T5 options for a 6ft long tank

M

mupham

New member
Most of the T5 fixtures I've seen are 4ft or 3ft. Are there any good options for a 6 ft tank? I've seen some 5ft 80w bulbs / reflectors for sale at http://www.specialty-lights.com/t5ho.html and was wondering if anyone has had problems with them. I noticed that Hello Lights doesn't carry any of those 80w bulbs. I was thinking of getting a retrofit kit and mounting them inside my canope. FWIW I was also looking at going with the Fulham Workhorse 7 electronic ballast. I know it's an instant start but they will only be turned on once a day so I couldn't justify the extra cost.

Thanks,
Mike
 
It looks like they use a continuous reflector rather than a separate one for ea. bulb. There were some bends in it to make it reflect down more but it's still 7 bulbs in a 14" wide package when the bulbs are 5/8" dia. themselves. Also their 72" consists of (14) 39w bulbs! I think the cost of bulbs would kill me.

Does anyone know if the 80w 5ft bulbs with their higher wattage per ft are actually brighter / ft than their shorter cousins? Or would I just be paying a higher power bill ;)
 
Retrofit's your best bet. If you want to keep anything get a 6x60" IC retro. If you want to run the workhorse ballasts then you could do the same thing but order everything seperate. IC doesn't make 60" reflectors(no idea why) but Reefgeek will sell you the 2x36"ers to overlap for a good price. The aquacintics constelation is a nice fixture....but 14bulbs? Whats that replacement cost? You could stagger 6x48", there are alot of options that work. The 36"ers as well, but 12 of them.
 
I just saw a 12 x 54w T5HO 48" hood (with lunar led's)...if you were to hang it in the middle surely it would put out enough light even towards the outer edges of your tank at least enough for coral's demanding less light... and anything could be grown directly under it!
 
I'm putting 8 x 54w staggered over my 180. I have TEK retros with the individual reflectors that I'm putting in a custom hood, hung from cables.
 
I run 2 of the Aquactinics 36 inch fixtures with individual reflectors for each bulb. 10 bulbs. LOTS of light!!! Very happy!!!
 
these pics are about a year old but show the lights.
100_1960.jpg

100_1966.jpg
 
B_E_A_Utiful wood work. what do u recomend for a 5ft version of a 125 gallon. im lookin at t5 retrofit. i have a post askin bout lights here to didnt see this one right away. im not into corals yet just LR fish and some anemies notin major till i get out of college.

thanks for the help and again the woodwork is amazing. (is it curly maple?)
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11082014#post11082014 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by NWhoric
B_E_A_Utiful wood work. what do u recomend for a 5ft version of a 125 gallon. im lookin at t5 retrofit. i have a post askin bout lights here to didnt see this one right away. im not into corals yet just LR fish and some anemies notin major till i get out of college.

thanks for the help and again the woodwork is amazing. (is it curly maple?)
Click to expand...

Thank you. I really cannot recommend anything for a 5 foot tank but if I were you I would only buy lights once. I did not want corals when I started but slowly you will. I would however recommend HO T-5's as they run cool and I can grow anything under them and I can put them in my canopy with no heat issues.

The stand and canopy are made of pine.
 
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