new to plants! T5 lights what I want?

[1977]

First attempt at planted tank. I have a 125 that I plan to start with swords and java fern, maybe anubius. Going nuts with all the conflicting info on lights and substrate and so on. Not going with co2 at this point, just want to have decent plant growth. I really don't want to spend this much but I'm leaning toward the Nova extreme T5 156 watt with lunar lights(2 of the 36") at about $200 each. Is this the route to go or is there a cheaper and and still effective lighting system for me to start off. If I go with the T5 does this give me lots of room to expand my planting over the next couple years? Are the bulbs that come with this setup sufficient? Thanks for any help!

[Polar_Bear]

That is a LOT of light for not having CO2, you are asking for algae IMO. T-5's are an excellent choice though. Cheaper than PC's, but with a bit of extra light since they have less "re-strike" than do PC bulbs. I also have a 125 but I have 4 x 96 watt PC's and the tank is CO2 injected, I still get some algae. If I had it to do again I would just buy 2 shop lights with electronic ballasts and run T-8's in them which can run you as little as $32 total. Of course you would probably want a cap on top of the tank to hide the lights then.

[Ed13]

8 x 36" 39w hot5 right at $400 for 312watts? way too much for an experiment!
I do love a lot of light especially a lot of different bulbs!

It can be done with so much light, even without CO2, but the balance(lightxnutrientsxco2) will have a very narrow tolerance.

If you don't mind spending the cash, go for it, especially if each fixture has multiple switches, were you can stagger the bulbs . You'll have to find the amount of nutrients needed for propper growth without excess algae and unless you go with ~75%-85% of total plants from the get go you will have algae issues at first.And most likely you'll need to find the perfect amount of photoperiod. If you plan going heavy on Amazons you won't have much of a problem and will welcome the extra light once they are growing submerged.

That being said if you are handy, which I believe you are, it'll be way cheaper and more efficient to buy a good quality ballasts, reflectors, some connectors and fabricate either a canopy or a simple "light box" and hook them together.
You could run T8 at firts and upgrade to PC or T5 as the tank matures with the same ballast at minimal costs for the upgrades or even run combination of T5, T8, T12, PC or VHO.
I can go into more detail if you like.

[supaflyz]

Yeah T5 is the way to go. I have coral life and a t5 bulb on different tank. The PC bulb will grow plants but at a slower rate and the plants color is not as nice. The T5 I have on the 180 is very nice and I heard its more energy effiecient. It also grows out the red plants well. I cutted some plants from the 90 and brought it over to the 180 it turn red in 2 days shows you how much a difference the lights are. It was growing really good in the 90 but it wasnt red like when I bought it from the lfs. By the way im not advertising T5 lol.

[Ed13]

Yeah T5 is the way to go. I have coral life and a t5 bulb on different tank. The PC bulb will grow plants but at a slower rate and the plants color is not as nice. The T5 I have on the 180 is very nice and I heard its more energy effiecient. It also grows out the red plants well. I cutted some plants from the 90 and brought it over to the 180 it turn red in 2 days shows you how much a difference the lights are. It was growing really good in the 90 but it wasnt red like when I bought it from the lfs. By the way im not advertising T5 lol.

Last time I spoke with a ESU representative he told me that Coralife will only do NO T5 for now since HO was too costly, did they put a new fixture out?

If not the 4' feet NO only produces 28w vs 54w for the HO

[supaflyz]

Last time I spoke with a ESU representative he told me that Coralife will only do NO T5 for now since HO was too costly, did they put a new fixture out?

If not the 4' feet NO only produces 28w vs 54w for the HO

Huh? I said I have 2 fixture. One tek on the 180 and one coral life with pc bulbs on the 90.

[Ed13]

Huh? I said I have 2 fixture. One tek on the 180 and one coral life with pc bulbs on the 90.

Sorry, I guess I missed it!

Yeah T5 is the way to go. I have coral life and a t5 bulb on different tank. The PC bulb will grow plants but at a slower rate and the plants color is not as nice. The T5 I have on the 180 is very nice and I heard its more energy effiecient. It also grows out the red plants well. I cutted some plants from the 90 and brought it over to the 180 it turn red in 2 days shows you how much a difference the lights are. It was growing really good in the 90 but it wasnt red like when I bought it from the lfs. By the way im not advertising T5 lol.

re-read it and I got what you meant now, did not see the Tek mentioed in the original post though

[supaflyz]

yeah lol i thought the original threadstarter was referring to tek lights because they are so popular with t5 set ups. Didnt even mention tek in my own post my mistake.

[willbldrco]

It sounds like you have several hundred to spend.

Here's my advice: move some cash from your lighting budget to a C02 system. After years with good light, it was the addition of CO2 which really made things pop in my tank.

Will

[Ed13]

That being said if you are handy, which I believe you are, it'll be way cheaper and more efficient to buy a good quality ballasts, reflectors, some connectors and fabricate either a canopy or a simple "light box" and hook them together.
You could run T8 at firts and upgrade to PC or T5 as the tank matures with the same ballast at minimal costs for the upgrades or even run combination of T5, T8, T12, PC or VHO.
I can go into more detail if you like.

If you add This advice plus this one:

It sounds like you have several hundred to spend.

Here's my advice: move some cash from your lighting budget to a C02 system. After years with good light, it was the addition of CO2 which really made thing pop in my tank.

Will

And you'll get a very beautiful planted tank.

I kept going back to theoriginal thread and if the two fixtures would rack up to $400 is definitely not worth it! And again extra CO2 will really be good but you can certainly do it without it.