So a couple days ago, I was doing a water change, and had to set my light fixture off of my tank. When I finished the water change and set it back on the tank, I turned it all back on to look at the lights just to make sure the bulbs looked ok, and to also try to keep an eye on any salt creep that may or may not be getting inside the fixture. Since my last episode a couple of months ago.
Well, I noticed that 2 of the bulbs just didn’t look right, from front to back of the fixture it would be the 2nd and 4th bulbs. On the second bulb, the center of the bulb (probably almost half of the bulb) was dark, barely even on and the 4th bulb the very ends of the bulb were A LOT brighter than the center of the bulb (but the center of the bulb looked like it was at normal brightness. So, I thought that maybe one of the bulbs just wasn’t seated right in the fixture or something, so I shut it off, reseated the bulbs, and turned it back on. The same thing was happening. I shut the switch off again for about 10 seconds for those two bulbs, turned it back on and this time a pop sound came from inside the fixture and the lights never came back on. I could then smell a very distinct electrical burning smell.
So, to end a long story, I am looking for another light fixture. I wanted to get your thoughts on the AquaticLife t5ho fixtures. Here is a link to the one I am looking at getting:
I honestly have never used them myself as I mostly use retrofit. That being said I have used Current and would likely never buy them again. If I were in the market I would probably be looking at the ATI fixtures, but price would probably bring me to an Aquaticlife.
Since your spending the money I would really encourage you to consider a 6 bulb fixture though. It would give you a lot more options as far as aquascaping in the future.
I would definitly go with a 6 bulb ATI fixture. Depending on what model they are not that expensive. I love my ATI bulbs, and everyone who uses them seems to love them unconditionally. They also give off stellar PAR. IF you go to my Par Meter thread you can see the par readings with my 4 bulb ATI. Very nice, Very bright, and good looking.
Hum… good point I hadn’t really thought about I’m not sure what bulbs come with the other fixture and if you end up replacing them with ATI to get better look to your tank and PAR, the cheaper up front cost is offset quickly.
One other thing. I have a hood on my tank so I wouldn’t be able to suspend the light kit from the ceiling, it would either need legs on the light, or have the ability to be attached directly to my aquarium hood.
I was tempted to do some sort of retrofit type kit, but make my own casing for it or something like that. It would be a little bit of a pain to remove the hood if it were like that, but its something I’d have to deal with. Any thoughts on that?
In the meantime I am still using my Nova Extreme only with 2 bulbs instead of all 4… I don’t think I have anything in the tank that will be light starved.
Yeah, I think I am going to aim towards a Retrofit Kit. That way if I ever have issues, I can easily just replace parts as opposed to having to possibly break into a manufactured kits to replace pieces. Plus, I am a hands-on type of person and take pride in handmaking stuff, so this would be something neat to get my hands dirty on.
So, since I am looking to go retrofit instead of a full fixture, do you all have any specific places I should go, and should I get a kit, or just pick and choose as I see fit? I am going to do some looking around on reefcentral and see what people are saying that they did. Looking at reefgeek and premium aquatics, the kits they sell on their are more expensive than just buying the 6 bulb ATI fixture I posted.
for a retrofit you will have around same if not little more than fixture but will have a great, easy to work on set upe in your hood.
6 end caps are around 75 dollars
a decent ballast …or two if running 6 too 8 bulbs 35 /65
bulbs 25 each
wire
bingo custom light hood made to your liking…also i can get you a custom remote ballast box made for around 35 too 40 dollars…see pic of my friends we got made.
I have four retro fits in my basement and hope to make two more in the next couple of months. All run on IceCap 660 ballast. Most of my parts either came used or from ReefGeek. It isn’t necessarily the cheaper way to go, but I like the customization and still am not convinced any of the fully assembled fixtures are any better.
Here is one customization I did on my Perfecto 75g tank. I always hate when money and electricity are spent lighting overflow boxes where you don’t want light going to anyways.(algae growers) I had 6 bulbs on my 75(removed 2 to use ballast elsewhere until I can afford another). Four of the bulbs were 48†and three were 36â€ÂÂÂÂÂÂÂ.
Highly recommend this if you have the same type of overflow.
You need
1 (pair) per bulb - waterproof endcaps (I recommend IceCap) ~$10/pair
1 per bulb - SLR reflectors (I recommend IceCap) ~$25/a piece
Ballasts, number of these depends on the ballast, most can run at least two bulbs. You can cheap out and go sylvania, which I was able to pick up for $10 a piece, or you can go IceCap which are much more expensive, but have their benefits. I don’t run the IceCaps so I’ll let those that do tell you about them.
Bulbs - $20-$25
DPA was able to get me comparable prices to internet prices (give or take a few bucks)
