xyra Posted February 10, 2006 Share Posted February 10, 2006 Hi, After lots of searching online I couldn't find any information on the Arcadia Overtank Luminaire T5 units before I bought one (as I almost went Halide), so here's some information now i've got it! Box comes neatly packaged, bulbs held safely on the top, and the instructions and legs seperately bagged... The unit is well built, the inside is all reflector, with seperate reflector areas for each set of two bulbs. Central area holds the (built in) ballast. The unit has a plastic cover which slides in the side to allow access to the bulb area. The legs fit on easily, and can slide in and out to cover tanks up to 65cm wide. The actual unit is 60cm wide, but with two switches on the left hand side, and a power cable come out each side you need at least 65cm or so wide area to fit it in. The plastic screws that clamp the feet to the top of the tank are coated in a silver paint which flecks off the second a screw driver gets near them - so I chipped the paint off the screws before mounting it over the tank. The unit comes with two marine blue (actinic spectrum) and two marine white (14000k) bulbs the whole unit sits 6.5cm above the top of the tank, and the unit is also 6.5cm high, so the entire unit is 13cm in total above the tank. It does get pretty warm so ventalation is important. The whole unit hinges back on top to allow easy access to the bulbs and the top of the tank. I'm very pleased with the purchase - worked out cheaper than just buying two ballasts and four bulbs to get the whole unit. The light makes my corals fluoresce like never before, my mushrooms that were purple unit PC light are now bright blue and my favia Moon coral is orange rather than brown. The tank now stands out like a marine tank should, whereas under the PCs it always looked somehow flat. Will be interesting to see if the corals grow better with the extra light. I understand that this should be easily enough for SPS and Clams to (someone correct me if I am wrong) so I will attempt some SPS under it at some point as well. Pros: Well built Easy to mount Excellent light (brighter and far better colour than 110w of PC) Cons: Legs are a tad flimsy Screws can drop silver paint in the tank when being installed Not individual reflectors (and not really room to add any) Worth the money? Definately! Hope this helps someone.... Link to comment
LifesAreef Posted February 10, 2006 Share Posted February 10, 2006 Hey Mate! Have one of these units over my nano also and it looks really smart and the colour of my tank is great even though there are no corals in there yet. I'm guessing your from the UK? Where did you get your unit from and how much was it? thanks Dan Link to comment
reeferpnoy Posted February 10, 2006 Share Posted February 10, 2006 Hey Mate! Have one of these units over my nano also and it looks really smart and the colour of my tank is great even though there are no corals in there yet. I'm guessing your from the UK? Where did you get your unit from and how much was it? thanks Dan where did you guys purchase this light? looks so nice i want one =) post website or link thanks Link to comment
xyra Posted February 10, 2006 Author Share Posted February 10, 2006 Yep, fellow UK nanoreefer:) I got it from a LFS near where I am (High Wycombe), I pursuaded them to price match off a website (walked in and said if they would match a website i'd buy it immediately normally this large chain generally based in garden centres don't price match websites, but the manager there is especially nice and got it for £175 http://www.aquatics-online.co.uk has them for 169.99+delivery Link to comment
LifesAreef Posted February 14, 2006 Share Posted February 14, 2006 That's were i had mine from Link to comment
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