Longinus Posted February 15, 2008 Share Posted February 15, 2008 So I bought a tank a while back, and it came with some Icecap 430's (2), but no bulbs. Me being the idiot that I am did not ask the guy I bought it from what kind of bulbs to get, and just stuck with my halide for the time being. Now I am in the process of planning either a 30g or 40g breeder setup (long story short, the tank that these lights came on developed a slight cracking problem). I am chiefly wondering what kind of bulbs I can run with these ballasts, I did some looking and most sites say stay under 330w of lights, but I wanted to be sure I was doing right before I ordered lights. The ballasts came wired for 2 T5 bulbs and 1 T8 bulb. I was planning on mainly going actinic supplementation for my halide with these, but if I like them and their output enough I may just sell the halide. Anyway, I was just wondering what the best way for me to set these up would be. Thanks guys! Link to comment
HecticDialectics Posted February 16, 2008 Share Posted February 16, 2008 So I bought a tank a while back, and it came with some Icecap 430's (2), but no bulbs. Me being the idiot that I am did not ask the guy I bought it from what kind of bulbs to get, and just stuck with my halide for the time being. Now I am in the process of planning either a 30g or 40g breeder setup (long story short, the tank that these lights came on developed a slight cracking problem). I am chiefly wondering what kind of bulbs I can run with these ballasts, I did some looking and most sites say stay under 330w of lights, but I wanted to be sure I was doing right before I ordered lights. The ballasts came wired for 2 T5 bulbs and 1 T8 bulb. I was planning on mainly going actinic supplementation for my halide with these, but if I like them and their output enough I may just sell the halide. Anyway, I was just wondering what the best way for me to set these up would be. Thanks guys! Each 430 can be used for 2 T5s . For supplementation, it depends how silly you wanna get, 4 T5s overdriven (you want to run a fan over them to cool them, overdriving will heat them up and cause them to burn out faster, with a fan running over them, they pretty much last just as long as regular T5HO) 4 T5 overdriven all they theirselves would be enough for just about anything in a 30/40g breeder setup. You could do a 10k halide with two ati blue plus and two uvl actinic, or two ati blue plus and 2 VHO uvl actinic (supposedly the uvl actinic is better in regular VHO than in T5HO). Maybe four bulbs with a single 150W MH for shimmer wouldn't be too much... Link to comment
Longinus Posted February 16, 2008 Author Share Posted February 16, 2008 Each 430 can be used for 2 T5s . For supplementation, it depends how silly you wanna get, 4 T5s overdriven (you want to run a fan over them to cool them, overdriving will heat them up and cause them to burn out faster, with a fan running over them, they pretty much last just as long as regular T5HO) 4 T5 overdriven all they theirselves would be enough for just about anything in a 30/40g breeder setup. You could do a 10k halide with two ati blue plus and two uvl actinic, or two ati blue plus and 2 VHO uvl actinic (supposedly the uvl actinic is better in regular VHO than in T5HO). Maybe four bulbs with a single 150W MH for shimmer wouldn't be too much... Well, I have a 250w halide already, but it has a pretty poor reflector so I am not too worried about it being too bright for the tank(especially since I like tall hoods). Any idea what wattages of bulbs I should use for the T5's? This is new territory for me, since my halide came with everything I needed. Link to comment
HecticDialectics Posted February 16, 2008 Share Posted February 16, 2008 Well, I have a 250w halide already, but it has a pretty poor reflector so I am not too worried about it being too bright for the tank(especially since I like tall hoods). Any idea what wattages of bulbs I should use for the T5's? This is new territory for me, since my halide came with everything I needed. whichever wattage is the right length for your tank... 30/40breeders are 36", so the 39W T5s would be the right choice for those. 24" = 24W T5. 48"=54W T5s Link to comment
Longinus Posted February 16, 2008 Author Share Posted February 16, 2008 Gotcha, wanted to be sure I didn't kill the bulbs by putting too much power through them. Thanks for the help, it gets me one step closer to setting up my new tank. Link to comment
HecticDialectics Posted February 16, 2008 Share Posted February 16, 2008 Gotcha, wanted to be sure I didn't kill the bulbs by putting too much power through them. Thanks for the help, it gets me one step closer to setting up my new tank. Yeah the icecap ballast is pretty cool like that, you can pretty much run any two T5 or vho bulbs you want on each one, and it automatically senses which wattage to give 'em Link to comment
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