T-5 Q

[leaffish75]

How many 24 watt (24") T-5 HOs can i run with a ice cap 660 ballast?

[leaffish75]

do you think i should trade in my 300 watt vho set up for 4x24 watt t-5 setup?

[leaffish75]

its a 20L i have mainly softies, some moni caps. Im looking into clams soon. Plus im about to do a 40 corner tank.

[ansonluna]

T-5s were all the rage for like 5 minutes. I have heard alot of dissapointed stories about the T-5 actinics not working as well as VHOs. On the other hand some have had great luck with them. I say, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

[Reef69]

..Don-n-sa has a REALLY nice tank ran by T5's only .. hopefully he will chime in and give you some good advice..

[brewercm]

It's the brand of actinics that you get for the T5 that makes the difference.

Donnie, where are you?
He'll let you know which are true atcinics as far as bulbs or you might be able to search through and find it.

I was really surprised to see that you can only run 4 24 watt bulbs on a 660 though since I know you can run 4 110 watt VHO's. Is this because you can only run max of 4 bulbs on the ballast?

[Polkster13]

Brewer, I think you are correct in that the 660 will only do four bulbs regardless of the wattage.

Leaffish, If you are serious about keeping clams, go with a single 175 watt or 250 watt MH setup using 10K bulbs and a pair of T-5 actinic bulbs (true actinic, not the super blue) to supplement the MH bulb. This will give you the best color and growth.

T-5 put out a lot of light and use a fraction of the power that a VHO bulb uses. Nothing wrong with going VHO expect for the cost of the electric bill each month. If you can afford the VHO, go for it. I have used MH, VHO, PC, NOF, T-5, just about everything that is out there. I now use MH and T-5 on almost all of my high light need stuff (clams, SPS, et cetera).

[brewercm]

Now to piggy back on his question. I have an ARO ballast (same as IC 430) that I'm running two 110 watt VHO's on at the moment.
Can I change over to T5 with this ballast and two 4 or 5 foot long actinic T5 bulbs, and how much light would there be compared to my two existing VHOs (higher, lower, same)?

[don-n-sa]

By all means I am no T-5 expert I just did a little researching on reefcentral and other places before making the decision of going with a t-5 only tank. I am very happy with the set-up that I ended up getting. I can pretty much keep anything in my tank exept for the exteme high lighting requiring livestock.

The best in info that I found was from this thread http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=602732

set aside about 45min to read through..it is long

but the just of it is it....

the two most important things in T-5 are reflectors and bulbs...do not cut corners here

T-5's can be just as bright and colorful as halides...just no shimmies..

with proper placement of the bulbs anf fixtures T-5's can actually get more coral growth

HTH

[Reef69]

By all means I am no T-5 expert

Yes he is, just not coincided about it. LOL ;)

[leaffish75]

I'm currently running vhos. I have experimented with bulb type and my first combo of 50/50 and actincs disapointed me so i switched to 1 10k and 3 actincs. I have had great growth of every thing including my montis. I have been curious about the T-5s because I have seen some nice sps tanks with T-5 only. Of course the cost is great. .I think i can run two actinc vhos and 2 10K t-5s off the same ballast so thats an option. I was curious because i was told i could convert my setup to a T-5 setup with out getting a new ballast. I think i will be a work horse ballast and work from the ground up on building this system. I think i can do 4 bulbs with a single workhorse 7. So ill do a work horse 7 and a workhorse 3 to give me a extra pair of bulbs.

[brewercm]

I was just looking at this site and their products for T5 and they sell the IC 660 and 430 as T5 ballasts. Guess that answers my question, what really cool is they have the 60 inch versions which is what I'd want to go with.

http://www.innovativelights.com/

[Polkster13]

Just to be clear, a Workhorse 5 ballast will do up to two 54 watt (48" HO bulbs). A Workhorse 7 ballast will do either four 54 watt (48" HO bulbs) or two 80 watt (60" HO bulbs).

Make sure the Workhorse 3 will run the bulbs (total wattage) that you are trying to run. Let me know if you have any specific questions regarding Workhorse ballasts or how to wire them up.

The best reflector is from Sunlight Supply. They do not sell to the general public.

I am a retailer/reseller and my retro kits use Workhorse ballasts, Sunlight Supply reflectors, CoralVue T-5 HO bulbs (of your choice), CoralVue standoffs and waterproof endcaps.

You can also use the Icecap 660 ballast to run the T-5 bulbs as well. If you are interested in getting everything except for the ballast, let me know and I will work out something for you.

[brewercm]

OK, so here's my question.
Will two 4 foot T5 actinics give more output than my two 4' VHO's that I'm currently using?
I'd probably go with the 5', but just wanted to know if T5's have more output per bulb than VHO bulbs.

[Polkster13]

That all depends on the reflectors you are using with the bulb. I have used both and I really like the light output I am getting with the Sunlight Supply reflectors and the T-5 bulbs. Now my VHO bulbs were using just a white plastic reflector so I am sure that was a factor. The main reason I changed over to mainly T-5 bulbs is they cost less to run in both electricity and don't have to be changed as often. Of course, your mileage may vary.

I have both setup's at home and will be more than happy for you to come by and compare the two.