AquaticLife T5 HO Light

I have the 48" six bulb fixture over my 75gl tank. It's been wonderful so far. I like it over the Nova because it has individual reflectors. The bulbs out of the box suck, which is something that I just learned a couple of weeks ago. Since then I have replaced them with Giessemanne lamps and have noticed a world of difference.

This fixture can compare favorably with most metal halides unless your tank is REAAAALLLY deep. Plus you get the opportunity to mix and match bulbs to your liking which you can't do with a MH fixture.

My tank temperature has gone up a degree or so since getting it early this year. In fact, my heaters never turn on, and the only way I could bring the temperature down was to add an external refugium. This allowed me to manage the temperature a little better.

The fans work great for keeping the unit itself cool. In fact, touching the plastic you only feel a slight increase in temperature over room temperature.

The timer works great, except mine apparently is on the fritz. I bumped the light very slightly one time and the whole unit turned off. When I turned it back on I had to reset the timers. Now even the slightest jarring of the unit causes the clock to reset. This is the problem with getting built in timers that I had been warned about, but ignored. On the other hand, I've heard that those timer power strips have their own heating and fire problems.

Overall I really like the fixture. I've been thinking of upgrading to the 8-bulb Tek Elite lamps because they have better reflectors and more lamps, but I may not need all of that.

 

i have the 72" six bulb fixture for about six months and have been happy with it. Mine has also added roughly one degree but not a big deal since i had a degree to give. so far, i have not had any trouble with the timer (knock on wood). i just switched out my stock bulbs so haven't had time to see any difference. i would definitely recommend.

 

My son & I have had a 10G nano reef tank for around 3 years with a clown, a sponge, some soft corals and the usual pretty stuff on the live rock. We added a cute baby snowflake eel last month.

We bought a 55G we want to set up as a reef tank but with more corals that the 18" 50/50 fixture on the nano can't support. I'd been planning on using 48" quad T5HO but was undecided on which fixture. I like the timer feature on this but shudder at the $369! Are there any other good quad T5's that are more affordable?

Thanks!

 

I recently purchased the new version of that light its a 6 lamp t-5 with timer, one cord, and a fan, i absolutely love it, the fans are so quite you cant even hear it, its nice. I would not change one thing about it!!! i HIGHLY recommend the light fixture!

 

I must revise my review of this fixture. In my first post on this thread I noted that the unit had been jarred. When I say jarred, I mean while doing normal maintenance on the tank I may have bumped it. Nothing that a light shouldn't be able to handle.

Since that time the timer system has gotten progressively worse. in fact, I seriously doubt the bumping had anything to do with it. As it is now, I don't even bother setting the timers because it will just reset itself within fifteen minutes to an hour. It's hit or miss whether or not it will be on when I get home from work.

I believe the problem here is in the wiring of the timer. When customer support had me remove the timer from the unit I pulled it off and the unit reset itself. I turned them back on and repositioned the timer to take a picture of the back (they were looking for salt creep) and it reset itself again.

To anyone buying this fixture - keep it in mind that you are at the mercy of this timer. You cannot turn the fixture on without it. Unlike two or three cord systems where you can manually turn the light on/off and it will stay on/off, on this unit if you manually turn the light on an unintentional reset of the timer will turn it off as all control is done through that timer. This can happen either five minutes after you turn it on or eight hours. It is very random - and frustrating. Timers are great, but I think I'll stick with a multi-cord system with my next fixture.

 

So what did customer support determine what the problem was?? I’ve heard nothing but great things from them.

 

And as you found out the timer can be easily replaced if you ever had to just buy one. I hope you get yours figured out. I have one and love it

 

Have you contacted aquaticlife with this issue? They are very helpful even helped me out with one of my fixtures when part of it went for a dip and parts for free cant beat that.

 

Yes - they're the ones who wanted me to detach the timer unit for pictures. I finally got the pictures sent in yesterday and I'm sure they'll get back to me today.

The problem is that I don't know if the issue is with the timer or with the wiring to the timer, so it's premature to just buy a new timer.

 

Did the research looks like a great light but chose to go with boosts MU135 save a little electricity and don't have to buy bulbs all the time. But looks like a good light. My LFS has a few on his tanks.