T5 lighting

[Tanzy]

I was at a LFS and I saw my first T5 lighted tank. It had 2 white and 2 blue(doesn't even look Actinic) 54w tubes. It was next to a tank lit with 2 AB 150w 10kK MH bulbs so I got to compare the colour. Needless to say the MH is brighter with glitter lines, but the T5 gave an even spread of light throughout the tank. Odd thing was the T5 tank looked very blue and washed out compared to the MH. It seems as though red and orange were missing in the spectrum. The tank looked pretty sick. Corals showed no sign of fluorescent, which leads me to suspect that the blue tube is not real actinic. FL or PL usually give beautiful colours that beat MH but T5 just don't seem to perform. I suspect that aquarium oriented tubes must be developed to tap their full potential. The LFS owner said that T5 tubes were originally developed for display cases so little attention was paid to spectrum and the blue may be just blue tubes because they also have magenta, red, orange, green, etc tubes.

[Achilles Tang]

Whereabouts in the UK are you in Tanz?

[Tanzy]

Nothing.

[Tanzy]

This part of UK.

[hongqixian]

I've heard that the URI bulbs from US are good. Have you tried those?

[Tanzy]

I've always used URI VHO tubes.

They don't produce T5 tubes.

[benny]

This part of UK.

Hey Tanzy,

I was just on the Ferris wheel last week! Not too many LFS in London. And the rest are too far away.....

[Tanzy]

benny,

There's actually only one decent one in central London that carry marine livestocks. Were you on holiday?

[Stenopus Hispidus]

Tanzy wrote....This part of UK.

Hi Tanzy, sorry a bit off topic here but did you just take that picture of the ferris wheel using a d.cam. I was wondering how you took in the dark and yet appear correctly exposed and sharp cos the flashlights cannot illuminate landscape shots like that. You must be using a camera stand with slow shutter setting right? Normal Dcam shutter speeds are quite limited compared to film cam and needs lots of adjustment for night landscape shots. What's that you are using - a Nikon D1?

Good shot anyway..

BTW, how is the standard of LFS in London. Are they cleaner, bigger, stocks more high end stuff (instead of bubble driven filters still prevalent in local LFS)? Are the staff knowledgeable and pass sound advise compared to local LFS some of whom may not even know what they are saying?

[Tanzy]

That shot was taken using Sony DSC-S75 at F/2, 1/2 sec, ISO 100 from Westminster bridge. The subject is the London Eye and the County Hall building on the right with Shell building in the background. The shot was taken without a tripod but by placing the camera on the bridge railing. I have no problems with shutter speeds with digital cameras.

Thanx for the complement! This is one of my favorite shot because of the colours and the lighting.

The LFS here are generally cleaner and more sophisticated than the ones in Singapore. Most of the coral stock tanks are lit by MH. Filtration is a combination of bioballs, DSB, skimmers, etc. The staff is average, maybe a bit more well read than the Singaporean staff but not much better. Stock is pretty good, you can get all types of corals and fish at the larger stores. Large range of equipment from US and Germany too!

If you are interested, I've got some more shots I took of London here.

[BarraCudaTM]

it would be interesting to see pics of the LFS of london

[Tanzy]

I wanted to. I brought a camera but they said no. <_

[BarraCudaTM]

trade secrets?

[benny]

benny,

There's actually only one decent one in central London that carry marine livestocks. Were you on holiday?

Was on a business trip. So don't have time to get out of London. But did manage to go on the London Eye on a nice sunny afternoon. My opinion after reading the British fishkeeping mags is that basically they have bigger shops and more variety. As far as asthetics and technical knowledge (not equipment), we seem to be ahead.

Can you recommend the good marine shop, I may need to pick up some equipment for a friend when I go up next time. Also, any good shop for planted aquaria? Was trying to located an external CO2 reactor from Aqua Medic/Aqualine but both in London and Cannes (France), they don't seem to stock planted equipment or carry the brand. I though Aquamedic is pretty establised both for marine and freshwater.

[Tanzy]

They don't have a lot of planted stuff here. Also, I don't advise you to buy equipment in UK because it's very expensive due to the exchange rate. If possible, get in Germany where it is the cheapest.

I know of one LFS in Zone 1, it's on Great Portland Street. Nearest tube Oxford Circus. Get out of the station on the Nike Town side, walk north towards All Souls Church, at the church turn right, at junction turn left on to Great Portland Street. The shop will be on the left side 100m north. Never bothered to remember the name too. The better ones are much futher away.

Barra,

Maybe. I don't know. Prevent competition from know your stock perhaps.