yellowslayer13 Posted December 14, 2008 Share Posted December 14, 2008 yes but what would an open top do to this fixture with the salt. Link to comment
HecticDialectics Posted December 14, 2008 Share Posted December 14, 2008 yes but what would an open top do to this fixture with the salt. ruin the reflectors... Link to comment
HecticDialectics Posted December 14, 2008 Share Posted December 14, 2008 wipe them off two or three times a day Link to comment
pismo_reefer Posted December 14, 2008 Share Posted December 14, 2008 ^2 solutions.... 1- get an acrylic splash shield and a fan 2- no splash shield (less heat, no fan) and wipe the reflectors each week. hmm...to each their own imo. edit: my 20H has no splash shield but my pico does. so.... Link to comment
Sac_State Posted December 14, 2008 Share Posted December 14, 2008 wipe them off that's not even possible...the reflectors are contoured closely around each bulb. and wiping them that often is definitely going to damage the reflective surface of the reflectors... Link to comment
funkyfish77 Posted December 14, 2008 Share Posted December 14, 2008 well what would be a good way to keep them clean besides splash guard and modding fans in it??? Link to comment
dtfleming Posted December 14, 2008 Share Posted December 14, 2008 Use cotton balls, they wont damage it. Link to comment
BKtomodachi Posted December 14, 2008 Share Posted December 14, 2008 its causes too much heat on the bulbs, if you add a fan to it, it would be fine. How do you explain the success and high PAR ratings of TEK fixtures then? I don't have a fan, and everything is fine- so do thousands of other people. Link to comment
BKtomodachi Posted December 14, 2008 Share Posted December 14, 2008 Ok, I changed my "t" to a "d". Link to comment
dtfleming Posted December 14, 2008 Share Posted December 14, 2008 haha lol, look i have the TEK fixtures also. This is coming from the T5 guru not me. Grim Reefer when doing the PAR readings notice that with cooler bulb you get better PAR readings. His suggestion was to have a fan blow on the end of the fixture to help cool the bulbs to make them last longer and get some better PAR readings. I was just offering suggestions as it seems that most of the people in this thread have never had T5 lighting before. And yes you can clean the reflectors and not ruin them. Link to comment
BKtomodachi Posted December 14, 2008 Share Posted December 14, 2008 ok. it didn't sound like you were making a "suggestion", as far as I could tell. Link to comment
HecticDialectics Posted December 14, 2008 Share Posted December 14, 2008 Sure, it might decrease light output slightly, but ultimately yeah, people have to make a choice between salt corrosion eating away at the reflectors and using a splash guard... Personally, I'd just use a splash guard... Link to comment
cpreefguy Posted December 14, 2008 Share Posted December 14, 2008 I have used both the Tek light, with no splash guard or fans, and the ATI Powermodule with a splash guard and fans. I didn't get that much salt on the Tek reflectors in the first place, but it is definitely a lot easier and less time consuming to take the acrylic shield out of the ATI and wipe it down, than to take the TEK fixture down, remove all of the bulbs, scrub the salt off of the reflectors, replace the bulbs, replace the fixture... Link to comment
lilredneckman Posted December 15, 2008 Share Posted December 15, 2008 Well i still have the light fixture in my cart from a few days ago so it is still only $100 for me but i cant decide if i should get one and put it over my 34g RSM or get it and start a small sps dominated tank.....GRRR Link to comment
WhiteShark Posted December 15, 2008 Share Posted December 15, 2008 Prices went up on these lights. Luckily I bought a 24" last night at the $100 price. Anyone one who bought the 48" 8bulb have any pics of their lights yet? I orded friday and will post pic's when I get it this week hopefully...Not sure if I'm gonna do the splash guard or not. I'll wait and see how much salt I'm actually getting on the reflectors on a weekly basis before I spend money on that. Link to comment
Sergeant-G Posted December 15, 2008 Share Posted December 15, 2008 honestly it wouldnt be that expensive to get the splash guard and add a cooling fan maybe 40 dollars total. I have two fans from my stock nano cube hood I am going to use and I am going to get a piece of 1/8 inch plexi cut for the guard, or if you really wanted to you could go get a glass top for the tank, or just go get a piece of 1/8 inch plexi cut to fit your tank and drill a hole in it so you can lift it off the tank or glue a handle on it. Link to comment
Sac_State Posted December 15, 2008 Share Posted December 15, 2008 I'll just say that i have a splash guard on my tek t5, and it accumulates a significant degree of spotting and salt deposits over a two or three week period. I couldn't, personally, imagine having to wipe down each individual reflector with a cotton ball that frequently. but i will agree with the comments about heat retention...the tek t5's do run hot...noticeably so...and so i can understand dtfleming's comments in that regard. that said, i'm sticking with my splash guards...but like i've said before, my unit's a bit bright for my tank, so losing a little PAR isn't a huge concern for me. My corals were getting fried for while there... Link to comment
Crackerballer Posted December 15, 2008 Share Posted December 15, 2008 I went to Lowes yesterday and got my sheet of acrylic big enough that I should be able to make both my gaurds when my lights come in. Not sure when that is going to be done though, as my lights arrive on tomorrow and Thursday, but I work my second job almost every day for the next few weeks. I will run a few tests to see what needs to be done about the fan situation. Link to comment
WhiteShark Posted December 15, 2008 Share Posted December 15, 2008 this would probably work pretty decently for a cooling fan? http://cgi.ebay.com/AQUARIUM-FAN-CHILLER-C...9QQcmdZViewItem anyone disagree? Link to comment
OB1 Posted December 15, 2008 Share Posted December 15, 2008 Has anyone that has the light looked to see how to attach a splash guard? Looking at the pics, the only way it looks like you can install a guard is to screw it to the bottom of the fixture. That being the case, why couldn't you use 1/4-1/2" spacers between the fixture and the guard. That would allow venting and air flow over the bulbs if you used a fan like the one whiteshark posted. Link to comment
WhiteShark Posted December 15, 2008 Share Posted December 15, 2008 Has anyone that has the light looked to see how to attach a splash guard? Looking at the pics, the only way it looks like you can install a guard is to screw it to the bottom of the fixture. That being the case, why couldn't you use 1/4-1/2" spacers between the fixture and the guard. That would allow venting and air flow over the bulbs if you used a fan like the one whiteshark posted. I was wondering that myself (about how to attach the splash guard)... Link to comment
05XRunner Posted December 15, 2008 Author Share Posted December 15, 2008 Nice..mine is out for delivery..FedEx actually sent it out a day earlier then expected instead of holding onto it for a day. I am sure for my early delivery they took the privilege to break it in half or smash all the bulbs Link to comment
Weetabix7 Posted December 15, 2008 Share Posted December 15, 2008 Has anyone that has the light looked to see how to attach a splash guard? Looking at the pics, the only way it looks like you can install a guard is to screw it to the bottom of the fixture. That being the case, why couldn't you use 1/4-1/2" spacers between the fixture and the guard. That would allow venting and air flow over the bulbs if you used a fan like the one whiteshark posted. That's a good idea, thanks for the suggestion. Although that wouldn't really allow you to blow a fan across the ends of the bulbs themselves, which increases both PAR and bulb life. I think it will take a bit of experimenting among us to come up with the best way to use this fixture, it'll be interesting to see what everyone does. I'm lucky in the sense that I already have a pair of fans on hand to use with this. I am personally hoping to build a somewhat different canopy for the fixture. It will be open at the top, with 2 slender boards going across the top in such a way that I can simply rest this fixture on top of them and have it shine down into the tank. I am planning to install the fans in the canopy to blow across the bulb ends, as mentioned earlier. The canopy itself will be somewhat open on the sides. It's difficult to describe, but think of Mission style furniture to get an idea. Link to comment
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