# Led or t5 lighting for 5 ft juwel tank



## dazsmith1988 (May 15, 2013)

Hi all

I have just started my first malawi tank. I have 50kg of ocean rock and looking to add more, i also have coral sand.

I have t8 lighting with an arcadia marine blue bulb at the back and a warm light at the front. The colours of the fish pop out but im looking to take this too the next level.

Where i need help: I have no clue where to look for lighting, what units are good for costing under £300 (if possible). This tank is a 5 foot juwel set up (450l). I dont want a unit that hangs from the ceiling.

This is my first post so go easy on me  All advice will be appreciated.


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## ozman (Sep 7, 2012)

why do want to change your lighting if as you say your fish pop? you want to go to the next level, i don't understand what your looking for given your fish already "pop" with what you have?


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## dazsmith1988 (May 15, 2013)

ozman: my t8 looks decent but it could look better. Looking for brighter/clearer lighting. My water is crystal clear as im running a fluval fx5 filter but i want to show this off with the lighting


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## ratbones86 (Jun 29, 2012)

Well The lighting is all on how you want it to look. I like this rule of thumb i learned watching a video on youtube Your light needs to be 1 foot shorter than your tank or giving if smaller tanks 1/4 the size shorter. So 5 ft tank i would use 48" led's myself. I like the led's because it gives the nice clear crisp clean look to the water. The t5's are great also and you can use different bulbs to give different effects. The led's you can customize as well by using an rbg adapter and playing with the settings. Its all basically on what you think looks good. I would go led's and just look on ebay the mairenland led's seem to be pretty good right now. Led's and the nice t5 light set ups all have legs that you can use to set on top of the glass tops of the tank. Just check out ebay or something to get an idea on what you would like and look at youtube video's by searching the kind of lights used in the tank and see the difference. All on what you like. (i would go led's)


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## fmueller (Jan 11, 2004)

The way I see it, the main difference between T8, T5 and LED are purchase cost and energy efficiency. As the purchase cost goes up, your energy cost goes down. I have no personal experience with LED yet, but it is obviously the way of the future. In a few years most, if not all of us, are going to have it.

As for "making the fish pop", the color temperature of the light is more important than the technology supplying it. I still use T8 lighting, and I prefer to use 6500K, which approximates natural daylight. If I wanted to change the look of the tank, I'd experiment with various color temperature of T8 tubes. If I wanted to lower my energy cost / do something for the environment, I'd go for T5 or LED.

Just my 2c.


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## ratbones86 (Jun 29, 2012)

I use t8 bulbs on my 55g and i use a Daylight bulb with color enhancers and a 50/50 actinic bulb and my fish look great.


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## DontPanic (Apr 2, 2013)

I am using a 48" BeamsWork Quad LED (6500k) on my 75 gal and love the way it looks. Very natural light and with the surface agitation from my HOB filter and spray bar, the shimmer is pretty cool. Haven't run anything else on this tank so can't say if its better/worse but can say that everyone that I have shown it to loves the light.


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## M1K3L (May 26, 2013)

I am trying a new LED fixture by Hagen. 
It's the Fluval Performance LED Strip Light. They make it for freshwater and salt.
I have two of the freshwater versions. It makes lighting simple for laypeople like myself.

The 48" I have uses 692 low wattage LEDs with the following light spectrum and bulb count.
460 nm (66 bulbs)
640 nm (88 bulbs)
3000K (194 bulbs)
6000K (282 bulbs)
15000K (66 bulbs)

It produces a total of 2340 lumens and has a night light feature. 
The only con I have found so far, is I can not use a timer for both the daytime and night light, as they run off a single power source. 
However, I could not find any other fixtures in this price range with a dual power supply so I can't really complain.
My fish, plants, power bill and myself all love these lighting fixtures.
It's rated at 50,000 hours.


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## M1K3L (May 26, 2013)

oops! I gave the total lumens for the saltwater one.
The lumens for the freshwater are 3475.


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## BillD (May 17, 2005)

Further to what fmueller stated above, the colour temp is only part of the equation. The colour temp will give you a guide to the general appearance, but not how well it will render colour. Lamps have a CRI, Colour Rendition Index, which will tell you more than the colour temp will. The "Daylight" tubes which are generally around 6500K are cooler in colour than natural sunlight on the equator at noon, which is around 5500K. The Daylights would more approximate early morning or late afternoon. Natural sunlight has a CRI of 100. A lamp that has a CRI as close to this as is possible, will render colour more like natural light. Lamps of the same colour temp, especially between manufactueres, but even within the same brand, can have vastly different CRI numbers. For example, Philips makes several T8 lamps in 5000K with CRI numbers that range from 82 up to about 96. The lamps will give the same general appearance but the ones with the higher CRI will obviously render colour more accurately.
Having said all that, it is quite obvious that many aquarists could care less about natural colour, but prefer a more artificial look, with certain colours enhanced or even exaggerated. So, the bottom line is that with some research you can create the look you want, perhaps cheaply, or expensively, as you choose. Of course, everyone has an opinion. Personally, I like the more natural look of 5000K lamps, and they are very cheap to buy, and they grow plants very well.


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