Made the switch to T5

[Stones]

So I decided to finally bite the bullet and make the switch from metal halide to all T5 lighting for my 90 gallon SPS reef.

After being on the ATI powermodule waiting list for countless months, I finally threw in the towel and went with a similar fixture from Sfiligoi since the waiting list was only one month long as opposed to indefinate with ATI.

Upon unpacking the fixture and installing it, it seems very comparable to the ATI powermodule. That said, there are several major differences that I have yet to find out if they will be good or bad.

The 1st would be that the Sfiligoi fixture has the active cooling fans placed on the ends of the bulbs blowing across the entire 48" length as opposed to the ATI powermodule having the fans blowing on the approximate center of the bulbs from the top of the fixture down. Both the ATI and Sfiligoi employ 1 fan per 2 bulbs.

The 2nd would be that the Sfiligoi fixture uses a glass bulb sheild instead of an acrylic shield which is used on the ATI powermodule. Although this adds extra weight to the fixture, there were bowing issues with the hot acrylic on the ATI fixtures.

The 3rd and probably most important difference is in the reflector style. The Sfiligoi fixture I purchased has reflectors very simialar to the TEK 2's released by Sun Light Supply, however, they are not TRUE individual reflectors. Each reflector actually houses 2 T5 bulbs with only a half reflector between the bulb centers. Although this allows for a wider spread of light, it probably isn't the most ideal setup for an 18" wide tank. The ATI powermodules however offer TRUE individual reflectors that are more similar to the TEK 1st gen reflectors from sunlight supply.

Additionally, the hanging kit was very easy to install and took about 20 minutes to measure and securely mount into the ceiling drywall. Very clean and "modern" look as well.

The fans also feature adjustable speed control via a variable voltage converter. Like the ATI powermodule, Sfiligoi also suggest running the fans at 4.5v, at which level they are not even audible.

Here are a few pics of the new lighting fixture. I will post a before and after full tank shot in a few weeks time to compare how things looked under my previous 2 x 250 HQI Radium 20K + 54W actinic + 54W Fiji purple to the new Sfiligoi all T5 fixture.

Top down view
http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g47/prestieb/DSCN0020.jpg

Bottom view
http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g47/prestieb/DSCN0021.jpg

Bulbs installed, from top to bottom they are: Aquascience 22K, Sfiligoi Pure Actinic, Aquascience 15K, Kz New Gen Coral Light, Kz Fiji purple, Aquascience 22K, Kz New Gen Coral Light, Aquascience 22K
http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g47/prestieb/DSCN0022.jpg

Installed above my 90 gallon
http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g47/prestieb/DSCN0041.jpg

With all T5's lit, looks even brighter than my previous metal halide setup
http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g47/prestieb/DSCN0040.jpg
http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g47/prestieb/DSCN0046.jpg

[Sebae again]

Very nice tank. Personally I think you ended up with the better of the two fixtures.

[Trigger Man]

Looks really nice in there. I've heard a lot of good things with the sfiligoi systems, nice to actually see one at work. Hopefully you drop us a line in a few months telling us what differences you've found in comparision to your old lighting.

[lastlight]

Does the glass shield cover the entire bottom? In pics it looks like it only covers the ends of the tubes...

http://www.sfiligoi.it/files/media/STEALTH%20T5/STEALTH%20T5%2003.jpg

That pic clearly shows single reflectors as well. Is yours not like this? Perhaps the Sfiligoi site shows the new ones with LEDs and they changed something...

Love the look that bulb combo gives you!

You chose not to mount into joists?

[Oscar]

Why the change to all T5s?

[jasond]

Nice fixture! I went with the ATI and am very happy so far, about 2 months in. I did not have to wait at all, but maybe that was just because they had the size I was looking for in stock (reefgeek). Good luck with the new light, let us know how you like it after a couple months!

[Stones]

Does the glass shield cover the entire bottom? In pics it looks like it only covers the ends of the tubes...

http://www.sfiligoi.it/files/media/STEALTH%20T5/STEALTH%20T5%2003.jpg

That picture is misleading as the unit came with a 2 piece glass shield that covers the entire bottom of the fixture.

That pic clearly shows single reflectors as well. Is yours not like this? Perhaps the Sfiligoi site shows the new ones with LEDs and they changed something...

The unit shown must be an older model or the unreleased stealths with moonlights coming out next year as the reflectors in mine are much wider but are not "true" indivudual reflectors. If you look at this picture, you can actually see through the end of the unit and see the shape of reflectors as outlined in red.

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g47/prestieb/reflectoroutlined.jpg


Love the look that bulb combo gives you!

I'm fairly happy with the colour generated by the bulb combo. I may have to tinker with it a bit and replace the Sfiligoi pure actinic with another Aquascience 22K as I wouldn't mind a bit bluer tint. I'll wait until these bulbs burn in and after a week or two see how it looks.

You chose not to mount into joists?

I was actually unable to mount the light into the joists in the ceiling as they ran parallel to the tank and I would not have been able to center the fixture correctly if I had mounted into the joists. If the joist had run perpendicular to the tank that would have worked out great as the distance between joists wouldn't have mattered at all. Sfiligoi has a slick system where the hanging cables are mounted into a track on the top of the fixture and are able to slide back and forth to accomodate where the joists would line up.

Since this wasn't an option, I picked up a pack of 3/16" drywall toggle bolts that had 2.5" long toggles. Apparenlty, each one is supposed to be able to support up to 50 lbs (if drywall is 1/2" thick) so I think I'm pretty safe seeing as the fixture weights probably 25 lbs tops. Here is a pic of how the mounts look on the roof.

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g47/prestieb/DSCN0049.jpg


As for why I chose T5s over a new metal halide fixture, I had several reasons. I've seen so many beautiful tanks on the zeovit forums that have been kept soley under T5 lights and after seeing a local hobbyist's tank lit by a SLS 8 x 54 Watt Tek, I was amazed at the intensity and colour of the light given off by the fixture. Often times we had ordered the same frags on group orders and the SLS T5 fixture would have the frags coloured up much faster than my metal halide setup.

It also seems that there are so many more bulb choices and combinations with T5's as well. You can really mix and match to get your tank looking anywhere from a 10K to 22K spectrum depending on personal taste. I might have to swap out a bulb or two in my tank as right now it looks a little too white for my liking.

Electricity savings should also be signficant over my previous setup. The Sfiligoi stealth draws 432 watts as opposed to my old setup which was a 2 x 250 watt PFO HQI ballast running SE radium 20k bulbs + 2 x 54 watt actinic T5s. I always knew the bulbs were being overdriven on that ballast but I was amazed when someon on RC posted the actual wattage being drawn by the same setup as mine was ~809 watts when its was just over 500 watts when DE bulbs were used on the same ballast.

As such, I was having some heat related issues with my tank, especially in the summer. With the new Sfiligoi fixture, I'm hoping to avoid these problems and I've also been able to eliminate the 2 7" fans that I had blowing across the surface of my tank for 12 hours a day. This should then cut down on the amount of top off water going into the tank daily as well.

I know that I'm going to really miss the shimmer of the metal halides but since I've only got about 3" of sandbed behind the front pane of glass, I didn't really get the fully shimmer effect anyways.

Since I'm planning on upgrading to a much larger tank as soon as I find a house, purchasing this light will also give me a "trial run" of T5's on an SPS dominated reef so that I can more effectively decide on what lighting to use on my next tank. If this sfiligoi fixture can generate more intense colouration in my corals and keep coral growth rate similar to my previous setup, I will likely go with an all T5 setup again. This will then help me decide on what size tank to go with as I'd likey get a 60" tank and use T5s as opposed to getting a 72" tank if I were to use metal halides on the new setup.

Another reason why I decided to make the switch was basically out of curiousity. I've seen many beautiful T5 lit reefs on the net, but have only seen 1 in person. Probably 9 out of 10 SPS reefs are illuminated by metal halides or a combo of metal halides and T5/VHOs. If this fixture is able to keep up with halides and help save some money on electricity while adding less heat to the aquarium, I want to be able to share this information with other hobbyists since there is so little information posted anywhere on Sfiligoi.

[lastlight]

I'm waiting for my 8x80w so this is all great information. There's next to nothing available on them. Heck until a few days ago I thought they were WHITE lol. Most do.

The variable hanging kit sounds awesome as does full glass shield. I hope the 60" fixture also has a full shield. I plan to mount a length of board to my ceiling first so I might not take advantage of the rail system.

How do you plan to access your tank with the fixture in the way. I wonder how others with similar setups do. I can't imagine adjusting the wire connector everyday is good for it. If it gets weak somehow and lets an end fall you'd be ruined. Also, swinging the fixture and tethering it to the back of the tank would be risky I imagine.

For mine I was thinking

ATI Blue Plus
ATI Aqua Blue
ATI Blue Plus
ATI Pro Color
GE Daylight 6500K
ATI Blue Plus
ATI Aqua Blue
ATI Blue Plus

Still up in the air. I've never had a T5 before.

[lastlight]

Maybe access is less of an issue for you...you have it mounted a fair amount above the tank. I was thinking of only 4" or so above water line. Also my fixture will be the same size as my eurobrace cutout.

[Oscar]

As such, I was having some heat related issues with my tank, especially in the summer. With the new Sfiligoi fixture, I'm hoping to avoid these problems and I've also been able to eliminate the 2 7" fans that I had blowing across the surface of my tank for 12 hours a day. This should then cut down on the amount of top off water going into the tank daily as well.


I am having heat and top off problems as well. Next step is to hang the fixture from the ceiling and provide a bit more space between the fixture and water surface.

If I cannot resolve those before next summer then I may consider removing the hallide/T5 combo fixture and replacing with a strictly T5 fixture.

[Trigger Man]

Stones:
I was wondering why you have decided to hang your t5 unit so high, I was under the impression from what I've heard when buying my unit that 2 to 4 inches above the tank was the ideal height to hang them.

Lastnight:
Maybe think about putting a Fiji Purple bulb in your bulb mix. When I added it into my mix it brought out more color on certain corals.

[Stones]

I'm waiting for my 8x80w so this is all great information. There's next to nothing available on them. Heck until a few days ago I thought they were WHITE lol. Most do.

The variable hanging kit sounds awesome as does full glass shield. I hope the 60" fixture also has a full shield. I plan to mount a length of board to my ceiling first so I might not take advantage of the rail system.

How do you plan to access your tank with the fixture in the way. I wonder how others with similar setups do. I can't imagine adjusting the wire connector everyday is good for it. If it gets weak somehow and lets an end fall you'd be ruined. Also, swinging the fixture and tethering it to the back of the tank would be risky I imagine.

For mine I was thinking

ATI Blue Plus
ATI Aqua Blue
ATI Blue Plus
ATI Pro Color
GE Daylight 6500K
ATI Blue Plus
ATI Aqua Blue
ATI Blue Plus

Still up in the air. I've never had a T5 before.

Actually, I have the Sfiligoi fixture hanging ~5" from the waters surface. I took those photos right after I got the fixture cable hanging system installed.

I would actually have the fixture even lower but I have a RENA autofeeder on the back of my tank that is ~4.5" tall so my light has to be higher than this.

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g47/prestieb/DSCN0054.jpg

With the fixture as high as it was in the photos I originally posted, I was getting an incredible amount of light spillage into the room. My tank is only 18" wide and the fixture I believe is 19.25" wide.

With regards to the other question about raising and lowering the fixture, the cable system that came the fixture works pretty great.

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g47/prestieb/DSCN0053.jpg

In the image, the area highlighted in red is threaded and tightens to lock the cable in place. When you loosen this piece, it turns into a button that when depressed, allows you to raise or lower the fixture. I did notice that when you tighten this piece and lock the fixture in place, it does leave a slight kink in the cable holding the fixture up. However, I do not forsee this becoming a problem as the kinks are so small they are unnoticable from a distance and the locking mechanism still slides easily over these areas.

Even with my fixture 5" above my tank, I can still reach in and perform minor maintenance tasks without raising the fixture. Reaching to hard to get areas and re arranging live rock would require me to raise the fixture though.

With regards to the 60" fixture, they do come with a full glass shield however it is a 3 piece instead of a 2 piece. The instruction manual for my fixture is generic so it shows all 48", 60" and 72" models in both T5 and metal halide + T5s.

That bulb combo you have selected looks great and was what I was originally planning on going with. However, ATI bulbs are not so easy to come by any more unless you order them from reef geek. I would probably suggest swapping out the GE 6500K bulb for another ATI aquablue special as these are 12K bulbs and look incredibly white. Even the 15K Aquascience bulb I have in my fixture stands out and I would have rather went with another Kz New Gen coral light if I could have found one. I would also recommend the Kz Fiji purple over the pro colour as I've done a fair amount of reading on T5's and most people who were using pro colours switched to the Fiji purple as it is a higher PAR bulb but still brings out the vibrant reds, pinks, and to some degree, purples that blue bulbs can not.

[i have crabs]

where did you get the fixture from?

[Stones]

Will at Aquarium Obsessed hooked me up with the Sfiligoi fixure. Very excellent to deal with and he even express shipped it to me using Purolator since I had to wait an extra week due to the boat from Italy taking longer to get here than originally expected. He even shipped the fixture from Toronto although his business is based in the USA so that I wouldn't have to pay duty (which would have been outrageous considering the price of these fixtures). I would definately recommend him to anyone in the market for a Sfiligoi product.

[lastlight]

Thanks for the advice. I will make those changes. All ATI bulbs means less hassle too. I did intend to buy from Reefgeek tho Progressive Reef has said they will stock them soon. I hope so.

I bought my fixture from Aquarium Obsessed. They are the only Sfiligoi dealer in North America...

[lastlight]

Beat me to it =)

Oh that was you...I read about your ordeal.

[Stones]

Thanks for the advice. I will make those changes. All ATI bulbs means less hassle too. I did intend to buy from Reefgeek tho Progressive Reef has said they will stock them soon. I hope so.

I bought my fixture from Aquarium Obsessed. They are the only Sfiligoi dealer in North America...


You will have to let me know if your reflectors are the same as mine when you get your 80 watt fixture in. So far, I'm pretty impressed but it seems that the 8 bulb fixtures are meant to be used on a tank that is at least 24" wide due to the light spread and style of reflectors.

[lastlight]

My tank is actually 30" wide. Will said it was a sort of fine line between the 8 and 12 bulb fixtures. In the end my wife said I could buy the 8 =) I also plan for a lot of open sand in the front and lighting the back few inches of the tank doesn't matter much to me. LPS need a happy spot too!

I'm actually thinking for me those reflectors are going to be advantageous. I'm most happy to hear about the full glass shields tho. I didn't want to have to clean bulbs.