why mh?

[shoelevy]

i know that there r 2 popular light types that reefers use - t5 and mh.

with mh there is the problem of heat production and the troubel of cooling the tank, both problems r not as obvious with t5.

so can any guru explain y is mh still so popular?

[nicholasloh]

cos t5s cost around the same(if i'm not wrong) as MH, so why spend on t5 then upgrade later? not only that, most ppl dun on their MH for long time wad. and if they haf chiller, heat couldnt be a prob.

[shoelevy]

cos t5s cost around the same(if i'm not wrong) as MH, so why spend on t5 then upgrade later? not only that, most ppl dun on their MH for long time wad. and if they haf chiller, heat couldnt be a prob.

u mention "upgrade to mh"

that means t5 has certain marked advantages over t5.

can u list some?

[piglet]

shoelevy,

pls read this my old topic on t5, http://www.sgreefclub.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=23030

you can pm ckevin for information on T5. He is using T5ho for his sps tank.

.. sis. flubberina13 and our Moderator DeepBlue using t5 now. can ask them for more information.

[shoelevy]

ohhh

i seeeee

thanks!

[terryansimon]

u mention "upgrade to mh"

that means t5 has certain marked advantages over t5.

can u list some?

T5 over MH you mean.

for everything, there is always the good and the bad side of it. T5s don't win by a mile, unless you fall within strict criteria... like no chiller/shallow tank/FOWLR setup.

[ryz]

MH still has unrivalled lighting intensity.

[terryansimon]

one must be pragmatic.

lighting intensity is of no use if your objective is to illuminate a FOWLR. the waste in electric bills and setup expenses can be divertted into some other funds, like electrical bill fund, or wife-get-angry-spend-money-on-her fund.

unless you are keeping some corals or something along those lines.

which is why there is no such thing as a clear cut winner for both situations. you must weigh up the prospects and individually weigh each point out. depending on scenario/situation, a MH setup may beat the pants down on T5s, or eat T5s's dust.

[boxfish]

a layman's view

MH is like a sun over the tank whenever I look up from bottom of tank...

anyway 1x150W raise 1 degree in my case

[shoelevy]

T5 over MH you mean.

for everything, there is always the good and the bad side of it. T5s don't win by a mile, unless you fall within strict criteria... like no chiller/shallow tank/FOWLR setup.

ah...i see

so its like depends on wat u wanna keep in the tank...

got it!

by the wae...for those who use mh lights, could u guys roughly gif me an estimate of how much the elec bills will rise also indicating the power you're using?

[DragonGoby]

ah...i see

so its like depends on wat u wanna keep in the tank...

got it!

by the wae...for those who use mh lights, could u guys roughly gif me an estimate of how much the elec bills will rise also indicating the power you're using?

To calculate your bill, just do (wattage x hours per day x number of days)/1000 x $0.1653.

Singapore Power Electricity Tariffs

[shoelevy]

ah?

qi jia ler!

use to be .1625 dollars

[DragonGoby]

Yah, as of 1 Oct.

[guppy]

Hi, I'm using 2 set of MH 70W , 20,000K & 10,000K hang 7" above the water, no

problem with heat, can even placed yr hand there. No need chiller.

[shoelevy]

70W?

that's new to me....neve heard of such low power.

how big is your tank?

by the wae, how does 20kk mix with 10kk?

does it give your tank a wierd colouring with one side bluer than the other?

[guppy]

Hi, Yah MH 70W is something that not many people venture into it, i've seek info but not many reefer going for that bcos cost wise is the same as 150W. All along

i've T5 3ft 39W but with MH you can get the shimmering light effect. My Tank

is 3ftx2x2 , light is placed front and back and i'm having two fan, temp is 27.5C with two fan on. Got the MH from Victron.

[shoelevy]

do the colours produced by your 20kk and 10kk mix well?

[decentkid]

another reason why people choose mh is because it is intense enough to penetrate through deep waters which T5 cant...

[shoelevy]

another reason why people choose mh is because it is intense enough to penetrate through deep waters which T5 cant...

ah

i see

wat then is the border depth between using mh and t5.

meaning wat's the max depth t5 can punch through?>

[[JS]]

wats the maxium height for mh to punch through?

[XPeriment 626]

from what i've heard T5 doesn't do well at 2 feet and deeper. For example, people cite Danano's tank as a good T5-SPS tank. But look carefully and you'll see his tank is 24"x18"x18". That's 1.5 feet of water to penetrate, max. For, say, a 2.5 foot depth tank, quite certain that MH will reach the bottom with required intensity but T5 will not.