# T5 Or Led???



## dht (Dec 25, 2011)

i have a 180 gallon (cycling) 72x24x24,,,, i want plants eventually ,i want to be able to add just about any thing,i have found a 
72 inch t5 ho fixture with 4x 6500k bulbs ,80 watts a bulb (320 watts) with 5 blue led's,and a timer

also i have found a 
36 inch LED fixture with 44X 6500k 3 watt LED'S,( 264 watts with 2) 6480 lumens,,,,, i would need 2 fixtures.



please help me decide ,this is a 180 gallon tank ,i need to light the whole tank up as well as grow plants ,thank u all in advance.


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## Reefing Madness (Aug 12, 2011)

LED fixture would be quite fine. 2 Units, to cover the entire tank.


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## dht (Dec 25, 2011)

yea ,ive started to get my head turned to the led ,,i just was worried it might not grow plants ,because ive never really had a led ,i dont know much about them ,and i dont even know what lumens are.apparently this led has alot. and it seems like alot of watts and its 6500k leds so ,i think your right ,i still would like some more comments though


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## Reefing Madness (Aug 12, 2011)

No, that Unit doesn't have alot of Lumens to it, its about norm for its wattage. It will grow plants, ya just gotta have lil faith here. They actually do better than the other lamps out there.


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## rtmaston (Jul 14, 2012)

I like the leds light.i just got the one from marineland there newest led lightwith moon light and timer. the tank looks much better with led.good luck


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## dht (Dec 25, 2011)

im conserned about the spread of light the led has ,im afraid it wont light up the whole tank,with leds they actually beam straight down the tank.


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## coralbandit (Jul 29, 2012)

see if you can find angle of the lens.That will explain the "spread".
I use leds on all my tanks and they will grow plants,with the exception of my salts they are in general to powerful IMO.I have done nothing but reduce the number of strips or raise them highr above the tank to attempt to control algae.Co2 is my next course of action.
I use Current True Lumen Pro and have 2 4 foot strips on my 180 now(had 6 in the beginning),at least I have only needed to reduce instead of add.
The same light on my reefs do awsome(4 on 75 and 120).


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## Reefing Madness (Aug 12, 2011)

You want 60-90 degree focusing lenses on the LEDs. Anything less and it looks like a spot light, and anything more and its too dispersed. Although the Exxotic LED strip lights are pretty strong by themselves.
Man, we could get into this and it would just go on and on.
10w LED spot lamps are very good without lenses also.
Par 38 LEDs are fantastic without lenses.
But these guys use reflectors to force the light into an area.
LED Spotlight IP65 Waterproof RGB Colour Changing LED Floodlight 10W 20W 30W 50W | eBay
par 38 aquarium led | eBay


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## dht (Dec 25, 2011)

they dont say anything about the lenses in the lights description 

EVO Quad 36" Timer 6500K LED Aquarium Light Freshwater Plant Tetra Discus 44x 3W | eBay


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## Reefing Madness (Aug 12, 2011)

Those just use reflectors, and your safe with those.


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