T-5 vs HQI lighting

[CoralReefer99]

I'm upgrading my lighting for my 75 gal reef tank. I currently have 260 watts (4-65 watt power compacts). I'm interested in either a HQI 560 watt (2-150 watt HQI; 2-130 watt fluorescent) fixture or a 432 watts(8-54 watt) T-5 lighting fixture. I have a couple of concerns/questions - Can anyone shed some light on how much more my utilities will increase per month with these lighting systems? Is a watt a watt(in terms of cost for energy) or are the T-5 bulb more energy efficient? Are both these lighting systems equivalent in terms of the types of coral I will be able to keep? Do you get a ripple effect with the T-5 bulbs or is that only with the HQI? Any help in this matter would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks

[squibley2]

First off there is a difference in efficiencies between fluorescents and halides the fluorescence run cooler and therefore have less heat loss then halides do but the ability of the light from a fluorescent to penetrate the water column is not as good. So there is a trade off as far as getting the light down into your tank. The ripple effect only comes from Metal Halides due to the very nature of them being a point source of light not a dispersed source like fluorescents are. If it were me I would go with the Halides due to the ripple effect and the penetrating ability of the light. I hope this helps

[jhnrb]

I am not sure about the ripple effect of the t-5 bulbs, but, do know they are more efficient. you can get more bulbs under the hood and they are the most recent flourescents . t-5 units with electronic ballasts would be more preferrable than HQI less heat, great light output. bout all I know about um.

[bkv1997]

Well just to make things confusing and to respectfully disagree I'm going to have to say go with halides.

Corals don't care about watts, they care about PAR 'photo-synthetically active radiation’ and halides are hands down the best at producing such.

If heat etc is an issue for you then there are other cooler running alternatives such as VHO, T5, PCs, etc...

The glitter effect you are talking about is caused by a single point light source and having surface water movement. A LED moonlight will also produce this effect.

If your worried about one being more efficient than the other I would have to tell you that has more to do with the ballasts than the bulbs. Example my magnetic ballast pulls 332 watts of power to drive a 250 watt bulb... Yep that sucks, but I could upgrade the ballast to an electronic Ice Cap and it would be much better, using the same bulb and the same fixture.

Different opinions is what makes this hobby fun and honestly there isn't one magical answer.

Brandon

[CoralReefer99]

Thanks for the input guys. I've been looking around the last couple of days and I finally decided on MH. The fixture I bought was the 48" SunPod w/ lunar lights. It arrives Tuesday. I've seen some pictures and I love how the 14K bulbs look on the tank. Plus, with the LEDs, I can have the ripple effect 24/7. I've heard that some people have issues with the halides firing up but I figure I'll take the chance. People who don't have these issues seem to love the light.

[jhnrb]

just remember it takes a few minutes for the mh to come on line and they must reach their rated temp before the spectrum and intensity will be correct.