# T8 vs T5



## Jayy (Dec 23, 2009)

I bought two aqueon colormax bulbs for my 55 gallon inorder to help my plants grow, but I'm not sure if they'll work. The box says it hightlights colors of fish and live plants, but says nothing about helping the plants grow. Should return them again ( first time bought wrong size) and try the floramax which says it helps plants grow, but is also a T8, or buy a whole different brand?:-?


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## Byron (Mar 7, 2009)

First off, T8 and T5 are two very different types of tubes that will only work in the appropriate fixture, i.e., T8 works in a T8 (normal) fluorescent fixture, but T5 requires a T5 fixture. When you tell us this, I can comment further on the tubes.


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## Jayy (Dec 23, 2009)

Oh, I feel dumb. I have to have T8 bulbs then.


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## Byron (Mar 7, 2009)

It is a common misunderstanding, believe me.

OK, so you have a 4-foot tank and a T8 (regular fluorescent) fixture that takes two 48-inch tubes. The Aqueon Colormax should be fine for the plants. I found the spectrum graph here
Buy Aqueon Colormax Color Enhancing Fluorescent Lamp from FosterAndSmithAquatics
and that looks good. I would expect this to be a bit "warm" but that is a color perception to us and not the plants, so if you like the color rendition, fine.

These tubes are not as intense light as what I would normally use/suggest, but as you have two of them, that issue is likely solved. A single tube would be a different story.

Byron.


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## Jayy (Dec 23, 2009)

Ok thanks alot!!!  The bulbs are 18inch the 24in were too big( had to return them) My hood is two parts, not one long fixture.


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## Mikaila31 (Dec 18, 2008)

Byron said:


> It is a common misunderstanding, believe me.
> 
> OK, so you have a 4-foot tank and a T8 (regular fluorescent) fixture that takes two 48-inch tubes. The Aqueon Colormax should be fine for the plants. I found the spectrum graph here
> Buy Aqueon Colormax Color Enhancing Fluorescent Lamp from FosterAndSmithAquatics
> ...


This may be be the case, however most common 55 gallon setups I have seen either have 1 four foot bulb or a split hood that runs two 15 watt bulbs.


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## Jayy (Dec 23, 2009)

Yes that's true. My hood is two parts and it was confusing atfirst beacause I thought it took two 24in bulbs,but it takes two 18in ones instead.


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## Byron (Mar 7, 2009)

That makes a difference. Two Aqueon 18-inch tubes will not be sufficient in my view.

You have two options. To go with the existing fixture, I would suggest Power-Glo tubes (also Hagen). More intense than even Life-Glo, though I personally do not like the purplish hue. But that is what I expect the Aqueon give, so you may like it. The light intensity is there, so again the plants are fine. What you perceive is a matter of personal preference. I prefer the cooler white light which Life-glo would give. These are the best tubes I know of, but it is still on the minimal side, though it may work and be worth a try if a new fixture is not in the picture.

Second option is a new fixture, a single 48-inch T5 will work or a dual 48-inch T8. A single T8 is also doable, I used to have one on my former 55g, but it will limit you more than the other two.

Byron.


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## Jayy (Dec 23, 2009)

I'll see If I can find them( petsmart stopped carrying them) but If I don't are there any others out there, maybe at petco?


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## Jayy (Dec 23, 2009)

What about zoomed, are they any good and if so which one??? I'm thinking oceansun it has gotten some good reviews from people with planted tanks.


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## genewitch (Jun 27, 2011)

local hardware stores sell lots of fixtures - and for much less than what they'd cost at a fish store. I am switching to a shop light with T5s for my 48" because the bulbs that are in there cost $25 each, allegedly, and there's four of them.


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## Byron (Mar 7, 2009)

Jayy said:


> What about zoomed, are they any good and if so which one??? I'm thinking oceansun it has gotten some good reviews from people with planted tanks.


The ZooMed Ultra Sun is very close to the Life-Glo and these give the best plant light plus the best colour rendition. Daylight tubes that you can buy in hardware stores are very similar with respect to the spectrum and colour. The differences among these is in intensity. Ocean Sun has more blue and less red; I have used it in combo with Life-Glo for a slightly cooler white. But the red is not strong on its own.

With dual tubes over a 4-foot tank intensity is not so much of an issue because any of the afore-mentioned will work. But when you are struggling with what is really minimal if not too little, the choice of tube can make it or break it, and the better light intensity from a tube like Life-Glo or Power-Glo might be the difference between live and not-very-alive plants.


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## Byron (Mar 7, 2009)

genewitch said:


> local hardware stores sell lots of fixtures - and for much less than what they'd cost at a fish store. I am switching to a shop light with T5s for my 48" because the bulbs that are in there cost $25 each, allegedly, and there's four of them.


We are talking two different things, fixtures being one and the tubes in them the other.

Once you decide on type of fixture, whether T8 (regular) or T5, you are then limited to those types of tubes. T5 tubes are considerably more expensive, plus they are more intense light; assuming T5 HO (high output) which is the most commonly available tube for T5.

If you are talking 48-inch tubes in this T5 over a 48-inch tank, four tubes is way too much, four times too much. You will have an algae soup. A single T5 HO tube, or two T8 tubes, is sufficient and all you want over a 4-foot 55g tank.


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## genewitch (Jun 27, 2011)

Byron said:


> We are talking two different things, fixtures being one and the tubes in them the other.
> 
> Once you decide on type of fixture, whether T8 (regular) or T5, you are then limited to those types of tubes. T5 tubes are considerably more expensive, plus they are more intense light; assuming T5 HO (high output) which is the most commonly available tube for T5.
> 
> If you are talking 48-inch tubes in this T5 over a 48-inch tank, four tubes is way too much, four times too much. You will have an algae soup. A single T5 HO tube, or two T8 tubes, is sufficient and all you want over a 4-foot 55g tank.


Right, my current fixture has these four-pin U shaped bulbs, four of them on two switches. Those bulbs are expensive. I want to replace it with a shop fixture with probably 2 T8 so i can control the color better. I get a huge discount at the hardware store so it's more "which is literally better for a planted tank" than "cost concerns." and personally i feel like the T8 sized bulb itself is easier for me to *not break* than T12 or T5.

Also, i've never seen (and people looked at me funny when i asked about) T5 *HO* bulbs... is that something that's on the 48" but not the smaller ones, or vice versa? Are non-High-Output bulbs _better_ for aquariums? All the bulbs i saw were being sold by lumens, color (6700 being the most common), and wattages.

Found this, i will go with T8:http://lightingsolutions.ca/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=25&Itemid=26


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## Byron (Mar 7, 2009)

genewitch said:


> Right, my current fixture has these four-pin U shaped bulbs, four of them on two switches. Those bulbs are expensive. I want to replace it with a shop fixture with probably 2 T8 so i can control the color better. I get a huge discount at the hardware store so it's more "which is literally better for a planted tank" than "cost concerns." and personally i feel like the T8 sized bulb itself is easier for me to *not break* than T12 or T5.
> 
> Also, i've never seen (and people looked at me funny when i asked about) T5 *HO* bulbs... is that something that's on the 48" but not the smaller ones, or vice versa? Are non-High-Output bulbs _better_ for aquariums? All the bulbs i saw were being sold by lumens, color (6700 being the most common), and wattages.
> 
> Found this, i will go with T8:T8 versus T5 Fluorescent: A Brief Analysis - Lighting Solutions - See the Savings. See the Light.


First on the article, it is generally true. However, the "efficiency" comes at a cost of increased light intensity, as I will explain, and this is not always good.

Watts is only the amount of energy used to produce the light, so it is basically irrelevant with respect to light intensity with the newer tubes that are no longer close to the old "watts per gallon" idea. Kelvin (the 6500K) is the colour temperature as we perceive it. Spectrum is the wavelength colour produced by the tube, important for plants that need red and blue. Lumens is the intensity. All these are important; but comparing tube to tube is not always easy because manufacturers can make tubes differently, using different phosphors for instance, so each tube has to be looked at. All these apply to any tube, T8, T5 HO, etc.

"T" refers to the tube diameter in eighths of an inch. It is true that a T8 is more efficient than the older T12 because the technology allows a more efficient use of energy to produce the light. T5 takes this further, but also results in more intense light for the tube size. A 48-inch T5 HO tube will produce 1.5 times more light intensity than the same sized T8 tube in the same spectrum. In other words, a 48-inch T5 HO Life-Glo 2 produces the exact same type of light (spectrum, CRI, etc) as a T8 48-inch but it is 1.5 times more intense (bright). So two T5 HO tubes equals three T8 tubes when the type and length is the same. That is considerably more light.

The HO (high output) is the most common type of T5. T5 NO (normal output) is basically the same as a same length T8 so obviously there is less call for them, since they are more expensive (fixtures and tubes) and not many will spend considerably more money for T5 NO instead of T8 which does the same. So the HO is the "advantage." But this is OK if we are talking marine tanks with corals that need more light, where it would be less expensive long-term due to less energy costs. Over a freshwater tank the only advantage comes with high-tech planted tanks where you can achieve more light (to balance the added CO2 etc) with less tubes. Over a natural low-tech planted system T5 HO is too much light except when you get into 4-foot tanks where you can make do with one tube instead of 2. But the fixtures and tubes cost more, so the savings is relative. Tubes need replacing regularly as they lose intensity the longer they burn. Where I live, a Life-Glo T8 costs about $30 and the T5 HO is $50. That is quite a difference when I have to replace the tubes every year.


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## Mikaila31 (Dec 18, 2008)

genewitch said:


> Right, my current fixture has these four-pin U shaped bulbs, four of them on two switches. Those bulbs are expensive. I want to replace it with a shop fixture with probably 2 T8 so i can control the color better. I get a huge discount at the hardware store so it's more "which is literally better for a planted tank" than "cost concerns." and personally i feel like the T8 sized bulb itself is easier for me to *not break* than T12 or T5.
> 
> Also, i've never seen (and people looked at me funny when i asked about) T5 *HO* bulbs... is that something that's on the 48" but not the smaller ones, or vice versa? Are non-High-Output bulbs _better_ for aquariums? All the bulbs i saw were being sold by lumens, color (6700 being the most common), and wattages.
> 
> Found this, i will go with T8:T8 versus T5 Fluorescent: A Brief Analysis - Lighting Solutions - See the Savings. See the Light.


Sounds like you have power compacts currently. Almost wish I could have your fixture if you don't like it. If its a 4 foot tank then you probably have a 4 x 55 watt fixture. I'm not sure what kinda bulbs you buy but mine cost around $16 each after shipping. A generic 54W 6500K T5 HO bulb costs about $11. 

If you want to see T5s go to home depot, they sell shop light fixtures with normal output T5 bulbs.


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## Jayy (Dec 23, 2009)

Byron said:


> The ZooMed Ultra Sun is very close to the Life-Glo and these give the best plant light plus the best colour rendition. Daylight tubes that you can buy in hardware stores are very similar with respect to the spectrum and colour. The differences among these is in intensity. Ocean Sun has more blue and less red; I have used it in combo with Life-Glo for a slightly cooler white. But the red is not strong on its own.
> 
> With dual tubes over a 4-foot tank intensity is not so much of an issue because any of the afore-mentioned will work. But when you are struggling with what is really minimal if not too little, the choice of tube can make it or break it, and the better light intensity from a tube like Life-Glo or Power-Glo might be the difference between live and not-very-alive plants.


 ok if i can't find the 
Life or power glo I'll go with the zoomed. Thanks for the help: -)


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