Overdriving T8 Bulbs

[fuzz]

Anyone overdriving T8 (1") bulbs using and IceCap ballast? I am planning on doing this for my daylight bulbs. There is a great article about it on IceCaps website. Just wondering what type T8 bubls people are running.

-Greg

[TexasState]

One of my atinic bulb is a T8. You can get T8 from AquaTek Fish Store, Petco, or from the local Granger electrical supply place.

Instead of T8, try some T5.

Make sure you ventilate your bulbs to extend bulb life.

[witecap4u]

Make sure you ventilate your bulbs to extend bulb life

Are you ventilating for heat reasons?

[TexasState]

I meant let some fans cool down the Florescent bulb. MH bulbs need heats to run better. The Florescent bulbs need to cool off to run better.

[fuzz]

Well I got two SLI Luxline 36w T8 bubls (5000K) from the light bulb shop for $8 a piece and they look great. They are brighter then the VHO bulbs I was running. Check out the article at www.icecapinc.com about overdriving T8 bulbs if you are interested.

-Greg

[TexasState]

For reef tank, please try bulbs that are in the 65K or 10K range. The 5K could work, but it might be invitation for algae growth.

[djdubdub]

Not only is it going to keep you bulbs cooler, but you tank water too...

I am running the IceCap 430 (thanks Vinh) and I'm driving 2 T12 110w Actinic White bulbs and a seperate 110w pc ballast for my actinic blues...

In the morning, my temp is a steady 78', by the end of the day (without air flow) my 55g tank temp is going up to 84'!!!

I have since added a small desk fan, plugged into my actinic timer and my water temp is never getting over 80' now...