Anyone tried these T5 fixtures?
 

I was looking at these T5 fixtures. They come with reflector, bulb, fixture and quick diconnect cords. They are about $40 CDN. Anyone used them? I'm about to order 3 - 10k and 3 - Actinic.

http://www.reefsolution.com/catalog/...roducts_id=439

Walter

Seems really good!

The ballast is only $65 too.

It will fire up to 4 of those bulbs...

4 x 40 = 160 + 65 = 257.63... Say $300 with shipping? Sweet

Each fixture is self ballasted.

Walter

sorry, I ended up looking at the 36" bulbs that didnt come with a built in ballast :)

My friend is setting up a 30g tank now and was really concerned about shelling out big bucks for lighting... wonder if these would keep frogspawn and such happy.... hmmm.

They kept his tank very happy!

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/show...threadid=24522

Walter

Wow Walter, you aint lying! Thats a beautiful tank there :)

Walter, if you go with these can you give me a overall lenght measurment. these might be good to stick in the LPS tank if they will fit.

Steve

Sure, I think I'll place the order today...

Walter

The only thing id be scared of is they are just like mh bulbs not all are created equal. The link you provided were for ATI bulbs and not the ones you are thinking of buying

Did you scroll down to the bottom? I'm pretty sure the bulbs I'd be getting are not ATI, but for the price, I can always change the bulbs later if I'm not happy...

Walter

Yea I guess you can argue with the price. Let us know how the work out for you

Will do. I'll post some pictures..

Walter

http://www.melevsreef.com/pics/0504/t5.html

Looks like Melev was fairly happy with them?

Seems like it. I guess the only real way to find out is to get some and see.

Walter

I guess you're the guinea pig huh? :)

marc rules!

Would not be the first :biggrin:

Walter

I just wonder why some people still believe you have to chanve VHO after 6 months. heck mine are 2 years old and working just fine, all I use them for is to adjust the color of the tank sence that all actinics are realy good for.

Steve

I agree 100% with you. I think people are to quick to change out a perfectly good bulb because someone says they should.... Most of that info seems to come from the manufacturer. Wonder why they want you to buy new bulbs every 6-8 months? :rolleyes: :smile:

Walter

If you havn't ordered the lights yet I would be a little leary of them. I have been using T5 VHO for 2 years now (replaced once) and have just recently scraped them in favor of halides. I whole heartedly disagree with you guys who run VHO's for more than 9 mo or so. I have found that the tank quality begins to deteriorate around the six month mark and goes really crappy atfer 8-9 mo. Being a student I stretch my bulbs as long as I can but I won't make my corals suffer because I am cheap. It is possible to sustain your corals with old flouresent bulbs but the growth rates will fall off the chart. My actinics didn't change much though when they got old. So from my experience, I would only recommend T5's or any flouresent for that matter as a supplental lighting unit in actinic spectrum.

Rick

I am inclined to agree with Steve (an unusual happening) Actinics should be used to adjust the color of the tank. As such the bulb will lose some intensity over time, but as it is only supplemental lighting there is no reason to rush out and replace the bulb. :rolleyes:

when using VHO for actinic only???? thats what we are talking about using VHO for actinics and MH for main lights.



Steve

Sorry, I thought the issue was about using VHO's as the main lighting source.

Rick

partially, guess I should say the present discussion was for that( my apologies), but originally it was for using them as sole lighting on lower light tanks. how long did you find they lasted?
I am looking for a way to light a softy/LPS tank myself and I am considering not using MH for this one. but then again I might anyways. but actinic is my real question for these T5's I have PC's on my little one right now and would like a bit more actinic on it.

Steve

Using T5's as a sole lighting system, I found that the tank quality took a turn for the worse at 6mo. This included an increase in algae growth in the forms of green hair and the green stuff on the glass. After around the 8mo. mark my corals closed up more often and the fast growth rate that I initially had dropped off to almost nothing. I changed the bulbs at this point.

I used T5's only because I couldn't afford a full lighting system up front and the T5's allowed me to expand as my budget allowed. If I had to do it again without using halides, which is what I currently run, I would run power compacts. This is solely due to the fact that you have to replace them less often.

If you can afford the halide and you already have the PC's, why don't you make those actinic and throw on a bluer halide, say a 20K? You won't have the same replacement cost as is associated with a full compliment of PC's

Rick

I am not sure if this thread is not deteriorating into the old often heard arguments. I do want to say I was a PC fan for a long time, but when I actually measured the lumen output I found a decrease of 50% at six months. That to me was unacceptable. :sad:

thats horable Bob, out of the 8 PC's I have has the wose was 12% at 6 months and 22% at 1 year. I found that at about 16 months they drop again sharply.

Steve

Lights are on their way. I'll post when i try them out.

Walter

Steve the 24 inch are 23 1/4 overall. They also came in 36, and 48 if you need overall leng of the other size I will measure them for you

Maybe it depends on the bulb or the ballast overdriving/underdriving the bulb? When I had 55W GE9325K bulbs running on the Workhorse ballast, there was a very noticeable decrease in visual light after 6 months. My purple cap would turn brown by the 6 month mark and would turn purple again again changing bulbs.

As for Actinics, I measured my dissolved oxygen levels with only the 95W VHO Actinics powered on. There was very little increase in oxygen which leads me to conclude that not much photosynthesis was going on under 95W of Actinics. There was slightly more DO under the 96W 50/50 bulb. And of course, there was significantly more under the MH.

What's you overall impression of them? I guess I'll find out on Friday :biggrin:

Walter

thanks Stephane, good to see you around again. does the 23 1/4 mean that I could shoe horn them into a opening of 23 1/2" cuz that would be great.

Steve

I tink they are realy realy great! they put out a lot of light, use litle current
,easy to install no more DIY, best off all they are cheap :idea:

Steve[/quote]

thanks Stephane, good to see you around again. does the 23 1/4 mean that I could shoe horn them into a opening of 23 1/2" cuz that would be great.

Steve[/quote]

Was a bit busy with the new online store and french forum...

the T5 will fit squees in a 23 1/4 space as they have 1/8 less

Hey Walter/Stephane

Can you tell me how wide these fixtures are? I am curious how many can be crammed above a 12" tank...

Thanks.

they are 2 3/8 so 5 will fit in 12 inch space :mrgreen:

Thanks!

Hey Walter (Whaase)...
Any update on your new T-5 light fixtures that you ordered from Reef Solutions.

richard

Hmm, I think I'll step up to bat on the T5's too!

Placing an order once they get their 24" atinics in.

Since the original question was if anyone had tried the new T5 fixtures I will get back to that. I have had a couple running for about one month now. The daylight one is working fine, but the actinic which only runs five hours a day is shot. It barely glows anymore, so we have a serious problem. :sad: