T-5's on a 180

N

Nazrac

how many T-5 HO bulbs will I need to do an sps/anenome tank for a standard 180. I was thinking I would do 6 10k and 4 460nm actinics. Would that be enough? I have always done MH for my sps tank but am starting to think more efficient. I would aprciate any advice.
 
i dont know if i can afford that i was talking about 36" the only thing is your tank is narrower and shorter i was thinking i could get away with less light for that reason. I have enough ballast to do 5 80w with a workhorse 7 i could bump it up to 7
 
how tall is your tank .... i ran 10 54 watt t5's on my 150 i didnt get the growth i now get with my mh... i love t5's dont get me wrong i just think you need your time cycle on longer that mh's...i save more money with my mh's than when i ran my t5's...

one thing if you have a tall tank sps and clams in my 150 i had to place higher in the tank and had my zoas and my low lighting corals on the bottom
 
i have a standard 180 72*24*24 the only thing is i dont have the money to buy a chiller and if i want to go with mh's i figure i will need 3 250's my 70 has 1 250 and does fine with no chiller or fans. I am just worried that even with fans and diy lumenarc style diy reflectors i wont be able to keep my temp down in the summer.
 
you would be suprised what a couple fans in your sump pointed directly at the water will do for you. i know it is only half the size, but on my 90 with 1 120 mm pc fan i can get a 3-4 degree temp swing easy. 2 fans on a 180 would probably give the same.
 
i will be if i dont kill everything due to heat :sad: but if i dont have a heat problem then by far no. I can get almost everything i need for MH at cost or diy like the similar to lumenarcs i can make. But if i need 10 t-5's it will be more expensive and my tank probably wont look as good. Not to mention the cost of that many bulbs.
 
I run t5's and halides over my 180. I only run 4 10k 48in bulbs and they seem to do an excellent job. I run the t5s more than the halides - matter of fact, there are some weeks that the halides dont even come on... Keep in mind - the only sps I have are a couple of caps. My caps at at the top of the tank and I've got a few acans at the far bottom of the tank that seem to do well with just t5s. I've run the same 4 bulbs over a 260 that was 30in deep and the bulbs were 24in off the water and got excellent growth.

My bulbs are overdriven with an icecap 660 and still run cooler and last twice as long as halides - 13 months after installing, they still haven't started to shift colors. On average a good bulb runs about $17 online and $24-30 locally. As far as savings - the only thing you're saving on is electricity when you start getting into the larger tanks. I'd say running just the t5s - I save about $30 - $70/month on my electricity compared to running 2*250w halides and vhos I was previously running...
 
no offence but i did an energy calc on rc and the whole cost of my tank for how much i pay per kwh ($.11) it will only cost me 35-40 per month so how could i save 30 a month. But i do have a nem and several sps's so i dont think that even 4 60" t5's will drive that stuff.
 
per 1000 watts of anything a day, costs you about $3.30 a month...if you use 1000 watts less of lighting a day by switching to T5's, then you will save $3.3 a month. really simple to see that unless you just have an enormous amount of t5's, then it is hard to say they are a great money saver.

Also, bulb costs balance out to be about the same because you have more bulbs, granted you dont have to replace the as often, but when you have more of them to change, the small savings in time and bulb costs just about equals out

I went with MH's on my 180 because i like the shimmer, it does not limit me whatsoever on life choices, fans can easily control the temp, and i spent about $200 less on the MH vs the nice T5 unit i was looking at. I will have 3 reeflux 250's on corulvue ballasts and i am stoked about it.
 
@WeMa wrote:
I went with MH's on my 180 because i like the shimmer said:
Are you retrofitting or will it be one of the aqualight, outer orbit, etc. setups?

I am actually trying to decide on which way to go on my 180 as well. Nazrac, perhaps you could balance out the cost if you just keep the halides off more as mentioned above?!
Another key variable to consider is the distance from the lamps to the water. Is that an option?

What was the difference you came up with on the energy calc between the two?
And do you have a link for that energy calc?
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