T-5 replacement time, suggestions?

[simplereefer]

I am currently running two 150 15k hqi and two 39watt t-5's for actinic. The t-5 bulbs are hagen. At the time that was all we had locally. Now we have uvl available at the lfs. I am curious about using ati this time from an online vendor. I would like a bulb that has the actinic qualities of a vho actinic. Any help would be nice.

 

[atlantisaquari]

i have heard that t5 actinics are useless. i have been puting them on tanks for a little while now and havent bought into that yet. they are a little dim but they still seem to have a decent quality to them. as far as replacement i have heard 15 months on t5's . but i also would be interested in what others have to say.

 

[brandon2432]

quality of bulb. I have some better bulbs in my 48" t-5 fixture they are still bright after 6 months the 60" bulbs I have are going dim after only 5 months. I read someone buys halide bulbs on ebay every 4 months to save money compared to expensive bulbs and only lasting 6 months to a year. I figure t-5 bulbs are kind of the same.

 

[brandon2432]

google specialty lights they have a true attinic that is suppose to be = to vho. I am fixing to order $200 worth of bulbs from them. free shipping.

 

[The0wn4g3]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14346751#post14346751 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by brandon2432
I read someone buys halide bulbs on ebay every 4 months to save money compared to expensive bulbs and only lasting 6 months to a year.

Like you said, a name brand bulb will have more output than a cheapy, but changing bulbs every 4 months is crazy. It's much easier to just lower the bulbs to counteract the loss of output.

T5 actinics are definitely not useless. Not near as effective compared to VHO actinics, but the again nothing is. I would recommend ATI or fiji purple.