t5 vs PC?

[Paradox]

Hi, Im looking into T5s to replace my PCs for actinic supplementation and was wondering if I can get some of your opinions.

Currently im running 2 175 watt ushio 10ks. I like the growth, but they are a little yellow on my side. To blue this out, I have about 300 watts of PC actinics. However, I still want it to be bluer. I was thinking about getting 14ks next time for the hallides, but I realised I can just convert my workhorse 7 that is running 200 watts of PCs to run 4 39watt t5s.

Ive been hearing a lot of great things about the T5s and was wondering if four 39 watt T5s will will be bluer than 300 watts of power compact actinics. So thats a total of 160 watts of T5 versus 300 Watts of PC. I have not found the PC to be very good at supplementing actinics. I like the way 20k hallides look alone and am shooting for that with the combination of 10ks and actinics, but I need more blue.

Do you think Id be better off keeping the PCs and getting 14k hallides next time or should I go the T5 route?

Thanks!!

[Dragon]

Yeah I like the 20k's halides with 10k's as supplements. As for the T5's I've heard nothing but things about them. I've also heard they can last up to 2 years before changing them. I'm trying to decide on going with VHO's or T5's.

[chewie]

I don't know if the T5's will help you or not, but I would like to suggest a different MH bulb than the 10k or the 14k.

I recently bought a pair of PFO's new 13k bulbs, to replace my 400w ushios.

At first I didn't like the 13k's because they reminded me of my Radiums, only brighter. They burned VERY blue for the first week. Now after almost 3 weeks, I'm very pleased with these bulbs. The 13k's are white with a slight touch of blue. I'm running them off of a PFO dual 400w HQI ballast.

I also bought a 175w 13k to replace my 175w ushio. It looks really nice too, still blue but I have only ran it for a couple of hours. We'll see how it looks in a week. This is ran off a standard PFO 175w ballast.

If you can, try to take a look at a LFS tank or another reefers tank with these bulbs on it. I wouldn't have bought these bulbs without seeing them fired up over a tank.

HTH

[Paradox]

Thanks for the comments..I will keep the 13ks in mind =)