T5's sold at Home Depot cheap!

I think that's what people don't understand , What is so special about say currents ballast or tek ballast that makes them different from other ballast. I think if someone could come out and give the technical difference between them then people would understand(if there is a difference).
I mean before t5s became big (marketing wise) what were some of the ballest the old time reefers were using to run t5's.(before aquarium suppliers, companies, made them available). even with MH's.I understand about bulb spectrum's, but what makes the ballast so special I guess is what I am getting at?

 

There is nothing that makes Current or Teks ballast any better than any other ballast out there. Unless they are doing something outside of the T5 specs. You can get fixtures that have the wrong ballasts for the bulbs and overdrive them (Icecap 660 ballast). But industry wide most ballasts are made by Advance and Sylvania. As long as the ballast is a T5 HO ballast for the proper wattage and number of bulbs it will function the same as any other T5 HO ballast.

When it comes to the better T5 fixtures, the things that make them better than the cheaper fixtures are the reflectors and active cooling devices built in, not the ballasts... unless they are overdriving the bulbs ie Icecap 660 ballast.

Kim


Kim

 

yeah the big cost in lighting is really the bulbs...

aquarium lights also have really excellent reflectors (which indeed can double or even triple the available light even though it may not seem that much brighter to your eyes.)

but at the end of the day, you get a home depot fixture, even if it is T5HO and throw some home depot 6500k bulbs in there, you're gonna have a bright yellow tank, which will work fine and grow corals admirably. but they'll all be brown.

by all means get the home depot fixtures, unless you plan on keeping animals with very high light requirements (most SPS, and clams) your corals will grow and do well. but you will want to buy bulbs designed for reef aquaria, otherwise you're better off getting some PC 50/50's off craigslist.

so to cap it off....

after you buy all your new bulbs for your home depot fixtures in the end you save maybe $100, but you will be getting about half of the light output from them because of the reflector design.

 

lol this thread is 2 years old

 

Haha yeah it is.