I have a 125 gal tank with 4x 96 watt cf, I also have a high electric bill. My ? is Iwould like to get a good light set up and had been looking at halide\t5 or halide\cf but not sure of pro's and con's to all the lights. I know with the cf fixture I have its hot like standing by a blowdryer which I don't like and think its raising my elec bill. So t5's or a t5\ halide set up pro's and cons' and would 4x 39 watt t5 be the same\better\ worse than what I have at the moment? If I go t5 I would get the parabolic reflectors which I can get lacaly or order them.

If possible, use 2x 96W for 6 hours each and have a 2 hour overlap.

12 x 2 x 96 w= 2400 w/h= 2.4 x .13 cents= about 30 cents per day or 9 dollars a month.

Buy a smaller tank, you will not save much in the switch, certainly not enough toi justify the added cost and sell the old one for a loss.

Regards,
Tom Barr

Would the 4x 39 watt t5 be better than the 4x 96 watt cf? The electric bill I am not sure of but the gf thinks it the tank.

Its not so much about the electric billsas I don't like to run the air to cool the apt because of the light and I don't notice the plants take off till they hit the middle of the tank. Since I started concintrating more on co and ferts I have seen better growth, lusher heathier growth, but they seem kind of leggy till they hit the middle of the tank and look lush and grow like mad. I would like my plants to look heathier like your 180 tom as I have some of the same plants and don't look anywhere near as heathy. I would also like to not worry about ordering plants and not have the light intensity to grow whatever I want as layoff is coming soon and will get very boardand start collecting plants to keep myself busy. So If and when I upgrade would I be happier with 2-4 t5's or t5\halide setup? I don't know about the t5's or halides as I have only had flourecents and cf. I've read a few threads about t5's and cf's comparisons, but how do t5' and halides compare?

Hi,

How about a mixed fixture with MH and T5???

I think this would give you the best of both worlds. The MH can be used for bursts and spotlighting, and the T5 can give a good spread.

I only have 3x150 MH over my 6' long 180, and wish I had some CF or t5 to help spread to those areas not covered as well.

I just scape accordingly, knowing I have darker areas...

Next fixture for me will fer sure be a combo if I want MH again.

Glad to hear things are better with the increase in c02 and ferts.

The plants may be leggy as they are getting too much light and growing very quickly and heading straight for the surface, rather than having time to fluff out and branch. All the energy is spent going up.

Are the plants planted in bunches? If so, they don't get enough light to grow well, until they spread out a bit. If not, you may not have enough light for those particular plants. I notice that most plants do their best growing from the middle of the tank on up, where the light is much more intense. Or, it could just be not enough CO2 in the water.

T5 bulbs with individual reflectors are definitely brighter and more efficient than other fluorescent tubes. So, I think using the T5's would be a good move. I would expect 4 39 watt T5's would be enough for most plants.

The 2 plants I have the most problems with are Limnophila hippuroides and Rotala Wallichii.* The limnophila grows really slow and small leaves till it reaches the mid tank level then starts to fill out and side shoots formand gets nice coloring to it when I trimm side shoots and plant it starts all over, it takes about 2 mo for them to get to mid tank and 2 weeks to get to the top.* I have 4 stems planted in a 5 in circle with good light not shaded unless tank is overdue for a trimm and same for rotalla wallichii.* I have the 4x 96 watt cf on the tank now but will the 4x 39 watt t5 be any better than what I have already the reflector for the t5 is the w shape peribolic I believe if that is what shape peribolic is. The MH\t5 set up would be nice but I would like to justify the extra 600 dollors or 300 if a 8x 39 watt t5 would do the same. The co is good as I had to back it down after a week long killing spree lost 6 black neons, rummynose have nice color during the day and at night get very pale.

Is 4x 96 watt cf and 4x 39 watt hot5's the same amount of light on a 125 gal tank?