ambergris caye
New member
I'm liking the nova or catalina at $250 or less. Odyssea is cheap but scary @ $130. opinions? retrofit?
which light? 4X54 t5ho 48"
- Thread starter ambergris caye
- Start date
divewsharks
Active member
retros would be better than all of those. better reflectors and ballasts. reflectors make all the difference in T5's performance. Of the fixtures you listed, best bet is the Nove Extreme Pro, although you would want to change the bulbs shortly after purchase, as the stock bulbs are quite poor performing compared to ATI and UVL and G'Mann.
Which tank would this be for?
Which tank would this be for?
ambergris caye
New member
75 gallon. so ice cap ballasts? 2- 12K and 2 actinics?
divewsharks
Active member
you'd probably be better off with 6 bulbs, it would give you better coverage front/back in the tank and color mixing, allowing for easier/freedom of placement of corals.
in a 75G you wouldn't need to overdrive, so if you looked on the reefgeek.com site at retros, you could go with the 'HOT5' as opposed to the 'VHOT5'; difference is the ballasts used, you wouldn't need the IC660's.
as for for specific bulbs, depending on what you are planning to keep initially (as in whether or not you need the PAR) would determine the proper bulbs, i don't bother to run pure actinics as each of my other bulbs offer some actinic phosphors but offer much higher PAR.
with 4 bulbs you could do something like:
ATI blue+
UVL Actinic White or KZ Fiji Purple or UVL 75/25
ATI blue+
ATI Aquablue Special
6 bulbs:
ATI blue+
UVL Actinic White or KZ Fiji Purple, UVL 75/25
ATI blue+
GE 6500K
ATI Aquablue
ATI blue+
there is a whole thread on bulb selection and T5's in general in the T5 Q&A Thread.
in a 75G you wouldn't need to overdrive, so if you looked on the reefgeek.com site at retros, you could go with the 'HOT5' as opposed to the 'VHOT5'; difference is the ballasts used, you wouldn't need the IC660's.
as for for specific bulbs, depending on what you are planning to keep initially (as in whether or not you need the PAR) would determine the proper bulbs, i don't bother to run pure actinics as each of my other bulbs offer some actinic phosphors but offer much higher PAR.
with 4 bulbs you could do something like:
ATI blue+
UVL Actinic White or KZ Fiji Purple or UVL 75/25
ATI blue+
ATI Aquablue Special
6 bulbs:
ATI blue+
UVL Actinic White or KZ Fiji Purple, UVL 75/25
ATI blue+
GE 6500K
ATI Aquablue
ATI blue+
there is a whole thread on bulb selection and T5's in general in the T5 Q&A Thread.
JOESWOODWORKS
Member
I got my retro 4-54 watt T5 from the reefgeek and I love it. The bulbs I got from them are front to back, Blue plus 75/25 Aquablue Special and Blue plus. I have it on a 75 Gallon also, I can keep anything I want.
ambergris caye
New member
excellent advise thanks.
ambergris caye
New member
bump
