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Thread: Metal halide and T5

  1. #1
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    Metal halide and T5

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    Hope i am asking for advice in the right section. I see some people's setup using metal halide together with T5. Could anyone tell me why do they use both types of lights together? Thanks.

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    MH in the set will be mostly for the photosynthesis period, while the T5 (which is low wattage) will be for viewing purposes
    ~ Ā q u ã O b s έ Ş Ş i ŏ ŋ ~
    Once you pop, You can't Stop
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    I use it to create the dawn to dusk effect. Will turn on the T5 and CO2 2hrs before the MH kick in. Then will turn off the C02 first, follow by the T5 and MH.

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    What is the timing for both lights to be turn on and off? Actually was thinking of what type of lights to use. Some of my friends say MH is the best cause it's very close to sunlight?

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    MH is almost one of the best... provided that you can cope with them. For instance you have to deal with the heat and light intensity. For full blast period, I use 6 hours and the rest continued by T5/T8/PL to full 9-10 hours. I find that I can never get the best result when I let the halides on for the whole 9-10 hours, it is just too much to handle. It mimics nature anyway, where you never find midday light shining for the whole day.

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    When you mean cope with light and heat, do you mean the room temperture? as well as the lights being too bright in the living room?

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    When using a MH ,I think the water tempreture will go up too??:grin:

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    Hi, I'll move this to Equipment for better coverage.

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    You have to cope with extra light (should you decide to use MH as high light setup) as in increased water temperature, more dosing of ferts and well distributed CO2. Counteracting the temperature rise (also applicable when using lots of VHO T5/PL) you need to blow air to the water surface or use a chiller to keep the temp in reasonable range. If you do not intend to keep cold water species such as moss on general, 27C will be fine and easy to achieve. Still the drawbacks pays back well, you get a very strong source of usable light for your plants from using MH.

    MH tends to be point source light while T5 tends to be more even. Think MH as the main weapon dan T5 as the seconday when you use them as a combo. Some people would light on MH and T5 at the same time to even up the colour combination or even up the light. For deeper and huge tanks, usually MH is the only big gun for the job. Regular T5 are not strong enough when used by itself, except if you manage to get those highly efficient and expensive VHO T5.

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    Ok. Think I get what you mean medicineman. Thanks to all who gave opinions, really needed all the help I can get. I tend to get a 4 by 2 by 2 tank, so I guess I'll need 2x150W? Along with...say...4x54W T5? Would it be sufficent? I understand that 6k-8k bulbs for MH are hard to get, but 10k abit too strong for planted right?

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    Quote Originally Posted by AquaticPlants View Post
    Ok. Think I get what you mean medicineman. Thanks to all who gave opinions, really needed all the help I can get. I tend to get a 4 by 2 by 2 tank, so I guess I'll need 2x150W? Along with...say...4x54W T5? Would it be sufficent? I understand that 6k-8k bulbs for MH are hard to get, but 10k abit too strong for planted right?
    Hi AP,

    That's not all true actually, it still very much depends on the types of bulbs you used. For example single ended (mostly for pendant light but there's occassion certain lightset do used this types of design). Secondly it would be the the double ended types (which is the more frequent used type).

    Single Ended type - Iwasaki eye 6500K 150W
    Double Ended type - Astra Lux 8000K 150W (Approx $30 plus)
    - Osram 6000K 150w (Approx $60plus)

    Heeee, actually there is still a lot if you search!

    Below is one of those distributors
    http://www.viclite.com/astraaq.htm

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