Anyone here ever use T6 lighting?

I know I'm driving a few of you crazy with light questions but I have another one. Anyone here ever use T6 lighting and what's the difference between T5 & T6 other than the bulb size?

 

i dont know if t6 is popular yet, i believe t5 has more benefits and will be the winner in the long run.

 

the regular t6 is'nt overdriven and can be used in a regular t8 fixture,it has 32 watts.the 55watt ones need a overdriven ballast like the t5's do,its at 55watts.the advantage of t5's is that they are thinner than the t6 so the light does'nt reflect back off the reflector onto itself which heats the bulb reducing its life and reducing the amount of light reflected back into the tank.the t6 has been around but lost popularity for some reason and they are trying to bring it back,but i don't think it will be around long cause the t5 is already here and a bit better.

 

Yes I have posted about them on this and other sites four a few yrs now.. Better then T 5 and the best thing is no retro fitting they will set right into a socket for T 12 and T 8's That was good when we where changing bulbs and fixtures for offices and factories with hundred of lamps to keep lighting cost down. Thats where the T 5's really started and they still suck i think VHO be them and P/C to death and the T5 will go the way of the P/C in a yr or two..
Like the Old Edsel LOL was a gotta have car then in a yr it was history and it was Junk from Detroit. The T5 is far better then the P/C and there is a place and need for them with folks who don't use a hood to build their own light set and put them in.. If you had a Full hood I could build you a 4 bulb set of VHO's with dual electronic ballast for 250.00 and then you see some real light..

 

and if I had a hubby that would let me spend 250 on lights I would get them ;D LOL he's getting real cheap on me. I'm thinking about flash lights and how bright can I find them isn't there one that is like 10k candle light now?? wonder how that would fit into his budget LOL

this is the reason I ask about T6's ... https://www.aquatraders.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=313

I know the brand name sucks and the store they're in has a bad rep., but hey for the money it's probably better than what I have now...in fact ANYTHING is better than what I have now LOL waddya thank? I called them and they said the ballast is T6(???) and they are HO

 

Here is where a lot of people get confused... There are T5's and then there is T5HO. The T5 part is diameter rating. A stand 48" 40w normal output fluorescent is a T12. The T rating has nothing to do with the amount of light the bulb produces. The ballast is the key. The T5HO ballast is much larger then a standard T5 ballast, and T5HO bulbs are made differently then the standard T5 bulbs which is why you cant run a stands T5 in a T5HO fixture, or not for long cause it blow out pretty quick.

VHO is a over driven T12. Again you cant just use any T12 bulb, it has to be a VHO T12 bulb or it will blow out pretty quick.

As for T6's, They are fairly new to the market and the only brands Ive seen producing them are brands you dont wanna buy from anyways.

VHO's are their way out because T5HO's are really catching on and several people are switching from metal halides and VHO's to T5HO's simply because watt for watt, you get more from the T5HO as far as intensity in the common home aquarium which is less then 18"s from the water surface to the sandbed surface. I can take corals that have been under 250w metal halides and bleach them under T5HOs.

With metal halides, they are point source lights, where as T5HO's you get the same intensity across the whole light bulb(usually the length of the tank) when you normally would have to have multiple metalhalides to get the same effect. 216w of T5HO is equalvalent to 400w metal halide which is why I bleach corals that wre kept under 250w metal halides. I a 4x54w unit on a 75g and I honestly think its too much light. Ive had to cut back on my use of lights cause of it. My zoanthids grow really fast where as my SPS start to bleach next to them, I can move the SPS back down, and they start to color back up.

 

Machado is a coral farmer and he only uses T5HO's. So if there is any doubt about T5HO's can out perform metal halides and VHO's, dont you think the farmers would be using something else instead of getting rid of their Metal halide and VHOs? I know there are some non-believers out there ***cough..tangster..cough*** hahahah!


Machado deSousa's Coral Farm

 

hey chap! Thanks for sharing this link! It looks like a good deal! I hope they can ship this stuff to the Netherlands!

Cheers!

 

The short answer is that the "T" number is the diameter of the bulb in 1/8s of an inch.
So T5 is 5/8 (0.625) inch diameter, T6 is 3/4 inch, and T8 is 1 inch, and T12 is 1 1/2 inch. T5, T8 and T12 generally come in 2, 3 and 4 foot lengths.

 

SAW...I know the differences in the sizes, as I stated in the original post. I was wondering if anyone here had ever used them and how they liked them, compared to T5's (in performance).