36" Tek T5 Light Fixture Question????

[Xler8n]

Hello All,

So this guy on craigslist is selling a 36" T5 Tek light fixture that has one bad ballast and needs new bulbs for $45. My question is do these fixtures have an acrylic shield that protects the bulbs from splash? I thought that they did buy he says that it doesn't come with it. Can anyone chime in and ket me know if 1) It IS suppose to have the acrylic shield and 2) is this a good deal or am i getting the short end of the stick. Thx

 

[cdness]

The splash guard is an add-on. My Tek never had it and worked fine for me.

 

[BlueReef]

Thats not a bad deal, you can order a replacement ballast from MarineDeport or Premium, probably 40bucks. Ballast is easy to replace or you can do a led build inside the fixture getting the best from both. The splash guards don't come with the tek fixture's new and it is not neccessary or you can get one cut for about $20.

 

[Xler8n]

Thanks guys. I will pick it up tonight then. I was thinking of just going all out and replacing both ballasts with IceCap ballasts since one is already bad. What do you guys think? Is there an IceCap ballast that runs 4 bulbs?

 

[cdness]

The CoralVue (used to be IceCap) 660 can handle the 4 lamps. They are huge though so keep that in mind. You will probably want to remotely mount the ballast and run wires up to the fixture.

 

[CoralFreak27]

So i picked up the light today and guess what??? ALL BULBS work. Nothing is wrong with the ballast, just a loose wire. He told me he had problems with it since the first day he bought it and didnt return it for some reason because it was a pain to ship it back. He only ran it with 2 bulbs the entire time. All i have to buy is new bulbs. What a steal. 36" Tek T5 4 bulb fixture for 45 bucks. So the question now is what combination of bulbs do i need to get for this fixture. Im thinking ATI (already some in the fixture) but what colors? All i know is i need a Blue +. Im more of a Halide guy so T5s are completely new to me.

 

[Xler8n]

So i picked up the light today and guess what??? ALL BULBS work. Nothing is wrong with the ballast, just a loose wire. He told me he had problems with it since the first day he bought it and didnt return it for some reason because it was a pain to ship it back. He only ran it with 2 bulbs the entire time. All i have to buy is new bulbs. What a steal. 36" Tek T5 4 bulb fixture for 45 bucks. So the question now is what combination of bulbs do i need to get for this fixture. Im thinking ATI (already some in the fixture) but what colors? All i know is i need a Blue +. Im more of a Halide guy so T5s are completely new to me.