So what do you guys think ? (lighting)

Avalanche Wolf

Avalanche Wolf

New member
So tomorrow I am going to be buying my retro kit to replace my 96watt 34" PC attinic that just blow after 4 months every time of use. I suspect the mosture is just too much for it to keep well in there.

I am finally upgrading the tank to T5HO with a kit from hellolights for the attinic supplement lighting .

I have a nice system planned out where it will be on a sliding rack so when maintance is not being done on the tank it will be in the front of the hood so as not to block the MHx3 above and as where most of my corals are center to forward. Lights will be 6"- 7" from the water surface( rock work is primaraly a large island with flow in the front and back of the rock. )

I was planning on using the following kit but with the water depth I am having 2nd thoughts looking at the kits and pricing.


24" 2 x 24w T5 HO Retrofit Kit
Kit Includes:
• Parabolic clip on reflectors (19" x 2" x 1")
• Advance T5 HO ballast (ICN2S39) runs 2 lamps (16.75" x 1.25" x 1")
• IP67 Moisture Resistant German End-caps
• End cap Stand-Offs
• 33 ft 18g solid wire
• 6 ft grounded power cord

The hood these are going in is 5ft inside across and 2ft deep. Placing the T5s like this would not obstruct the MH 250w X3 bulbs in the hood on top and would be in a single line .

So here is the delemia.......

I was checking it out tonight and they have the same exact retro kit except higher wattage and longer bulbs for only $10 more.

48" 2 x 54w T5 HO Retrofit Kit
Kit Includes:
• Parabolic clip on reflectors (42.5" x 2" x 1")
• Advance T5 HO ballast (ICN2S54) runs 2 lamps (16.75" x 1.25" x 1")
• IP67 Moisture Resistant German End-caps
• End cap Stand-Offs
• 33 ft 18g solid wire
• 6 ft grounded power cord

I would have to redesign the current light rack plan so that one bulb would still slid to the front and one would be mounted in the rear ( non moveable ) but it would have more wattage to penetrate the 24" of water and actually would be like having 2 of the 24"x2 kits i was planning on.

I am worried though that this much attinic would be too much blue for the MH lights to balance out. Good news with that is that the MH bulbs only have about 2 months left on them before replacing and I could step from a 10k MH bulb to a 6500 MH bulb and possible lower wattage as well and do a 5050 T5 and a full attinic without lowering the level of light the corals need.

I thinking with typing this out I am leaning even more towards the 48"x2 kit , helps getting the thoughts on "paper" i suppose but would still like to know what you think.

Like I said there is a $10.00 differance including bulbs on the two kits so price is not a issue between them. And I think aventually I will remove the MH bulbs and go to full T5HO setup ( would be nice to lower the Electric bill and lower heat and usage of the chiller )

Anyways thanks for the vent session and let me know what you think.

;)
 
I would personally go for the 48". If you need more white, you can always add more T5s or change your MH color as you mentioned. :)

I would personally recommend buying them from reefgeek.com, though, as they have better ballasts (sylvania), possibly (probably) better reflectors (96%... hellolights doesn't mention specs on the reflectors), and reefgeek has a MUCH better selection of bulbs. By the time you add bulbs, its the same price give or take a dollar or two. :)

I like the slide-out idea. How are you planning on implementing that? I think my only concern would be salt creep messing with the sliding mechanism.

Brandon
 
I'd get the 48". The advance ballasts are program start and are excellent T5 ballasts. If the bulbs you get turn out to be too blue for you with your halides, you can always change halides like you mention, or you can swap out for less blue blubs. If you go with 24" and it isn't enough blue for you, then you are kind of stuck...
 
Seems like, for the price difference, it wouldn't make a whole lot of sense to go with the shorter bulbs (especially because replacement bulbs are essentially the same price regardless of wattage). Also, if you're thinking about going all T5, you'll be that much closer to that mission by going with the bigger ones. It might take some tinkering, but between messing with the T5's and halides, you should be able to balance out the blue in the lights to find something you like.
 
You would have more control over the shorter lamps via timers....i.e., ability to create dawn and dusk effectively. But the higher watts are appealing.
 
dunno if you need them or not but I have 2 36" icecap SLR T5 reflectors sitting in the garage. These are suppose to be the best of the best T5 reflectors.
 
Wish those could be modded to fit my MH lighting. I really need a set for the 3 pendants.

I ordered the 2x48" 54 Icecap SLR kit with the Gieseman True Actinic 54w T5HO bulbs. Was alittle more than I wanted to spend compared to the other kit but I will be getting better bulbs , better reflectors , better caps and better ballasts so I really cant complain other than I spent my truck modding money on modding the tank :p oh well the corals will be better for it. :)

Thanks for all the input guys. You pointed me in me the right direction.
 
So finally got shipping confirmation but it is in two packages :(

One is 5lbs and the other is 4lbs so not sure which one is the actual kit and the other is the bulbs.


Only bad thing is one package is out for delivery and the other is still not picked up yet. That would suck to get the kit and not the bulbs or the bulbs and not the kit !

I finished the sliding rack but still have to see if it will work as planned. Also still need to figure out how I am going to setup the 2nd bulb also as it is not going on the rack.

Wondering if I can run just one bulb with any problems and save the other for down the road when I go all T5 ?? I know with my PCs I was able to even though the balast was for 2x96 watt
 
How did you setup the sliding rack?

I think with most fluorescent ballasts, you can run as few bulbs as you want, as long as you don't go over the maximum length or wattages.

Brandon
 
A simple sliding drawer rails with a 1x2 treated board to go across. The wheels are Nylon and the rails are painted so no bare metal anywhere. With the rack slid back it gives me 80% access to the tank. If i pull the hood forward I will have 100%.

I have a blower fan pushing cool air up into the hood and I have never had any salt or creep in there so not worries about the rails clogging up. Depending on the color it puts out I may then just end up going with only one bulb but I will check it with both to see if I like it. I am really suprised all of the corals are doing so well being off attinics and only MH for 2 weeks now and in fact growth has never been better. I also put the PS on a 4h/n timer which just over night I have noticed the colors perk up a bit. Then again I have 1 damsel and 1 tang in there so the bio is PRETTY low.

Lights should be here hopefully by the end of the week.
 
pictures of the railing system would be great. I was thinking about doing one myself. I would love to see how yours came out.:)
 
I think the rail system will work great for the daily / rutine maintance but for the heavy stuff I am going to come up with a way to make it so i can raise the entire system to give me full access.

Shippment was confirmed for the end of the week. Now the part the sucks............







waiting
 
Did I mention I hated waiting like this ?

MEMPHIS, TN, US 11/13/2007 3:13 A.M. IN TRANSIT TO


Wonder if i can just meet them half way and pick it up off the truck ? :p
 
Shipping for the 48" kit and the 2 48" bulbs was 12.95 for both packages combinded.
This was the slowest means of shipping offered through reefgeek

still at a loss why it was shipped in 2 packages

gonna pull a little kid and go to sleep early so xmas will get here sooner :P
 
Reefgeek ships the bulbs in a separate container. You will be amazed at how well they package them. You could use the tube for a baseball bat and not break the bulbs inside. Let us know if they still send the candy with their shipments. ;)
 
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