T5 vs T8 vs T10

[onefstsnake]

Must sound like a noob to ask this, but whats the difference between the 3 types?

Size difference? Light Output?
Can a T5 bulb work in a non T5 fixture?

I know the T5's are the prefered lighting for most of us. My 120g came with a dual 48" T10 hood. So Im guessing I have to stick with T10 bulbs...

Thanks for any info!

[Nubster]

A T5 bulb might work in a non-T5 fixture but the output would be terrible and at $20 per bulb it would be a huge waste of money. As far as T10's, not sure. I know that I am running T8's in a T12 fixture.

[nish07]

You can't use T5 in fixtures with ballasts designed for T8 through T12 (so no).

You can get decent T5 bulbs for about 10 bucks a piece, though.

-Nish

[cindre2000]

You can probably use T8 bulbs in that fixture, or even T6's, however, without a decent reflector your savings will not be very much; so no need to run out and buy new bulbs. Oh, and you would have to replace the endcaps to even begin trying to run T5 bulbs, since T5's are slimer than the distance between the pins on T6-T12's. But you might still want to add another two 48" bulbs since just two bulbs will not be enough for moderate light plants.

The T# refers to the width of the bulb in eighth's of inches, so a T10 is 10/8th diameter bulb. Pretty much the slimer the bulb the more efficient the watt's to lumen ratio. So more electricity is converted into light rather than heat. However, slimmer bulbs also cannot have as much electricity run through them. This is why people don't use normal output T5's for photosynthetic applications, they just don't have enough watts.

HO and VHO bulbs are designed to be driven at double or triple (approximately) the wattage; however, there is some efficiency lost in the process. Thus, you might get more light out of a VHO T12, it won't be as efficient as a standard T12 (but this loss is made up by the increase in wattage, thus more output). This is where the slim size of T5's really give the advantage, you can slap on a nice big parabolic reflector and redirect all the extra light down, the internal reflectors of T12 VHO's cannot compete (not to mention the sheer size of an external reflector would be cost prohibitive).

[onefstsnake]

I was actually looking at this fixture last night.



4 T5 HO's 48"

[cindre2000]

The one thing to be wary of with pre-built T5HO fixtures is that a lot of the time you don't get parabolic reflectors. Current USA, for example is widely used by a lot of saltwater beginners, and they are told that T5HO is the best lighting, etc, etc; however, those fixtures do not have parabolic reflectors, so you lose a lot of the potential of T5HO. THUS, always check the description to see if it has real parabolic reflectors, if it does not say, call up and ask.

2 bulbs w/ parabolic reflectors > 4 bulbs with non-parabolic reflectors

[gold3nku5h]

Originally Posted by onefstsnake

I was actually looking at this fixture last night.* 4 T5 HO's 48"

Hey, that one looks real nice, who makes it, and can you give me a link, or the name would be good enough.. Thanks, aaron
I guess, onefstsnake do you know if that has parabolic reflectors?

[dopederson]

The light set up in the photo is made by Tek. They are really nice, but don't come cheap.

[Jason]

Originally Posted by cindre2000

The one thing to be wary of with pre-built T5HO fixtures is that a lot of the time you don't get parabolic reflectors. Current USA, for example is widely used by a lot of saltwater beginners, and they are told that T5HO is the best lighting, etc, etc; however, those fixtures do not have parabolic reflectors, so you lose a lot of the potential of T5HO. THUS, always check the description to see if it has real parabolic reflectors, if it does not say, call up and ask.

2 bulbs w/ parabolic reflectors > 4 bulbs with non-parabolic reflectors

Could someone recomend a decent brand of T5 HO lighting. I was looking at the Coralife brand, but I am not sure if it is decent.

[therizman2]

Originally Posted by Jason

Could someone recomend a decent brand of T5 HO lighting. I was looking at the Coralife brand, but I am not sure if it is decent.

Coralife and Current USA are both well known in the planted aquarium world. If you want to start spending some money, Tek is very nice, and you can keep going up from there.

Another option no one has mentioned is buying retrofit kits if you have a canopy on your tank. Current USA makes some very nice Nova Extreme HO T5 retrofits with very very nice reflectors. Again though, you will be paying a decent amount for them.