aquarium lighting

Can't say for certain, but, a t5 ballast is a t5 ballast. Only difference might be wether or not it's a HO vs a Non HO. Do some research on it :p.
 
I would be careful on that. The ballasts are different. Ho high out put. It will burn out the bulbs sooner, risk of fire is low. What are you trying to achieve, we can go from there.
 
Well, Home D has a T5 HO dual 48" fixture for $35. Y not put a 6500k
And an actinic in that rather than spend $200 on something at the local fish store ?
 
I had the same idea as you, only problem with HD T5s are they don't have any reflectors at all. So you would need to buy them. And good reflectors aren't cheap. So, in the end you will spend roughly the same amount of money to set up the HD T5s to match the already premade Aquarium T5s. Really up too you.
 
Oic. Completely different. The home depot are a commerical style light fixture. The lighting will never work to grow corals. They are very week. If you try to put t5ho bulbs in that fixture, u will have a fire because that ballast is going to amp up to try to create that power loss.
 
Might work, not sure though. Do some research online, also, make sure you get a High Output fixture from Home Depot if you are going too. Otherwise you'll be burning bulbs out like nobodies business.
 
Very good newbie, they do have t5 lights. The ballasts in them will never supply the light requirements that a reef/fowlr needs. If you want some advice, dont do it, nothing but problems. We need 10k up to 20k lighting for our tanks and it will only come from marine lighting fixtures. If you try it, please dont post "my corals and fish are dying and i dont know why" .6500k is not enough lighting
 
First, 6500K is going to grow a lot more algae than anything else

Second, shop lights and lights for grow coral are two totally different things. The ballasts may well be similar or even the same, but you're not going to have any real reflectors to get the light where it needs to be

Sure, Home Depot sells a shop fixture for $35. If you could manufacture and sell a fixture to light a reef for $35, don't you think the companies that make lighting for our tanks would do so? No one in this hobby wants to spend more then they have too - but the reality of the situation is that if you are going to keep a reef tank lighting is probably the single most important thing you will be spending money on. Go with something that has a proven track record. Generic $35 fixtures from Home Depot are not it.
 
mariobrothersleeve said:
Very good newbie, they do have t5 lights. The ballasts in them will never supply the light requirements that a reef/fowlr needs. If you want some advice, dont do it, nothing but problems. We need 10k up to 20k lighting for our tanks and it will only come from marine lighting fixtures. If you try it, please dont post "my corals and fish are dying and i dont know why" .6500k is not enough lighting
Click to expand...

He is asking if you can replace the standard 6500k bulbs in the t5 HO lamps with either 10000k or actinic. Not if 6500k will grow corals.

If the lamps are the same wattage AND style, you can replace them.
A t5HO 6500k lamp and a t5HO 10000K lamp use tha same wattage.
The K value is just the color spectrum they put out.

But as stated, the lack of reflectors might be an issue.
 
I said this before, you can buy reflectors and put them on the home depot fixtures to make them the same as a aquarium fixture. But, to do that, would cost roughly the same as if you had just bought the aquarium fixture itself. The only Pro is see for doing it this way is you can do it in stages for cheaper, rather then shelling out 250ish$ in one go. In the long run though, it'll end up costing the same amount either way (But the depot way will take time to set up where as the aquarium fixture is ready to go)
 
buying new bulbs, the cheap fixture, and rigging reflectors... sounds like you could find a marine fixture on CL with the bulbs you already want for similar $$
 
mariobrothersleeve said:
Very good newbie, they do have t5 lights. The ballasts in them will never supply the light requirements that a reef/fowlr needs. If you want some advice, dont do it, nothing but problems. We need 10k up to 20k lighting for our tanks and it will only come from marine lighting fixtures. If you try it, please dont post "my corals and fish are dying and i dont know why" .6500k is not enough lighting
Click to expand...
Doesnt the K value come from the bulb? I can buy 6500 10k or 20k and so bulbs to fit my fixtures. You can also buy different K value bulbs that fit traditional screw in type fixtures (i have 2 of these with 6500 bulbs in my fuge). The wattage comes from the ballast maybe?
 
youtoo54 said:
Doesnt the K value come from the bulb? I can buy 6500 10k or 20k and so bulbs to fit my fixtures. You can also buy different K value bulbs that fit traditional screw in type fixtures (i have 2 of these with 6500 bulbs in my fuge). The wattage comes from the ballast maybe?
Click to expand...

Yep, 54 watts @48. Cant believe it. Good luck, sounds cheaper. Disapating the heat does seem like it may be an issue but installing a pc fan may work
 
I'm looking on CL twice a day, but feeling like I want to put together my own... just to see if it can be done. (You know how headstrong girls can be...)
I have a 72" tank that is 19" across. I'm thinking that 4 dual T5HO's 36" fixtures with 4 Giesemann Aqua Blue Plus and 4 Actinic bulbs will do the trick.
 
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