WMAS Discussion Forum : t5 lighting

t5 lighting : Firefish wrote:Hey Mark. I...

Mon, 26 May 2014 13:10:28 +0000

Author: Mark Peterson
Subject: 70885
Posted: May 26 2014 at 1:10pm

Firefish wrote:

Hey Mark. I have the PFO 2x72" VHO ballast. Will this work for T5s? Ideally I'd like to have them stretch the length of the tank so, could I do 4x36" T5s?

Ryan is correct, sort of.
Any fluorescent ballast can run pretty much any fluorescent light. The key is to match the power output and wiring to the tube configuration. I'll try to explain.

There are two ballasts inside the unit, right? Each ballast runs one 72" t-12 tube. For each inch of length, t-5's require less power(Amps) than t-12's. Here is where the wiring comes in. By connecting the t5 tubes in "series" a single PFO ballast might be able to run 4 t-5 tubes the same as it would one 72" t-12. This works with Workhorse ballasts but IceCap ballasts can't do it. I actually don't know whether it will work for PFO ballasts, but it won't hurt to try.

The wiring schematic looks like this rough sketch.
two wires from ballast ====:--t5--:><:--t5--:><:--t5--:><:--t5--:====two wires to ballast

For in between the t5's, the two pins from one tube are linked together and linked to the pins on the next tube. Capish?

If it doesn't work, I see a WH7 ballast on Amazon for only $35. One WH7 is all it takes.

On the other hand, FYI, the light delivered by four 39W 36" t5's is less than two 110W 72" URI internal reflector VHO's. The reason t5's became popular was because we could have more color combinations in the same fixure. The small diameter of the t5 tube allows them to be packed into the fixture so they can approximate the same total light output as VHO's

Aloha

t5 lighting : Good to know. I don't know...

Sun, 25 May 2014 12:59:13 +0000

Author: Firefish
Subject: 70885
Posted: May 25 2014 at 12:59pm

Good to know. I don't know jack about lighting anymore. I thought maybe they were the same ballasts or something.

t5 lighting : Firefish wrote:Hey Mark. I...

Sun, 25 May 2014 12:47:43 +0000

Author: Ryan Thompson
Subject: 70885
Posted: May 25 2014 at 12:47pm

Firefish wrote:

Hey Mark. I have the PFO 2x72" VHO ballast. Will this work for T5s? Ideally I'd like to have them stretch the length of the tank so, could I do 4x36" T5s?

I highly recommend not using that ballast for T5s. It will fry the bulbs and you will replace them constantly. Only 60" bulbs have shown long term success on VHO ballasts and even then I don't recommend it.

Just because you can, doesn't mean you should. Get a true t5 ballast and run that instead.

t5 lighting : I'm going with some cheap...

Sun, 25 May 2014 12:40:52 +0000

Author: Firefish
Subject: 70885
Posted: May 25 2014 at 12:40pm

I'm going with some cheap LEDs and I want to combo this with the T5s.

t5 lighting : Hey Mark. I have the PFO 2x72"...

Sun, 25 May 2014 12:38:48 +0000

Author: Firefish
Subject: 70885
Posted: May 25 2014 at 12:38pm

Hey Mark. I have the PFO 2x72" VHO ballast. Will this work for T5s? Ideally I'd like to have them stretch the length of the tank so, could I do 4x36" T5s?

t5 lighting : Yeah, thats one reason I'm...

Thu, 17 Apr 2014 23:02:09 +0000

Author: Firefish
Subject: 70885
Posted: April 17 2014 at 11:02pm

Yeah, thats one reason I'm getting away from the VHOs. It is getting harder and harder to find replacement bulbs and I heard that they may not produce them anymore. I'll check on my ballast setup.

Right now all I have is live sand in the tank with no rock.

t5 lighting : Firefish wrote:Mark, I just...

Thu, 17 Apr 2014 08:56:31 +0000

Author: Mark Peterson
Subject: 70885
Posted: April 17 2014 at 8:56am

Firefish wrote:

Mark, I just would like to keep some of the angels and butterflyfish that don't bother LPS. I do like that one tank that you showed me with all the gorgonians. I am still considering doing mine this way. I must have xenia though, and they need lights. Right now all I have is 2 VHOs over my big tank (enough light for fish and thats it). I got rid of the metal halides. There isn't much to see with my big tank, just a big glass rectangular box with water 72" long and two chromis swimming around.

Some thoughts:
+ Angelfish and Butterflyfish love to devour LPS coral. Ask Brad/Tileman. He has a lot of experience with this. Additionally, food type and quantity has a great deal to do with it. Recently an improvement in food actually stopped an Angelfish from picking on an LPS coral in a local hobbyist/friends tank.

+ Julian Sprung has suggested that many of the fish that are inclined to eat coral will ignore Gorgonia which makes them awesome coral for yet another reason.

+ Why not keep the VHO t12's and add some HO t5's alongside? It's the same fluorescent light and contrary to what has been advertised, HO t5 illumination is not noticeably brighter than VHO. The advantage of t5's is their smaller size and mix'n'match wavelength/color combinations. Separate lights on separate power supplies allow separate timing configurations to mimic "sunrise -> noonday -> sunset" as well as additional blue/nighttime effects.

+ If replacing VHO for HO t5, note that the VHO ballast can run t5. I would have to check on it, but depending on the ballast, what runs one 6' VHO may be able to run two t5's. (smaller diameter means smaller volume, requiring less electrical current) FYI, I have wired together two short tubes on one end, effectively making the two into one long tube powered by a single wired ballast.

+ Rectangular box of water? The last meeting addressed that concept. We learned new ways of aquascaping to make it look like a section of the reef rather than a glass box. The local access to Utah Rock makes this concept all the more simple, easy and affordable.

Aloha

t5 lighting : I don't know if this is what...

Thu, 17 Apr 2014 08:02:54 +0000

Author: Mark Peterson
Subject: 70885
Posted: April 17 2014 at 8:02am

I don't know if this is what you are looking for but...
If a hanging cord pulls the light fixture off kilter it can be easily rectified. The cord can be attached to the suspension wires/chains above the fixture or looped to attachment points on walls or tank frame to relieve the pull on the fixture. Also, you probably know this but since electrical cords are partly metal and partly plastic/rubber they can be strongly kinked into new curves or over-bent in the opposite direction to remove curves. I have hung a curved cord or vinyl tube from a door with some weight on the bottom to straighten it. Also, a few minutes dip in very hot water softens the polymer plastic/rubber before bending/hanging, allowing it to more readily take new shape.

Hope this helps.
Aloha

t5 lighting : They don't tilt at all there...

Thu, 17 Apr 2014 06:18:37 +0000

Author: kody72
Subject: 70885
Posted: April 17 2014 at 6:18am

They don't tilt at all there heavy enough to keep them straight. The Powermodule is very heavy and extremely over built

t5 lighting : Ryan, it looks like the power...

Thu, 17 Apr 2014 02:39:37 +0000

Author: Firefish
Subject: 70885
Posted: April 17 2014 at 2:39am

Ryan, it looks like the power cord come right out of the top of the thing. That would make the light tilt. What did you do to overcome this problem?