URFisher35

I've been doing a lot of research on types of lighting. I read somewhere that T5 provide more light per watt than a T8 bulb. Meaning that for every T5 watt, it provides 1.3 watts T8. Is this true?

I have a 17(?) watt T8 bulb over my 29 gallon. I've been looking at adding a couple more bulbs in a DIY hood. I looked at T5s and T8s. Any suggestions?

fishrule101

Well I have T-5s in my tank. It provides a bit more than enough light. As long as you tank is less than 24" tall T-5s are only second in intensity. Your tank will benefit if you plan on have high light needing plants. MH are first.

GreenMan13

Read this link.

URFisher35

so adding two 14watt T5 lamps to my existing 20watt T8 lamp will give me more than sufficient lighting for my 29gal?

ewolfe315

If this is for fresh water fish first off is your lighting equipped to handle T5's. T5's have different ballasts(volts,I believe) then your ordinary T8 and T12's. T5's are slimmer bulbs and as you go up to T12 the bulbs get wider. T5's are the most popular and are quite easy to find online and lasts much longer and are a definite for plants.

Usually with an ordinary fish tank,the manufacturer 99% of the time gives you the T8 or T12 ballasts and T5's won't work or if they do come on,watch out for smoke or they can even blow your ballast out or even the bulbs. Which means time for a new light.

Now I went to T5 HO (high output) and had to get a totally new light system due to my tank being 26 inches deep. The High Output raises the K (kelvin) temperature(up to 11,000 K) so that you can get the right temperature bulbs for the plants. Mine are 6400 K but am getting 6700 K bulbs in the mail any day. T5's do the exact same thing as temperature goes for the plants as long as your tank is not deep like mine.

What I've been looking at lately are Aquarium LED lights as these are quite affordable,don't heat up as much and lasts even longer then T5's. These are suppose to become the lights for the future of the aquarium lighting. However I have yet to see any that are near the 6700 K range.

If your good at taking your existing light apart,you can always get the right ballast and endcaps and do it yourself,but I've found it's just better to get a new light set. You can always find great deals on ebay for these.

GreenMan13

What kind of hood you making? Is your current lighting going to be able to work in this hood? And how good are you are wiring and electricity?

One thing you could do is just get screw in CFL and some screw in socket. Those will provide plenty of light and will be cheap and easy to wire. All my tank have those including my 55 gallon which is 24" deep.

URFisher35

hmm...interesting. im gonna make a DIY hood. i have figured out how to take my current socket out and mount it in the hood...i just need more wattage.

by cfl do you mean compact flourescent? and i'm not too good with wiring, thats why i found a 2x T5 socket that has a plug and switch already installed.

GreenMan13

By CFL I mean something like this: GE Daylight 26watt

You just need one of these for each bulb you want to use. All you need to wire is the two tips to a power cord that can be plugged in. These can then be attached to the hood

Fla_Larry

an easy way to remember them is T12's are 12/8" or 1 1/2"
T8's are 8/8's or 1"
T5's are 5/8's or 1/2"

While i will agree the T5's are gaining in popularity due to their high Intensity output, i do respectfully disagree with the longer life, according to GE lighting
T12's have an avg life exp of 9000 hrs until you exceed 40w then the life jumps to 20000 hrs
T8's run an avg or 20000 hrs life exp.
T5's again due to their high output nature ( i am assuming) only last around 5000 hours

And there is where the T5's really shine ( no pun intended ), due to the higher intensity, usable light penetrates better.

somewhere in the 50000 hour range isnt it, Remember also full spectrum light which is the desired target for the Fresh water crowd here, starts in the
5000k range, yes higher will work, it just wont get you anything extra for the extra cost, Marine tanks on the other hand need strong spikes in the Blue range.

As to power output for the WPG guideline based on rough calcs if you require 2.0 wpg take the T8 watts*1.2 for the multiplier, and 1.4 - 2.0 for the T5's

ie in a 50g with
2 35watt T12's=70watts for 1.4WPG @ 2100 Lumen ea
2 32watt T8's =64watts for 1.3Wpg @ 2660 Lumen ea
while the WPG is lower light output is higher

These are again just rough estimates based on GE's information for light output in lumens as Lumen/watt output increases as wattage increases until approx. 35watts, then Lumen/watt begins droping