Ati powermodule, using 6 bulbs instead of 8

[Sophisticated Reefer]

Hello all,

I recently purchased a second hand ati hybride 8x 54 3x 75 and using all 8 bulbs is really overkill for my tank. Its hanging above a red sea 425XL.

Now i want to change the bulbs but only wanna use 6 bulbs instead of 8.
Can i Just leave out the first and last bulb?
Will this have negative impact on the hardware?
And to be sure: the 2 not connected bulbs wont use any power since there is no connection right?

 

[A. grandis]

Hello all,

I recently purchased a second hand ati hybride 8x 54 3x 75 and using all 8 bulbs is really overkill for my tank. Its hanging above a red sea 425XL.

Now i want to change the bulbs but only wanna use 6 bulbs instead of 8.
Can i Just leave out the first and last bulb?
Will this have negative impact on the hardware?
And to be sure: the 2 not connected bulbs wont use any power since there is no connection right?

Yes, no problem!
Absolutely no negative impact on hardware.
Yes, the 2 connected bulb will not use any power if you don't turn them on/plug them in.

 

[Sophisticated Reefer]

Yes, no problem!
Absolutely no negative impact on hardware.
Yes, the 2 connected bulb will not use any power if you don't turn them on/plug them in.

Thnx for the information!

 

[A. grandis]

You are very welcome.
Enjoy your reef!

 

[Sophisticated Reefer]

You are very welcome.
Enjoy your reef!

today i switched out the bulbs and used 6 instead of 8, the first and last bulb wont turn on and i think because the t5 is in 2 different groups.

group 1 = the 4 inside bulbs
group 2 = the 4 outside bulbs

i think the problem is that the power circuit in the last 4 bulbs is not connected so they all wont work in group 2

is there any method to make this work?

 

[A. grandis]

today i switched out the bulbs and used 6 instead of 8, the first and last bulb wont turn on and i think because the t5 is in 2 different groups.

group 1 = the 4 inside bulbs
group 2 = the 4 outside bulbs

i think the problem is that the power circuit in the last 4 bulbs is not connected so they all wont work in group 2

is there any method to make this work?

Yes, they work in "group of 2" because each ballast feeds 2 bulbs. That fixture has 4 ballasts.
In an 8 bulb fixture you will have 2 cords and will be able to play with the 2 channels (each cord is for 1 channel). One channel is for 2 bulbs, and the other channel is for 6 bulbs, if I remember right.

Independent of you choosing to use only 6 bulbs, I can tell you that if the fixture covers the entire surface area of the tank you should use them all. This is just to say that it is not overkill, but you do have the choice to e only 6 bulbs if you want.
IMO/E the more bulbs in the combo the better for the system in terms of spectrum and intensity. I just wanted to let you no my opinion about that part.