AquaticLife T5 High Output Fixtures

[Koresample]

Anyone used these? I can't find any reviews on them. They look well thought out and built, individual reflectors, built in timer etc. My tank is about 2' deep and i want to add corals, but as it is in my living room, i don't want the noise/heat of MH's. The price seems good too, about $299 CDN from the House of tropical Fish in Ontario. Is there a BC or Ab dealer for these?

Mike

[mseepman]

Can't tell you much about the fixture but you can get some better pics of it over at Marinedepot.com where they have a few closeups.

[Koresample]

thanks, i went there and saw the pics of the reflectors, programmable timer etc. Considering it comes with the bulbs, it seems like a pretty good deal. Having said that, i cant find any reviews and i see that they have 39w T5 HO bulbs, but the description says 24w, not sure why there is that difference.

[BlueAbyss]

thanks, i went there and saw the pics of the reflectors, programmable timer etc. Considering it comes with the bulbs, it seems like a pretty good deal. Having said that, i cant find any reviews and i see that they have 39w T5 HO bulbs, but the description says 24w, not sure why there is that difference.

The 24W bulbs are in the 24" fixture, the 39W should be in the 36" fixture. Probably a misprint.

[Myka]

Can't say much on the fixture, but I bet the bulbs suck (for intensity at least). I wouldn't put much credit into the fixture coming with bulbs. The 39w and 24w is probably just a typo...I bet they just copied and pasted the description and forgot to change the wattage. Best to double check though. ;)

[Koresample]

you're right, it was a typo! They do come with 24w bulbs and the bulbs are included. I spoke to the deal in Ontario and they confirmed. I forgot to ask why brand of bulbs they are though. You're probably right, they are probably low quality but i have good lights for my existing GLO fixture, so i can always swap them. In a 4 bulb set-up, what is a good mix of bulbs and lighting durations for each?

[outtafocus]

Did anyone ever find any reviews on this fixture? I really like the built in timer setup. Looks to a farely decent fixture even if you end up swapping bulbs out for better ones.

[daddy01]

Ocean Aquatics got me 2 3^" Nova Xtreme t5HO woth 4 49wT5's, took a wek to come in tho'
e-mail them and see.
MY tank is 36X18X18 50 gal(?)
JIm

[Koresample]

Just got the unit today. I ordered it last weds, came in this morning from www.thehotfish.com in Windsor. The whole set up seems pretty good, the built in timer is really nice and the bulbs seem pretty good as well. I will see how my corals do with it and post some upates. I have attached a few pics of it. Oh yea, the final price was $279 + tax including all the bulbs! Talking to the dealer, they have all their SPS corals growing under these, and the pics on their pages are all taken under the same lights, albeit the 4' fixtures.

[nanoreefer]

did you get the 24" one? on there site it says there $299 or dose that include tax?

[mseepman]

Interested to see how this turns out.

[Koresample]

It was the one for $299, they sold it for $279 + tax though. I never asked for any discount (other than asked them to waive their handling fee). the overall quality seems pretty good. I have no way of measuring the output of the lights, but it is definitely better lighting than my Hagen GLO 24" fixture. Shipping was through UPS which was about $60 plus $11 for insurance, so $372 in total. You might be able to get it shipped CPS instead, but that is already a bit risky :biggrin: I figured for the extra $40 i knew it would arrive in one piece and in good working order.

[Koresample]

I got a bunch of frags yesterday, moon coral, candy cane, frogspawn etc, they look incredible under the actinics. I am going to try and take some pics tonight of the different lights with them (actinics and moon glows). The moon glow lights look especially cool at night. Most of the stuff i had to wait for dark and then poke around with a led flashlight come out on their own.

[c me fish]

Following along... interested in the 8 T5 HO and 6 Lunar - 72 in model...

[Koresample]

I just posted a series of pics of my tank showing the 3 combinations of light. So far my Corals seem to love them. Lots of polyp extension at night under the actinics for the Candy Cane. I will post some other ones of the Frogspawn.

[mseepman]

Um...where did you post those pics?

[Koresample]

the post is called 'pics of my two month old tank' under reef,posted yesterday.

[outtafocus]

I would like to see some more pics of the fixture on top of the tank, interested in how sits up there.

[Dunweb]

Just an update on AquaticLife Fixtures.


In June, AquaticLife will be releasing a modified product line including a 6 bulb 48" T5HO fixtures and fixtures that do not include the timers for those who already have timer systems in place ( will be less expensive as well ).

So, for those contemplating AquaticLife fixtures, the modified line might be of interest.



Chris

[Koresample]

I had my first problem with the fixture...the 420/460 bulbs both went out during the middle of the day. Swapping the bulbs around it turned out that they were fine, the problem lied with the fixture itself. I called the vendor, who contacted the manufacturer, who called me directly on my cell..all within 2 hours! To make along story short, they had a production problem with the way some of the connectors were installed which caused the problem. We figured this out within 24 hrs, and the manufacturer shipped me a brand new fixture from California by Fedex, it came within 4 working days!! They also told me to keep the new bulbs that came with the fixture as compensation for the troubleshooting I did to determine the exact problem. Bottom line: Great service from a manufacturer that cares about customer service! I will be moving this over to the T5 thread that has started and continue my review.

[mseepman]

Wow...not a story you hear very often from Manufacturers. Glad to hear they are that interested in their customers.