T5 Lighting..

[myakkareef]

As a few know I tried to sell my light awhile back. I am at the point where I think Iwill buy a T5 setup and then sell my existing MH/T5's. I am doing this mainly for energy purposes. I have used a Killawatt and see where I can save enough money in a year to pay off the new fixture. Beside the areas I can not measure like the A/C use becuase it is 110 deg. at the edge of the tank below the light, so I know that heat is being absorbed in the house.
Right now I am looking at the Aquactnics TX5, It is 5 bulb, individual reflectors, fans, electronic ballast. Does anyone have any input on the fixture?
Any info I can find on R/C states it is a good fixture, just looking for hands on experience, since it is not a inexpensive fixture..

 

[thowell64]

lights

lights

I just had the same conversation with Chris from AquariumArch downtown as he is an Aquactinic dealer. I think the set up is awesome and the lights bathe the entire tank area. I ended up going with the Outer Orbit however, but not because it is a better light -- for me, I already have an outer orbit with one mh bulb and wanted more, the set up on my tank is already set up for the outer orbit so putting the new one in is takes about 5 minutes, and finally, it was a whole lot cheaper. Having said all of that, if money was no issue and I didn't mind restructuring a few things, I would probably have purchased the Aquactinic -- also, for me, my current tank is going to be replaced as my main tank with a larger tank within the next year - so I will put the extra money into it -- hope that helps.

 

[myakkareef]

Thanks, I did not know Chris was a rep for Aquactnic...
If my current deal falls thru I will give him a shout...

 

[stevemc]

Scotty, I dont have any feed back on any T-5, but what we did to hopefully make the house cooler, and make it so the A/C didnt come on as much was.. as you know my tank hood is enclosed (except a 6" fan and same size hole on other end) and insulated so it doesnt heat sink and all hot air is pushed out, with no real heat transfer, but I went further and vented it up through the ceiling and out roof. This is for my 125 with 3 MH bulbs and 4 VHO bulbs-descriptions in my tank description. House stays cooler and A/C doesnt come on hardly at all. I can turn it up a degree and it will stay at the same temp without the A/C coming on. Tank water temp is 80 at the evening, just before the MH bulbs go out. Actually it is about a degree less in the evening, than the 30 tall fish only with a heater to keep it at 79-80 all the time. In the morning it is a couple degrees cooler, maybe 78. I used to keep a heater on it so it stayed stable, but it really didnt do anything. That is with no chiller. My VHOs come on at 0730 and MH come on at 0930 and the MH go off at 800 PM, and the VHO go off at 900 PM. Sump 28 watt CF (150 watt replacement) burns 24 hours a day. They used to run longer, but I decided since the electric bills are continuing to go up, to cut back a bit. Didnt mean to derail, but I did read you are going less to save more. Good luck. Steve.