Higher wattage PC or lower wattage T5?

[iheartJMS]

I am in the market for a new light for my 20H, and am also fairly new to the SW world. The question I have for you is should I go with a higher wattage power compact fixture? Or a lower wattage T5 fixture? I am currently looking at two different fixtures for just around the same price, one being ~130 watts PC and the other ~78 watts T5.

Thanks! :wave:

[redfishblewfish]

Between those two….T5, hands down. Greater efficiency and longer life. Actually can’t compare watt for watt. Also, compacts fall off very quickly with light quality.

[tkeracer619]

What kind of tank? What do you plan to keep?

[syrinx]

PC bulbs are HO T-5s iff the straight t-5s are also HO and have individual reflectors they might be better. The only advantage to straight bulbs is the reflector- watt for watt they are the same bulbs with the same output of light, as the curved PCs.

[iheartJMS]

Its going to be a reef setup with only a couple fish and some corals. The T5s do have reflectors and they are really what I was leaning towards. Thanks for all the input!

EDIT: The T5s I'm looking at are also HO.

[duncaholic]

IMO t5HO is the only way to go especially for a small tank. I hate PC. I've had both on several different tanks and have found t5HO to be superior in both quality of light and longevity of bulb life. On my tanks, even similar wattages of PC have underperformed in terms of growing softies and LPS. And at 78w you're at nearly 4w per gallon. That should be plenty.

[iheartJMS]

IMO t5HO is the only way to go especially for a small tank. I hate PC. I've had both on several different tanks and have found t5HO to be superior in both quality of light and longevity of bulb life. On my tanks, even similar wattages of PC have underperformed in terms of growing softies and LPS. And at 78w you're at nearly 4w per gallon. That should be plenty.

Thank you for your input, I really appreciate it! Especially with your personal experience :o As for the near 4w per gallon, that is what I was aiming for :) And the way I see it, with all of the sand and live rock in there, there will be less 20 gallons of water, pushing it even closer or possibly above 4w/g :crazy1:

[5ft24]

Watts per gallon means nothing. you need PAR numbers. otherwise a 250W MH would be the same light quality/quantity as 250W of PC, T8, T12, T5HO etc...

[Felixc395]

You can't really compare watts between the two. I think either one will work in various conditions.

When you say corals, what type exactly?

[karsseboom]

watt per gallon means nothing your par is everything. You cant say "well i have live rock so the tank olny really like 15 gal". If you tanks 30 inch tall and its olny 29 gallon than those t5/pc wont work unless maybe there at the very top of the rock which is stacked very high. The thing your gonna need is mh if you want to keep good corals with success or maybe t-5 but i would run about 5 to 6 bulbs. Then your open to anything you want. The questions is do you want the corals to grow or just survive?

[RonMidtownStomp]

One of the major problems is that they stopped producing new, better PC bulbs. There are some great T5 bulbs out there. I'm surprised that "watts per gallon" even still exists as a thought process. Reflectors alone can more than double PAR output for a bulb. For instance, the difference between a Lumenmax Elite and a spider reflector on a 250W Radium is almost double the PAR numbers over almost double the surface area. With T5's, individual reflectors make a huge difference.