VHOs vs T5's

[Harif87]

I looked around for a thread like this but i couldnt find one with the details i was looking for. Anyways, ATM im running 4x65 watt PC lights over a 55 gallon tank with mostly softies. However its time for a lighting upgrade so i can start to concentrate on some LPS & SPS. So

i was considering T5's when i realized that VHOs are also an alternative. My question is what are the advatages that one has over the other. I know the general advantages of T5s but i dont know that much about VHO's. Can i run a tank with SPS with VHOs alone? I was thinking of somewhere along the lines of a 4x110 watt bulbs over a 55.

Also i know VHOs are older, but are they outdated just because they dont look as cool? Plz someone enlighten me on this lighting dilemma.

 

[SuRFeR BoY]

http://www.specialty-lights.com/aquarium-lights-faq3.html .... everything you need to know is in that chart.. if you are interested in vho/pc i am thinking of selling my lights..... pm me if interest.. its 440 watts.. it is possible to keep some sps under vho and pc under certain conditions (great water quality, flow, live rock, ect).... i dont reccommend tring acro, but i have a branching monti that is flurishing under my vho/pc and my freind JMH (on this forum) is keeping a few lps under just p/c (with great water quality and a good filteration system) so far so good.

 

[fritz]

I had CF lights, then VHO, then T5 then MH.

Trust me do not go vho. If you think you want to try SPS I would recommend MH. It gives you the most flexibility in terms of what you can keep. If you buy something other than MH keep in mind that you will most likely be selling it within a year to buy some MHs (seriously.)

IMO T5s are great with LPS, even some sps. SPS colors aren't as nice with T5s as they are with MH (again IMO.) With MH you also get shimmer lines and those just make it look natural (and really cool.)

My advice is spend the money on the MH lights now so you don't repeat the mistakes that the rest of us made. If you must buy a T5 fixture.

MOST IMPORTANTLY do not LIE to yourself! I ended up buying VHO despite EVERYONE telling me to go MH if I wanted sps all because ONE person was doing it in Oregon somewhere with VHOs. As Chris Rock said "You can drive with your feet if you want to, that don't make it a good idea."

 

[Wes]

I had CF lights, then VHO, then T5 then MH.

Trust me do not go vho. If you think you want to try SPS I would recommend MH. It gives you the most flexibility in terms of what you can keep. If you buy something other than MH keep in mind that you will most likely be selling it within a year to buy some MHs (seriously.)

IMO T5s are great with LPS, even some sps. SPS colors aren't as nice with T5s as they are with MH (again IMO.) With MH you also get shimmer lines and those just make it look natural (and really cool.)

I'm going to have to disagree because my colors have been really looking great as of late w/ my T5s.

after i found these AquaScience bulbs my colors really took off. I won't be switching to MH anytime soon.

the MH shimmer is the only thing i'll give you but i never had shimmer so i don't miss it.

LPS don't do that hot in my tank for whatever reason. It's hard to acclimate them to the T5 light intensity. I fried a chalice. The only LPS i have right now is an ACAN at the bottom in the shade. SPS love it!

 

[Harif87]

Granted that MH is the best way to go, is it possible to successfully keep high light demandind SPS under VHOs or T5's? I know there are some SPS that arent as light demaning, such as montis, but im more concerned on the light depent ones. Is it possible to successfully keep clams like maximas or croceas under T5s or VHOs?

Also how many watts of MH would i need over a 55 to keep SPS?

Also just out of curiousity fritz, how long did you have the VHOs and the T5s for, and what made you switch from VHOs to T5 to MHs?

 

[NYreefNoob]

vho vs t5

well i am new to reefing myself. and doing a tank up grade, switching from pc to a 3 set tek t5 with individual reflectors, so 6 39 watts light's on a 17" height tank.:shhh: so for a 1/3 the money and electric. i can keep most anything or hopefully can. but not into sps that much. anyone with this type of light set up would like to hear why you like it as well. so i know if i should sell it or not. and not to hijack but curious also

 

[SuRFeR BoY]

40+ extra on your eletric bill a months is to much for me and i seen some insain sps tanks with t5 lighting

 

[fritz]

Granted that MH is the best way to go, is it possible to successfully keep high light demandind SPS under VHOs or T5's? I know there are some SPS that arent as light demaning, such as montis, but im more concerned on the light depent ones. Is it possible to successfully keep clams like maximas or croceas under T5s or VHOs?

Also how many watts of MH would i need over a 55 to keep SPS?

Also just out of curiousity fritz, how long did you have the VHOs and the T5s for, and what made you switch from VHOs to T5 to MHs?

I started with a 55 gallon softy tank running 110watts of CF. I wanted to keep a larger variety of corals but didn't want to spend the money on Metal Halides. I searched around and found that some people were able to keep sps under VHOs so I switched to 220watts of VHO. The problem with VHO is that it doesn't penetrate very far. It certainly is bright but the par value drops like a rock after 4 inches or so. After 6 months of keeping all of my corals within 6 inches of the top due to the low penetration of the VHOs, I switched to a 4 bulb icecap retro T5 setup. WOW was that bright. Insanely bright! So bright that even slowly acclimating everything I bleached most of my corals. After some time my sps grew but never really colored up that well. My zoanthids grew like xenia and my lps did well also. After 6 months or so of T5 I had stepped down to only 3 bulbs yet my frags weren't doing as well as frags placed into other people's tanks. Still the color wasn't even close to what I saw in MH tanks.

I love my MHs and I wish I had purchased them a long time ago. I was apprehensive to do so on my 55 both for the initial cost and because a MH bulb has a 2 foot by 2 foot spread. Putting a MH bulb on a 55 means quite a bit of that energy is going to end up on your floors and walls.

My mistake was that I always knew what I wanted to do. If I wanted to use candle light to power my reef I'd go on a forum and say "who uses candle light?" 200 people would say "I use MH and it's great!" and 6 people would say "I use candlelight!" so I would think "well THEY are doing it and it works, so I'll go with candlelight."

What I didn't take into account was the ansilary equipment and experience level of these non traditional reefers. You can keep sps very successfully under low light conditions. -Wait, that's not true.- Some very experienced individuals have been able to keep sps under low light conditions, you and I would probably not fare well in an attempt like that.

It's also a good idea when making purchases for you tank to keep in mind that this won't be your last tank. Think ahead and your upgrades will be easier. Don't look at purchases in terms of "Can I keep" or "Can this be done" those are VERY expensive experiments. The question to ask is "What does this animal do best with." Find someone with corals that you like and take a look at what they are using. There are some nice T5 sps tanks but not very many and the ones I've seen run zeovit or prodibio. On the other hand, most MH sps tanks look great.

Electric cost!???!
An icecap 660 runs 80 watts through each T5 tube-> 320 watts and (according to icecap) 3.3 Amps
My dual 150watt HQI fixture is 300watts and (according to coralife) 2.3 Amps

I just realized that this thread is about VHO vs. T5 not MH vs. T5
go with either T5 or MH

 

[Wes]

good points Fritz...

it might be easier to get better color w/ MH, i don't know i've never used them. I just wanted to point out it is indeed possible to get good color w/ T5 and the bulbs keep getting better and better making it even easier to get good color like AquaScience and KZ bulbs.

They seem to be ahead over in Europe w/ the use of T5's they always get the good bulbs over there first and i have seen alot of amazing T5 HO SPS tanks over in German Forums.

I do use the Fauna Marin Ultralith system so maybe that has something to do w/ my success w/ color as well.

 

[fritz]

I must admit I've been thinking of getting the solarflare fixture because as Wes mentioned, T5s have come a long way in even the short time that I've been away from them. As to Eurpoean color, it could be that the color seen in Europe under T5s is "due to the fact that T5s have been around for some time there. Many of these corals have never seen solar or MH light. They've spent generations under T5" ->paraphrased from another reefer.

In my next tank I'm most likely going to implement both T5 and MH. Best of both worlds!

 

[tomzpc]

I've actually seen better sps coloration in T5 light tanks than I have in metal halide tanks and these are tanks that have/had the same species. I personally don't have sps but I do have T5's and I can attest that my LPS and soft corals all looked better and grew faster back when I had VHO's. If you definitely plan to do sps then T5's with quality reflectors are the way to go but I wouldn't rule out VHO if you're going to go mainly LPS and/or soft corals.

 

[Harif87]

As of now i think im ruling out VHOs. Fritz kinda scared me with the "VHOs have no penetration" bit and based on the fact that i havent really seen tanks with SPS/LPS with VHOs over them. T5's on the other hand ive seen some tanks with LPS on german and australian sites. So now i need to make the desicion of "is my pocket ready for MH's or should i go with a good set of T5's"

 

[SuRFeR BoY]

hmmmm... honestly if you like mh and cand see yourself ever wanting them in the future the get mh.. me i plan on upgrading my ligts and dont see myself buying mh anytime within the next few years.. maybe when i move out of my house. i will be buying t5s for the time being

 

[ming]

If upon the original question, I say T5 over VHO without a doubt.
With the new question of T5 vs MH, I will leave that open ended. I have great color on my SPS corals. The only thing missing is the shimmer like Wes said. But I've never owned MH so I can't really comment on that.

 

[lunner]

I have good results with T5s also. It "may" save a little energy and generate lesser heat then MH. With good quality T5 setup, the end cost would be around the same. Good ballast like the icecap will over drive the T5 but more energy and heat. You can still get good results with the Teks, lesser heat and energy. Good individual reflectors like the icecaps is a must. Also the distance between the T5s and water shouldn't be too great. I have my T5s setup approx. 2" above the water, so the endcaps should be water proof. Another thing is the choice and combination of bulbs you use. Colors of coral may also look different under different lighting.

Just speaking from my personal experience with MH and T5.

 

[e.muehlbauer]

I have only had experience with PC's, never t5's or MH, so I'll I'll address is the SPS issue. Its true that many SPS will not do well, or will look less attractive under PC's, Acropora in particular. I have kept an Acropora up 5 years under PC, but I would not recommend bothering with them without MH. On the other hand, Montiporas, Hydnophoras, and Pavona will positively thrive under PC's. I find these SPS to be far easier than many LPS, like Trachiphyllia. In fact, my only LPS these days are a big old Lobo, a small Cynarina, and of course Caulastrea's. As for clams, I don't think its worth trying maxima or crocea...for one thing, they would have to be so high in the tank, you wouldn't get the benefit of looking down on them. However, squamosa and derasa are fine. Take care, Eric

 

[crox99]

I would say to go with a combo of mh and vho or t5.

 

[Henrye]

I just went from CF to MH, and while I saw and felt MH was the way to go, I really wasn't prepared for the surprising difference it's made. I haven't even started putting in any sps, but even for polyps, GSP, rics, etc., it was like night and day (yes, I know, but it really does best reflect the difference). In only ~2 weeks I already see improved growth, colors are great, shimmer looks terrific, and it was worth every penny to make the change.

Still, I've also seen some beautiful results with T5s' as well. With individual reflectors, they're very efficient and effective. Actually, the only way to get the true benefit out of T5s' is to use high quality, individual reflectors which improve efficiency markedly. A cheaper single reflector in a fixture pretty much eliminates the big advantage of a T5 in the first place (the thinner bulb is what allows for the use of individual reflectors, otherwise you just have thin HO fluorescents in there, which is no big step up from a standard or CF bulb). The only reason I didn't go that route was I'm working with only a nano which is 20", and the smallest T5HO is 24". The light overflow would have just looked plain stupid for me.

Either way is a good choice. At the end, with quality fixtures, reflectors, and bulbs, the price comes out pretty close to the same (at least in a typical sized tank ). Also, while T5s' do pass a lot of light down, they do not illuminate the bottom as well in a deep tank as a MH can. Either choice is excellent, but unless you're building a custom hood over a large tank and looking to supplement with actinic VHOs', I wouldn't put them on my list of choices for lighting, given the other options available today.

Henry

 

[Harif87]

Just another question. Do MH's absolutely need to be supplemented? Or could i just go with 18 or 20K bulbs and not worry about supplementation?

 

[tomzpc]

Just another question. Do MH's absolutely need to be supplemented?

No, it's strictly for aesthetics and for the dawn/dusk effect. Your call.