Please Help, Confused With Lighting!

[mjzuverink]

hey guys, although i do have live plants in my tank, this question is not specifcally geared towards plants, more lighting. i was told that this forum might know alot about different lighting. Im looking to get new lights for my tank. I looked at coralife's bulbs and i think i want the actinic blue 03 and the 10,000K white. now the part im confused about is the T5, T8, T12. why are the T5 best? coralife makes 10,000k bulbs in T5, T8, and T12 so what is the difference beside the obvious watts. obviously there must be something because everyone prefers T5 lights. I know this may seem like a dumb question but i just dont know much or any about lighting. why should i get a more expensive T5 fixture for the T5 bulbs that have the same K output as T12 bulbs i could put in a cheap T12 fixture? thanks for all your help and suggestions. right now i just have a shop T12 fixture and 2 daylight bulbs around 6,000 K each

 

[Mr Bliss]

T5 has better lumens/watt efficiency. The K scale is only a measure of the light spectrum; higher K means more blue. Plants don't really care whether you have 6000 K or 10,000 K, so it's more about personal taste.

 

[mjzuverink]

thankyou, so if lets say for my 110 gallon african tank (with no plants sorry) if i got a fixture for 2 48in T8 bulbs would it look nice with like a actnic blue and a 10,000K white, or a colormax bulb with the atinic blue? i really wish you could like try lights out before you bought them lol... also for T8 bulbs what wattage am I going to need for the ballast or fixture . i know most T5s are 28 , but i dono t8s. also i have heard that you can use the same fixture or caps for T8 and T5 as long as the wattage is right? is this true?

 

[mjzuverink]

okay..... so i think i have decided to make a T5 fixture. now for bulbs! i have read that 54w bulbs are the best. but that doesnt make anysense to me. The bulbs i found and want to get are coralife, they are 48 inch T5 bulbs one is actinic blue and the other 10,000k white (while i would really like to find 20,000k blue-white) but anyways they are 28w bulbs.. will these be good or not? i guess im just confused why the 54w bulbs are better, i cant seem to find any