t8 vs t5

ok so i just ordered a new t5 lighting unit one white one blue. i had power glo 30w and marine blue 30w t8 and my giant mushroom cup and button polyp are srinking or not opening at all am i going 2 see a differents and is the lighting going 2 be stronger im new 2 this and learning.oh ya i heard you have to get a fan 2 cool down the bulbs is this ture ?

 

t12/t8 lights are rated lower than t5. the lights emit ah higher color temp to promote coral growth. thus increasing water temp. the fans will help keep the excess heat away. the life of any lighting system will benefit from cooling by fans.

 

wow thats a terrible answer. t12s and t8s are available in all the standard color temps same as t5.

higher color temp means better coral coloration, but actually worse growth... standard full spectrum daylight 6500k bulbs are best for coral growth but look yellow which is unappealing especially w/o actinic supplementation (actinics btw do very little in terms of coral growth, but they make the corals glow and look beautiful.

so what really matters is how many watts you gained and how your overall color spec is different, a general rule of thumb is that the bluer the light the less growth youll see given the same number of watts.

how many watts is your new system.... if its less than ur old system i hate to say it but ur probably not gonna see much difference in growth unless the. orals are below the middle of the tank t5s have better penetration at depth or unless your old lights didnt have much in the way of reflectors (rerlectors make a pretty substantial difference)

im guessing ur new systtem is around 80w so with better reflectors which im sure ur system has they will probqbly do better. if they still arent opening up and growing after the switch swap out the actinic for a 10k or 50/50 bulb. running two 10k bulbs will give you plenty of light then if you want some glow throw the old fixture on top with the marine blue bulb in there

oh and to above poster, color temp has nothing to do with the heat output of the bulb... just the spectrum of the light (not entirely true) and u wont need cooling fans for such a low wattage system.

what size is your aquarium and how tall is it?

 

its 200liters 55cm tall 110cm long dont know the watts of new system ordered it over the phone will ask them to day and post details thanks for the help