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

[kwirky]

Sunlight Supply HO T5 8 bulb Tek Light Fixture

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+

• 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+)

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

Pure Actinic

• 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]

• 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/showth...hreadid=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.

Originally Posted by albert_dao

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.

[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]

Originally Posted by Joe Reefer

I like your rock work.

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

Originally Posted by karlk

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