Sunlight Suppy Tek Light 8 bulb, 4' HO T5 fixture. REVISITED 6 MONTHS LATER

[kwirky]

Originally Posted by Joe Reefer

I like your rock work.

thanks . I cheated, and used a PVC pipe structure to hold up the arch.

Originally Posted by karlk

I think I would like to see how your corals react to full light

i'd rather play it safe, and NOT see how they react to full light quite yet in due time. Only half the lights are on so I don't bleach them. I ran them all on for about 45 minutes, but figured out quite quick I need a fan, or else the temperature skyrockets. in the process of rigging up an array of computer fans, so I'm all ready when I decide to flick the rest on.

[kwirky]

revisiting my review 6 months later...

old review: 4.5/5
new review: 4/5

Not much for trouble since i got it. I ran it without any actinics the entire time until a few weeks ago, and I think that's the reason for browning most of my coral. T5's are great because you can get any colour you want, because you can just change the ratio of the bulbs. This is a catch 22, though, because it's not easy to find the exact bulb combination you want IN STOCK at the LFS. True, I could order online, but I don't really want to deal with shipping insurance for broken tubes.

I had a slight problem ONCE with one of the ballasts not firing up. I had to unplug it and plug it back in. never had it happen since.

I would give it a 4.0/5 now, instead of a 4.5/5 because it's not actively cooled, and it doesn't ballance properly when hung from the ceiling. The ballancing issue was a slieght problem when I first got it, but to have to deal with it all the time since then, it's annoying.

As for it's performance, for my 24" deep tank, it's great for what I keep. I keep softies and most of my LPS at the bottom, as they'd bleach at the top. I'm going to try some SPS this summer, and we'll see how it goes for them.

I don't know if this fixture's quite enough for somone keeping only SPS. If one could get the fixture used, then it'd be worth it to swap the ballasts to ice caps (to overdrive the bulbs), and to cut holes in the top to actively cool it. then it'd be a kick ass unit for SPS. It's efficiency would go out the window, though, as it'd be consuming the same power as a similar PAR'd MH unit, but you'd have EXACTLY the colour you want.

Basically, this unit exceeds my needs ATM, until I get some SPS. It's been changed to a 4/5 because I think for those that keep SPS, it might be what they need, it might not. Has the potential to be a PAR beast though with some modifications

[fkshiu]

I simply aimed a small fan down the length of my old Teklight providing active cooling. This also provided additional evaporative cooling of the tank itself during summer.

[kwirky]

Originally Posted by fkshiu

I simply aimed a small fan down the length of my old Teklight providing active cooling. This also provided additional evaporative cooling of the tank itself during summer.

I've got that going on, too. a 120cfm fan. But what I meant by active cooling is cooling the bulbs through removing the warm air INSIDE the fixture, like the ATI unit does.

[trilinearmipmap]

I have the same unit with softies LPS sps and BTA's.

I find it works for my simple sps (montipora digitata, montipora capricornis and horn coral) in the top 1/2 of the tank). Montipora digitata frags placed on the bottom of the tank also grow well.

Later this year I will be getting more sps and we will see how things go.

[Beermaster]

So your liking the T5's, have been really pondering the lighting solution for my 90gal, and have been leaning towards the T5's

where did you pick yours up? what brand should i buy, or is there good retro kits out there?

[kwirky]

Originally Posted by Beermaster

So your liking the T5's, have been really pondering the lighting solution for my 90gal, and have been leaning towards the T5's

where did you pick yours up? what brand should i buy, or is there good retro kits out there?

I like my T5's. I think for tanks 24" and shallower, they're just as good as MH's. they work out to about the same cost in the long run, because T5 bulbs should be changed every 6-9 months, and the good bulbs (like the coral light and the fiji purple) bulbs will probably be like $40 each when they come to canada.

I'd look for something that is HO driven, and has individual reflectors for each bulb. The sunlight supply Tek light fixtures (the one I have), and the ATI fixtures are both good, depending on which you can afford. Sunlight supply also sells retro kits that are two bulbs a kit. Those are kinda cool, because then you get much more control over your light timers.

T5's $$ efficiency is the strongest at 4' and longer lengths.

I know Gold's in calgary carries both, and J&L sells the sunlight supply Tek fixtures on their site.

Proline Aquatics (canadian distributer) will be getting the coral light and the fiji purple bulbs in pretty soon (next month or so), and I know Gold's is one of the companies they distribute to.

Overall, I'm quite satisfied with my teklight unit, and I don't regret buying it at all.