T5 lighting

T5 lighting fluorescents have emerged as a worthy successor to the once extremely popular power compact lighting systems. I remember dropping $120 on a 30w Custom Sea Life PC light fixture back in 2000, which ironically is the year T5 lighting was invented. By todays standards thats highway robbery!

T5 lighting represents the new powerhouse alternative to Metal Halide lights. Many have proved that T5 lights are more than up to the task even for the most light hungry corals, namely SPS. However, metal halides are still seen as the best lighting for lumen output and water penetration. And when it comes time for bulb replacement, Metal Halide guys replace a few while T5 guys replace many.

T5 lights are a type of fluorescent light bulb that is increasingly popular among hobbyists. Some reasons on why more hobbyists are turning over to T5 fluorescent lighting include higher lower electricity usage and less generated heat vs Metal halide lighting.

You can run full SPS marine aquariums on just T5 lights, you just need enough bulbs. If you enlarge the SPS aquarium picture to your right you'll notice there are 20 T5 fluorescent lights on it. 20!

You can get T5 light in high output versions as well, commonly called T5HO. This is a T5 Light that has been over-driven. The T5 light fixture needs greater cooling ability to handle over-driving or the bulb will fail prematurely.

Not all T5 fluorescent lighting fixtures are built equal. Some top brands for t5 lights include Giessman, ATI and Icecap (retro kits). They all cost a pretty penny.

Thankfully there are a lot of mid-range t5 lighting fixtures that do perform well on average such as Nova (CurrentUSA) and Sundial.

Some manufacturers do not include fans in their fixtures and i feel temperature control is very important to the longevity of the T5 bulb itself. Heat degrades the quality of the bulb over time. So always choose a T5 lighting fixture that has taken cooling into consideration. Cheap brands generally do not address cooling.