T5 HO plant light

[alindell]

So awhile back I bought a two foot 8 bulb and 4 foot 6 bulbT5HO fixture from hydrofarm and I was growing some plants under there. It worked great, but I have since been bored of it and wanted to use it for something more interesting to me for something like a 75 gallon aquarium and since I dont know where to sell them and probably no reefer will buy them I figure they might work for a 75 gallon tank that I have in storage. I realize this brand is not for reefing, but how different can it be. These lights will not be permanent as the tank I am going to set up in the future will be red sea reefer xl that will be using hydra 52 leds. Also as long as I get the spectral output and and color temperature with enough par I hope it will be able to grow some hardy soft corals What are your thoughts. I will provide a link to the brand of t5 HO I bought and the unit I bought. let me know if this will work and if it will, I am unsure as what bulbs to replace to make the hydrofarm fixture reef capable.


https://www.hydrofarm.com/p/FLP44

 

[SteveSTL]

They probably just have 6500K bulbs in them. You just need to change them out to 10000K (or whatever combo you like) and you'll be good to go.

 

[alindell]

Do you think the fitting of a t5 ho bulb of lets say ati will work for these fixtures. Does anyone know if it will fit, how it will affect performance, sizing. Id hate to buy a bunch of bulbs just so they dont fit or work. I am just being critical, but I dont really see why they wouldn't work.

 

[SteveSTL]

As long as the bulbs match the ballast, it doesn't matter what color they are.

 

[Goldenvue]

I just bought a 24" and was going to use Ati plus