Juwel Vision Arcadia I-bar T5 Replacement

[sophos9]

Hi, I'm looking to get my lighting above 2WPG and with the current setup of the vision, I cannot get another T8 in the front

I've seen a replacement unit which will add T5 lighting, the lighting is the same wattage as the T8's? I know this may be a thick question but whats the point of spending £76 on this?

 

[sophos9]

Sorry to bump this up but can anyone help? I'm looking to increase my lighting...

Cheers

 

[nry]

Could you do what I did and rip out the Juwel stuff and bolt in an Interpet Power Compact T5? For £80 you'd get serious wattage!

 

[fishstick]

Could you do what I did and rip out the Juwel stuff and bolt in an Interpet Power Compact T5? For £80 you'd get serious wattage!

Could you explain exactly how you did this as I would like to know as well ( have juwel 180, want more light)

 

[sophos9]

Could you do what I did and rip out the Juwel stuff and bolt in an Interpet Power Compact T5? For £80 you'd get serious wattage!

NRY, tell me more please mate!

 

[nry]

It depends if your hood is anything like the plastic one on my Rekord60. I had internal ballast and a single T8 tube and brackets, a bit of work with a stanley knife and the internal ballast was removed leaving me with an empty shell. The PC tube came with tube clips so I simply drilled tiny holes in the lid and screwed the clips through the new Arcadia reflector and into the hood. Voila, new tube uses external ballast, hood looks standard.

All in all was about £35 from:

http/www.aquatics-online.co.uk/catalogue...ct-lighting.asp

My new tube is 16" (36w), if you go up to 21" then you get 55w from a single tube. Bear in mind that these PC tubes have a single power connector at one end which adds about 2" to the tube length so a 21" tube would need around 23-24" of space in the hood. They also get a bit warmer than the original tube(s) but so far this hasn't been a problem for me.

 

[sophos9]

Great so one 2 x 55w starter with 2 x 55w T5's would be superb! Do you know the dimensions of the starter?

I presume you can get into the main beam which holds the Juwel starter?

This would be a great solution, how much hotter are they?

 

[sophos9]

Has anyone on here upgraded a Juwel Vision or Rio 180, if so, can you post some pix please?

Also, the Arcadia I bar has a 2 x 25w T5 - what is the point of this, the originals are 25w?

 

[DarkEntity]

Juwel are moving from T8 to T5 on all tanks this year, so im assuming at some point you will be able to buy a replacement light bar.

Edit

Arcadia do T5 I-Bars

http/www.1st4aquatics.com/index.asp?func...T&catid=277

 

[sophos9]

Edit
Arcadia do T5 I-Bars
http/www.1st4aquatics.com/index.asp?func...T&catid=277

Standard Juwel 2 x 25w T8 and the I-Bar is 2 x 25w T5... what is the difference though?

 

[SuperColey1]

The interpet T5 PC cannot be drill attached to the central ballast recess.

If you did the 2 tubes of each starter would be pointing to the outsides of the tank.

To use them to their full potential then you need the clip to be attached to the underside of the hood so they point downward.

Also I would use 2 units rather than a twin as then you can get each on a timer and then do the midday thing.

i.e.

4 hours 1 x 55W
4 hours 2 x 55W
4 Hours 1 x 55W

or 3-3-3 whichever floats your boat.

Also www.tamaraquatics.co.uk is £20 for a single starter unit for the 55W which is a damn site cheaper than anywhere else!!! almost as cheap (within a couple of quid) of the twin unit.

The starters are about 1 ft x 3 inches and keep cool.

The tube/end cap do run very hot though and you must ensure that the reflector DOES NOT overlap the end cap or you will have a melted cap and thus no waterseal.

In my journal you can see the 55W bulb and starter.

Andy

 

[sophos9]

Thanks, what would be the benefit of changing to a 50w of T5 in an Arcadia I-Bar?

 

[Maximumbob]

i have a rio180 and changed from the standard t8's to an Arcadia T5 light bar. The difference to my plants has been huge.

With new developments in light technology how we class and understand lights has been made more difficult - watts used to be simple and Kelvin isnt the complete answer either. The I Bar give you a non-DIY option to switch to T5 ligts.. although the wattage is the same the light they provide is more intense, and covers a new broad spectrum. THey do get hot though. I fitted mine with the arcadia proflora bulbs - they have a nice aesthetic light which peaks in the right colour spectrums.

The downside is that the Ibar is expensive... but I have a nice family who chipped in to get me it for xmas.

So benefits:

Easy install
Good looks
Plants love it

The downside:

Cost

 

[sophos9]

Great stuff, I'm currently running 75w of T8... This will be quite expensive however the next move will be to a luminarie which will be like double the cost...

Can I be sure that 2 x 24w T5's will produce better results with the plants than 3 x 25w T8's?

 

[Dave Spencer]

Here is what I did on my Juwel Lido, which is smaller than the Rio 180.

The image below shows an Interpet Daylight Plus 55W T5 power compact attached to the underside of the front flap. I screwed through the tube holding clip, through an Arcadia T5 reflector and through the lid flap.

Note that the rubber end fitting is not underneath the reflector, which is very important. If it was, it would overheat, the rubber become very brittle and weld the tube in to the end fitting. The reflector had to be cut down to size with a decent pair of scissors and the sharp corners filed off. I have also tied some stainless steel wire around the tubes as added security, because they don`t sit perfectly in their tube clips.

I have an Interpet Triplus T5 power compact underneath the rear flap, giving me 3.4WPG in total.

The next picture is of the top of the lid, showing the end caps I used over the screw heads to make things a little tidier. I still haven`t got round to painting them black.

I have no heat issues with my Interpet T5 tubes. The lid gets warm around where the screws come through, but I can hold a finger on them without any problem.

The colour rendition from this combination of lights is superb in my opinion. You could try two Daylights if you wish, but I wouldn`t recommend two Triplus because your tank will have a pink hue to it.

Dave.