Commercial lighting for aquariums?

rotarygeek

Member
Ok so im trying to find the best possible deal on lighting for my aquarium and while browsing through egay i found a commercial lighting store that sell 6x54w t5ho systems for like $200. And they have 400 watt metal halide systems for $98. I am pretty sure the t5's don't come with individual reflectors, but i could make some for pretty cheap, and a screen of acrylic in front of it to keep the splash off of them. And the metal halide wouldn't be too difficult either. Anybody ever use this stuff? For the price difference, i would go with it if i could find a good review of it.
*Ninja Edit*
i found some stuff on them.
Integrated 360-degree Motion Sensor
Switch Selectable Low Mode (all off or partial off)
Adjustable Low Mode Time Delay
Quality die-formed galvanized steel ballast housing and cover
Highly reflective white die-formed reflectors
120-277V programmed start, electronic, universal ballast
Includes two wire-form hangers for mounting
Access cover for 3/4-inch conduit and wire entry
24-inch wide design accommodates NFPA and Factory Mutual codes
UL Listed for damp locations
1-year warranty
Note: Fixtures must be mounted a minimum of 7.5-inches below ceiling
I wouldn't need the motion detector, so that would go. Besides that, the only thing that worries me is it says it needs to be mounted 7.5 inches below the cieling, so i wonder what that would do in my canopy? Im thinking it is referring to the fact that it doesn't have fans to cool it, but i could install some fans into my canopy no problem.
 

wattsupdoc

Active Member
The ballast should be fine, the reflector I'm sure would work, the bulb is most likely NO good for your tank.
The thing is though Say you buy this light, modify it to fit your canopy and buy a good bulb for it. Your now out 160.00 ish, with a hillbilly setup. Why not just fork out a few extra bucks and get a retrofit? Then you know how good the reflector is, what the ballast should be doing when comparing for a bulb, and you have a good quality bulb.
Definitely though you should be able to tear the fleaaabay light apart and use it.
 

rotarygeek

Member
Well the reason i am looking into this is i am currently running 1 24" t5ho (6500k) and 1 20" pc 50/50 daylight-actinic on a 55 gallon. It looks ok for a fish only tank, but i would like to get some corals soon (not sure which kind) but i cant afford to spend all that at once. I figure buy the fixture one paycheck, then later on mod it to work (mounting tabs, reflectors, ext....) then buy bulbs that will work later on off a web site i found that sells them for really cheap. So in the long run, it will let me spend less money over a period of time and still have a pretty good lighting system. And even though there halides are shop lights, with a new bulb it would do the same thing as a aquarium halide, but for less than half the cost of regulars. And as for a retrofit kit, this is pretty much the same idea. Take a regular light and retrofit it to my needs. Has anybody else ever done this/ seen someone do this? If so, could you pm me with a link?
 
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