t5ho vs pc lighting

[tdo]

hey guys, looking for pros and cons for the t5ho and the pc lights. looking at these for my lighting for my 125 gal. most likely doing 4 bulbs, in 3ft sections, built into my custom top.

right now it will have a few plants, nothing serious, but i would like to be able to go high tech with it if i decide to change my mind...

[Eddie]

I have both and prefer T5s, just like them more. Its a personal preference I guess.

Eddie

[Ed13]

T5ho pros: smokes pc lightinng

PC cons: is smoked by T5ho

That's the end of my report

Seriously though, think of a T5 bulb as a streched out PC bulb. Then why is it so much better you ask? Well this allows for better cooling and the use of very effective reflectors, making them way more efficient. There are more differences like better ballasts, more lumens per watt, higher CRI and way more PAR, but these are the boring

[Darrell Ward]

Both can put out a lot of light with decent reflectors. PC retro kits tend to be cheaper than T5s, don't know the reason for that one. PCs seem to run hotter, and blow bulbs easier. Both can do the job on big tanks, or planted tanks. I have both and like the T5s better, but I have more PCs because I can get them much cheaper. I think the wave of the future is going to be LEDs. I'm planning on doing a little experimenting with these in the near future with some LED parts I got on Ebay.

[Darrell Ward]

hey guys, looking for pros and cons for the t5ho and the pc lights. looking at these for my lighting for my 125 gal. most likely doing 4 bulbs, in 3ft sections, built into my custom top.

right now it will have a few plants, nothing serious, but i would like to be able to go high tech with it if i decide to change my mind...

In that case, you could go with a 4 x 96 watt PC kit from ah supply for less money than about anything out there. You could run 2 of the 4 lamps until you wanted more power, then fire up the other 2, not that you would likely need it on a 125 unless you had high light loving plants. I had this setup on a 240 gal. planted tank that is 31" deep, and it was more than enough. I mostly just ran 2 of the 4 bulbs, with a "noon" burst for over a year before I tore it down to make it fish only, and put 27 discus in it. If cost is not a problem, then go for T5ho.

[captain morgan]

T5HO- Much larger selection of different bulbs available and run much cooler.

[Ed13]

T5HO- Much larger selection of different bulbs available and run much cooler.

Technically, equall watt in use (54w T5ho vs 55 PC) produce the same amount of heat. However, the linear tube of the T5HO makes it easier to cool down and the fact that the bent PC bulb heats itself up because of the bent tube, makes it less efficient. But yeah...