What's the difference in t5 lights

[w_hartyjr]

What's the difference in aquatic t5 fixtures and normal household t5 fixtures. Obviously the bulbs but is there anything else.
I can buy a 48" 6 bulb household fixture for 149 or a current brand for around 600?????????

 

[k3nnyp]

My 1st reaction would be how man days it would last over saltwater.

 

[rdnelson]

It is basically the same. The only real difference is in the reflector. The ones built for aquariums direct all the usable light in more of a straight down pattern while fixtures for building illumination have reflectors designed to discourse the light giving less glare and better coverage.


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[rdnelson]

coral_reefer;853007 wrote: the other big difference is that normally bulbs and fixtures for aquariums and plants/ horticulture are HO ( high output) bulbs and ballasts that generate significantly more lumens per bulb. this is normally what you're paying more for.

Yes and no. If you compare to residential yes. For commercial and industrial applications HO is standard. Not considering lamps, the only difference is the ballast and that is a minimal cost difference.

The main reason that aquarium fixtures and lamps cost so much is because they can. The average reef keeper believes there is a difference in how they are made and therefore pays more.


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[w_hartyjr]

rdnelson99;853010 wrote: Yes and no. If you compare to residential yes. For commercial and industrial applications HO is standard. Not considering lamps, the only difference is the ballast and that is a minimal cost difference.

The main reason that aquarium fixtures and lamps cost so much is because they can. The average reef keeper believes there is a difference in how they are made and therefore pays more.


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Which would you use. The 6 bulb fixture I was looking at has individual reflectors

 

[rdnelson]

LED. LOL

On my old 35 gal tank I modified a 6 lamp commercial high bay fluorescent, built a canopy to cover it and put wave port land in it. Worked great. It to. Had individual reflectors which help. It was a fixture that was damaged in shipping for a project we were doing instead of tossing it......


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[dball711]

I think design is also an important difference, some of the aquarium T5 HO units are designed for optimum performance, some are not. I have had some Current and cadlights units units and they don't compare to my ATI sunpower or Power Module units.

 

[cotton101]

Home Depot has a 4 bulb t5ho with individual reflectors or each bulb, hanging kit, not sure about any splash guard, but for $89.00 you can make your own splash guard, I men you'll be at HD anyway

 

[rdnelson]

One issue with HD or Lowes is it most likely only has one ballast which means you can not switch whites and blues separately. The. One I used had dual ballast. I had to move the tombstones around to match how I wanted lamps arranged but no big deal. I also had to add the cords for it.


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[picoreefguy]

and also even though the hd or lowes fixtures have individual reflectors they may not be as reflective as most aquarium fixtures. a lot of fixtures like that just use plain aluminum thats not polished which is fine for that application because they want the light to go every which way but you can over come that with a decent sized sheet of mylar which is what coralife uses in some of their cheaper 2 bulb fixtures and it works much better than plain aluminum but not as good a polished aluminum. and like someone else said the splash gaurd is of concern as well but again with some diy skills and some acrylic you can make one as well. so if iwere to say one or the other id go with the hd or lowes fixture especially the ho one. and lets face it a lot of us are upgrading to led anyway so you migght do the same in a year or two and will have saved yourself 4-500 bucks that you could use on a good led fixture

 

[w_hartyjr]

Thanks for all the good points. More decisions to make