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48 inch 4x54W t5 Sunlight Supply Tek Light

8K views 28 replies 9 participants last post by  Dancing4raiin 
#1 ·
So im crusing arounds craigs list cause im looking for a light for a 20 long i want to build when i stumble upon a 48" 4 bulb tek for 10 bucks. It comes with a busted ballast which i searched on there website could be replaced for about 60 bucks. I want to know what kind of coral i would be able to keep in a 60 gallon? Anyone with experience let me know. Plus i would like to hear from the veteran TRT members.
 
#5 ·
No, if it has individual reflectors, you'd be able to keep just about anything. YLChik (Amy) was using 4 normal driven T5 bulbs in individual reflectors and was growing SPS like crazy. Granted, deep water acros are probably not going to thrive, but anything from monti's to birsdnest to psammacora to poccilipora would have quite a chance of doing well under that fixture.
 
#8 ·
I had a 50G with the 4*54W (48") Tek light retro and kept and all SPS and Clam tank,.. they did great! I later upgraded my SPS tank and kept that tank and light setup for softies and LPS,.. They also did great after I moved the lights a little higher up.

I think in your tank you would be able to keep about anything on the top half of the tank and the bottom half I would stick to mostly monties, lps, and softies.

If you want to keep favia's, I would actually hang the light just a little higher off the water than you would if you want to keep SPS, I think it might be a touch much if you slam it right down on the water's surface.

Whiskey
 
#10 ·
howdy! i heard a call for me so I came running...

yup I ran a 55 gallon with 4 54w t5's on it for about a year. It was my first sps set up and as far as I can tell stuff grew like mad and my color was good as long as my nutrients were in check.

I know alot of the reefes in this hobby swear by MH, but I haven't fired up a tank with them yet so I can't speak on them, but I will say I think the idea that you can't have an sps tank with T5's is bull.

I found the lighting to be too intense for some of my lower light corals like brains and things. I had some open brains bleach out, a closed brain frag that keeps hanging on, but I have bleached a few times, acans that need shading as well as a few favias. I had several acros, digi's, passamocora, birdsnest, monti's, poccilipora, and stylophora all which grew to verying degrees.


Make sure you make shaded areas in your rock work so that you can keep lower light things with out bleaching them.

T5's have a very even spread of light from end to end on their reflectors were MH don't. So you will need to provide shady spots on your own.

All that to say I woudl certainly go for t5's. I wish I could fit them under the hood of the corner tank that I am in the process of building, or I would. But I can tell you I will be running them on my frag tank. Love them can't say enough positive about 'em.


HTH
 
#12 ·
up feel free to look through my member gallery as well - if it's sps it was growing in that tank.

this is a shot of the tank after I put the t5's on it about 9 months earlier



hmmm i went back to a bunch of the threads I hae had on my sps growth but the pictures didn't make the transfer when we switched servers *sigh*

best place to go is to search my images - hope that helps you.
 
#20 ·
OK guys, so the light works. The only problem is sometimes i have to wiggle it to get started. Could this be the ballast problem the guy was talking about? I thought if the ballast was busted it would not turn on at all. Well heres the fixtures i bought for 10 bucks. Then i bought 4 atinic bulbs for 30 bucks which brought it up to 40, and i got free moonlights.
 
#22 ·
That was a heck of a deal.

What do you have to wiggle to get them to come on? If it is the power cord then it could be something as simple as one of the wires has come a little loose and just needs to be tightened back up.

I would check that and see if you can find a loose connection in there. Even if you need to buy a new ballast for it you will still have gotten an excellent deal. :)
 
#24 ·
Check out the manufacturer's web site and see if I have a manual online for the fixture. Opening it up should not be too much of a big deal as they make them so the ballasts can be replaces when need be later.

You are definitely right about the deal. I just ordered a new ballast for my Dual 96 watt PC fixture and new bulbs and it cost me $120. :(
 
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