T-12 lighting

[bclark7169]

I just bought a tank and canopy , it has 8 t-12's in it..I know nothing about these bulbs..can anyone give me advice on these would I be better to take them out and go with something different? also they are run by 2 icecap 660 ballast, will these ballast run t-5's also or would I have to buy new ballast also?

the bulbs in it now are 4 super actinics and 4 white actinics...

 

[roundman]

When I started I used t-12 vho's and I had any fish I wanted also had mushrooms and some other softies. I later upgraded to T-5's and that is what I use now. I know the newer icecap 660's can do t-5's but not sure about older ones. You should be able to tell by going to the icecap website. Using the Icecaps will overdrive your T-5's, not a problem. Hopefully Derek will chime in on the overdriving.

 

[theplatypus]

VHO actinics are awesome!

 

[smoothie]

Love my vho's, but I am upgrading to a deeper tank.
Here come the halides

 

[rbredding]

from everything I've read...

the 660 ballast will pretty much run any tube (or combination there of) up to a total of 16 lamp feet or 440W...

I've even seen setups that had two PC's and two 24" HO T5's all off the same ballast..

it's LITERALLY a plug and play (within reason, of course)

right now I'm gonna have mine running 2 VHO actinic's (which might become 4-T5 HO's before all is said and done.. )

 

[bclark7169]

so I can change it to run 8 T-5's like it is?

how many 4' T-5s do you think it would need on a 96" L x 24"W x 30" T ?

 

[rbredding]

well the most you can run off a single 660 ballast is 4 of them...
if you're looking to run more, you'll need more ballasts...

you can do 4ea - 4' lamps on a single ballast (total of 16 lamp feet) so long as they are under 110W ea. (the Icecap 660 has a maximum output of 440W)

 

[william1]

The icecap 660 will overdrive the T5's from there normal 54 watts to about 80-90 watts each. But remember the life span of the T5 bulbs will be greatly reduced. But an awsome way to light a tank with not alot of heat.

 

[bclark7169]

the tank is 8 foot long, 30 inches wide and 24 inches tall will 8 4 foot t-5s be enough (4 on one side and 4 on the other)

or would I be better to buy another 660 ballast and use 12 t-5s?

 

[william1]

12 would be the lucky number to span across the 30 inches of tank you have. Just 6 on each side across the tank. Im setting up a similar set up over the 180 gallon I have that is 72x24x24 with two 660 ballast and 8 T'5s.. which Im going to stagger.

 

[bclark7169]

thanks for the info

 

[rbredding]

would it light more evenly if you run 24" lights from front to back (across the 30" length, not the 96" length)?