T5 Vs MH

[crhawkeye]

I am looking to upgrade a FOWLR tank to a reef. Of course I have to upgrade from my PC, will a T5 fixture that is 12 bulbs at 80 watts a bulb have the same effect as a MH with 3x250 HQI VHO with a total of 1072 watts?

 

[scsinet]

If the lamps have individual reflectors, it will perform as well or better than the halide system you are specing.

 

[crhawkeye]

I just checked with the seller, they are individual reflectors. Is the heat going to be that much different?

 

[spy231]

My advice is to get the MH setup. I like the hanging style. If you are ever going to (or even think you might) get a different tank I would get the MH. If you get T5's for one tank and you upgrade or downgrade you will have to get new bulbs and new reflectors which can add up in money. If you have a MH setup you can put it over any tank you have.
As far a heat goes I have read that they are actually about the same. 150 watts of MH and 150 watts in T5 are going to be the same.
I am no expert, but that is just a few things I have heard other people say on several forums.
Edit to say that SCSInet knows his stuff. He always seems to chime in on my topics and would trust whatever he says.

 

[wangotango]

What size tank is this going to be?
-Justin

 

[nycbob]

both will do. with t5, u hv more options to play with colors by mixing and matching different bulbs. with mh, the light is more intense. and imo, heating is more of an issue. but u will get that shimmering effect most people love.

 

[crhawkeye]

Its a 120 gal, 60" makes it difficult to find a cheaper fixture. If I would have known that I would have purchased a 72" 125 gal, but of course this is a tank I've had for years and it was pretty much my first tank for saltwater. A learning experience. The good thing is that it is deeper which means I can have a wider variety of corals, the high intensity ones at the top and the med to lower intensity towards the bottom.

 

[reefraff]

What brand of T5 are you looking at? There are some pretty cheese individual reflectored T5 units on the

[hr]
site that suck.
Watt for watt T5's will put less heat in the tank. Think of T5's as being several curling irons over the water and the halides as 3 blow dryers.
If your tank room gets hot you have a much better chance of getting away with no chiller using the T5's.

 

[chilwil84]

if the 120 is 4ft like the allglass tanks you will only need 2 250 mh. if you get a lumeric style reflector the mh would be at the level of the t5s with an icecap overdriving them. without the lumeric style reflecor the difference would come down to bulb, ballast, and what reflecor (for the t5s) you chose to which is better.

 

[chilwil84]

just read about the 60 in part missed that where are the braces and how many? putting a mh over the brace would be a waste and the t5s would get more light in. if you have 2 braces the mh can be better with the lumeric reflectors and 3 bulbs but if you have one brace t5s would probably be better for your setup

 

[crhawkeye]

That was a great point, it is a single brace and that means one of the MH lights would sit right above it. I didn't think of that.

 

[rdm]

Current makes a 60'' 2x250w MH with 4x54w T5HO. The MH's will be perfectly on either side of your brace