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Steven Pro

Converting a T12-VHO setup to T5-HO

Rating: 2 votes, 4.50 average.
7 Comments
by
Steven Pro
, 03-11-2010 at 11:57 AM (5984 Views)
A buddy of mine has a 72 gallon corner bowfront that he has had for about two and a half years. Like all of the corner aquariums, lighting them properly can be tricky. His is particularly difficult as this aquarium has a flat back making it rather long, skinny, and tall. There is not much room is place lights and yet it has to be bright enough to punch to the bottom of his aquarium.

What he had been using with some success was several T12-VHO lamps. He had two 3' 95 watt lamps in the front with two 2' 75 watt lamps in the back.

That worked moderately well, but he was looking to get even more light out of his system without spending a lot more money. I suggested changing his lighting system to T5-HO lamps because he already had the ballast for it, an IceCap 660, for his T12-VHO lamps.

The change was rather simple. The wiring is the same. All he needed was new endcaps, reflectors, and lamps. The endcaps would have to be repositioned, but otherwise it would be pretty straightforward.

Before we made the switch, we took a few readings. The daylight lamp in his T12-VHO setup was putting out 280 PAR at 6" from the sensor. The T12-VHO lamps all had internal reflectors.

By comparison, a comparable color temperature daylight T5-HO lamp with an external reflector was putting out 445 PAR!

This increase in intensity has allowed him to cut down the photoperiod too. He was running the T12-VHO lamps for 12 hours per day. Now, he plans to run the T5-HO lamps no more than 10 hours per day.

The T12-VHO lamps were consuming 340 watt (2x95 + 2x75) for 12 hours per day, or a daily consumption of 4,080 watts.

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The new T5-HO setup only uses 200 watts (the IceCap 660 overdrives the T5-HO lamps, the 3' lamps run at 60 watts and the 2' ones operate at 40 watts). This means he is going to use less than half the amount of electricity per day since these T5-HO lamps are only going 10 hours per day for a total of 2,000 watts per day.

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More light. Less electricity. Minimal cost. It was a no brainer.

Post edited by Marc to display the pictures inline.

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Updated 03-11-2010 at 01:29 PM by melev

Categories
‎ Electrical , ‎ Lighting

Comments

  1. melev's Avatar
    I like it. Not only does it look cleaner (and newer!), but he's getting more light intensity - significantly. Since it only uses on ballast, he doesn't have the option to turn on only one set of bulbs at a time, right? If he did, he could simulate 'high noon' nicely, instead of a full blast from the beginning of the day to the end of the day.

    Thanks for sharing this, especially because it is a corner tank.
  2. Steven Pro's Avatar
    Correct. The 660 turns all four lamps on at once. But, if you look at the 2nd picture, I snuck one of our new 3' LED moonlight retrofits in between the 2' and 3' T5's. This gives him the dawn/dusk effect with some extra color enhancement. He has the LED on from 8:00 AM until midnight with the T5's running from noon until 10:00 PM.
  3. melev's Avatar
    You sure did sneak that one in. I'm about to hang the ones you shipped me over my reef. I just need to create some acrylic brackets. LOL
  4. Trido's Avatar
    Very nice! I need to sneak one or two of those LED strips over my tank too.
  5. Jessy's Avatar
    Nicely done. I'm all about using less energy on my tanks. One of the reasons I'm really looking into some kind of LED lighting for my next aquarium. Even if it turns out to be just for the actinic supplementation.
  6. wboelter's Avatar
    I am about to transition from a T-12 setup to T-5's. Did you purchase your T-5 pieces, parts and bulbs on-line? If so, what site do you suggest?
  7. Steven Pro's Avatar
    I didn't buy the stuff. It was my buddy Chris' tank, so he purchased everything. He did it online, but I don't recall where, although those same parts can be gotten from most any online dealer: Aquacave, Premium Aquatics, Marine Depot, etc.