VHO v. T5

[Sharkb8]

So I currently have a 55g reef tank. Its been in my house for 6 months, but previously set up for 6 years and somewhat neglected (which is why the guy I bought it from was selling it - he didn't have the time). It has one power compact unit with two 55W white light and two separate 48" 55W blue lights on a separete ballast with water-proof endcaps.

 

I recently saw someone's tank with T5 lighting and it looked great. He said I could do a retrofit with my 110W unit into T5. I did a search on the site for "T5" and got nothing (maybe too few letters?). So I am posting this. What's the better bang for the buck? T5 retrofit or VHO? Which is more expensive? How much do I need for a 55g (I want to be able to do SPS some day).

 

If a T5 retrofit is cheaper, how many watts do I need and what kind of bulbs for best color/growth for the 55g (standard 55)?

 

Same goes for VHO. How many watts and what kind of bulbs?

 

Is there a resource somewhere weighing the pros/cons of VHo or could someone point me to a thread already discussing this (since I can't get the T5 search to work)?

 

Thanks!

[Larry Grenier]

I'm surprised you didn't get any responses yet. There are some recent converts to T5 around here. I just bought a new setup which came with T5s so I can't comment on DIY but I know they are out there. The old rule of watts-per-gallon seems to go out the window when it comes to T5s. You get alot of light with less wattage with these. Let's hope someone chims-in on where to get T5 DIY kits because I believe T5s will blow-away VHOs even at a lower wattage.

 

Common folks, we need more input here.

[Guest alex wlazlak]

i saw on jonnys site he has some retrofit t5 things and what not. thatfishplace has 48" double 28watt t5 strips. drs.smith and foster has some retrofits too..i think there are some on big als online too. for my new 120g ive got like 4 96w PC's and 2 55w PC's and im prolby gonna get two of those t5 stirps from TFP later. i actually want some metal halides, but im in 10th grade and cant really afford it with soon getting a car and stuff.... but feel free to donate to the alexneedsmoney charity .

[JMsAquarium]

Because Larry begs and insist

 

I have a DIY T5 setup over my 120 gal (4x2x2) Basically my tank has the same lenght and about twice the depth than yours. So basically you would need 48" 110W VHOs and/or 48" 54W T5s

I do have as follows from front to back

 

1 VHO Superactinic

1 T5 Blue (also named actinic)

1 T5 Blue (also named actinic)

1 VHO Superactinic

1 T5 Aquablue

1 T5 Aquablue

 

This gives me a mostly white color with a hint of blue. I am very pleased.

 

All have an individual reflector and are powered by an IceCap 660 VHO ballast. The reason being that this ballast overdrives the T5 bulbs from 54 W to something around 80 W. Yes it does shorten the life of the bulb to approx 10-12 months instead of the 16-20 month that seems to be common with regular T5 ballasts. By being overdriven they kick more par, or so it seems.

I did choose a retrofit because I already had the ballasts.

Originally I was planning on going with 6 T5s + 2 VHOs, which would have been adding 2 daylight bulbs for growth. But With the present configuration I am amazed at the amount of light that the T5 produce so I will wait before I decide to add 2 more bulbs.

Overall, I am more than happy with the T5s combined with VHO actinics since these give more pop to the colors than T5 actinics.

 

If you do not have any ballast that you can use to drive your T5s, I am not sure that a retrofit would be cheaper than a prebuilt unit. Although, make sure that you can find one with individual reflectors, it does make a huge difference.

If you want to come and have a look at it one of these days, you are more than welcome. I have them up and running for about 4 weeks now. Overall, I love the looks, and my corals are blooming.

 

JM

[rocko918]

I am running a retofit T5 setup for Blue ribbon.

 

I have 3 54 watt t5's and 1 110 watt vho.

 

Front to back

 

1 10 k t5

1 VHO Superactinic

1 10 k t5

1 blue t5

 

All have an individual reflector and 2 t5 are powered by work horse 5 ballast and 1 t5 and 1 vho are powered by an IceCap 430 VHO ballast.

 

 

Very happy with it, running it over 3 months now.

[Sharkb8]

Thanks for all the advice and details! I think from this I should be able to set something up for my tank, though my tank is smaller than those commented on here. Perhaps I should scale down a little bit from these examples.

 

What about bulbs? Do T5's come in different flavors or is a T5 a T5? I mean, are there T5's that emit different wavelength spectra?

[Larry Grenier]

Here's the web-page foy DIY & bulbs I couldn't remember.

 

Probably best combination is at lease 50% Aquablue + some actinic.

 

BRK is supposed to be getting URI T5s so that may be the best way to go, jury still out.

If the URI T5 actinic can match the URI VHO bulbs then the need to mix T5 & VHO goes out the window.

Personally, I feel that my all T5 setup doesn't need VHO.

 

Bulb descriptions

[dschflier]

If you go to BRK you can take a look at the coral displays. They use T-5s on some of the tanks and they look great. I have a 210 and a 46 bow front. My 46 bowfront is 4-36 inch T-5s and it looks great. I am trying my hat at sps corals for the first time and they appear to be doing well with T-5s

[Charlie97L]

If you go to BRK you can take a look at the coral displays. They use T-5s on some of the tanks and they look great. I have a 210 and a 46 bow front. My 46 bowfront is 4-36 inch T-5s and it looks great. I am trying my hat at sps corals for the first time and they appear to be doing well with T-5s

 

i have a t5 actinic supplemental with my metal halide... i'm still waiting on the ballast (got a defective one) but it's was good for the 10 seconds or so it was lit up.