before on the site but here are my thoughts on MH vs T5:

MH vs T5 lighting. - Rimless Reef


Ok, I have used MH's for years on my past TOTM, and am currently using T5's. I have been using T5's for over a year now and I would like to share with you what I have found.

The one thing with T5's is that they operate much differently then the sun or MH, which are both single point sources of light. In nature corals only receive 2-3 hours of direct intense lighting to any one side of the coral. With MH, even though it is hitting the coral longer then it would in nature, it is not as intense and only a small portion of the coral is exposed to the full power. With T5, the corals are fully exposed to intense light all around as opposed to a single direction. This is good because you tend to get fuller, and more even growth pattern. The bad side of this is the coral has a hard time coping with so much light attacking it from many angles.

In my opinion, the growth and coloration I am having with T5's is better then what I had with MH. After my new tank settled in the growth was as good and in some cases better then when I was operating 400W MH's.



Now, two things that I believe T5's have MH's beat on, without a doubt, are:

-Color Options

T5's have given me the EXACT color I have always been after. I can add as many blue bulbs as i would like, and I don't have to worry about diminished PAR as Grim has already pointed out. If I think the tank looks too blue, I can swap out a bulb for a white one and vice versa.

and.....

-Coral Placement

This, I believe is the greatest thing about T5's. In the past, with MH, I had to constantly move corals around so that they were DIRECTLY under the MH bulb. This became tedious and many of the corals on the outside of the bulb were always darker in color and lacked proper growth. This gave some of the corals a funny and unnatural looking growth pattern. Now, with T5 I can place my corals ANYWHERE across the tank with no worries. It makes my life easier and my corals happier.

At the end of the day if you are happy with what you are using then stick with it. I wanted a better way of growing and coloring my corals so T5 was the natural choice. After looking at the MANY T5 tanks in Europe I knew I had to have them.

So, after using T5's for an extended period of time now I don't think I could ever go back to MH.

The shimmer is nice and all, but I can never give up the color and growth patterns found in T5's.

 

[Dylan]

Wow, thanks a ton for the info. Your tank is the reason I thought about T5s. Now my 120 gallon will be 4x2x2 feet, so 4 inches taller than yours, so I might just get the same fixture as you since I'm going with less SPS.

 

[JNye]

The one thing with T5's is that they operate much differently then the sun

they actually operate exactly like the sun, the sun is a point source, but the usable light available to the coral is very even all around it...unless it cloudy:tongue:

 

[makingbubbles]

Hey wheres the button for cfs?

 

[makingbubbles]

I use 30 surefire tactical flash lights mounted to an m4 flat top. it works great! plus you can always fire at those unwanted hitch hikers.

 

[minirex4777]

Depends strictly on the coral its light prefrence and position of the coral in the tank.Also not knowing all other factors like water quality etc. simple comparisons are meaningless ie ive seen better growth with...maybe the tank with the mh had a fug and the other does not and so on and so forth

 

[My Coral Reef]

MH GIVE YOU BETTER GROWTH BUT THE COLOR NOT ALL THAT NICE NOW T5 GIVE YOU NICE COLOR AND GROWTH SO YOU GET THE BEST OUT OF BOTH WORLDS I USED 2 LAMS OF T-5 IN MY FRAG FOR MY STORE EACH LAMP HAS 6 T-5 39 WATT :wink: