T5 HO plant light

[alindell21]

So awhile back I bought a two foot and 4 foot T5HO fixture from hydrofarm and I was growing some plants under there. It worked great, but I have since been bored of it and wanted to use it for something more interesting to me for something like a 75 gallon aquarium and since I dont know where to sell them and probably no reefer will buy them I figure they might work for a 75 gallon tank I have in storage. I realize this brand is not for reefing, but how different can it be. These lights will not be permanent as the tank I am going to set up in the future will be red sea reefer xl. and I hope will be able to grow some hardy soft corals. Also as long as I get the spectral output and and color temperature with enough par I bet I could grow some softies. What are your thoughts. I will provide a link to the brand of t5 HO I bought and the unit I bought. let me know if this will work and if it will I am unsure as what bulbs to replace for a reef t5 HO fixture that will work with the hydrofarm fixture.


https://www.hydrofarm.com/p/FLP44

 

[alindell21]

I bought a two foot with 8 bulbs, its massive and a four foot with 6 bulbs.

 

[SynDen]

That 6bulb would work great over a tank I would think. The housing and stuff may not be as durable to salt damage, but really you should only need to change the bulbs to something more reef friendly and you would likely be able to grow quite a bit of coral under that

 

[alindell21]

That's the thing are the bulbs the same, would t5 ho bulbs from lets say ati work for this hydrofarm fixture?

 

[Tango]

I am sure they are i know someone using a 8bulb over a 75 and he just put diffrwnt bulbs in and it worked fine

 

[SynDen]

ati bulbs will work but the color you use for plants is not what we generally put over our reefs. ATI bulbs, blue+, Coral+, purple+, are all good reef bulbs, and kind of the standard, as well as Giesemen Super Actintic bulbs. You can mix and match the colors to get the look you like

 

[alindell21]

so I could buy 48'' t5 ho ati bulbs, fit them in this fixture and configure them in what I think would match like 14k look. Do you think lifespan, performance or any issues would arise using a different fixture?

 

[SynDen]

Ya there are tons of different color temp combos you can use in ati bulbs. I would think performance would be the same and Lifespan likely would be equal as well, as Its the same watt and size we use on our reefs.

I use a t5 retro kit on my reef and I use 2x ATI Blue plus, 1x Purple+ and 1x ATI Aquablue Special

any of those color bulbs will work fine http://www.marinedepot.com/ATI_T5HO...s_for_Aquariums-ATI-UZ1109-FILTBUT5HO-vi.html

 

[alindell21]

Ok thanks, so as a beginner to t5 ho bulbs which brand and what exact bulbs for a 6 lamp fixture do you recommend for like a 14k look. This would be for a soft coral tank.

 

[SynDen]

maybe 3 Blue+ and 3 AquaBlue Specials would give a nice crisp white/blue light. The Blue+ and very blue and and AquaBlue is more on the white side. Start with those two to find your preference and then fill with purple or blue as you like.

 

[alindell21]

yeh i kind of like it more on the white side

 

[Andrew_bram]

T5 is my cake. 3 blue+ 1 purple plus and 2 coral+ coral will grow like crazy with great colors

 

[alindell21]

alright I think i figured out what I want 3 coral+ 2 blue plus and one purple plus in the order from front of fixture front of tank with C+B+C+P+C+B+

 

[Andrew_bram]

alright I think i figured out what I want 3 coral+ 2 blue plus and one purple plus in the order from front of fixture front of tank with C+B+C+P+C+B+

That will be very pepto looking