Aqua Medic Oceans T-5 fixture

jerthunter

jerthunter

Active Member
I have been thinking ahead about getting a new light fixture and I am interested in the Aqua Medic Oceans T-5 fixture with 8 39 watt bulbs. Does anyone have this or another Aqua Medic T-5 fixture that could tell me if they like it or not? I tried to search for it but the forum search engine claimed the words were to common.
Also, does anyone know how many switches/power cords they come with.
Thanks.
 
saltn00b

saltn00b

Active Member
aquamedic makes pretty junky bulbs, but i dont know much about the fixtures. i would not spend my money on that. look into Tek or Aquactinics.
 
jerthunter

jerthunter

Active Member
Thanks for the information. The reason I was considering the Aqua Medic over the Tek or Aquactinics is neither of them have a 8 bulb fixture for a 36 inch tank and they cost about twice as much.
For the Aquactinics, they have a 5 bulb TX5 fixture for a 36 inch tank, are these bulbs the same wattage (39 watts) as other 36 inch T-5 bulbs?
 
saltn00b

saltn00b

Active Member
T-5s of the same size are the same wattage. is the aquamedic unit individually reflected? T-5 is only wothwhile if the bulbs are individually reflected. that is the primary concern when purchasing a ballast or retrofitting for T-5s. after that, with the aforementioned brands you are getting excellent ballasts (such as icecap), excellent customer service, built in fans, etc., etc. Bbeyond that, it is up to you to try any brand you wish, but those are most popular. as for bulbs, look at the "geek of the reef" for great prices and and great bulb choices.
 
jerthunter

jerthunter

Active Member
I think I will try to visit a store that sells the AquaMedic and see if I can see the actual unit, unfortunately I haven't been able to find the basic information (like how many switches and powercords it comes with, if it has self contained fans, or if it has individual reflectors) online, but if I look at the unit it will be pretty easy to tell.
Also, do you know of any other 8 bulb 36" units? I think the Tek had a max of 6 for the 36" the Aquactinics had 5 bulbs and Current makes one with only 4 bulbs.
 
saltn00b

saltn00b

Active Member
off hand i dont know, sorry. i spent my time researching 72" units. but i can tell you that a 6 bulb unit that is individually reflected will blow an 8 bulb unit that is not right out of the water.
 
farslayer

farslayer

Active Member
I have a hanging aqua medic 72" with 4 MH and 3 T5s and it is awesome! Yes, their bulbs suck, but they shipped it with Coralife bulbs which I have replaced with Phoenix 14Ks and they work wonderfully.
 
saltn00b

saltn00b

Active Member
coralife bulbs are pretty junky too. i think aquamedic is just starting making T-5 bulbs and i think they have had MHs for a while. glad the ballast works for you farslayer, are the T-5s individually reflected?
 
reefraff

reefraff

Active Member
Aquactinics is producing the 7 lamp Constellation T5 unit in shorter lengths now. Not sure if they have a 36" unit yet or not.
 
stanlalee

stanlalee

Active Member
Originally Posted by Farslayer
I have a hanging aqua medic 72" with 4 MH and 3 T5s and it is awesome! Yes, their bulbs suck, but they shipped it with Coralife bulbs which I have replaced with Phoenix 14Ks and they work wonderfully.
okay it sounds like your talking about the halide bulbs and not the T5's.
a) the T5's probably do suck. all but a few brands do
b) aquamedic MH bulbs do anything but suck. You may not like the color but as far as PAR and quality (you never hear of them breaking due to water splash like cheap XM or coralvue bulbs) they are some of the best > 10K bulbs in the business and have long been the german standard others are measured by.
 
jerthunter

jerthunter

Active Member
Thanks for the information.
Despite the nice price I do not think I will go for the Aqua Medic Oceanlight unless I find it comes with individual reflectors.
I have a few more question though. I currently have a Current light fixture with 2 96 watt PC bulbs. I like the unit and all my corals seem to be doing fine for over 6 months with it. However I would like to see a little faster growth and I figure they need more light. I have a 65 gal tank and keep mostly soft corals and some LPS.
So here is my next question, would the Aquactincs TX5 unit with individual reflectors (195 watts) be significantly more light compared to what I have with my PCs (192 watts). The next step up would be the TEK lights with 234 watts but I don't like the way they look and the leg kit for them is pricey for a pair of legs, and it doesn't come with a splash shield.
I really would like to keep the price around or below $400 because if I was going to spend more I'd probably buy metal halides.
 
saltn00b

saltn00b

Active Member
Jerthunter, you are getting caught up in wattage, which when comparing different lighting technologies it is like apples and oranges. its only a vague measure of water penetration. the real standardizing value that you should be looking it is PAR value. a measure of Photosynthetically available light. Inidividually reflected T-5 will have over 300% the PAR value of non reflected T-5s, and similarly PCs. T5 also runs very cool, very efficient, and the bulbs can last 2 years before replacement.
 
farslayer

farslayer

Active Member
THANK YOU for posting the wattage issue. I've tried several times to explain PAR and why wattage is an ignorant value. You are 100% correct, PAR is what matters, wattage just means how much energy it takes to light the bulb and is no indicator of the PAR value. When shopping for bulbs, I try and check out the PAR values when used with certain reflectors.
 
jerthunter

jerthunter

Active Member
Thank you. I mentioned the wattage because that was the only information I have found to compare the two lights with. I understand that the T-5's are supposed to perform better for the same wattage as PC's however I wanted to know if the increase would be significant. It sounds like it would be significant so I may consider getting the aquactinics fixture.
 
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