T5 DIY planning.

[midgetwaiter]

Originally Posted by JDigital

4 TekII T5 Reflector 48" (cut them in half)
2 Workhorse 3
1 Workhorse 5
16 Waterproof sockets

All for $360. lol

What are you looking to do with this thing? If you are doing something like SPS or shallow softies I'd look at a different ballast like the Advance, the Workhorse is a little weak. I have a WH5 and it suits my LPS tank fine but compared to a Tek light (uses advance) it is noticeably dimmer. If you dig around RC you can find par tests that have been done and show how much difference there is.

[sphelps]

Originally Posted by midgetwaiter

What are you looking to do with this thing? If you are doing something like SPS or shallow softies I'd look at a different ballast like the Advance, the Workhorse is a little weak. I have a WH5 and it suits my LPS tank fine but compared to a Tek light (uses advance) it is noticeably dimmer. If you dig around RC you can find par tests that have been done and show how much difference there is.

The results I've seen show about 7% difference between dynamic T5 ballasts and workhorse when comparing par. I haven't seen a direct comparison of advance vs workhorse so if you have a link please provide it. I've used both workhorse and advance and haven't noticed a difference except one costs almost twice as much.

[JDigital]

Originally Posted by midgetwaiter

What are you looking to do with this thing? If you are doing something like SPS or shallow softies I'd look at a different ballast like the Advance, the Workhorse is a little weak. I have a WH5 and it suits my LPS tank fine but compared to a Tek light (uses advance) it is noticeably dimmer. If you dig around RC you can find par tests that have been done and show how much difference there is.

It will be an SPS tank. It's only 16" deep... 14.25" for actual water depth, so I think the workhorse's running 8 bulbs should give me enough light penetration to give adequate par readings.