Debating switching from T5’s to led

[A. grandis]

I currently and have always had T5’s
This particular fixture is a 8 bulb 54watt
After the 90gal started leaking we upgraded to a 230
From a 4’ tank to a 6’ tank the lights are not working .
We picked up 3 black boxes
A few questions though . Never having leds .
1) do you get the same growth ?
are there fixtures enough to support growth ?
How high above the water is ideal for mounting ?
The tank is 27” deep

If I could find the ATI fixtures or where to buy them .
Being 27” wide and deep ,
I think I want min 8 bulbs .
what’s the wattage for 60” bulbs ?

The 60" T5 bulbs are 80W.
Here:

60" SunPower High Output T5 Light Fixture

Just 2.1" thick, 60" ATI SunPower High Output T5 fixture provides optimal performance in a slim, contemporary design. With active cooling bulbs run cooler and more efficient, while producing up to 50% more light than comparable competitors. Parabolic Miro-Silver reflectors made from...

www.bulkreefsupply.com

Or 2 of these 36":

36" SunPower High Output T5 Light Fixture

Just 2.1" thick, 36" ATI SunPower High Output T5 fixture provides optimal performance in a slim, contemporary design. Parabolic Miro-Silver reflectors made from silver-coated 98% reflective aluminum for each bulb Active cooling system 2 Power cords - one controls 2 bulbs and the other controls...

www.bulkreefsupply.com

They are probably out of stock because of Black Friday.
You will have to change bulbs every 12 months or so, so if you buy the 60" you will change only 8 bulbs. The price for 16 of the 36" replacement bulbs will be considerably higher.
You could also use 12 bulbs over your system though.
In regards to the width of the tank (which I believe you referred as how deep it is: 27"), the optimal would be to place 2 X 6 bulb 60" fixtures over your tank. That would give you the best coverage if you want to go with the 60" fixture.
Using 36" fixtures you would need 4 of the 6 bulb 36" (13.4" wide each) fixtures.

Metal halide systems will be much cheaper in the long run.
This system is amazing:

Cozumel Sun Pendant System

I would get 3 of those. They are 20" X 20". They have the Bali Sun and the Cayman Sun as well. More options... You could call Hamilton and discuss with them about their systems and availability. They have the best customer service ever.
You won't regret T5s and/or halides!
The bigger the tank the more money we need to have in order to run it, right?
Sorry I got excited answering others first. I've should complete my suggestions to you first. Good luck with your search and finding your new lights.

 

[oreo54]

At least give em something in stock... and 8 tubes..

60" 8x80W ATI SunPower T5 High-Output Light Fixture

Find premium aquarium supplies at Aquacave. we offer top brands like Tunze, Ecotech, and more. Free Shipping available!

www.aquacave.com

And trust me there is a but load of profit in those..

General Sizing Guideline:
- Tank Size: 160-320 gallons.
- Recommended Tank Length: 60-72".
- Recommended Tank Depth: up to 30" with proper placement of corals.
- Recommended Tank Width: up to 30" with proper placement of corals.

 

[A. grandis]

Black Friday, Mr. cookie.
I know that part too! Comes with German quality though!
Results will be guarantee!

 

[oreo54]

Black Friday, Mr. cookie.
I know that part too! Comes with German quality though!
Results will be guarantee!

"German Quality" isn't what it used to be....
You have any proof they are actually built inc. all parts in Germany?
Web site is err "elusive"..

German design • USA support​

ATI products feature state-of-the-art German design and engineering. ATI North America provides USA-based support for ATI products that are purchased through an authorized ATI North American reseller.

ATI Sunpower T5 Lighting Fixture Review

The ATI Sunpower T5 light comes in several different configurations such as 8x54 watt, 6x54 watt and 4x54 watt.

www.fishlore.com

 

[A. grandis]

German results! LOL!
Good night Oreo.

 

[oreo54]

Call them.
Good night Oreo.

you sure are lazy..
Only seconds to find this..

German design & engineering​

Made in Germany with USA support when purchased through an authorized ATI North American reseller.

Sorry in this day and age things are made everywhere and words matter..

SunPower - ATI North America

SunPower T5 fixture for proven coral growth and coloration Time-tested, proven results With nearly 10 years of proven results, the ATI SunPower is used worldwide. When used with ATI T5 bulbs, produces significantly more light than most other equally-sized T5 fixtures. Light spread The SunPower...

www.atinorthamerica.com

Personally don't care either way..but you do.

 

[A. grandis]

They have their ballasts made in China.
I think their reflector are made in Germany still.
They are all designed and controlled by a German company!
The results of ATI fixtures are the best!
Better than plastic Chinese LEDs with an American label! LOL!

 

[Henryb9]

They all work fine, had them all, currently with leds! for some odd reason you can say my G5’s grow sps faster.. I can tell from the formation of new tips.

 

[iamacat]

They have their ballasts made in China.
I think their reflector are made in Germany still.
They are all designed and controlled by a German company!
The results of ATI fixtures are the best!
Better than plastic Chinese LEDs with an American label! LOL!

Man, you are getting too far with your personal provocative messages, don't you think? I've been ignoring you for while and you still don't get it. Other guys are avoiding posting here because of you. Shame on you!
It's fine to add some info here and there, even if you don't have a reef tank, but not so nice to keep on my foot, man! Wake up! You have nothing better to do but come here to provoke me? Back off!
I do not respond nor provoke you when I see any of your stupid posts, so back off!
You don't want to help here! You have absolutely no experiences!!
If you want to post your suggestion please do, but leave me alone.

 

[TerraFerma]

Switching from T5 to LED didn't work out for me. Tried it - didn't like; didn't work as well. Now I'm back to Metal Halide after a 20 year hiatus and pretty happy with the results.

LED are great accent lights, Kessil in particular. You can tune Kessil to actually look like a color of light you would find in the ocean if you want them for viewing purposes and not just blue/actinic.

 

[TankCandy]

I would avoid those tiny style LED's. There is tremendous success with Orphek - Atlantik, and GSL - Mitras 7206 if you want to get serious with SPS. Orpheks use the massive 5 watt dual chips on the 2020 version (yes the app needs work. It was created by a developer so you need to keep that mind set)

I am blown away with how many people have switched back to T5 or Mh(HID). We will never be able to replicate the sun...

 

[Midrats]

Reading this thread I thought I was on RC for a minute.

 

[zalick]

I currently and have always had T5’s
This particular fixture is a 8 bulb 54watt
After the 90gal started leaking we upgraded to a 230
From a 4’ tank to a 6’ tank the lights are not working .
We picked up 3 black boxes
A few questions though . Never having leds .
1) do you get the same growth ?
are there fixtures enough to support growth ?
How high above the water is ideal for mounting ?
The tank is 27” deep

Not sure if you made a decision yet, but here is my experience...

I started in the mid 90s with power compact lights sitting on my glass lid. Grew corals and clams like crazy. I upgraded to a 250w MH over a 12" deep tank. I think it was 250w....maybe it was 400w... I had it hanging about 2' above the tank. It grew corals and clams even crazier than the power compacts. Insane growth insanely fast. Life happened and the tanks went away for awhile. Started up again and used T5. Coral grew really well and fast. Upgrade-itis hit and with my bigger tank came LED lighting, which I currently still have. My coral grows at half the speed and the corals don't look as happy as when I had MH or T5.

I'm an avid scuba diver and underwater photographer. I like to see my corals appear as happy as the ones in the wild (back when corals were healthy and happy in the wild). I've not seen "wild happy corals" under LED lights. I know plenty of people say they have great results with LEDs but I simply have not seen LEDs perform as well as: the sun, T5s or MHs.

I currently have 4 Mitras LX7206 and 6 Kessil a360 over a 300g 27" deep tank. They hang about 9" above the water. Kind of a PITA when I'm doing tank maintenance. I'm likely switching back to a 4' ATI sunpower or a T5/MH hybrid. T5 and MH are set it and forget it and just work. I have enough other things to worry about and tinker with that I'd rather not deal with lights.

My 2c. keep the change!

 

[Rmckoy]

Not sure if you made a decision yet, but here is my experience...

I started in the mid 90s with power compact lights sitting on my glass lid. Grew corals and clams like crazy. I upgraded to a 250w MH over a 12" deep tank. I think it was 250w....maybe it was 400w... I had it hanging about 2' above the tank. It grew corals and clams even crazier than the power compacts. Insane growth insanely fast. Life happened and the tanks went away for awhile. Started up again and used T5. Coral grew really well and fast. Upgrade-itis hit and with my bigger tank came LED lighting, which I currently still have. My coral grows at half the speed and the corals don't look as happy as when I had MH or T5.

I'm an avid scuba diver and underwater photographer. I like to see my corals appear as happy as the ones in the wild (back when corals were healthy and happy in the wild). I've not seen "wild happy corals" under LED lights. I know plenty of people say they have great results with LEDs but I simply have not seen LEDs perform as well as: the sun, T5s or MHs.

I currently have 4 Mitras LX7206 and 6 Kessil a360 over a 300g 27" deep tank. They hang about 9" above the water. Kind of a PITA when I'm doing tank maintenance. I'm likely switching back to a 4' ATI sunpower or a T5/MH hybrid. T5 and MH are set it and forget it and just work. I have enough other things to worry about and tinker with that I'd rather not deal with lights.

My 2c. keep the change!

I’ve decided to stay with T5’s
I’m going to sell the black boxes as I have never used leds .
I don’t like the shimmer , nor seen anything stating they are better .

the lfs I buy frags from uses leds for most frags except for lps .
That alone says enough for me

 

[ingchr1]

...I currently have 4 Mitras LX7206 and 6 Kessil a360 over a 300g 27" deep tank. They hang about 9" above the water. Kind of a PITA when I'm doing tank maintenance. I'm likely switching back to a 4' ATI sunpower or a T5/MH hybrid. T5 and MH are set it and forget it and just work. I have enough other things to worry about and tinker with that I'd rather not deal with lights...

I had an LX and for whatever reason did not have success with it. I was also never really happy with how the tank looked visually, no mater how I tried to adjust it (maybe that was part of the problem, too many adjustments).

Others like them and are successful, just not me though.

I ended up selling it and switching to T5s with XHOs. Since then I've had really noticable growth on my corals. Other factors could have possibly contributed, but I think it was mostly due to the change of lighting. I also like how the tank looks visually a lot better.

I no longer ponder over the lighting. No adjustment other than on/off and intensity of the XHOs.

I'm relatively new to the hobby (2 years in).

With all that lighting I would think you would be able to raise them up higher, no?

 

[1ocean]

wow.. such a heated debate.... It is all really just a matter of what someone likes and what works best for their need. I have both t5 and led...both work fine for the need.
What everyone should be worried about is all the pending GOV regulations and restrictions that are coming to help preserve the world under all these so called GREEN laws and guidelines for USA and the world.
People I been talking to are saying good luck trying to get your hands on T5's soon and also good luck with regulations for disposal of old T5's and similar bulbs...

 

[A. grandis]

wow.. such a heated debate.... It is all really just a matter of what someone likes and what works best for their need. I have both t5 and led...both work fine for the need.
What everyone should be worried about is all the pending GOV regulations and restrictions that are coming to help preserve the world under all these so called GREEN laws and guidelines for USA and the world.
People I been talking to are saying good luck trying to get your hands on T5's soon and also good luck with regulations for disposal of old T5's and similar bulbs...

The "green people" are saying that "good luck" to newbies for more than a decade! Brain washing them! Truth is there are many things more important to worry about than regulations on aquarium T5s and halides, which is basically nothing in the real world nowadays. That is actually part of the LED market strategy too! Sure they wish for that, because they will make much more money selling LEDs than an aquarium halide or T5 system that will last "forever".

It is a shame that some online aquarium stores are buying into this LED marketing, but at the same time the LED fixtures are so much more lucrative that they won't think twice! Specially with the "great updates". If you ask some of them in person they will tell you how much halides and T5s are better... I'm glad we still have reputable manufacturers and online retail stores that are backing up those who choose to use halides and T5s. People have to understand that the market is about money! Now... we are who should dictate what the market sells, but that doesn't always necessarily happen.
I believe there is room in this market for all 3 types of reef lights, specially because there are those who will prefer LEDs for it's "unique blue colors", "apps", etc... and that is fine! I do not believe the best solution for any tank would be LEDs as a primary source of light, but ok for supplementation. I'm talking about MY personal opinion as the BEST option.
I'm against those who try to dictate and impose the exclusive selling, marketing and propaganda, claiming that LEDs are "better" than T5s or halides in the name of sales or "new technology", while many of us found actually the opposite! That is ridiculous! The 3 types of light have different results.
Do not believe those people talking about "green laws " referring specifically to aquarium halides and T5s. They aren't actually certain of what they are saying. There are all types of rumors around! Some of those rumors are so emphasized that they sound truth. They tell that so you believe, and buy those "nice shiny" plastic LEDs!!!!

 

[Spare time]

They weren't low quality lights...Ecotech

Their older lights before the g5 were not anything special in performance. Ecotech is also not a black box maker. Black box is essentially a rectangular grid of LEDs. Recent LEDs such are the g5, red sea, kessil, and reef brite all give excellent spread, practically no color separation, lower costs, lower energy use, easier to install, and longer live spans. T5 vs quality LED is not going to limit someone's success in keeping coral and saying so given what we know today (shout out to BRS) are likely giving in to a logical fallacy of Post hoc ergo propter hoc as well as a cognitive heuristic that notes that since the first time they saw the reef with t5's it made an impact over what they saw with LED's, and that switching back to t5's aided in the confirmation of the heuristic's bias.


Again, older LED's were a step down from t5's if we look at performance alone. However, one may find that LED's are going to be more economical and practical for their problems

 

[A. grandis]

Their older lights before the g5 were not anything special in performance. Ecotech is also not a black box maker. Black box is essentially a rectangular grid of LEDs. Recent LEDs such are the g5, red sea, kessil, and reef brite all give excellent spread, practically no color separation, lower costs, lower energy use, easier to install, and longer live spans. T5 vs quality LED is not going to limit someone's success in keeping coral and saying so given what we know today (shout out to BRS) are likely giving in to a logical fallacy of Post hoc ergo propter hoc as well as a cognitive heuristic that notes that since the first time they saw the reef with t5's it made an impact over what they saw with LED's, and that switching back to t5's aided in the confirmation of the heuristic's bias.


Again, older LED's were a step down from t5's if we look at performance alone. However, one may find that LED's are going to be more economical and practical for their problems

The rectangular grid of LEDs are actually much better than pucks physically speaking in terms of distribution/spread. They also help the problem with too much PAR because you can bring them down and still illuminate better. The more diodes the better the lamp!
BRS is a great place to buy stuff! Their videos is for what they want to sell now.
All the other stuff you posted doesn't make any sense at all! New people are testing and finding better results with T5s! Results can't lie!
Actually the so great "new G5" has giving so much headaches!! It's a failure all together to many people! Quality of LEDs didn't change, but colors and quantity in the puck. Black boxes are better IMO.

 

[1ocean]

The "green people" are saying that "good luck" to newbies for more than a decade! Brain washing them! Truth is there are many things more important to worry about than regulations on aquarium T5s and halides, which is basically nothing in the real world nowadays. That is actually part of the LED market strategy too! Sure they wish for that, because they will make much more money selling LEDs than an aquarium halide or T5 system that will last "forever".

It is a shame that some online aquarium stores are buying into this LED marketing, but at the same time the LED fixtures are so much more lucrative that they won't think twice! Specially with the "great updates". If you ask some of them in person they will tell you how much halides and T5s are better... I'm glad we still have reputable manufacturers and online retail stores that are backing up those who choose to use halides and T5s. People have to understand that the market is about money! Now... we are who should dictate what the market sells, but that doesn't always necessarily happen.
I believe there is room in this market for all 3 types of reef lights, specially because there are those who will prefer LEDs for it's "unique blue colors", "apps", etc... and that is fine! I do not believe the best solution for any tank would be LEDs as a primary source of light, but ok for supplementation. I'm talking about MY personal opinion as the BEST option.
I'm against those who try to dictate and impose the exclusive selling, marketing and propaganda, claiming that LEDs are "better" than T5s or halides in the name of sales or "new technology", while many of us found actually the opposite! That is ridiculous! The 3 types of light have different results.
Do not believe those people talking about "green laws " referring specifically to aquarium halides and T5s. They aren't actually certain of what they are saying. There are all types of rumors around! Some of those rumors are so emphasized that they sound truth. They tell that so you believe, and buy those "nice shiny" plastic LEDs!!!!

I agree with what you said ,I was just sharing what I was hearing. There is just too much unknown about any light or any product the green people or EPA has their sights on to regulate in the future and if they really get around to do it in the future.
Right now all I can do is be happy and use both types of lights as many of us are doing or not doing , and that is all we can do to make each of us happy.....