LED t5 bulbs

DRC Archive General Saltwater Discussion
1

I was at a trade show yesterday and a company has led bulbs that fit in t8 fixtures. I asked the rep if they sold t5 ho replacements and he said in most applications, they are replacing t5 enclosures with t8 end caps and using the t8 bulbs.

Unfortunately, they don’'t have good color temps for the bulbs as they are mostly for residential lighting upgrade applications.

Here’‘s a link to what i’'m talking about: http://www.energyfocusinc.com/product/led-tube-series-300/

I did a quick search but didn’‘t find anything, I think there’‘d be a market for reef aquariums if you could get them in actinic or something. The 100 series bulbs are only $17 a piece and i’'d wager they last a heck of a lot longer than normal t5 bulbs.

ALSO, you can cram alot more of them into smaller space because they don’'t need reflectors.

2

there are some out there but they have not been that well received as you need to modify the fixture and bypass the ballast and a lot of the reef ones also require you to change out encaps, most are also lower watt emitters and no lens options.

3

Have you been able to find any with color temps 10k+?

Yah he did mention changing end caps.

But how much money would you save if you could just buy standard t8 retro kits and the bulbs lasted 25000 hours!