bobnicaragua
Valuable Member
I smelled burning plastic near my tank today. One of my T5 end caps was smoking. The bulb still lights up. Everything was dry.
T5 endcap melted
- Thread starter bobnicaragua
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Dburr1014
10K Club member
Yikes, good thing you were home.I smelled burning plastic near my tank today. One of my T5 end caps was smoking. The bulb still lights up. Everything was dry.
Did it get wet?
Should be easy fix.
OP
OP
bobnicaragua
Valuable Member
The rubber seals were intact, but the piece that slides over the T5 spit into 2 pieces.
A
OP
OP
bobnicaragua
Valuable Member
Those Icecap end caps look very similar to the reef brite end caps on the fixture. I think I’ll give those a try.
I’m really glad I was home!
I’m really glad I was home!
Dburr1014
10K Club member
I was just talking to a coral grower in my area over the weekend at a show. I asked him about those blades and he said he would never put them on his tank. I asked him why he said "cuz they're not that good".
Do you own them and how do they preform for you?
Dburr1014
10K Club member
He actually had them on his tank with the coral that he was selling, this is why I asked him about the blades. And that's when he told me he would never use him on his home tank. He uses them only to sell corals so I imagine they make them pop but not so much grow well.
I took a look at the spectrum of one of the coral grow lights and it seems a big weak at 420. Knowing what LITTLE I know, I would like to see more of a bump at that level as well as some on the 700 side (for Chlorophyll A).
Chlorophyll A and B
Blade Coral Grow
And what I'm gonna get......
Now.....Again, I'm a noob with lighting, but this is what I understand to be important. If I've come up short, please, please, please correct me.
Dburr1014
10K Club member
I'm picking up what you're putting down. LOLI took a look at the spectrum of one of the coral grow lights and it seems a big weak at 420. Knowing what LITTLE I know, I would like to see more of a bump at that level as well as some on the 700 side (for Chlorophyll A).
Chlorophyll A and B
Blade Coral Grow
And what I'm gonna get......
Now.....Again, I'm a noob with lighting, but this is what I understand to be important. If I've come up short, please, please, please correct me.
Atinic bulbs are the 420 Spectrum, so I think you are correct.
Odd, I ran them for 9 months on my tank with great growth and color. 3 gave me enough PAR for SPS anywhere in the tank but I went to 5 for full blanket coverage.
Day I added them:
Day I switched out the XHOs for 2 more Blades
Day I switched to Radions just because
The whole "limited spectrum" myth was put to rest IMO. Every color in my tank was there including my pink and orange fish looking pink and orange under the light.
That makes sense. I have a Tek 8x54W fixture from the old days. I'll start with that and move to the Photon when the bulbs run out. Back then, we didn't really use nm as a descriptor. We just used 12K, Actinic, 14K, 18K etc. I ran about 16K on the average. Maybe a little less....
