Icecap 660 and T-5's??

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Will a 660 ballast work with T-5's???

 

[143gadgets]

Yup. Will work very well.. Also keep in mind that the Icecap ballasts overdrive the T5s so you get more light than you think. For example, 54w on regular ballast is about 80w on an Icecap.

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Hmmm.... I haven't got my VHO's yet for my new tank but I do have the ballast. What would you suggest to go along with (2) 250w 14k hamiltons over a 4ft 120g tank?

What all will I need for this to work?

 

[IBMGeek]

Yeah but those 80w on the 54w will make the bulb fail early. Have you looked at the ATI fixtures? They look pretty sweet.

 

[BigBadZoaDaddy]

They don't fail? They just loose par. at about 1 yr instead of 2 yrs.
You can also get 80 watt T-5s from URI called UVL bulbs now I belive?
I have 4 T-5s on a IceCap now for many months. Are you gonna run the T-5s as Just Actinic Supplement? If so I know this is differant than the norm theses days, and go with VHO Actinics. You get we more POP out of the than the T-5s.
T-5s are great if they are the only lights your using, but as a supplement VHOs are IMO better.

 

[Azurel]

The same Company that makes the VHO actinics has now made the same bulb in T-5.....I have 2 supplimenting my tank as I type and the only differance is the amount of par coming from the T-5s. I had some corals bleach a little bit from the increase of par compared to the VHOs......UVI Super actinic Rs is the name of the bulb....

 

[twon8]

as long as you have a fan blowing on the overdriven t5s you'll be fine. i run most of mine that way. with individual reflectors they are very bright. I would say 2xblueplus and a 6500 or 3000k ge bulb and an uvi actinic as azurel said.


all you will need different for t5 are encaps, reflectors and bulbs. twopartsolutions.com has some bulbs and reflectors pretty cheap, with free shipping.

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Thanks for the info all.

I am going to use the VHO's or T-5's for actinic supplementation only. So should I just stick with the VHO's?

On the other hand with this deep tank I could use some more par, but I really want some nice actinic color.

 

[IBMGeek]

Yeah that what I meant, they lose par faster. Many people think VHOs are the best for actinic supplementation. Im going to order a uvl super actinic because right now I have a true actinic and its not too bright.

 

[NapoliNewJersey]

Thanks for the info all.

I am going to use the VHO's or T-5's for actinic supplementation only. So should I just stick with the VHO's?

On the other hand with this deep tank I could use some more par, but I really want some nice actinic color.

Hey Rev ...

UVI just put out a super Actinic in T5 ... looks amazing .. very nice bulb.

Also Icecap was selling 660 ballasts at the NJRC frag swap for $100 brand new. Mounts and Endcap pairs for $8 all together. They also had reflectors that were "scratch and dent" for $10. I could have had a brand new 8 bulb set up for less than $350 ... but i spent all my money on frags.

Go with the T5's ... you'll be happy you did.

 

[Azurel]

Hey Rev, all the new pics I have posted in the last 3 weeks have been under the T-5 Super actinic Rs. After having used the VHO super actinics for the last 15 years, I can honestly say that the T-5s are a much brighter bulb and has more par while giving you the same actinic supplementation as the VHOs. I honestly think the VHO are or will be going by the wayside in the next 2-3 years. Since UVI is the largest VHO bulb make for aquatics I think they will eventually discontinue production of them. Not to mention the T-5s will cost less to run while giving you the best bang for your buck. Even if you went with the 80w bulbs that is still 30 less watts per bulb then the VHOs, while the 54w bulbs you can run 2 bulb for the same amount of energy use. I went from 220w VHO to 108w T-5 and have seen an increase in par and overall quality of lighting......As the others have said though the individual reflectors are paramount to getting the most out of the bulb....

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

So is the bulb what I need for good actinic's? I am not so much worried about Par.

http://www.hellolights.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=1313

 

[Azurel]

YEa that is it Rev....

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

So I need a wiring harness, 2 bulbs, 4 endcaps, and 2 reflectors?

 

[twon8]

i'm pretty sure you can run 4 4' t5s on that ballast.

 

[Azurel]

Is this for a Icecap ballast? What do you have as of right now? just the ballast and no wiring harness? If you have the harness then all you need is the endcaps, bulbs, reflectors.....The endcaps are basically the same as the others just smaller.

 

[Azurel]

YEa I would have to say you can run 4 bulbs on that ballast no problem.....Infact you could infact run as many as you wanted aslong as you didn't go over the max wattage of the ballast......But it only gives you the wiring for 4 bulbs anyway.....I used to run 4 110w VHOs on mine with no issues at all....

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Hmmmm....

I have the harness for the vhos now so I can use that huh...

As far as 4 bulbs go, I might just do that. I may go with 2 for now and add the other 2 in in a few weeks. See how it goes...

Do you think that would be too much light with the (2) 250w MH's? I want my sps to grow good so I am starting to love the t-5 idea. As a matter of fact I am going to do t-5's now.

 

[twon8]

no way that is too much light, if you had 400w 10k's then maybe, but hamiltons don't have that much par, the t5's will be great supplementing.

one final though. you can run the 660 with 2 t5s and 2 vho's,

 

[SaraB]

I asked IceCap how many T-5's I could run off my 660 and this is what they said:

Re: 660 Question
It would be able to run 4 of the 54 watt T5 lamps or 3 of the 80 watt T5 lamps.

I also recently replaced my 2' and 3' VHO Actinic's on my 92g corner tank with the ATI Blue Plus T-5's and the color is awesome! I do have to say it's not as blue when the 2 Metal Halides come on, but I like them better for the times when the MH's are not running.