Our Progress To-Date on New 135RR (Image Intense) - Page 51

SOMEthinsFISHY · #**1251** 05/12/2004, 07:35 PM

GOOD flat worm link mel !!

melev · #**1252** 05/13/2004, 06:47 PM

I am so excited!!! I just got home from our new LFS (Pet O Rama), and got a brand new baby Maxima. It is sooooo small, that I'm going to build a small acrylic holder to place it in. I still have a few whelks in my display, and refuse to let one of them eat my new clam!

I need to measure the Maxima, but it is about 1" at the most!

I also picked up two of the new T-5 bulb setups... man are those things cool! I still need to figure out how I'm going to connect them, but what they are is a single T-5 Super Actinic bulb, with its own tiny reflector and ballast built into the reflector. All that comes off of it is a 8' long power cord that looks like a lamp cord. No big black thing to plug in. Each bulb uses 54w, and should last 15 months (maybe longer?). When you replace it, you buy the entire thing again, ballast and all.

These things are sleek, and inexpensive. Both of these ran me about $75. Now for comparison, what am I replacing?

2x110w VHO super actinic bulbs that cost me $100 a year to replace, at best. So I'm using less wattage daily which saves money, plus the bulbs were cheaper than VHO. I'll get them installed tonight, and see how they look.

My expectations are really high right now.

spanker · #**1253** 05/13/2004, 07:09 PM

Marc = kid in candy store from the sounds of it.

starmanres · #**1254** 05/13/2004, 07:34 PM

Marc,

Which bulbs did you get?

One site I visited on these list:
54w 6500Â° K cool T5 Fluorescent
54W 3000Â° K warm T5 Fluorescent
54W Blue German-Made bulb. Blue spectrum peaks at 450 nm
54W 6500K Sun German-Made full spectrum bulb
54W Aquablue 11,000K 60% Actinic 40% white spectrum
54W True Actinic - Blue Spectrum Peaks at about 420 nm

I know you are replacing your VHO... But with what?

Thanks for the info!

Robert

steve68 · #**1255** 05/13/2004, 08:24 PM

marc how deep is ur tank?

jun41 · #**1256** 05/13/2004, 08:31 PM

I want to hear more about those T5's.

dmiannay · #**1257** 05/13/2004, 08:42 PM

Marc: Your excitement is infectious! Of course I can't wait to see the Baby Levenson Maxima! Ours was about 1" as well! I hope that as soon as the new T5s are employed the camera will come out and start some activity! Looking fowrward to the new pics!

cmiannay · #**1258** 05/13/2004, 08:44 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by melev
I am so excited!!! I just got home from our new LFS (Pet O Rama), and got a brand new baby Maxima. It is sooooo small, that I'm going to build a small acrylic holder to place it in. I still have a few whelks in my display, and refuse to let one of them eat my new clam!

I need to measure the Maxima, but it is about 1" at the most!

We'll call yours "Baby Melev Maxima!"

Brewboy74 · #**1259** 05/13/2004, 09:47 PM

Congrats on the new clamy Mark. I glad to hear your excitement about the T5's. I am installing a set on my tank next week. I too have high hopes for them.

melev · #**1260** 05/14/2004, 12:55 AM

Okay, I'm done tinkering this evening. I took a bunch of pictures, but haven't got them assembled on a webpage yet.

To answer some of your questions, I bought Helios T5-11 Deluxe Actinic Blue. Model #: HO T5-II 54AB-R 54w 47" Item #23589

The UVb 11,000k Is on the list, but that isn't what I got. Heck, I might like that better, now that I saw your list and the description on the box. These are what is listed on the packaging:

Daylight
Pink - Plant Grow
Actiinic Blue
Actinic Combo
UVb 6,700k Reptile
UVb 11,000k Marine

Because of the width of my canopy with the additional wood I added last year to raise it up 6" higher than it was before, the new bulbs couldn't be put lower down as I'd planned. Still they are now about 3" lower than my VHO bulbs, which I've left in place, unplugged. Btw, each light fixture has its own cord, and it states to not plug them into an extension cord so I'll need to get a multiprong plug for my timer. The cords are 2 prong, not three (grounded).

My tank is a standard 55g, so that would be 18" tall. Taking account for the DSB, there is 14" of water to penetrate, and the bulbs are 9" off the water. Because of the aluminum reflectors, these bulbs won't get cooked by my 175w MH bulbs. Those bulbs are old 10,000K Ushios that badly need replacing. My guess is once I get those new bulbs in, my tank will look great. Currently, the 10,000K bulbs running by themselves make the tank very yellow. Bleeech.

This evening, I built a dangling platform to hold my clam safely, because I know my tank still has whelks and I don't want them to get a shot at eating my new acquisition. It is supported from an acrylic frame that spans the top of the tank. The platform is about 3"x3" and 2" tall, filled with 1" of Live Sand. It hangs mid tank, in an area that won't shade any light loving corals, and it is inaccessible to any snails or whelks. My plan is to take a shot glass, invert it in the tank and fill it up with phyto, and lower it over the clam to give it time to eat each day. Hopefully that will be as easy to do as it was to type.

The clam has been opening nicely, and according to my ruler is is 1.25" in length. Pictures will be posted soon.

melev · #**1261** 05/14/2004, 03:27 AM

http://www.melevsreef.com/pics/0504/t5.html

SOMEthinsFISHY · #**1262** 05/14/2004, 04:21 AM

yes we do not want to feed the whelks !!

melev · #**1263** 05/14/2004, 04:47 AM

http://www.melevsreef.com/pics/0504/baby_maxima.html

SOMEthinsFISHY · #**1264** 05/14/2004, 05:18 AM

now i need a picture of a whelf so i can see if we have any ??

melev · #**1265** 05/14/2004, 05:27 AM

http://www.melevsreef.com/id/

Look in the snails section.

nickb · #**1266** 05/14/2004, 05:53 AM

Melev, I couldn't find any info about the T5 bulbs you bought when I did a web search. Any pointers to on-line vendors, etc.?

dmiannay · #**1267** 05/14/2004, 06:01 AM

Hey Marc: The clam is a twin of ours! I know you will love having him in your tank... they are beautiful! The acrylic fixture you built is very clever... you have talent, my friend! No doubt the clam will grow undisturbed for a while. A great idea!

Those T5s seem quite powerful yet very efficient. I am intrigued by their lifespan and the lower load. You didn't happen to see if there were any 60" sizes? I look forward to seeing a picture of your tank with the T-5s.

We have 3 x 250W Ushio DE 10,000k bulbs and I've heard they last about 12 months. While I thought when I got them I'd prefer the yellow-white MH light supplemented with VHOs I'm now leaning towards 12K or 14K temp MH bulbs to swing it toward more white/blue. If the T-5s are that awesome and they come in a 60" size I might use them as well if they do better than the VHOs and save $ to boot.

melev · #**1268** 05/14/2004, 06:16 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by nickb
Melev, I couldn't find any info about the T5 bulbs you bought when I did a web search. Any pointers to on-line vendors, etc.?

I bought them at PetORama, and they have a website Petorama.com

They are new to the market place, so it will take time to get out there. For some reason, I feel that DAS (Dutch Aquarium Systems) is behind these bulbs, but I could be 100% wrong.

Do a search for T-5s here on RC, as I know there have been a number of threads on the topic. Surely more than once people have posted where they purchased theirs.

melev · #**1269** 05/14/2004, 06:24 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by dmiannay
Hey Marc: The clam is a twin of ours! I know you will love having him in your tank... they are beautiful! The acrylic fixture you built is very clever... you have talent, my friend! No doubt the clam will grow undisturbed for a while. A great idea!

Those T5s seem quite powerful yet very efficient. I am intrigued by their lifespan and the lower load. You didn't happen to see if there were any 60" sizes? I look forward to seeing a picture of your tank with the T-5s.

We have 3 x 250W Ushio DE 10,000k bulbs and I've heard they last about 12 months. While I thought when I got them I'd prefer the yellow-white MH light supplemented with VHOs I'm now leaning towards 12K or 14K temp MH bulbs to swing it toward more white/blue. If the T-5s are that awesome and they come in a 60" size I might use them as well if they do better than the VHOs and save $ to boot.

When I first saw this clam, it was nestle tightly against another one of roughly the same size. Another club member was at the LFS when I was there, and he bought the one. They were adorable as a set, but I couldn't imagine caring for one, let alone a pair!

Less than two weeks later, I got it anyway.

The manager had contacted me twice, telling me it was waiting for me to pick it up, so I had to cave in and get it.

According to the packaging of the Helios bulb fixture, they have a 59" 80w bulb and a 71" 105w bulb. In the case of both of those bulbs, a seperate balllast must be purchased, so that one would not be built in like mine was.

I really can't get over how it is all one piece. I was able to just set both bulbs in the spot I prepared, and plug them in! How cool is that?!

I'm in the market to buy some new 175w bulbs, and I'm really not sure what to get. I know for a fact that I will not get the 20,000Ks because it is too blue/purple and too weak (especially PAR). 10,000K Ushios are what I use now, and they are spent. Going with 12,000K or 14,000K is really more of a guessing game than an informed choice, and I don't like to waste money like that.

I did fire up all the lights last night and took a picture, but everything was closed up and it just looked rather blah. My 10,000K are so yellow at this point that I don't believe a picture will do the new lights justice.

RGibson · #**1270** 05/14/2004, 06:36 AM

Melev- were can i buy the T5s that you used online? RGibson

nickb · #**1271** 05/14/2004, 06:45 AM

I've been reading a number of the RC T-5 threads but this is first mention I've seen about bulbs with built-in ballasts. The 'petorama.com' site didn't work :-( and a web search for 'petorama' didn't find anything useful.

melev · #**1272** 05/14/2004, 06:55 AM

Let me check. Maybe I'm misspelling it.

.... oh! My mistake. It is http://www.petorama.net/

RGibson, I bought them at the Hurst store, which is not listed on this website yet, because they opened up 2 weeks ago. There are three Petorama pet stores total owned by the same company.

The phone number is 817 282-2211, and ask for Scott the store manager. You can tell him that you were referred by Marc on Reef Central if you like, but it won't get you free stuff.

Now let's keep one thing in mind, before everyone rushes out and buys these bulb & fixture setups... I decided to try them out on my tank to see how they work out. I'd hate to be the cause of many people purchasing them and then all of us agree they aren't any good after all.

I'll be observing my setup and posting any thoughts or experiences, so that others can decide with a little more info. In my case, the small increase of cost to give these a try was easy to swallow when I save electricity and hopefully length of usage.

I'm still waiting to find out how long the warranty is on these!

thewuf · #**1273** 05/14/2004, 07:10 AM

Good job Marc - both on the clam and the advice!

willra · #**1274** 05/14/2004, 01:44 PM

Melev, do you have any recent full tank pics of your 29 and 55 tanks? The most recent I can find of the 55 is about 9 months ago. Thanks.

Will

Brewboy74 · #**1275** 05/14/2004, 03:14 PM

I am adding my T5's as suppliments to my MH's. I went with them because of the space issue with 2 parabolic reflectors in a 18 inch wide canopy. I think they have pretty good reviews so far but they still are the newest kid on the lighting block.