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Back to T5, mistake ?

eminor

Member
Joined
5 Feb 2021
Messages
784
Location
France
Hello, I made a LED light but the rendering is not great, I went to a specialized store for aquarium, there is only one LED light that seemed correct, but it is far too expensive for me. I thought of switching back to T5, do you think it's a mistake, I came across this kind of t5 tubes, is it correct for aquarium, does the t5 still have a future?

I always found the T5 to be nicer, i want to mix 6500°K with 4000°K

Link of the tubes
 
most of the truly beautiful tanks run t5. they are coming back recently. they'll grow plants just as well and also a lot of option with colour spectrum and bulb choice.
 
most of the truly beautiful tanks run t5. they are coming back recently. they'll grow plants just as well and also a lot of option with colour spectrum and bulb choice.
Yes, i wanted to try led because people said to me that it was better ans futurproof, old good T5 is back for me
 
A lot of the t5 tubes now have t5 replacement LEDs tubes but despite the claims the rendition what we see are not always as claimed by manafacturers
 
most of the truly beautiful tanks run t5. they are coming back recently. they'll grow plants just as well and also a lot of option with colour spectrum and bulb choice.
Just out of curiosity, what is it you find LED is lacking, considering many LED lights have full control over the color?
On the groups I'm on I almost only see LED lights, same with those few IAPCL top rankers that I've seen the whole shot (including light) of, have LED. Again just curiosity, as I personally have no real preference, but what makes you say most of the truly beautiful tanks have t5?
 
but what makes you say most of the truly beautiful tanks have t5?
Easier/cheaper to play around with different T5 colour combinations of tubes, where as LED your stuck with LED chips the product has, some you can adjust the spectrum but that is still limited to the chips fitted.
 
Easier/cheaper to play around with different T5 colour combinations of tubes, where as LED your stuck with LED chips the product has, some you can adjust the spectrum but that is still limited to the chips fitted
That could be a reason to prefer t5. But the claim that most truly beautiful tanks use t5, and that to me is a bold claim that I'd like to see backed up. I rarely see t5 if at all...

*edited my response to stay closer to my question
 
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I guess T5 is a lot more consistent regarding brands and their colour specifications... That's why most people stick with the brands they know to be in their taste. But the colour differences even in T5 still varies from one brand to another. As in the LEDs, there can be huge differences depending on the manufacturing process.

That's why nowadays the Kelvin Index is about to be replaced with CRI (Color Rendering Index) Ra <60-100 for LED lights... The closest to 100 should give the best real-time or true colour display. The cheaper budget LEDs yet do not have this CRI value and still specify Kelvin simply because the majority of the public is familiar with it and takes it for granted and doesn't know where they are looking at anyway other than yellow or white.

For now, we have to look at the more expensive and higher-end LED manufacturers to get a CRI specification...

And then still it all comes back to taste and how your eyes/brains perceive it all... There is no guarantee that a CRI 100 LED is to your liking.
 
Just out of curiosity, what is it you find LED is lacking, considering many LED lights have full control over the color?
On the groups I'm on I almost only see LED lights, same with those few IAPCL top rankers that I've seen the whole shot (including light) of, have LED. Again just curiosity, as I personally have no real preference, but what makes you say most of the truly beautiful tanks have t5?
very few led have yellow/orange spectrum. also purple. those bulbs helps make plants such as pantanal and ammania 'golden' pop and show true colours. personally i am not a huge fan of iaplc (please don't kill me) it focuses more on hardscape and moss. it's just not my thing.
here are a few of my favourite tanks.

my statement was a tad bold. I meant to say the tanks I find beautiful most of the time run t5.
 
very few led have yellow/orange spectrum. also purple. those bulbs helps make plants such as pantanal and ammania 'golden' pop and show true colours. personally i am not a huge fan of iaplc (please don't kill me) it focuses more on hardscape and moss. it's just not my thing.
here are a few of my favourite tanks.

my statement was a tad bold. I meant to say the tanks I find beautiful most of the time run t5.

I have a Pink T5 don't know what the purpose of it but never found same effect with LED, the colors everything kind of come to your face

you use pink tubes on your 20G amazing "mess" right ?
 
I have a Pink T5 don't know what the purpose of it but never found same effect with LED, the colors everything kind of come to your face

you use pink tubes on your 20G amazing "mess" right ?
that is not my tank. i wish! the person uses 3x JBL Solar Color, 1x 1 ATI 10000K Reef White. jbl colour is quite pink yes.
 
thx, i think i have a problem, I have an odyssea T5HO ramp, I installed it on a mechanical timer, from time to time the lighting ramp turns on for half a second when it's supposed to be off, any idea where this can come from?

is it bad for the tubes ? thx
 
You only need to go back 7-8 years and the majority of planted tanks used T5s.
Interestingly, as I remember it, there seemed to be far more pictures of beautiful tanks on this forum and far less post about lighting issues ?
The T5 guide lines were simple and accurate as the tubes were long term tried and tested unlike LEDs that still seem to be an enigma!
 
You only need to go back 7-8 years and the majority of planted tanks used T5s.
Interestingly, as I remember it, there seemed to be far more pictures of beautiful tanks on this forum and far less post about lighting issues ?
The T5 guide lines were simple and accurate as the tubes were long term tried and tested unlike LEDs that still seem to be an enigma!
There were also less variables to adjust so less ways to make mistakes. I always disliked the pink and to my eye unnatural hue of many t8 and t5 tanks, so I embraced led once the first lights appeared that seemed sufficiently powerful as the whiter light at that time seemed more natural to me. I no longer feel that way either, so now I'll be trying wrgb led lights that I can adjust the settings to find a colour I now feel is most natural. As always its down to individual preference. Some of the examples posted are amazing tanks and there isnt anything wrong with using t5 or even t8 or metal halide which was the best according to many back in the day. In the end whenever the sun briefly hits the tank and you see the colours of the fish light up and the shimmer going over the plants you realise that everything just pales in comparison. :)
 
You only need to go back 7-8 years and the majority of planted tanks used T5s.
Interestingly, as I remember it, there seemed to be far more pictures of beautiful tanks on this forum and far less post about lighting issues ?
Go back 20~30 years and folks were probably using metal halide or sodium bulbs to good effect?

We follow trends, I'm assuming aquatic Gardens have followed or copied our dry growing cousins that revolutionised grow rooms, aka bang for buck, in that scence led's win the hand.

For many, led's "fit" a niche, for most a good quality fluorescent would equally fit that niche and grow lovely plants... Will you find a sexy fluorescent tube that todays aquaskpers will buy in to?? Doubtful... will you find beautiful aquaskapes powerd by fluorescent tubes.. obviously, see above links.

A good workman doesn't blame his tools, a bad one just makes excuses 🙄
 
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You only need to go back 7-8 years and the majority of planted tanks used T5s.
Interestingly, as I remember it, there seemed to be far more pictures of beautiful tanks on this forum and far less post about lighting issues ?
The T5 guide lines were simple and accurate as the tubes were long term tried and tested unlike LEDs that still seem to be an enigma!

April 2011

December 2011

somewhere in 2015

Now we are 6 years further into development with LED types coming and going with the speed of light :hungry: and I guess this is what fuels the enigma. It comes and goes too fast, you are not yet done testing and it is discarded again from development and replaced with something else presumably better? I made my first DIY LED with the latest development SMD8520 dual-chip LED in 2015 and I was actually very pleased with it. Back then it was the only one performing with 65 Lumens p/chip. Today the exact same LEDs are no longer produced by the same factory... Only can find look alike spinoffs from questionable sources giving shady specifications.

Performance-wise the SMD fell a bit out of grace and developers were more aiming towards improving COB LED, having much more performance with a smaller footprint. Kessel Aquarium Light Jumped on it as an early bird.

They all run into the same issue, it all develops so fast and before they are done building and selling the stock it's outdated again. How do you test something for the long term that has no consistency and a specific model's development is halted, discarded and taken over by copycats making it from inferior and cheaper materials?

In hour country we use the expression "It still stands in Children's Shoes" and we as customers can't see the forest for the trees. Overwhelmed with choices with shady specifications...
 
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What is mystifying is the speed in which companys discarded t5 (and t8 for that matter )to get on the LED bandwagon. Arcadia discontinued a lot of their catalogue probably to sell their LED range. Anyone new or back to the hobby can take a look at amazing tanks pre LED to see what can be achieved with t5 t8 and t12.
 
My only concern is that t5 tubes and the rest of fluorescent lights cannot be dimmed so no control of brightness or sunrise/sunset effect. I found those super useful
 
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