? about Ice cap 660's

[jetchris]

I wanna put all T5's in my new tank. Is it worth the extra money as opposed to the "regular" ballasts that come with the packages? I know that the bulbs will not last as long when running the 660's and what about power consumption? Is there that much of a difference? I now the par is better with 660 but does it justify the bulbs not lasting as long, higher power usage, loss of life in the bulbs etc?? Thanks for your input

 

[mufret]

It will really depend on how you plan on stocking the tank. The issue you'll have using normally driven HO T5s is you may not get the PAR numbers you need for higher light SPS and clams as you near the sand bed because of the 27" height of the tank. Over driving the T5s with an Icecap ballast, will give you improved light penetration which should allow you to keep the higher light organisms deeper into the tank. The reflectors you choose will help in this regard as well. The narrower reflectors like IceCap and ATI (if you can find them) focus the light better while the wider reflectors like the Tek IIs disperse the light more (If using T5 actinics, I like using a combination of reflectors and use the Tek IIs for the actinics or other lamps that are there mainly for "color" and use the IceCaps for the bulbs I want to use to push PAR). As far as electrical usage, IceCap estimates that standard 54w HO bulbs will be driven at around 80w.

 

[jetchris]

thanks mufret, ok so a normally driven T5 uses about 80w of electricity, how much more do you think an overdriven bulb uses?

 

[weaglereefer]

No, the overdriven ones use 80 watts.

 

[jetchris]

oh, well thats good news. so the only downside would be shorter life of the bulbs and the initial cost ?

 

[derek_s]

Ok, for the 200 gal marineland it is 48" long?

That means you will run 54W HO T5s over it. The IC 660 can drive that 54W T5 to about 80W, (and you can drive 4 48" lamps per IC660) so each IC660 will consume about 320W of power. If you use a 3" reflector (like Icecap SLRs) you can fit a max of 12 T5s over that tank, on 3 IC660s (960W of light). That is of course the MAX, and you probably will be ok with just running 10 lamps, and maybe only 8 of them overdriven. It really depends on how much light you want and what corals you keep, as well as your aquascaping design. The trick really is to just get the overdriven t5s over the places where you need the most light. The very front and very rear of the tank may not need such power, thus perfect places to put some sweet VHOs or normally driven actinics/blues of dusk/dawn viewing.

If it were me, I'd do like 2 VHOs, and 8-10 overdriven t5s. With that you should get suitable par for a mixed reef, and maybe even full sps if you carefully place the corals. I am easily keeping clams on my sandbed (350 par). Check my par threads and canopy build thread on ideas about what I did.

And as mentioned above, overdriven t5s (and actually HOt5s as well) do best when actively cooled with fans. This means you will want a good breeze blowing directly on the lamps, and the canopy should be ducted or vented to allow maximum heat dispersment.


That would be 12 lamps total, covering almost t

 

[derek_s]

ares;322021 wrote: heat, you need to actively cool overdriven T5 bulbs or the performance decreases.

I agree, and even would say that is an understatement. For mine, if they are not acively cooled, teh start to overheat and exhibit what appears to spectrum shifts fairly quickly. I would say they couldnt even last a few months without good cooling...

 

[jeff_mcphail]

I want to jump in on this. How many lamps can you run off off one IC660 at 39 watts each, 54 watts each and 80 watts each?

 

[derek_s]

According to Icecap, you can only run a max of 4 lamps, regardless of size, and they in combination cannot exceed 440W.

Here is the specs:
http://www.icecapinc.com/01/fluorescent%20ballasts.htm">http://www.icecapinc.com/01/fluorescent%20ballasts.htm</a>

Now, that is not to say that some clever wiring couldnt light more lamps, but it may not work, or even void the warranty. I really dont know.

 

[mufret]

Jeff.mcphail;322037 wrote: I want to jump in on this. How many lamps can you run off off one IC660 at 39 watts each, 54 watts each and 80 watts each?

IceCap recommends that you run no more than four 24w, 39w or 54w and three 80w bulbs with a 660. The T5s push the ballast differently than the other bulbs you can run with the 660 so you can't go by the max wattage listed on the ballast when running T5s.

 

[james s_]

mufret;322046 wrote: IceCap recommends that you run no more than four 24w, 39w or 54w and three 80w bulbs with a 660. The T5s push the ballast differently than the other bulbs you can run with the 660 so you can't go by the max wattage listed on the ballast when running T5s.

Was not aware of that. I though everyone was running 4- 4' T5's on an Icecap 660???

 

[derek_s]

I am. Mike meant you cannot run more than 3 60" T5s (80W). His wattages are the standard HO watts, not the adjusted overdriven watts.

SO, you can run FOUR 24", 36", or 48" lamps on the ballast. You can only run THREE 60" lamps.

 

[james s_]

Got ya. that makes more sense to me. I did not realize he was talking about HO wattages.

 

[mufret]

Yep, just using the standard wattage of the bulbs. The 660 will overdrive a 80w (60" HO bulb) to 100w+.

 

[jetchris]

Ok so here is the next question, would you do 2 250w mh's with 2 T5 HO actinics. Or 10 T5 HO. which one do you think. I figure both configurations are going to suck as much power but which one will overall be the best?

 

[jetchris]

also let me get this straight. A normally driven 4' T5 HO bulb sucks 54 watts of power. A 4' T5 VHO sucks 80 watts of power? IS this correct.

 

[jeff_mcphail]

So what is the advantage of using the 660 over the 430?

 

[mufret]

JetChris;322098 wrote: also let me get this straight. A normally driven 4' T5 HO bulb sucks 54 watts of power. A 4' T5 VHO sucks 80 watts of power? IS this correct.

Yep. A normally driven 4' (actually only 46.5") HO T5 will use 54w and if you overdrive that same bulb with an IceCap ballast, it will suck up 80w.

 

[mufret]

JetChris;322092 wrote: Ok so here is the next question, would you do 2 250w mh's with 2 T5 HO actinics. Or 10 T5 HO. which one do you think. I figure both configurations are going to suck as much power but which one will overall be the best?

Which reflector will you use? The issue you'll have using MH is the 36" depth of that tank. You'd have to use the large Lumenarc reflectors to get the coverage from front to back if you want to stay with 2 MH.

 

[jetchris]

yeah, lumen brights is what i would go with but, i am still leaning towards t5's. I beleive 10 normally driven T5's would be sufficient. Ill keep higher light sps toward the top also clams, everything else can go below. Thanks muf