NEW T5 lighting at AquaEncounter.com

[Aaron]

For those interested I thought I would post the link...

http://www.AquaEncounter.com

Compact All-in-One units and high quality T5 lights!

[tendar]

Link doesnt work anymore

[Aaron]

must be down... I'll check on it.

[Aaron]

the web site is back online...

[ATB USA]

are these the disposable ones?

[Aaron]

anything is disposable :D but I sure hope people are not filling the landfills with lighting ballasts.

the full description of the units are on the site.

we will have pendants soon too!

[BLUESMAN]

This sounds like an ad for a business. Aaron, Is'nt this your business??? Blue

[mojodeli]

Aaron wouldn't do such a thing would he?

[Aaron]

yup... mostly looking for out of state business so not to compete with Matt. He knows about my site and we are going to work together on the lights.

they are nice lights too!

[pillions]

There's a lot of out of state biz in the DMS and FRAG forums. Last I heard, at least 1% of the members reside outside of AZ.

;) A little late-night sarcasm. -

[ATB USA]

I was wondering how does one 24 watt t5 compare to a 65 watt pc is it brighter? Want supplement my mh.
thanks

[Aaron]

pillons... nice. I was not advertising within the forum... I had mentioned it to a few at FRAG (dgin and others) and they were interested so I told them I'd post the site when it was up.

victor90...
I removed both of my 65w Custom Sealife bulbs ($38 each!) PCs and replaced them with four 24w T5s. I did it to reduce the heat but I also ended up with almost twice the light. I reduced from 3 PC fans to 1 running half speed.

T5s = twice the light and less then 1/2 the heat of PCs

Plus the Acts I sell are REAL Act, not like the reef geek sells (though he does sell good stuff). His are Blue, not Act... I bought a set of his to compare.

dgin has seen the lights, you can ask him about them.

[dgin]

Ask and you shall receive...

I checked out the T5 lights on Aaron's tank. They were the 24" length. I can't comment on the light output compared to PCs as he did not have them side by side. Even then, you would need some expensive equipment (or at least a lux meter) to really determine difference in output. IMO, a 24w T5 has less light output than a 65w PC, whereas 2x24w has more.

The lights were not setup with reflectors either so I would imagine the light output would be even greater with them. That said, the tank was lit up nicely with the T5s.

Aaron replaced his double 56w PCs with 4x24w T5s if I remember correctly. He had a ReefGeek setup in the canopy as well along with his T5s. The main differences I could see between the T5s from RG(Sunlight Supply) vs AE are as follows:

1) RG uses waterproof endcaps, AE does not.
2) AE has an integrated ballast (along the strip between endcaps) the RG uses a remote ballast.
3) AE uses quick connects, RG is more hard-wired.

The T5s still put out some heat but probably not as much as PCs or VHOs.

The lights should be easy to install - essentially plug N play with no wiring required. If you have a tank with inhabitants that like to splash water on occassion I would not get these due to the differences (1&2) I noted above unless you mounted these quite a few inches above the water line. The integrated ballast is probably throwing off some heat as well so fans would also be necessary.

I was considering these for my tank but have decided to go VHO for actinic supplementation primarily because 72" T5s aren't readily available and running sets of 36" would get pricey. I still may pick a set of 24" for a friend who wants more lighting in his 20g though.

[Aaron]

We are going to be making abs plastic pendants to house the units so to seal them from water if people are concerned. Also, being that the ballasts are electronic they give off almost no heat... touching them you feel almost no warmth.

[kmu]

ever considered in putting some good reflectors in the T5 set ups?

Live in tucson and was about to buy the RG set up, but if Aquaencounters is cheaper and get the job done, I will get that one...

THX in advance...

[Aaron]

The T5s are so bright I don't use a reflector... but a regular style PC or VHO reflector could not hurt ;-)

for the money the T5s are the best bang for the buck.