T5 upgrade questions

[gregbot9000]

hello everyone

As of right now i have a 4x65w 48" PC setup over my tank and i want to upgrade to T5's. I dont want to spend too much money..

Is it possible that i could use my PC ballasts to power 4x54w T5? I dont know what kind of ballasts they are but i believe there are 2 of them and they are about the size of a Workhorse Long 5.

Also would 4x54w T5 be good for a 72g or should i go with 6 bulbs? I want to be able to keep anything.

I was also wondering if the watt-to-gallon ratio still works for T5's. My old PC setup is 220w, while the new T5 one would be 216w...curious about that..

Finally does anybody know of an alternative to Tek parabolic or IceCap SLR reflectors. There pretty expensive for me. I found this would it work? has anybody experimented w/ mirrors?

 

[thesaent14]

i have one just like that not to use if you have a frag or tow ill trade you

 

[gregbot9000]

You have the PC or T5 setup??

 

[thesaent14]

i have MH that is from a old fixture i have with PC 4X65w wich i am not using

 

[Kewlworm]

I don't think it's wise to use your current ballast for T5-HO, simply because it's not made for it and you might damage your bulbs. I think T5-HO ballast has bulbs-end-of-life sensor and something else (don't remember). Bottom line, it might power T5-HO up, but I don't think it's safe.

The WPG rule is not accurate at all. 250w of MH are not the same as 250w of PC. Also, I have heard that 1w of T5-HO = to ~1.78w of PC, so according to that, 216w of T5-HO would = to ~385w of PC.

I would do more research on here just to be sure what you going to do is what you want.

HTHs. GL!

 

[gregbot9000]

K thanx! what about the reflectors?

 

[Kewlworm]

I would spend the extra for the reflectors because they really works. It will make a different compare to other flat surface reflector.