Which is better?
- Thread starter zain
- Start date
fishfreak1242
Active Member
Heres a post that SCSInet made. This should clear things up a bit.
While 300w of halide will generally consume the same amount of electricity as 300w of PC or 300w of T5, the amount of light output is very different from technology to technology.
You are right in that a watt is a watt is a watt though.
Keep in mind that what I said above can be misleading as well... there is lamp watts and system watts. All fluorescent (PC, VHO, Tx) and HID (halide) technologies require a ballast that consumes some electricity which it loses to heat. Lamps of different technologies also come in different wattage increments that make it difficult to match watts for watts (you can get 250w of metal halide, but I know of no combination of fluorescent tubes that adds up to 250w exactly), but let's assume you could for the sake of agument...
200w worth of T5 lamps and 200w of halide lamps all consume exactly the same number of lamp watts - 200.
However, ballast efficiencies vary depending on both the technology in use and the ballast technology, make, and model. So, 200w worth of T5 lamps may be installed in a fixture that uses a total of 220w of energy, while 200w of Halide lamps run in a fixture that consumes 240w.
So when you say a watt is a watt, talking about lamp watts yes, but total wattage, not necessarily.
As for efficiency, it's not about energy consumption, it's about x number of units of light per x number of watts. A metal halide or a T5 will always put out more light for each watt in than a power compact, unless the fixture is malfunctioning.
T5s and halides are very close in efficiencies, and can edge each other out depending on the factors listed above.
The other thing about PCs that needs to be taken into consideration is the relatively high operational costs. PC lamps are expensive and need to be replaced twice as often as halides and 4 times as often as T5s. There are also usually more of them. It takes (4) 65W PC lamps to [roughly] equal the wattage of a SINGLE 250w halide, but the halide lamp has to be replaced half as often and does a heck of a better job of turning your hard earned killowatt-hours into light.
While 300w of halide will generally consume the same amount of electricity as 300w of PC or 300w of T5, the amount of light output is very different from technology to technology.
You are right in that a watt is a watt is a watt though.
Keep in mind that what I said above can be misleading as well... there is lamp watts and system watts. All fluorescent (PC, VHO, Tx) and HID (halide) technologies require a ballast that consumes some electricity which it loses to heat. Lamps of different technologies also come in different wattage increments that make it difficult to match watts for watts (you can get 250w of metal halide, but I know of no combination of fluorescent tubes that adds up to 250w exactly), but let's assume you could for the sake of agument...
200w worth of T5 lamps and 200w of halide lamps all consume exactly the same number of lamp watts - 200.
However, ballast efficiencies vary depending on both the technology in use and the ballast technology, make, and model. So, 200w worth of T5 lamps may be installed in a fixture that uses a total of 220w of energy, while 200w of Halide lamps run in a fixture that consumes 240w.
So when you say a watt is a watt, talking about lamp watts yes, but total wattage, not necessarily.
As for efficiency, it's not about energy consumption, it's about x number of units of light per x number of watts. A metal halide or a T5 will always put out more light for each watt in than a power compact, unless the fixture is malfunctioning.
T5s and halides are very close in efficiencies, and can edge each other out depending on the factors listed above.
The other thing about PCs that needs to be taken into consideration is the relatively high operational costs. PC lamps are expensive and need to be replaced twice as often as halides and 4 times as often as T5s. There are also usually more of them. It takes (4) 65W PC lamps to [roughly] equal the wattage of a SINGLE 250w halide, but the halide lamp has to be replaced half as often and does a heck of a better job of turning your hard earned killowatt-hours into light.
fishfreak1242
Active Member
Originally Posted by RobN70
http:///forum/post/2615650
Which runs cooler T5 or PC? I know neither compares to the heat generated by a Halide bulb. Having to run a chiller would increase your energy comsumption quite a bit which is most likely with MH.
I beleive that t-5s run cooler than pc.
http:///forum/post/2615650
Which runs cooler T5 or PC? I know neither compares to the heat generated by a Halide bulb. Having to run a chiller would increase your energy comsumption quite a bit which is most likely with MH.
I beleive that t-5s run cooler than pc.
siline
Member
T5's are a bit cooler than the PC's and a lot cooler than MH's. HOWEVER, the intensity of the light is better in the MH's (the down side of being hotter), followed by T5's and then PC's. If your tank is 24 or less you might use T5's, since are efficient and cooler. However, if your tank is deeper than 25 inches, then you must go with MH's, specially if you want hard's, clams, plants or other high light require's...
