Anybody jumped on the T5 bandwagon yet

[Hommeworks]

I've been thinking about these. Was going to get ones made in Germany by an outfit called Deltec. But they don't have U.S. compatable ballasts yet. Now SunLight Supply has these kits. I want three sets, 2 with the actinic blue connected to a icecap 430, the 3rd with all sun lights hooked up to a icecap 460. Total bulbs 6 at 48 inches, each bulb burns at 54 watts. Much lower than my 450watt PFO MHs.

[kestrel]

I have not done it yet, but will be as soon as the financial end straightens out again. I'm gonna start with 2 actinics and 2 6500K's on an IceCap 660. I'm planning on getting a "kit" from AquaticCo. My understanding is that he is doing some testing on a set now.


Doug...?

Daryl

[AquaticCo]

You are correct, I plan on firing mine up this weekend. The running joke at IceCap is to have your sunglasses ready.

Doug

[StellaMN]

mjsandbe is running T5s on his 90 gallon. I was over to his place last night and they are BRIGHT

I took some pics and will post when I get them downloaded from my camera.

J.

[mojoreef]

We fired up some of the T5's at a meeting last week. I must admit that they are brighter then the normal VHO style bulbs, the blue bulbs however did have a noticable lack of blue to them. But other then that they were bright. Were they as bright as MH, I would say they were about 50% as bright as 175 watt MH. to my eye


Mike

[R1Bill]

Any good websites for these lights? My reef costs me about $200/month in electricity.

Thanks,

Bill

[mjsandbe]

R1Bill what are your electric rates? My entire electric bill last month was about $60 I did not have the T5s running the whole month but the 58(4 - 3' VHOs) and the 90(4 - 4' T5s) are both run on IceCaps 660s. The T5s are bright. When it comes time to replace the VHO bulbs I think I will go all T5, maybe get another ballast and run 8 over the 58. The 58 is my SPS tank.

[Hommeworks]

Bill,

Try this German site for how the lights look:
http://www.korallenriff.de/Mohr/hauptaquarium.html

Try PFO or SunLight Supply for U.S. Vendors of these lights.