Whats My Best Lighting Option ?

[craynerd]

Final area now, lighting for my new aquarium then i`m done and ready to start.

I have been researching this for ages, spoke to countless people and i am still no further to making a choice!

I currently run, 3 x 15W T8 standard arcadia (tropical and original) tubes. = 19g aquarium ~2.5wpg.
The new lighting will still be for my 19g 24 x 12 x 15 inch tank.

I am on a budget unfortunately for lighting since i have put my money, rightly or wrongly, elsewhere in the tank, but still say £160 is a reasonable budget. I was preferably after luminaire style lighting so the tank would be more open top

I have been looking at a few options:

1) Arcadia Overtank Luminaire T5 60cm (24in) 4 x 24W tubes. = 96W = ~ <5WPG - what can i say, nice neat quality lighting. Not cheap for what it is IMO.

2) AquaEssentials 24", 24W HO T5 tubes. - I really like the look of these tubes, they look clean and simple and cheap! Each tube including "luminaire" style fitting would cost £35. I could have three of these tubes for £105, 3 x 24W = 72W ~3.5wpg

3) George pointed out to me a while ago the Arcadia I-Bar - 2 x 24W HO T5 tubes. This looks a really nice and very reasonably priced fixture, however i have two problems, i am still not 100% sure if they do a 24inch T5 version, http/www.fishbitz.co.uk/index.asp?functi...&productid=2386 has one for sale, but i`m worried if its a miss print and its actually a T8 version, because i have not seen any other websites offering such an item. Of course that would only be 48W so i could suppliment this with a AE HO T5 tube at the rear, the tubes i have talked about in my above post. This may be a good option. Depending on room, it may also be possible to fit a further HOT5 at the front.


4) My final option is one that i haven`t done too much research on yet but already presume it would become costly and not possible without a proper light suspension. That would be metal halide, i`d love to give an ADA HQI bulb a try, but i`m guessing it would be costly. Maybe there are more metal halide options available to me. Also i can see the bulbs on my searches, but i struggle to find suitable fitments! I would appreciate it if anyone could give me any further info on this?


So...thats whats in my head. What are your opinions, views or thoughts? What have you got, tried or would recommend? Its hurting my head a little bit this one, its not been like my previous problems of trying to source products, this is actually about choosing something!!

Willing to hear everyones suggestions.

Regards
Chris

 

[zig]

What about something like This

 

[craynerd]

thanks zig, seen them before!
I have no quarms with the unit, but i`m unsure about the tubes. £80 (inc delivery) is pretty good going, but then if i did replace the tubes to something more appropriate (i am guessing they are high colour temp) then i`m adding more money. As i posted above, for £105 i could get the AE HO T5s, which look pretty cool. I`d like to see how they look on the tank tho :?
I don`t know if the HO T5 of AE would look smarter? I know the quality of these units are not finished like the arcadia units.

I know i`m on a budget, but it is going in my living room so its gotta look ok as well. Anyone use any of these two light fixtures, the ebay one zig posted or AquaE Ho T5 luminaires?

Chris

 

[zig]

Well getting tubes is easy, try Here

The fifth one down is a 24w 6500k tube

The bit i dont like about the AE units is this

The bulbs are non-rechargable. The complete light fixture is made to dispose of once the bulb is exhausted, eliminating problems associated with deterioration of electronic ballasts

 

[craynerd]

Zig, would those definately fit the luminaire in the link you sent me?

I suppose its a bit of a waste paying £35 just when a £4 tube blows!!

Thanks for your help mate...i`m off to bed.

anyone else any thoughts?

 

[zig]

As far as i know T5s are all a standard fitting, but maybe someone else can confirm that.

Sweet (ADA) dreams

 

[George Farmer]

Nice setup zig, never seen them before.

I'd certainly be tempted to e-bay Chris. The cheap T5s too, did I send you that link already?

 

[craynerd]

Yes George you did.

So you think i could put 3 of the cheap daylight tubes in the fixture zig linked us from ebay?

 

[craynerd]

Just browsing the ebay shop of that seller and found he also does a 4 x 24W T5 version but it jumps to £150 inc postage. Is it worth the extra, i think i may just stay with the 3 X setup, it will still be ~3.5wpg

IS the extra £70 worth it for that extra tube?

 

[zig]

I dont think its worth the extra money and may cause you more problems then its worth with algae, dont forget 3.5WPG of T5 lighting is a lot more intense than the equivelant T8 or even powercompacts, personally i think 3.5WPG is ample amounts of light. I dont see why the bulbs would not be suitable if they are 6500k, but its up to you mate, the bulbs are not to expensive anyway so it wont be a major disaster, and if they work.....great.

I make it about 3.8WPG if this is a 19 gallon tank with 72watts over it, so i dont think i would go any more but its entirely up to you.

 

[George Farmer]

So you think i could put 3 of the cheap daylight tubes in the fixture zig linked us from ebay?

I'd say so. Send a question to the seller to confirm.

 

[craynerd]

Ordered and paid for the ebay light fixture. I let you know how it is, with some pics when it arrives. To be honest, i didn`t rush this, i had seen them before but thought they were to good for the price! With george and zig both having thumbs up i thought i`d go for it.

Just before i order the new tubes, do you think 3 of these daylight tubes will be ok ? Or would i be best mixing another T5 tube?

Chris

btw, whats the HO short for in HO t5 ?

 

[George Farmer]

Colour temp choice is up to you, it will have little effect on growth rates when dealing with high lighting levels, CO2 + nutrients. 3 x daylight should bring out the greens well, you could get a lower temp to bring out more red, or a higher to bring out more blue - generally speaking, there are exceptions.

HO = High-output

 

[Aqua Essentials]

The bit i dont like about the AE units is this

The bulbs are non-rechargable. The complete light fixture is made to dispose of once the bulb is exhausted, eliminating problems associated with deterioration of electronic ballasts

Fair enough but here is the manufacturing reason. Normal T5 ballasts deteriorate after about 1 year. Most hobbyists will be unaware of this and without them really knowing, their lighting will become less and less powerful. Because you look at your tank every day, you are also unlikely to notice this gradual decline, where as the HOT5s keep kicking out light with no deterioration. Yes, they do have to be binned when they have expired but what it deos mean is that you get quality light output for the duration of it's life. I have customers who have had them over 18months and they are still working just fine.

Another factor to take into consideration is that T5 ballasts are not that cheap and can also be bulky. The HOT5s have no ballasts, just a cable with a plug so they are also really neat.

 

[George Farmer]

The bit i dont like about the AE units is this

The bulbs are non-rechargable. The complete light fixture is made to dispose of once the bulb is exhausted, eliminating problems associated with deterioration of electronic ballasts

Fair enough but here is the manufacturing reason. Normal T5 ballasts deteriorate after about 1 year. Most hobbyists will be unaware of this and without them really knowing, their lighting will become less and less powerful. Because you look at your tank every day, you are also unlikely to notice this gradual decline, where as the HOT5s keep kicking out light with no deterioration. Yes, they do have to be binned when they have expired but what it deos mean is that you get quality light output for the duration of it's life. I have customers who have had them over 18months and they are still working just fine.

Another factor to take into consideration is that T5 ballasts are not that cheap and can also be bulky. The HOT5s have no ballasts, just a cable with a plug so they are also really neat.

Hi Richard

What is a "normal" T5 ballast? Does the deterioration assumption differentiate between standard bulky magnetic ballasts or electronic? Is this true with T8s too?

What I'm trying to say - is it worth shelling out for a relatively expensive setup such as a T5 Arcadia overtank luminaire when after a few years the output may be less than desirable, or are the Arcadia units exclusive to this deterioration?

Have you got any figures ref. % average loss in effeciency over the year compared to the disposable HOT5?

Sorry for all the questions, I'm very interested in this for reasons I think you know!