After moving to T5 lighting last summer and wading through many of the extremely long threads on the subject on ReefCentral and other sites I decided that there was so much differing information out there that I wanted to do some testing of my own. I was able to get the club PAR meter last weekend and have been working on testing some different T5 setups and options. I'm really trying to get to the bottom of a couple questions:
1 - Do individual reflectors make a difference, and how much over fixtures with single reflectors.
2 - How much difference are there between difference reflectors.
3 - Differences in T5 tubes.
I'm testing using 24" T5 setups since that is what I have over my frag tank, and it's easier to take down and work with for measurements. I have a pair of Current dual tube T5 fixtures, a pair of Hagen single tube reflectors, and a pair of IceCap single tube reflectors. I'm measuring the intensity at 6", 12", 18" and 24" away from the tubes, to see the difference in intensity and spread. I have the Current tubes that came with the fixtues, as well as two ATI tubes, and am hoping to add a few others before I'm done.
I'm still taking measurements, but so far there are some pretty dramatic differences between the Current fixtures and the individual reflector setups, as well as big differences in tubes. Once I'm done with the measurements I'll begin to white up and post the results. So far I've seen some interesting results beginning to show, some much more dramatic than I had expected.
Anyone who has any 24" tubes, preferably new or with low usage, I'd be happy to borrow them for few hours and add them to the testing. I'd also be happy to try any other fixtures out, though they would need to be dual tube 24" fixtures to be consistent. And if anyone has any 24" Sunlight Supply Tek reflectors that could be loaned out for few hours I'd be happy to add those as well. Unfortunately I can't justify buying all the different combinations I'd like to just for this testing and I'll only have the PAR meter for another couple weeks, so I have to get the testing done by then.
I'm about half way through the write up. I should have it done within a week or so.
Looking forward to it. I'm about 2 weeks away from having my T5s up & running.
Okay, I finally have things written up from my tests on different T5 options. It's a bit long, and there is quite a bit of data, but hopefully someone will find something useful out of this. Any questions, feel free to give a shout. It's a PDF file, since I was afraid that otherwise someone might not be able to read it.
Find it here:
T5 Reef Lighting