View Single Post
  #6  
Old 09/19/2007, 10:52 PM
philagothos philagothos is offline
Registered Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Stanford, IN
Posts: 681
The original question is whether it is possible to do run a 55 with overdriven T8/12s. To which the answer is: Yes. But, is it practical considering the options available? Not really. Properly overdriving requires specific ballasts, which are generally not overly cheap. Also, you simply will not get as much light out of overdriven T8/12s as you would out of T5s. Throw in shortened bulb life and greater heat and you end up with a system that was good enough when reefkeeping first started, but it is no longer really viable.

I've got a 55 FW planted with 2 T5s (10k & actinic) over it and it seems brigher than many PC tanks I have seen. I would opt for a Tek Ready-Fit or Tek Retro-Fit (with Icecap reflectors) from Reefgeek. Both are $159 (but you might have a small upgrade fee for Icecap reflectors on the Retro-Fit). A good VHO ballast can easily cost $100, and then there will be bulbs and endcaps to buy.

Jasonh, good luck with the DIY T8 reflector. A well designed T5 reflector is 4-5 times the width of the T5 bulb. Even if you could just supersize a T5 reflector you would end up with a T8 reflector 4-5" wide and it still wouldn't have the benefits of being computer designed.