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January 4th, 2010
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| | Fish Keeper
| T5 HO: Hard to find? Expensive?
Hi Everybody,
I'm setting up a heavily planted 55 gallon aquarium with medium-high lighting plants. I am thinking about buying this lighting fixture on ebay. I want to know:
1. Are standard T5HO bulbs hard to find at hardware stores/Wal-Mart/ LPS and are they expensive?
2. Would it just be cheaper to DIY a lighting fixture? I have the capability--my husband lol!
Any info, or suggestions will be much appreciated! Thanks! ~Chris | 
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January 4th, 2010
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| | Fish Master
| HO T5 lighting is a lot more intense than normal output flourescents. 4x 54W bulbs are going to be a ton of light over a 55. If you're wanting mostly medium light plants, you may want to go with 2x 54W. The T5s put out a lot more light than you'd think and render the WPG guideline pretty useless. 
HO T5 bulbs are available at most pet stores, but you won't be able to find them at Walmart or hardware stores. They aren't that expensive, much cheaper than PC bulbs.
I don't see a brand name listed anywhere on the eBay page... caveat emptor. If the price seems too good to be true, I'd be wary of the quality. JMO. | |
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January 4th, 2010
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| | Fish Master
| For a 55gal it will be cheaper to just use standard T8 light fixtures IMO. 4 x 40w tubes will give you 160w of light which is ample over your tank. T8 tubes are cheaper to replace, easier to find & there are more options for the type of tube you use. That's just my two cents worth. 
T5HO lighting is good, very good, but it does cost more to purchase, tubes are harder to find & tube type is often limited. If you want to go the T5HO option, then Harpua has given some pretty good advice there. Especially the bit about if the price seems to good to be true. When it come to T5HO fixtures, you get what you pay for. | |
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January 4th, 2010
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| | Fish Keeper
| I am waiting on 48 inch t5 6700k bulbs to ship from Foster and Smith. They were $11. I was just in Petsmart and saw a 6500k t5 bulb for $28. So definitely don't get bulbs there.
216 watts of t5 light is going to be too much for a 55 gallon. If you can find a t5 with two 54 watt bulbs that would be better. I have 55 gallon tanks with two 54 watt t5 bulbs for a total of 108 watts and it is really bright. The 108 watt t5s look brighter than the 260 watt PC light on my 75 gallon tank. I just thought I'd mention that since I have the same size tank and lighting.
Are you going to be using pressurized co2?
Can't wait to see pics when you get it all set up! | |
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January 4th, 2010
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| | Fish Bum
| I have T5 bulbs(2x39watts) 36" for my fresh 55g w/ no live plants. These bulbs and the SunLight Supply retrofit ready kit are awesome! Plenty of light just plain beautiful! | |
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January 4th, 2010
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| | Fish Keeper
| Quote:
Originally Posted by zapco23  I have T5 bulbs(2x39watts) 36" for my fresh 55g w/ no live plants. These bulbs and the SunLight Supply retrofit ready kit are awesome! Plenty of light just plain beautiful! | You should get some plants! | |
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January 4th, 2010
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| | Fish Bum
| Maybe in the future, but I've never dealt with live plants before since I'm still somewhat new to this. | |
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January 4th, 2010
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| | Fish Keeper
| Thank you, everybody, for your input. It sounds like that fixture is too bright, not to mention of questionable quality, so I'll look into the options you all suggested. I think the 4 x 40w sounds like the most promising for my budget!
Another question, can I mix 6500k and 10000k to get better lighting for my high light plants? OR does it have more to do with wpg?
To answer your question, suemvb, I have a DIY co2 yeast reactor. I might splurge on a store bought version becuase they aren't as expensive as I thought, but I don't think I'm going to get pressurized. And I'll definitely share pictures soon! Thanks again everybody! | |
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January 4th, 2010
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| | Fish Master
| If you already hav a DIY reactor that is working then don't waste your money on a store bought one. The performance will be just the same as the homemade one. Add a 2nd yeast mix bottle if you want to bump up the co2 levels or maintain a more consistent supply of co2.
Mixing your kelvin ratings is a good idea but doesn't help increase intensity. Mixing the tubes will give a better range throughout the whole light spectrum & so provide more usable light for your plants. When it comes to red plants nothing beats light intensisty though. You can mix & match various tubes so that you end up with good plant growth & still have a pleasing visual effect. I like to include Gro- lux tubes on any planted tank I do & as far as I'm concerned they are a 'must have' item for a planted tank, though others will surely disagree with that. They are not absolutley essential but IMO they sure do give excellent plant growth. I use a combination of 1 x Gro-lux, 2 x 10,000k & 1 x 6,700k over most of my planted tank & I get excellent growth & a natural visual appearance. It's probably best to experiment a little with your own set up & see what works best for you though. | |
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January 5th, 2010
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| | Fish Keeper
| Quote:
Originally Posted by Nutter If you already hav a DIY reactor that is working then don't waste your money on a store bought one. The performance will be just the same as the homemade one. Add a 2nd yeast mix bottle if you want to bump up the co2 levels or maintain a more consistent supply of co2.
Mixing your kelvin ratings is a good idea but doesn't help increase intensity. Mixing the tubes will give a better range throughout the whole light spectrum & so provide more usable light for your plants. When it comes to red plants nothing beats light intensisty though. You can mix & match various tubes so that you end up with good plant growth & still have a pleasing visual effect. I like to include Gro-Lux tubes on any planted tank I do & as far as I'm concerned they are a 'must have' item for a planted tank, though others will surely disagree with that. They are not absolutley essential but IMO they sure do give excellent plant growth. I use a combination of 1 x Gro-lux, 2 x 10,000k & 1 x 6,700k over most of my planted tank & I get excellent growth & a natural visual appearance. It's probably best to experiment a little with your own set up & see what works best for you though. | I'll definitely look into that light configuration, but I am having trouble finding a four bulb set up like the one you suggested. Drs F&S had a three bulb one, but that's it. I'm going to look around locally soon, though. Or figure out how to make one... Thanks again! ~Chris | |
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January 5th, 2010
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| | Fish Keeper
| From my experience the store bought yeast co2 generators produce a lot less co2 than the 2 liter version. On my 55 gallon planted tanks I have two 2 liters running together and on the 75 gallon I have three 2 liters running together. The pressurized set ups are just so expensive. | |
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January 6th, 2010
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| | Fish Keeper
| Well, I think I am going to DIY... Everything I find is either too expensive, too cheap, or backordered until after the sale is over and/or longer than I want to wait! I've been looking through the DIY forums and have lots of ideas. I love DIY anyway! Thanks everbody for your help! | |
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January 9th, 2010
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| | Fish Keeper
| Hey All,
Just thought I'd update everybody. Scratch the last post. I found a slightly used lighting fixture on ebay. It's a Current USA Nova Extreme 4x54 watts T5HO. I know it's overkill but I really liked the idea of having more variety with my lights than just two bulbs. (I can always leave one or two empty if I want, right??) Plus, it was a really great deal ($176 plus s&h)! ~Chris | |
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January 9th, 2010
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| | Fish Master
| Nova Extreme is a nice fixture. I use a Nova Extreme Pro on a reef tank and it's been great so far. Does your unit have 2 plugs/2 switches? If so, you can choose to just turn on one set of lights (2 bulbs at a time). If not, leaving a bulb out of the fixture won't work from what I understand. Anyway, congrats on the deal!  | |
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January 9th, 2010
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| | Fish Keeper
| Congrats on your new lights. Mine don't work unless both bulbs are in but it's a different brand. If you have two switches you could run one set of bulbs in the morning and one in the evening. You could let them overlap for a "noon burst".
Just don't do what I did on one of my tanks and run all the light all the time. It took me several months to figure out that my plants were hardly growing at all. (maybe I'm kinda slow lol) I started doing what I described here and within 10 days my Ludwiga Replens was back to its old self, growing like crazy. It went from about 4 inches to probably 12 in that time.
Can’t wait to see how it looks. Live plants are so much fun! | |
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January 9th, 2010
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| | Fish Keeper
| with that much light CO2 is a must...jmho...  | |
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January 9th, 2010
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| | Fish Keeper
| Quote:
Originally Posted by harpua2002 Nova Extreme is a nice fixture. I use a Nova Extreme Pro on a reef tank and it's been great so far. Does your unit have 2 plugs/2 switches? If so, you can choose to just turn on one set of lights (2 bulbs at a time). If not, leaving a bulb out of the fixture won't work from what I understand. Anyway, congrats on the deal! | Thanks! I'm glad to know it's a good one. It does have two cords and two switches. At first I thought that was a dumb feature because it would take up two outlets instead of one, but I'm beginning to like it. Well, I will like it when I get it. lol Quote:
Originally Posted by suemvb Congrats on your new lights. Mine don't work unless both bulbs are in but it's a different brand. If you have two switches you could run one set of bulbs in the morning and one in the evening. You could let them overlap for a "noon burst".
Just don't do what I did on one of my tanks and run all the light all the time. It took me several months to figure out that my plants were hardly growing at all. (maybe I'm kinda slow lol) I started doing what I described here and within 10 days my Ludwiga Replens was back to its old self, growing like crazy. It went from about 4 inches to probably 12 in that time.
Can’t wait to see how it looks. Live plants are so much fun! | Thank you for the word of caution. I'll definitely try staggering the lighting. I'm trying to figure out what is the best kind of combo of bulbs to get. I want to get both 6500k and 10000k but I'm not sure how many of either one. Also, I'd like a full spectrum bulb. I just don't know what features overlap and whatnot, but I haven't looked much either.
Plants are fun! I've just started "aquatic gardening" but I love learning about the plants. I hope to achieve a green thumb eventually. So far, nothing has died so I guess that is a good start! I'll post pictures when everything is set up. Right now, the 55 gallon tank is empty and the plants are in a very crowded 10 gallon. Quote:
Originally Posted by Goldwing_Don with that much light CO2 is a must...jmho... | I do use CO2. It's a DIY. 
~Chris | |
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January 10th, 2010
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| | Fish Keeper
| I do use CO2. It's a DIY.
~Chris[/quote]
good answer.... ...lol | |
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January 10th, 2010
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| | Fish Keeper
| I would suggest half 10,000k and half 6,700k. (or 6,500k - IDK probably not much difference) That's what my research LED me to get for my tanks.
You could put the 10,000k on one switch and the 6,700k on the other switch. Or, you could put one of each on each switch which, come to think of it sounds like a good idea. My T5 lights each have two bulbs on one switch but my Power Compact has two switches so I'm going to go switch the bulbs so each switch has a 10,000k and a 6,700k. Thanks for the idea... or maybe that was my idea lol
Whatever you do, don't spend $28 bucks on bulbs at the store. I was wrong in my earlier post in this thread. The Foster and Smith price for 48 inch 6,700k bulbs was not $11 it was $13.49 and the shipping was $5.99 but still a lot less than $28. | |
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January 10th, 2010
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| | Fish Keeper
| I'm glad to help lol. I'll probably use that idea, too. The bulbs definitely seem to be cheaper online. I'll probably buy them from Drs. F&S. I know I can trust them. Thanks! ~Chris | |
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