Sunlight Suppy Tek Light 8 bulb, 4' HO T5 fixture. REVISITED 6 MONTHS LATER

[kwirky]

Sunlight Supply HO T5 8 bulb Tek Light Fixture
http://www.esopenko.com/images/aquarium/t5review/fullview.jpg

http://www.esopenko.com/images/aquarium/t5review/underoff.jpg

http://www.esopenko.com/images/aquarium/t5review/underon.jpg

http://www.esopenko.com/images/aquarium/120reef/120gsept4th06.jpg

Features (qtd. Sunlight Supply):

Rust proof aluminum body
Accomodates ultra efficient, high output T5 lamps
95% reflective aluminum reflectors increase output by over 300%
Durable black powder coated finish
Major brand electronic ballasts
Aluminum body is lightweight, heavy duty and rust proof
4, 6, & 8 lamp configurations
2 power switches for better lighting control - allows independant use of timers
Cool operation and NO noise
Sleek Profile only 2.5 inches high
Convection vent allows maximum air flow


First off, I have to say this is THEE brightest flourescent fixture I've ever seen! You can't even look at it! T5's are gaining popularity in europe, and soon they'll be giving metal halides a run for their money. And these are HO bulbs. I wonder what they'll perform like if they're overdriven (say with an Icecap ballast), or if a company begins to design VHO T5 bulbs. It looks very promising.

I have to say they did a great job making a sharp looking fixture. The powder coated finish looks superb, and the shape of the fixture is sleek. Hung from the ceiling it looks good, but the back of my tank gets in the way of the cords. I had to tape the cables to the back of the tank to level out the fixture. I have to say it was quite difficult getting the fixture to hang at the right height with just the knots. I remembered I bought some hardware to level it out quicker, AFTER i got it leveled. Duh on my part.

Each bulb gets it's own Tek reflector, and they're well designed. They have the inverted V shape running along the center of each reflector, much like a metal halide reflector, and they're well spaced so that even the rock at the top of the tank gets even lighting.

I have to say this fixture is INTENSE! I'm only running the actinics at the moment because I'm afraid of bleaching the coral I have currently. They have the usual flourescent advantage of being able to get the exact colour you want by choosing what bulbs to load into it, and the location of each bulb. Currently, I'm running it with the actinics in the center, but when I switch it on to use all the lights, I'll scatter them a little more.

There's an Advanced Ballasts sticker on the box, so it's nice to see half decent ballasts are going into the fixture. Peeking into the fixture, you can see a ballast on the front and back end of the fixture. I wish there were 4 ballasts instead to give better timing effects.

Sunlight Supply exclusively sells Giesemann T5 HO bulbs. They offer the following bulbs (quoted sunlight supply):

Aquablue+
http://www.esopenko.com/images/aquarium/t5review/11000kaquablueplus.jpg

60/40 white/blue blend
specifically developed for growing SPS
colour temperature aproximately 11000K
suited as standalone, or when used in 2:1 or 3:1 fashion with blue or actinic supplementary lamps.


Actinic+ (Also known as Blue+)
http://www.esopenko.com/images/aquarium/t5review/actinicplus.jpg

Blue spectrum peaks at 450nm
encourages bluing in SPS coral, minor fluorescing
450nm peak similar to Radium Blue metal halide lamps


Pure Actinic
http://www.esopenko.com/images/aquarium/t5review/pureactinic.jpg

Only true actnic T5 lamp made to date
Blue spectrum peaks at about 420 nm
Will flouresce your corals to the maximum


[/b]Midday 6000k[/b]
http://www.esopenko.com/images/aquarium/t5review/6000kmiddaysun.jpg

Full spectrum high CRI lamp
6000K broad spectrum encourages growth
ideally suited to full spectrum growth of SPS


Now, I don't have any SPS to see how well they handle under the lights, but I'm sure the system is plenty bright enough for softies and LPS, especially considering it's only 432 watts total. I find it a more satisfying setup than dual 250W metal halide lamps, especially since you can get the exact colour you need.

Sunlight supply claims you can change the bulbs every year and a half, but I think for reefkeeping purposes, they'll have to be changed once a year, and probably every 9 months for actinics and blue bulbs.

Sunlight Supply offers their Sun Blaze fixtures, which are about 2/3 the price, but half the quality. They lack advanced ballasts. The bulbs share a flat reflector, instead of having individual Tek reflectors. There's only a single power lead. And most important, they're not splash proof, and not warranted for a wet environment.

All in all, the fixture is a great unit for soft/LPS corals and an excellent alternative for metal halide lighting. No lighting is perfect for everything, but for it's application it's great. It's intense, efficient, runs cool, and has whatever colouring you need. This fixture gives a peek into where T5 lighting is going, and it will be great to see where T5's stand years from now, next to new technologies like LED lighting.

Light Output: 4/5
Value: 5/5
Looks: 5/5
Features: 4/5
Overall: 4.5/5

[albert_dao]

This thing can actually bleach SPS, so bear that in mind when adding new frags.

Also, your bulbs are ATI brand, so they're marginally better than the Giesman's.

Here's a link:

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=918935

[Skimmerking]

YEs that is true DOug's SPS were bleached too.

[exee]

I've been using the 6 bulb tek light system on my 72 gallon bowfront for the last 7-8 months and other than looking a little too big for my tank, i've been extremely pleased with it so far.

Just got my first acro on sale at Big Als last month as an experiment its whitish with blue tips and it seems to be coloring up nicely become more blue.

Running with 3 Aquablue +, to blueplus, and one daylight provides an excellent color for my tank, very crisp blueish white.

[kwirky]

yeah I have to say Albert's been good at giving advice for setting up this system.

This thing can actually bleach SPS, so bear that in mind when adding new frags.
so then the softies I currently have (toadstool, xenia, chalice), how high do you think they should be in the tank? currently they're halfway

oh but man did my tank get hot running it 2 inches from the water surface. It spiked up 5 degrees fairenheight (sp?), so I raised it up to 10" from the surface to deal with it. Tomorrow I'm buying a clip on fan.

http://www.esopenko.com/images/aquarium/t5review/raisedlights.jpg

[KarlK]

I think I would like to see how your corals react to full light

[albert_dao]

Start softies on the bottom.

[Joe Reefer]

I like your rock work.

[kwirky]

I like your rock work.

thanks :). I cheated, and used a PVC pipe structure to hold up the arch.

I think I would like to see how your corals react to full light

i'd rather play it safe, and NOT see how they react to full light quite yet :) in due time. Only half the lights are on so I don't bleach them. I ran them all on for about 45 minutes, but figured out quite quick I need a fan, or else the temperature skyrockets. in the process of rigging up an array of computer fans, so I'm all ready when I decide to flick the rest on.

[kwirky]

revisiting my review 6 months later...

old review: 4.5/5
new review: 4/5

Not much for trouble since i got it. I ran it without any actinics the entire time until a few weeks ago, and I think that's the reason for browning most of my coral. T5's are great because you can get any colour you want, because you can just change the ratio of the bulbs. This is a catch 22, though, because it's not easy to find the exact bulb combination you want IN STOCK at the LFS. True, I could order online, but I don't really want to deal with shipping insurance for broken tubes.

I had a slight problem ONCE with one of the ballasts not firing up. I had to unplug it and plug it back in. never had it happen since.

I would give it a 4.0/5 now, instead of a 4.5/5 because it's not actively cooled, and it doesn't ballance properly when hung from the ceiling. The ballancing issue was a slieght problem when I first got it, but to have to deal with it all the time since then, it's annoying.

As for it's performance, for my 24" deep tank, it's great for what I keep. I keep softies and most of my LPS at the bottom, as they'd bleach at the top. I'm going to try some SPS this summer, and we'll see how it goes for them.

I don't know if this fixture's quite enough for somone keeping only SPS. If one could get the fixture used, then it'd be worth it to swap the ballasts to ice caps (to overdrive the bulbs), and to cut holes in the top to actively cool it. then it'd be a kick ass unit for SPS. It's efficiency would go out the window, though, as it'd be consuming the same power as a similar PAR'd MH unit, but you'd have EXACTLY the colour you want.

Basically, this unit exceeds my needs ATM, until I get some SPS. It's been changed to a 4/5 because I think for those that keep SPS, it might be what they need, it might not. Has the potential to be a PAR beast though with some modifications :twised:

[fkshiu]

I simply aimed a small fan down the length of my old Teklight providing active cooling. This also provided additional evaporative cooling of the tank itself during summer.

[kwirky]

I simply aimed a small fan down the length of my old Teklight providing active cooling. This also provided additional evaporative cooling of the tank itself during summer.

I've got that going on, too. a 120cfm fan. But what I meant by active cooling is cooling the bulbs through removing the warm air INSIDE the fixture, like the ATI unit does.

[trilinearmipmap]

I have the same unit with softies LPS sps and BTA's.

I find it works for my simple sps (montipora digitata, montipora capricornis and horn coral) in the top 1/2 of the tank). Montipora digitata frags placed on the bottom of the tank also grow well.

Later this year I will be getting more sps and we will see how things go.

[Beermaster]

So your liking the T5's, have been really pondering the lighting solution for my 90gal, and have been leaning towards the T5's

where did you pick yours up? what brand should i buy, or is there good retro kits out there?

[kwirky]

So your liking the T5's, have been really pondering the lighting solution for my 90gal, and have been leaning towards the T5's

where did you pick yours up? what brand should i buy, or is there good retro kits out there?

I like my T5's. I think for tanks 24" and shallower, they're just as good as MH's. they work out to about the same cost in the long run, because T5 bulbs should be changed every 6-9 months, and the good bulbs (like the coral light and the fiji purple) bulbs will probably be like $40 each when they come to canada.

I'd look for something that is HO driven, and has individual reflectors for each bulb. The sunlight supply Tek light fixtures (the one I have), and the ATI fixtures are both good, depending on which you can afford. Sunlight supply also sells retro kits that are two bulbs a kit. Those are kinda cool, because then you get much more control over your light timers.

T5's $$ efficiency is the strongest at 4' and longer lengths.

I know Gold's in calgary carries both, and J&L sells the sunlight supply Tek fixtures on their site.

Proline Aquatics (canadian distributer) will be getting the coral light and the fiji purple bulbs in pretty soon (next month or so), and I know Gold's is one of the companies they distribute to.

Overall, I'm quite satisfied with my teklight unit, and I don't regret buying it at all.

[Nate]

I am currently running a 50 % SPS 150 gallon under the 48 inch tek 5 - 8 bulb unit, and I have never had this kind of growth or color out of SPS before.

Everything from harder to keep acros to huge monti caps...everything is doing wonderfully. I would say the most difficulty I have had with the unit is leaving a spot on the bottom for things to sit when they first go in the tank, as if you start them on the top, they tend to bleach out a bit.

Some notes:

Tank if 48 x 30 w x 24 t
Bulb variety is from pretty much every company, including experimenting with 2700 k bulbs.

I can honestly say that you should have no problem with SPS with this unit.

As for heat, sure it doesnt have fans, but they are an easy adddition...

I would give the unit a 5 out of 5

PM me for questions

[kwirky]

would say the most difficulty I have had with the unit is leaving a spot on the bottom for things to sit when they first go in the tank, as if you start them on the top, they tend to bleach out a bit.

when I add frags, I readjust mine slowly using window screen on top of egg crate. I just remove a layer every couple days over the course of 1 or 2 weeks. That way it doesn't have to succumb to variances in water flow, if I were to start at the bottom and slowly move it to the top.

I've noticed some of the colour coming back to my open brain frag finally. It browned out when I got it about 2 months ago, and today I noticed it's red coming back. I think the major changes I did was change 30% of my bulbs to actinic (had zero actinics before hand).

I also changed the photoperiod from 13 hours for 4 bulbs, and 12 hours for the other 4, to 12 hours on the actinics and 8 hours on the 10k's. Some colour's returning now to some of the browned out frags from a while ago.

[andresont]

What do you guys think about Tek - 36" HO T5's?
It is 39 Watt not 50W so would you get nice SPS colors from 36" inch long 39Watt unit or woud you go with 250 watt DE MH instead, for 36" long tank?
thx.

[fkshiu]

I used to run a 4x39W Teklight over a 46 bowfront. I only had LPS/softies so it wasn't a big deal to keep those guys growing. I'd go for the 6x39W 3-foot unit for SPS.

[mr_alberta]

How deep is the tank? I run a 4 bulb 36" Teklight on my 36" tank. Love it. Stays cool and is amazingly bright. Some of my softies love it, some of them not so much. My 1 Monti Cap seems to like it as well.

[andresont]

How deep is the tank? I run a 4 bulb 36" Teklight on my 36" tank. Love it. Stays cool and is amazingly bright. Some of my softies love it, some of them not so much. My 1 Monti Cap seems to like it as well.

My tank is 24" deep, thinking about 2 HQI DE pendants or 6x39Watt HO TEK t5's.
One day i almost ready for one system , the other day i am not...
Hmm...