Iquatics T5 Tubes

[johnnyjtaylor]

Anyone used these? Are they any good? I usually get arcadias.

Cheers Johnny

 

[Morri]

Sorry never come accross them I only use ATI or KZs

 

[xxBarneyxx]

Using them at the moment. They didn't have 10k ones when I ordered so got the 6500k ones instead. They do the job in terms of light output (and are probably the best for their price on the market) but I would definitely say ATI tubes are the best you can get (just a lot more expensive).

 

[johnnyjtaylor]

Thanks Barney. Is there an advantage of 10K over 14K white tubes with regards to coral happiness. I was going to get 3 actinic and 3 marine white so I would have plenty of blue light without getting bluer 14k.

Edit. Just to say i want to save a few quid as I'm spending a fortune upgrading to a 4x2x2 foot and saving £100 on tubes would be a bonus

 

[salty pig]

Anyone used these? Are they any good? I usually get arcadias.

Cheers Johnny

.Sorry to interrupt a very interesting thread but, Is Iquatics the best/cheapest place to get this type of lighting ?

 

[xxBarneyxx]

Anyone used these? Are they any good? I usually get arcadias.

Cheers Johnny

.Sorry to interrupt a very interesting thread but, Is Iquatics the best/cheapest place to get this type of lighting ?

It's the cheapest place I have found to buy t5 tubes from. Think when I bought mine they had a 3 for 2 offer on so I bought enough to last me a year (and was still cheaper then buying just 1 set of ATI tubes).

With regards to colour temp. The lower colour temp (i.e. 6500k) gives off more usable light (i.e. faster coral growth) but is very yellow. The higher colour temp (14,000k) doesn't give off as much light but looks much nicer.

Personally I would normally go with 10k tubes as they have a balance of decent looking colour and good light output. If it was me I would go for 4 10k and 2 actinic's.

The biggest advantage with T5's is being able to mix and match tubes to get what you want. On my tank at the moment I'm not particularly happy with the 6500k tubes as the tank looks yellow and it really doesn't show the corals to their full colour (especially after using the ATI tubes). That being said however my coral growth has been amazing under the 6500k's so its all a trade off between coral growth and personally preference on light colour.

 

[johnnyjtaylor]

Thanks barney. Having priced up all the bits for t5 lighting its going to cost around £200 to set up 6 tubes and then I've got to build a hood for them all(its the reflectors and waterproof end caps that really cost!). An arcadia 2x150 halide(classica) is £232 so I may as well have ripple lines from them and buy some actinic leds if it needs to be bluer

 

[salty pig]

Anyone used these? Are they any good? I usually get arcadias.

Cheers Johnny

.Sorry to interrupt a very interesting thread but, Is Iquatics the best/cheapest place to get this type of lighting ?

It's the cheapest place I have found to buy t5 tubes from. Think when I bought mine they had a 3 for 2 offer on so I bought enough to last me a year (and was still cheaper then buying just 1 set of ATI tubes).

With regards to colour temp. The lower colour temp (i.e. 6500k) gives off more usable light (i.e. faster coral growth) but is very yellow. The higher colour temp (14,000k) doesn't give off as much light but looks much nicer.

Personally I would normally go with 10k tubes as they have a balance of decent looking colour and good light output. If it was me I would go for 4 10k and 2 actinic's.

The biggest advantage with T5's is being able to mix and match tubes to get what you want. On my tank at the moment I'm not particularly happy with the 6500k tubes as the tank looks yellow and it really doesn't show the corals to their full colour (especially after using the ATI tubes). That being said however my coral growth has been amazing under the 6500k's so its all a trade off between coral growth and personally preference on light colour.

Many thanks for answering my question and also going that one step further in answering what would have been my next question ( colour temp ). The pici of your tank looks well cool. Well Done and many thanks. Salty Pig.

 

[xxBarneyxx]

Thanks barney. Having priced up all the bits for t5 lighting its going to cost around £200 to set up 6 tubes and then I've got to build a hood for them all(its the reflectors and waterproof end caps that really cost!). An arcadia 2x150 halide(classica) is £232 so I may as well have ripple lines from them and buy some actinic leds if it needs to be bluer

Yeah, plus then you also don't have the cost of replacing 6 T5 tubes every 6 months. If I didn't already have a T5 setup I would probably have gone for MH as well (kind of glad I had the T5 though as I like being able to mix and match the tubes). I did have a link to some cheap T5 parts but cant find it at the moment. Probably wouldn't have been much cheaper then you have already said though (think the ballasts where about £12 for a dual 54W unit).

Thats a good price for a dual 150w MH, is that new?

Many thanks for answering my question and also going that one step further in answering what would have been my next question ( colour temp ). The pici of your tank looks well cool. Well Done and many thanks. Salty Pig.

Thanks and no problem at all, thats what the forum is here for

 

[johnnyjtaylor]

Thats a good price for a dual 150w MH, is that new?

Yeah sure is look here 2nd one down. I was going to get it but I have now scored meself a twin 250w halide second hand for £100 poor electricity meter.....

 

[xxBarneyxx]

Thats a good price for a dual 150w MH, is that new?

Yeah sure is look here 2nd one down. I was going to get it but I have now scored meself a twin 250w halide second hand for £100 poor electricity meter.....

Cool lol at the electric meter. We use a pay as you go type meter and when our tanks are fully lit you can watch the money just disappearing!

 

[drsquirrel]

Thanks barney. Having priced up all the bits for t5 lighting its going to cost around £200 to set up 6 tubes and then I've got to build a hood for them all(its the reflectors and waterproof end caps that really cost!). An arcadia 2x150 halide(classica) is £232 so I may as well have ripple lines from them and buy some actinic leds if it needs to be bluer

Waterproof end caps are usually part of the controller.

Having 6 would probably mean 3x twin controllers and that sucks I already have 2 for my 4 tubes (I already have a hood, so MH is too awkward to mod to fit, although I have a 150W ballast, reflector etc I plan to build in).

iQuatics do a buy 2 get 1 free, you need to buy 2 specify your free choice in the notes, there isn't an automated way of doing it apparently.

 

[chr15_8]

personally i would never use iquatics tubes again.

I bought 3 10k's on the buy 2 get 3rd free deal. Tried one of them along side my 2 KZ coral light 10k and arcadia blue and the difference in colour was completely different. I left it in for about 5 months and decided to change it for a kz figi purple tube.

When i took the tube out the end cap fell off. (the other kz tube i changed over was fine) Although iquatics did offer to exchange it.

since changing from a 10k iquatics tube to a figi purple 3 new heads have appeared on my duncan and growth on my hystrix has improved greatly over the last month.

personally i wouldn't only use them but if i needed to as part of a bigger fixture then i would use 1 or 2.