# Lighting - LED vs T5 HO



## jsteiner

Why would someone choose LED over T5 HO, or vice versa? I can get a 36" Marineland double bright 36"-48" for about the same price as a 36" T5 HO with two bulbs (AquaticLife $119, Coralife $139). So it seems cost is not a huge difference. The LED light has some special effects (Lunar) the T5 doesn't. Is there a difference in the quality of light? Does one look better in the aquarium than the other? The double bright output is 1200 lumens and the T5 is 78 watts. How do those numbers compare? I will need 2 36" lights, so is 2400 Lumens enough to support a 120 gal cichlid tank?

Any help is appreciated.


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## littleolme

Low wattage LEDs are cheaper to run than T5s, plus there isn't a bulb replacement cost that you get with T5. I have 2 sets of LED and a set of T5, I think the T5 looks better and are far more customizable than all but high end LEDs.


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## cantrell00

jsteiner said:


> Why would someone choose LED over T5 HO, or vice versa? I can get a 36" Marineland double bright 36"-48" for about the same price as a 36" T5 HO with two bulbs (AquaticLife $119, Coralife $139). So it seems cost is not a huge difference. The LED light has some special effects (Lunar) the T5 doesn't. Is there a difference in the quality of light? Does one look better in the aquarium than the other? The double bright output is 1200 lumens and the T5 is 78 watts. How do those numbers compare? I will need 2 36" lights, so is 2400 Lumens enough to support a 120 gal cichlid tank?
> 
> Any help is appreciated.


LED's are more efficient and last much longer but if you prefer your aquarium well lit, avoid the Marineland DBL BRIGHT.

Had them and was really dissatisfied with the light output. 1200 lumens is not much in comparison to T5 HO.


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## somefish

The T5's will probably grow plants much better than the LED's , unless maybe you spend some bucks on high end LED's . 
Also probably get more actual light per $ spent than LED's .

The LED's will however , produce a sunlight-like shimmering effect that the T5's won't - Fluorescents make an even , diffused light . But plants (and algae) like it :~)
The only other light source I've seen that creates this effect is metal halide .


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## 13razorbackfan

jsteiner said:


> Why would someone choose LED over T5 HO, or vice versa? I can get a 36" Marineland double bright 36"-48" for about the same price as a 36" T5 HO with two bulbs (AquaticLife $119, Coralife $139). So it seems cost is not a huge difference. The LED light has some special effects (Lunar) the T5 doesn't. Is there a difference in the quality of light? Does one look better in the aquarium than the other? The double bright output is 1200 lumens and the T5 is 78 watts. How do those numbers compare? I will need 2 36" lights, so is 2400 Lumens enough to support a 120 gal cichlid tank?
> 
> Any help is appreciated.


I have a 36" Beamswork reefbright that is 2600 lumens for $99. I think the double bright by marineland is 2400 for that one unit. I also own another Beamswork 48" for another tank. You might consider the Beamswork if you are going fish only. If plants I would go with the t5HO.


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## Ensorcelled

somefish said:


> The T5's will probably grow plants much better than the LED's , unless maybe you spend some bucks on high end LED's .
> Also probably get more actual light per $ spent than LED's .
> 
> The LED's will however , produce a sunlight-like shimmering effect that the T5's won't - Fluorescents make an even , diffused light . But plants (and algae) like it :~)
> The only other light source I've seen that creates this effect is metal halide .


This. I currently have a 48" SkyLED Fixture on my 60 and while I enjoyed it for the first few months, I am pretty dissatisfied with how the lighting is now. Everytime I see another tank lit up by a T5 HO fixture, it makes me jealous because it is so much better vs LED. The only exception is exactly what was pointed out by somefish, unless you have the $$ to buy a high end LED fixture, I wouldn't bother with them.

Just my 0.02


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## Narwhal72

If you are comparing initial pricing T5HO is going to give you higher light output per dollar spent. In the long run a higher cost LED fixture with high output LED's can give you equal to superior light output to HO T5 and will save you in replacement lamp and electricity costs. It may take 5 years or more for you to make that cost back though.

However, if the fixture is using low quality chips or has poor heat management the chips could start burning out. Then you lose all that efficiency as you either start living with dark spots or you have to replace the entire fixture as most LED fixtures do not allow for individual LED replacement.

Andy


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## johnc

i have just (a week ago) installed 2 Arcadia Daylight tubes and 1 Marine blue. The effect is quite stunning and you can see the comparison against the old lighting from looking at the adjacent tank. If you can, look on my You Tube link:


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## jldean23

i just bought a 48" nova extreme x2 t5 ho light i have been searching for weeks to get a led or a t5 now on my 55 i have shop light with zoomed lights u can see it on my video in link below but i fount what i wanted by youtube if i fount what i liked price wise or on ebay i would type in (48 nova extreme aquarium light) or

(beamswork led) and guys have a bunch of tanks with what light set-up they have it is how i picked my fixture and lol i got fixture for $101.00 free ship pm me and ill tell you were this set has individual reflectors per bulb and bulbs are 54w piece 108watts total (2x54) there is cheaper route t5 wise odessya but reviews everywere were all over the place good bad.

but as razor said beamswork looks good on the tanks in videos..


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## Narwhal72

Ouch. That was just painful to read. Try some punctuation next time jldean23. Not everyone is reading this from a smartphone.


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## mdog

OK I read all of that and am still confused. Someone said unless you spend money on a high end LED don't bother. What is considered a high end LED for a 75 gal freshwater tank? And why not bother?
Is the point that the LED is not as bright as the T5 HO? I find my tank is TOO bright now with just 2 flourescent (T8 I think) bulbs. Everything looks flat and sort of washed out. I'm looking for more depth and maybe more subdued light, but with good colors on the (freshwater) fish. Does LED accomplish this? It would answer all the questions to just see the same tank with the two different lights on it. Maybe there's a shop that can do that.


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## vann59

T5's will give you more light for the money, and especially if you want to grow plants or algae. If you want subdued lighting with just fish, then standard LED's are fine. If you want to fish color to really pop, you need more light though. There are color spectrums available for special uses as well.


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## johnc

hi mdog, i can understand your confusion. I have gone over to LEDs after years of flourecents. My video clip above will show you the two effects side by side. LEDs do not make the tank 'bright', they make the fish stand out. The blue can take out some of the red but makes other colours better. Its personal preference thats why one company is not the market leader. you're looking for:
I'm looking for more depth and maybe more subdued light, but with good colors on the (freshwater) fish.

LEDs


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## jldean23

Hey mdog like i was saying before Youtube is the best place to compare different light fixtures. From what you wrote your answer might be as simple as switching bulbs. If you like the look of my tank my youtube link shows my lights. Bulbs are zoomed 10,000k tropical sun i think and a zoomed artnic bulb.

As for led's the more you pay the brighter they will be and will have moonlights and better led's lol you look up some fixtures lol they are ridiculous in price like the beamworks razor has i like them i about bought it but it is identical to marineland's led but beam is $100 less.

The best thing to do for starters is what is your budget then research what you can buy in that price range then youtube it plenty of each fixture on videos. From what i viewed in the past few weeks trying to decide what to get, is t-5 seems to have a much better nice crisp white light every tank i seen looked better than led's.

One important thing to consider, as in my situation i have a dark grey diy background plus a black sand substrate soooo lol it sucks in the light. But as in razors tank he has more holey rock which makes his tank brighter so i need more light and i felt led wouldnt do it at my price range, a reef led might have but they are expensive.

If anyone wants i can take a pic of my 55 with 48" shoplight with 2 zoomed bulbs, and when i get my nova extreme t5 in the mail i can post each pic to compare let me know....


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## jldean23

here is with t8 lights but it is not that bright just in photo so take it down 3 notches..


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## mdog

Thanks for helping clarify things. I may try LED but will look around first and see if I can see some in person. Of course just changing bulbs might work as well. Like was said - it's just a matter of taste, which often changes. I did look at the video clips and they helped. Should I want to try LED, what is a good one for a 75g SA eartheater tank? Thanks


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## johnc

sorry cant help on that. I don't know what is available in the USA. However i would start with Daylight LEDs, get the brightness right and then go for blue. Shame we can never get them on loan to do a tryout before buying. Perhaps the manufactures should consider


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## JimA

I have 2 36" beamwork reef brights on this tank. 160 gallon x 24" depth If you want more light definatly go with the reef bright version. Hope this helps!










This one is an older pic but a good look at how the LEDs look.










I think the difference from T5 is the LED tends to look crisper and adds different shawdows on the rocks along with the shimmer effect. That being said I have never really had a good quality T5 light. I have not decided which route I will go when I set up my 8ft tank. Might be a mix of both LED and T5 or one or the other will see when I get to that point. :


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## JimA

One more for you,


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## GTZ

I posted a thread comparing my T5's to the LED's I bought. You can find it here.


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## mdog

Wow, look at all that information! Great stuff. I went to a local shop yesterday that has some of their tanks with LED and I like it. I guess I like the shadows and "depth" that it seems to give. I'm not looking for extreme brightness so I'll probably go LED. Just need to find the right ones now. I didn't want to make a big project out of this, but sometimes the more you learn the more questions you have.


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## jldean23

for price and they look nice and lol cheaper, get a beamswork or beamworks they are also called i was really impressed youtube beamworks and go to the big auction site that starts with E and look up the light check out the price


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## mdog

I have seen this brand (Beamsworks) mentioned a lot. I'll look into it. Have also seen Marineland Double Bright for Freshwater. Has anyone used this? If so I'm wondering how people like it.


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## JebusCHI

I am shopping for a similar lighting as well.. I am split between led and t5. I've found some good pricing on both and unfortunately I'm not as versed on lighting as other aspects of this hobby. I have a 125 gallon tank and would love to discuss my options and go from there. I've heard mixed opinions on both. I know the t5 setup will be brighter but must more costly in replacement bulbs and electricity then the leds. If I decide to go led, what lumens should I aim for??


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## b3w4r3

One of the best things about a quality led fixture is bulb life. Leds mounted on a good heatsink (something cheaper fixtures don't have) are rated for 50,000 hours +. That's about 5 years with no bulb replacement, and they may go much longer than 5 years depending on how the leds are driven. The savings in replacement bulbs alone are enough to justify the price.

Another thing is that you can get dimmable led drivers and put different colors on different channels to adjust the light output and color to your liking.

The typical reef tank can do with about 1/3 of the total watts required with other types of lighting. For freshwater with no plants it would be even less. Sadly there aren't a lot of quality options out there for freshwater unless you want to do some research and DIY your own. Some of those cheaper fixtures look ok, but I'm very skeptical on their longevity.


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## JebusCHI

Yeah, I was actually looking at reef tank lighting... the spectrum and kalvin matches what would be good for my tank in terms of plants thriving. From what I've been reading alot of people were hating on LED's but when I checked the dates, it was all pretty dated. That's why I was hoping to get some advice here.


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## b3w4r3

JebusCHI said:


> Yeah, I was actually looking at reef tank lighting... the spectrum and kalvin matches what would be good for my tank in terms of plants thriving. From what I've been reading alot of people were hating on LED's but when I checked the dates, it was all pretty dated. That's why I was hoping to get some advice here.


Led has come a long way in the last few years. Most of the problems come from metal halide/t5 users keeping sps corals and complaining the coral colors aren't as nice under led. For everyone claiming that there are others with unbelievable coral growth and color under leds. Some of the earlier fixtures focused on cool whites and royal blues which gave the tanks a washed out look due mostly to the lack of red spectrum. The market is now flooded with so called "full spectrum" fixtures that somewhat addresses this issue.

The other thing is that leds are very intense. Corals need time to acclimate to the intensity which is why dimmable fixtures are so popular now. Most people using dimmers run their lights much less than full power and have great results. On my own nano reef I went from 72 watts of power compacts to about 48 watts led. I'm using 700ma drivers and still only have them around 1/2 power and the tank does great.

Another problem with some fixtures is they tend to create a "dicso" effect if the optics are focused to tight, and the fixture is too close to the water. You can see that in the marineland reef bright fixture. There are some manufacturers going to multi chip led with many smaller led on one chip which eliminates the color seperation a lot. Kessil makes some real nice multi chip spot lights. They have a freshwater version called the amazon sun, kind of pricy though but excellent lights.

My experience is that a combination of neutral whites, cool blue, and royal blue give the best color balance. The neutral whites have a good part of the red spectrum, and mix well with the other blues.

Ever grow has a line of led fixtures that are pretty affordable in both reef and fresh water versions. They are Chinese made, and a lot of resellers here in the states order custom layouts from them and do some of the building them selves. Many people are using these fixtures with good results but I recommend doing some research into the people selling them and what their warranty is like. Some of the better sellers offer 2 years.

If you want to try diy check out something like rapidled, or ledgroupbuy. Both of them are very helpful and responsive to emails.


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## JebusCHI

Well this will be for a freshwater South American setup, I would like to have plants that thrive with the lighting that I choose but also work well for the rest of the tank. I'm leaning towards LED's because of the costs later on with bulbs and electricity. Any ideas on how powerful I need to have my lighting? I have no reference on lumens vs watts and the depth of my tank.


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## JebusCHI

I was looking at this one.. any thoughts

http://www.ebay.com/itm/LED-Quad-72-3W- ... 43c1a9c374


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## b3w4r3

JebusCHI said:


> Well this will be for a freshwater South American setup, I would like to have plants that thrive with the lighting that I choose but also work well for the rest of the tank. I'm leaning towards LED's because of the costs later on with bulbs and electricity. Any ideas on how powerful I need to have my lighting? I have no reference on lumens vs watts and the depth of my tank.


I cant really comment on plant lighting specifically. Your best bet is to check the lighting section at the planted tank forum. Using a watts per gallon, or even lumens isn't very useful when considering led. It's all about par readings, and led generally put out a lot more par than other types of light rated at the same wattage. The two fixtures I mentioned earlier, the evergrow, and kessil will grow plants in a 24 by 24 inch cube around 20 inches deep no problem. Deeper may require tighter optics, but is still doable. If your tank were 4 foot you would probably want 2 fixtures for best coverage. There are a lot more options out there though so it's best to seek advice from a place focused on plants.

For reference the evergrow lights go for around $170 and the kessil start at around $180.

I would stay away from the fixture you linked to. It doesn't look to have an adequate heat sink for 3w leds.


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## johnc

i have LED (Arcadia) blue and white tubes and T5s the same colour. All on my African cichlid tanks. Its personal preference. I much prefer the LED effect espescially with the blue on start up and shut down and then the white giving full light. The fish really stand out.


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## JebusCHI

yeah that's what I'm looking for along with quality lighting to support live plants. I have a few fish that will develop some amazing colors.


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## mclaren880

I have aqueon leds on my 75. They don't give the "bright" look you guys are talking about, but they do give some more contrast, it's sort of hard to describe. I had a standard t8 bulb and I compared the two. My friend described the leds as "HD." that's probably the best way I can describe it.

I find than using white rocks with the leds gives more of the "t5 look"


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