[NATIVEVAMAN]

While fooling around on the net saturday morning I found a copy of this thread out there,you are all famous lol.

[reefcouple]

apples and hand grenades, good one!!!!!

I use the 1000 watt HPS with the hortilux for blooming only, and your right, its a hand grenade lol

[pogodzib]

Originally Posted by NATIVEVAMAN

The Atlanta aquarium uses 14 1000 watt bulbs,and even 400 watt bulbs are rare.Outside of those 2 applications there is nothing a t-5 cant do in aquarium applications.Sodium vapor is sometimes used in aquariums but I personaly have never seen one over a tank or seen a bulb for them listed for sale.We are not comparing apples and oranges,we are comparing apples and hand grenades lol.

I've seen plenty of people with 400w MH bulbs over SPS only tanks. They work great, but I wouldn't want the temp or electric bill issues.

Iwasaki bulbs are actually MV bulbs, not MH bulbs and are used over reef tanks, although their most common reef bulbs are very yellow.

[jimw369]

Originally Posted by pogodzib

I've seen plenty of people with 400w MH bulbs over SPS only tanks. They work great, but I wouldn't want the temp or electric bill issues.

Iwasaki bulbs are actually MV bulbs, not MH bulbs and are used over reef tanks, although their most common reef bulbs are very yellow.

Again not picking on you Brian.


Im in no ways as smart as the rest of you guys with all the jargon and tech talk. I see an SPS dominated tank like the one in the link I posted earlier and just say awesome. Then I read it and find out hes using T5 lighting and a smile comes to my face. Then I watch these threads about lighting get longer... and longer.... and longer....

I dont know what the atlanta aquarium uses for light nor do I know what makes seedlings grow. I cant criticize MH lights other than everbody says they add heat and are more $$$ to run. Never had any. That shimmer must be awesome. (kidding)

[pogodzib]

At some point, I'm going to need to setup a tall tank with MH on one side and T5 on the other side to do some experimenting, but that isn't going to happen anytime soon. The two things that most people that have used both MH and T5 lighting agree on is that T5 lights add less heat to the tank and most people miss the shimmer that MH provides. IMO, anyone that has a good MH or T5 unit can be proud of their lighting. Sure beats the PC alternative.

BTW - The Atlanta aquarium uses natural sunlight and a ton of 1,000w and 2,000w MH bulbs to light their reef tank.

[reefcouple]

i think i'm gonna get one of those 5,000 watt mh's (used on car lots for their spot lights) and slap that baby in my tank

on a side note,my ballast is screwied up, every morning one side comes on, then i need to mess with a bulb to get the other side to light up... i think its the ballast anyway, maybe a loose wire?

[jimw369]

Originally Posted by pogodzib

At some point, I'm going to need to setup a tall tank with MH on one side and T5 on the other side to do some experimenting, but that isn't going to happen anytime soon. The two things that most people that have used both MH and T5 lighting agree on is that T5 lights add less heat to the tank and most people miss the shimmer that MH provides. IMO, anyone that has a good MH or T5 unit can be proud of their lighting. Sure beats the PC alternative.

BTW - The Atlanta aquarium uses natural sunlight and a ton of 1,000w and 2,000w MH bulbs to light their reef tank.

WHATS WRONG WITH PCs!!!!! hahahaha....just kidding....hate to see the discussion end so soon!

I like the way you are now driving down the middle of the road!

[NATIVEVAMAN]

At a local lfs they had two 250 watt mh set up on each side of an 8 bulb tek lite unit over a very large frag tank (it was a temporary thing while they were getting ready to move the store).I took advantage of an opportunity and got my light meter,a canon 1 degree spot meter,and took some readings across the bottom of the tank.The t-5 was able to cast shaddows under the mh that were darker than the shaddows the mh cast under the t-5.I did the readings in ev's and the t-5 read slightly brighter.the mh read around 20 and the t-5 was reading 21 and 22.

[reefcouple]

are you joking dale? good job buddy!!!! if your not bs'ing us that is

[NATIVEVAMAN]

No its not bs,but it is very unscientific.I dont know the ages of any of the bulbs.

[pogodzib]

How deep was the tank? Most frag tanks, even the large ones aren't very deep. Secondly, your talking about 1-250w MH bulb vs 8 T5 HO bulbs. Most people don't have 8 T5 HO bulbs over their tanks, they have 4-6 bulbs. Also, your right, age of the bulbs can make a huge difference.

BTW - I'm not down the middle of the road, I just utilize both sides depending on how deep the tank is.

[reefcouple]

this just gets better and better

last night i was doing a little research on cost of running these electric monsters we have over our tanks and indoor gardens.. based on a national average of .10/kwh i'm running at .15 per hour.. OUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! after that research, i took down the lights, grabbed some candles and am now using a mixing bowl as a reflector....

[pogodzib]

You better watch out, those candles put off a lot of heat for their light output.

[reefcouple]

and it was tough trying to pick the wax off the hippo this morning to!!

[jimw369]

Originally Posted by pogodzib

How deep was the tank? Most frag tanks, even the large ones aren't very deep. Secondly, your talking about 1-250w MH bulb vs 8 T5 HO bulbs. Most people don't have 8 T5 HO bulbs over their tanks, they have 4-6 bulbs. Also, your right, age of the bulbs can make a huge difference.

BTW - I'm not down the middle of the road, I just utilize both sides depending on how deep the tank is.

Ever thought about politics?