T5 lights in canopy?

[c42480]

Okay im looking at putting a canopy on my 75 gallon tank. The lights i have will not fit under the canopy they are current usa (orbit) 48" 384w pc. I had 2 questions first can i just get the retrofit T5 kits with reflectors and mount them to the under side top of the canopy? And second what would my lights be worth it is a year old with 2 day light 96w and 2 antic 96w bulbs that are 1.5 monts old?
Thanks for your responce Chuck

 

[reefraff]

Reefgeek has good priced on retrofit kits. If you use Ice Cap or original Tek reflectors you can use 6 lamps. 4 if you use Tek II reflectors

 

[thangbom]

i rec. yeu get the SLR... they are way better then the tek but, if you get the tek get the OG tek... the tek2 is worst then the old one in par...
YzGyz

 

[c42480]

So do you just mount the retrofit kit to the under side of the canopy? Thaks for the info.
Chuck

 

[thangbom]

it all depends on the canopy.... the rec. height for t5 is four or five inches above water... my canopy have both t5 and mh so i made a adjustable rig that i hung inside my canopy via chains then mounted them onto the rig... then adjusted its height via hooking the chain to the height i wanted...
YzGyz

 

[wangotango]

id go icecap personally, but since the kits come with 660 ballasts that overdrive the bulbs, you will have to replace them more often. i would also put a 3" or so fan on one end of the canopy that blows air out of the canopy, not over the bulbs themselves.
-Justin

 

[thangbom]

humm... sry to say but i don't rec. the 660 to overdrive the bulbs in this case... it's only a 75 gal so it's not that tall.. no need to pump 80watt per bulb here.. the standard 54watts will do just fine....

 

[krazy302]

I had a coralife fixture on my 90, I added 2 MH's to my tank and had no room to use the fixture, so what I did is take apart the fixture and used the ballasts and bulbs as a retro kit. No need to spend more money if you already have the items..

 

[wangotango]

Originally Posted by ThaNgBom
humm... sry to say but i don't rec. the 660 to overdrive the bulbs in this case... it's only a 75 gal so it's not that tall.. no need to pump 80watt per bulb here.. the standard 54watts will do just fine....
i wouldnt use the 660 either, but thats what the kit comes with so i wanted the poster to know that using it would cut bulb life. id swap the 660 for a workhorse, same ballasts the aquactinics tx5 fixtures use.
-Justin

 

[c42480]

Thanks for all the help. I do not want to take my pc lights apart thats why I am thinking of selling them and getting the t5's. Does any one have an idea of what the 384w 48" current usa pc fixture sells for used?
Chuck

 

[matt819]

Originally Posted by WangoTango
i wouldnt use the 660 either, but thats what the kit comes with so i wanted the poster to know that using it would cut bulb life. id swap the 660 for a workhorse, same ballasts the aquactinics tx5 fixtures use.
-Justin
Aquactinics uses Icecap components. I just bought a 4x54w icecap retro from reefgeek normally driven, it comes with a universal triad ballast normally. I got a Vossher Schwabe ballast, the same people that make the waterproof endcaps. It's German. I barely squeezed them into my canopy, the combo of UVL aquasun and ATI blueplus's and Aquablues is amazingly bright though.

 

[thangbom]

he blue plus par rating is way way up there.. like neck and neck with the 6500k ge... i dont know about the shwabe ballast but oshram (sp?) ballast are the best at running t5ho.. they give out more par then the regular ( triad/universal) ballast but still use the same amount of electric i think...and, that oshram (ps?) is just a syvania stamped oshram... not 100% sure on all thins but this is what i remember reading from Grim's testing...
YzGyz

 

[thangbom]

ohh and i forgot to mention that i would not run t5ho off a workhorse ballast even though they can... they really arnt made to run them...
YzGyz

 

[matt819]

Oshram might be it...I'm not at home right now. I love it either way. The retro was a little crazy for me, it was my first time wiring a ballast at all. I just took it slow and made sure I did it right. Not the kinda thing you wanna screw up on. The lights color temperature is fantastic...

 

[reefraff]

Originally Posted by ThaNgBom
he blue plus par rating is way way up there.. like neck and neck with the 6500k ge... i dont know about the shwabe ballast but oshram (sp?) ballast are the best at running t5ho.. they give out more par then the regular ( triad/universal) ballast but still use the same amount of electric i think...and, that oshram (ps?) is just a syvania stamped oshram... not 100% sure on all thins but this is what i remember reading from Grim's testing...
YzGyz
Osram, Schwab (VS) and Sylvania are all the same ballast.

 

[thangbom]

i could of sworn i said that syvania and osram are the same thing

... dint know about the shwab though.. thats a new one on my list for labled/stamped syvania ballast
YzGyz

 

[reefraff]

Originally Posted by ThaNgBom
i could of sworn i said that syvania and osram are the same thing

... dint know about the shwab though.. thats a new one on my list for labled/stamped syvania ballast
YzGyz
My Osrams were just the Sylvania with a label over sylvania. The ballast looked identical to the VS so I popped the tops off. All the PCB's are labeled Sylvania with the same part number. All three made in China by the way.

 

[matt819]

Another thing - I do not have any kind of shield over the bulbs at all. They are maybe 4 inches above the water. Do I need an acrylic shield or anything? If not, what do you use to clean the SLR reflectors?

 

[thangbom]

when you first get your SLR's and remove the plastic covering.. spray on some "ZEP" (you can find it at HD or LOWE'S, it's for cleaning stainless steel ), let it sit for a minute or two, then wipe/buff it off... then they are good to go... you should rinse them off 2x a year in warm water to rid of the salt.. wipe dry and reapply 'ZEP' again.. this is basically the short break down i wrote for Icecap on --...
HTH
YzGyz

 

[matt819]

I didn't do that...I'm already getting spots on the SLRs from salt. Should I pop them out, rinse with warm water, then apply some zep? I assume this prevents salt from building up on them?