Mh Vs. T5

zanski

Member
what is the diff. between mh lighting and t5 lighting? which one is better for all corals anemone's? my lfs is trying to sell me a t5 lighting setup because i dont want a canopy above my tank. which is better? whats the diff?
 

fedukeford

Active Member
MH is stronger, so theres a wider range of stuff you can keep with MH, im pretty sure T5 lights are about the same as PC's
 

fanker

Active Member
t-5s are no where compared 2 pc, t-5s have alot higher par and are a more intencity light. they also last longer, and dont run so hot. t-5s are the closest thing u can get to mh. but it depends on what size tank u have. if its bigger than 125g go with mh because thats when tanks start getting deep. and t-5s only go about 14-18" down, which my can go down to like 24". but if u have a 55, 75, 90g than go with the mh. but over all either one will keep clamd and sps.
 

zanski

Member
ok that's what i want to keep i def want a max clam (the blue one). im setting up a 75 gall its 24 inches deep. should t5 allow me to anything i want?? i dont want a canopy and i cant hang mh's so im thinking about the t5 because i can mount them on my tank and there is no canopy! what do you think?? i dont want to be limited to what i can keep just because of lighting so you all tell me! if i have to ill get a canopy, but if t-5's will be ok i'd prefer them!
 

emperor11

Active Member
Originally Posted by Zanski
ok that's what i want to keep i def want a max clam (the blue one). im setting up a 75 gall its 24 inches deep. should t5 allow me to anything i want?? i dont want a canopy and i cant hang mh's so im thinking about the t5 because i can mount them on my tank and there is no canopy! what do you think?? i dont want to be limited to what i can keep just because of lighting so you all tell me! if i have to ill get a canopy, but if t-5's will be ok i'd prefer them!

...A 75 gallon is only 20" deep...the 90 gallon is 24" deep.
 

puffer32

Active Member
T5 will be fine in either size tank, trust me, I have them on my 150 and I had to move everything down or to the far ends where the T's don't reach as well.
 

deelucky

Member
i use a nova extreme 4-24w and the few corals i have are doing awsome and thats on a 29gal and most important i havent seened a difference in my elc.bill
 

mikeyjer

Active Member
There is absolutely no comparison between a MH and a T-5. I run both fixtures! MH's are a lot better then T-5's any day! The bulbs on T-5's should be replaced every 8 months or so. They run good, yes...but SPS don't do well under them from what I've heard. There's been discussions on this subject, you should research further!!! I'm still in with MH's anyday! :happyfish
 

zanoshanox

Active Member
T-5's are the next best thing after MH. I woudl say that as far as efficiency t-5 are easier to run and run cheaper, cooler, etc. But MH puts out way more light and is much more intense than any other aquarum lighting.
 

stanlalee

Active Member
People made the same claims about pc when they 1rst came out as they do about T5's now. Sure they do more with less watts than pc and vho but I wouldn't feed too much into the hype just yet. If you put 8 of any high powered flourescents over the length of any tank you could keep nearly anything its just T5 will fit and the others wont. To me until proven otherwise the real advantage of T5 is the ability to fit more tubes in the same amount of space. Also seems the reflectors make or break the effectiveness of T5. Its still just a h.o. flourescent tube, nothing revolutionary (otherwise we'd all have 8 bulb Nova T5 fixtures for the mere $400 the 48" unit cost. thats cheaper than the 4-96w pc they sell and more watts than a 400watt MH pendant for about the same price).
 

lt34

Member
I just got the Coralife 48" Lunar. It came with 2 65watt 10,000K and 2 of the 65watt blue bulbs along with the lunar lights. I also have a 48" 40watt 50/50. I was told that was plenty of light for my 90 gallon. They said if I needed more light to change the 50/50 to a 10,000K. I hope I didn't get taken. Is this enough light?
 

deelucky

Member
i agree that mh is top of the line but at the same time i dont have a deep tank(29gal)but if i upgrade to a much large tank i wouldnt think about t-5 i would go mh.i stay away from hard corals that require intense lighting but i have spoke with pro of the hobby and the nova extreme over my 29gal can house just about anything including anenomes and i know that people will argue this till the end of time but i am enjoying the sabea that i have and that is doing very well.the point is to reseach what type of lights for certain types of coral/anenomes
 

viper_930

Active Member
Originally Posted by Stanlalee
To me until proven otherwise the real advantage of T5 is the ability to fit more tubes in the same amount of space.
Until what is proven?
 

stanlalee

Active Member
Originally Posted by ViPeR_930
Until what is proven?

until they are proven to be a viable option to MH as many many people claim I just see there main advantage over other flourescents is the ability to put more tubes in the same amount of space. For example I'm not going to give up my twin 96 watt pc lights for twin 54 watt T5 with the belief I made an upgrade. On the other hand its very probably 4 T5's will fit in nearly the same space as two pc lights which would be quite an advantage.
 

zanski

Member
THANKS EVERYONE my tank is actually 65 gallons the dem's are 36x18x24 they said a 2x175w MH, or a 4x39w T-5 will be ok to let me house ANYTHING is this true??? :thinking:
 
Top