new member. T5 light advice

[skiergd011013]

hello. I am a new member, but am not new to the hobby. I am looking to purchase a 36" 4 bulb T5 fixture. It needs to mount to the tank, I dont want to hang it. I have had the ebay odyssea fixtures in the past. They were ok at first, but on both of them, the end cap wiring where it plugged into the bulbs came loose/undone. Basically I dont trust the safety of them and I wont buy one again. I want a safe, quality fixture. I see on amazon there are wavepoint fixtures. They look better built from what I see and I liked the price. There was one that was 169, and another that was 255. They were both 36", 4 blub fixtures, so I dont know what the price difference is for. Any advice on a fixture?

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Welcome to reef2reef!

Amazon eBay is a slippery slope sometimes. The Same thing will cost
$10 or $100.

The wave point seem pretty good acros the board w t5 and led. The down fall is generally the tubes. Same for the odyssey brand on eBay. Most reccomend swapping the tubes to a higher quality one as the hardaware in the fixtures is pretty solid enough to last a few years.

There's a pretty good factory seconds from ati here on reef to reef and used is a go to. Cora life has the same tube prob but is pretty solid but generally have less timer features and mounting options than an odyssey. Some of the odyssey are actually hinged to flip up.
Ati i believe all have to be hung.


If you dig into the BRS and marine Depot web sites the lower end t5 fixtures are a bit buried but there are some good options there.

 

[skiergd011013]

Welcome to reef2reef!

Amazon eBay is a slippery slope sometimes. The Same thing will cost
$10 or $100.

The wave point seem pretty good acros the board w t5 and led. The down fall is generally the tubes. Same for the odyssey brand on eBay. Most reccomend swapping the tubes to a higher quality one as the hardaware in the fixtures is pretty solid enough to last a few years.

There's a pretty good factory seconds from ati here on reef to reef and used is a go to. Cora life has the same tube prob but is pretty solid but generally have less timer features and mounting options than an odyssey. Some of the odyssey are actually hinged to flip up.
Ati i believe all have to be hung.


If you dig into the BRS and marine Depot web sites the lower end t5 fixtures are a bit buried but there are some good options there.

Thank you. I have been on 3reef and TRT years ago, but they dont seem to have a big following like this site. and yup, I dont keep the factory bulbs. I love ati bulbs, and blue looking tanks. I will probably run 3 blue plus, and a coral plus.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Thank you. I have been on 3reef and TRT years ago, but they dont seem to have a big following like this site. and yup, I dont keep the factory bulbs. I love ati bulbs, and blue looking tanks. I will probably run 3 blue plus, and a coral plus.

You're welcome. There's a lot of good knowledge and really nice folks here.

 

[taj0930]

The wave points are all on or off unfortunately from my memory- good lights though. I just found an older aquatic life. They seem to only have 2 bulb on the newest. Unless it’s their new led/t5 retro they just came out with.
The coral life is bulky imo.
Options are shrinking as far a tank mounted t5

 

[skiergd011013]

Yes they are either on or off. Thats ok though, im happy with that. Im finding that i like simpler setups now. I also like how the wavepoint has a gfci plug on it. I know that leds are taking over, but honestly, they havnt really grown on me. I work in a public aquarium, and we have hydra leds over our reef, and a champion led fixture over my 30 gallon reef on my desk. With my desk, i have the whites on min, and blues on max. It still looks completely white. I had to supplement additional blue to get that blue look i want. So id be worried i wouldnt be happy with leds. I know T5s and ati bulbs work for me.

 

[taj0930]

Yes they are either on or off. Thats ok though, im happy with that. Im finding that i like simpler setups now. I also like how the wavepoint has a gfci plug on it. I know that leds are taking over, but honestly, they havnt really grown on me. I work in a public aquarium, and we have hydra leds over our reef, and a champion led fixture over my 30 gallon reef on my desk. With my desk, i have the whites on min, and blues on max. It still looks completely white. I had to supplement additional blue to get that blue look i want. So id be worried i wouldnt be happy with leds. I know T5s and ati bulbs work for me.

Yup! I tried led because that’s what’s in and the features. It took me 2 months to be over the ramping features and realized I miss the t5 and the way the livestock looked under them. I may add a couple blue led just for extra fluorescence but I’m so glad I went back. The growth def picked up and everything looks healthier since switching- & that’s w chemistry and parameters all the same as led

 

[Salty1962]

Welcome to R2R! I love my Aquaticlife fixture with ATI tubes. Fits nice on my rimless.

 

[skiergd011013]

Heres a wavepoint im looking at. Would this be decent? https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0027J2UR8/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1509219290&sr=8-1&keywords=36"+wavepoint+t5&dpPl=1&dpID=51ZEEBQEuVL&ref=plSrch

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Heres a wavepoint im looking at. Would this be decent? https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0027J2UR8/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1509219290&sr=8-1&keywords=36"+wavepoint+t5&dpPl=1&dpID=51ZEEBQEuVL&ref=plSrch

Imo yes.

IMO. You can start with those tubes and slowly swap them too.

 

[skiergd011013]

Imo yes.

IMO. You can start with those tubes and slowly swap them too.

oh they would go immediately! 3 blue plus and one purple plus. I would probably only run the lights an hour the first day, 2 hours the next day, etc etc until i get to 8 hours.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

oh they would go immediately! 3 blue plus and one purple plus. I would probably only run the lights an hour the first day, 2 hours the next day, etc etc until i get to 8 hours.

Lol. Cool.
Think your safe to sun the firs two all day initially. Then add the rest.