T5 Fire risk?

[Coletrickle]

I have made my own light strip out of wood with 4 54W t5's. Man these things get hot. If I had known they got so hot I would have made it of metal. Do you think it's a fire risk?

 

[yote]

Yeah,those little thin bulbs do get warm.But they dont transfer the heat to the water.What you'll have to do,is set up a couple of small fans to get the heat away from the bulb.

 

[Coletrickle]

I have a 120mm fan here I can mount. Think that will do it?

 

[cgoodman381]

I would recommend having a fan on one side sucking air in and a fan on the other pushing the air out...

 

[Oscarsdad608]

I heard somewhere that the cooler you can keep a t5 bulb the better par you get from it.

 

[yote]

I heard somewhere that the cooler you can keep a t5 bulb the better par you get from it.

I remember reading that myself.

I'd probably add a couple of those fans.Not only will that help keep the bulbs cool.But they'll help your tank with gas exchange.

 

[Coletrickle]

Well allright another DIY.

 

[Rcpilot]

Put a hole in the TOP. Heat rises. Arrange the fan so it is sucking hot air OUT.

In the computer world, putting a hole in the top of your case and a fan is called a "blow hole"

Kinda fits the aquarium hobby too. :mrgreen:

 

[dustin_P74]

yeah hot air rises but if you put a fan on the top your only sucking hot air out of where the fan is, but if you put it on the end then your sucking it out from the length of the canopy, and if you put a fan on the other side to suck air in, itll help push air towards the backwards fan

 

[Rcpilot]

Why not do both? I wasn't suggesting that he ONLY use the blow hole on top. Put a 120mm intake fan on the right. 80mm exhaust fan on the left. 80mm exhaust fan on top.:mrgreen:

 

[SSalty]

I heard somewhere that the cooler you can keep a t5 bulb the better par you get from it.

You are correct, some people remove the splash guards from their manufactured T5 Fixtures to reduce heat.