what type of clams under T5 lights?

[nunofs]

Actually I talked to people who is not in the hobby but in the research lab. The reason for T-5 is cost saving, not more light output. The real deal is MH and T-5 will never reach the light output level at the same watt. Of course, if you have 500w of T-5, you may be able to get the light intesitiy of 150w MH. But that is a lot of wasted energy.

Sorry, but whatever your sources, I'm not convinced at all based on my personal experience... I'm not one to go defending something just because that's what I happen to use, I'm fully aware I made a compromise by going with T5s vs. MH.

If you look at a PC reflector side by side with a good T5 reflector, you'll understand what I was saying about getting more light output from a T5 of the same wattage as a PC... the T5 reflector wraps around the bulb, it's physically impossible for a PC reflector to do this due to the nature of the bulbs.

Also, I never said that T5s put out as much light as MH, watt for watt... I think that it's almost a given that MH have higher intensity per watt (although I think it highly depends on the reflectors... old, flat MH reflectors are not efficient at all; new MH DE reflectors are much better). But I have to strongly disagree with 150W of MH being the same as 500W of T5... sorry, there's just no way that's true.

Anyway, I didn't start this thread to debate MH vs T5, I just wanted to gather actual experiences from people before I take the plunge (the real goal being not putting an animal's life at risk just because I felt a clam would look nice in the tank).

Nuno

 

[nunofs]

Wrassefan, thanks for the link to the pictures... very nice coloration and growth!

Nuno

 

[wrassefan]

Your welcome Nuno...if you want to do some reading, go to RC and do a search on Moonpod (user) and any date as a criteria. I did this in the beginning of my research and also conversed many times with Dr.Charles Moon about T5s....real nice guy. Funny, he switched last yr to FOWLR because of time restrictions but he did run T5s for about 3yrs and is the guru of T5s. HTH..

 

[wrassefan]

by the way...Chuck switched last yr to MH before going to FO because he wanted more growth...not because of color...I switched to MH because of certain color...not because of growth...go figure.

 

[dz6t]

If it's cost saving, it puts out more light per dollar, right? What else would be cost saving about a light?

The cost saving is not for you as the user, it is for the manufacture.

Like I said, you need to over drive T-5 to use as reef lighting. The key word is "over drive".

 

[starrfish]

I bought a Deresa a few months ago - I'm keeping him under 260w of PC lighting in the sand and he's very happy.

 

[dz6t]

wrassefan: your T-5 are over-driven by your Ice cap ballast, but not nunofs'.

 

[wrassefan]

The cost saving is not for you as the user, it is for the manufacture.

Like I said, you need to over drive T-5 to use as reef lighting. The key word is "over drive".

dz....uhhhh!!! do some reseach. It is the reflectors that's key!! Even with normal driven bulbs, the T5 kicks the PC bulbs butt because of the reflectors. Don't just spew out info without any backing!!
By overdriving the bulbs, they give off as much light as 175MH with about as much electricity usage...and alot less heat. You make the 54w go to 80w with more intensity. I'm done!!!

 

[dedfish]

You DO NOT NEED to overdrive T5 for them to work well as reef lighting. T5's may not be able to penetrate deep tanks as well as MH, but for a tank that is not that deep T5's will do very well.

 

[Ray]

I switched from 2x110 VHO to 2x21 T-5 on my kids tank and have seen improvement on everything in the tank

 

[nunofs]

Based on opinions here and on RC, I decided to get a Crocea clam... got it a couple of days ago, so far it seem to be happy (he's at the top of the rock, about 10" away from the bulbs). Here's a pic taken shortly after I got him:

I don't antecipate problems (or I wouldn't have gotten it) but I'll report here one way or the other so that other people can benefit from the experience too.

Nuno

 

[dedfish]

Very cool looking. I'm sure it will do just fine.

 

[me2003]

"The advantage of T5, as I understand it, is that while they probably produce a similar amount of light as VHO (T12) and PC, a much higher proportion of the light produced can be harnessed and directed towards the tank. It's really only a difference of geometry. Otherwise the tubes operate on the same principle for all three. The difference with T5s is that their narrowness allows them to be efficiently surrounded by reflectors, unlike VHO and PC."

I think this may be true. Do you know anyone that has tested this?
I believe it is very similar to the 250 DE vs 400 metal halide comparison in
Sanjay's article
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/july2003/feature.htm
"An interesting comparison is the one between 250W DE systems and the 400W lamps reflector systems. Since both used 10000K lamps (although from different manufactures, and of different styles), we could try to determine whether we can replace 400W systems with 250W DE lighting system. This would be economically quite beneficial to the aquarist, in terms of savings in power and minimizing heat additions to the tank. Interestingly when comparing the total incident light over the 3X3, 2X2 and 1X1 areas there is only a slight decrease in total incident light, while the lamp power is decreased by 37%. Why is there such a disproportionate difference? One possible explanation could be that the 400W fixtures are not as efficient as the 250W DE fixtures ? the small size of the DE lamp allows for better reflector design and allows more of the light to get out of the reflector. With the 400W systems, the larger size of the lamp envelope may be causing some of the light to reflect back into the lamp envelope. Another possible explanation may be that the metric being used (sum of the total light at all the measured points in the specified region) is not capturing this correctly. A better metric may be the integration of the volume under the surface in the intensity distribution graphs. This aspect of the comparison needs to be analyzed further since it has significant practical implications. For now we can make this comparison by visually analyzing the graphs showing the light intensity and distribution. "

 

[wrassefan]

Good luck Nuno with the crocea...I'm sure it will be fine. Just make sure you surround the clam a bit with some rocks...mine would occassionally jump from the rocks and suddenly they will be face down in the sand. Once they settle in, they will be fine

 

[NateHanson]

NICE Nuno! I'm sure the two of you will be very happy together.

 

[Steve H]

Very interesting thread Nuno, I have a 6x39 watt T5 TEK light on my 58g and have been hesitant about getting a clam. Keep us posted I'd love to see yours do well.

 

[nunofs]

Just make sure you surround the clam a bit with some rocks...mine would occassionally jump from the rocks and suddenly they will be face down in the sand.

I already learned that the hard way The first day I put him on a flat part of the rock and within a few hours I found that he had "tumbled" down a few inches... fortunately not onto the sand, just onto a lower piece of rock... he's currently nestled on a concave part of the rock, he's still able to open fully, just not move (or be pushed) around.

I'm sure the two of you will be very happy together.

Hummm... I'm not sure I want to get that personal with my clam

Nuno

 

[nunofs]

Seeing the other T5 thread reminded me to update this thread, as I had promised.

Here's a current pic of the clam, taken exactly 1 month after the earlier pic:

The clam seems, well, happy as a clam

This pic shows the growth of the shell in this 30 day period (the white parts right under the mantle are new since I got the clam):

No wonder the tank's calcium consumption increased a lot in the last few weeks, that's where it's going...

Nuno

 

[Moe_K]

Gorgeous clam!

 

[wrassefan]

pretty nice Nuno!