SunBlaze T5HO Lights review

[Discus master]

I was wondering if any one has used these fixtures? they seem to be pretty popular here lately. They come in 2 and 4 foot lengths, it is a single linear T5HO strip light, reflector sold seperately. I think these were intended for gardeners in doors like hydro ponics set up not specificly for aquariums but I have been reading that a lot of folks are using these for their tanks. I bought one on the T5 HO 4 foot 54 watt that comes with a 6,500K HO tube and I bought the seperate refelctor as well, total price with shipping as about 50$ which I think is a pretty good deal. You can even daisy chain more than one together with the include jumper wires and they come with mounting hardware for like the inside of you canopy and there is a plastic cover lens over the tubes as well. I have this comming in addition to the 36 inch T5NO double COralife fixture that I have which is only 21 watts per bulb for a total of 42 watts with a combined total of 96 watts between the T5NO and T5HO bulbs. This is on a 55 gallon tank at the momment. I will be up grading to a 120 - 150 gallon in the near future I hope sooner than latter and I will obviously buy more of the T5HO Sunblaze4 dependiong on the reviews and how they work for me on the 55 gallon. (and ditch the coralife fixture at that point)

Any way Iw as wondering what you think I will be able to grow under those lights in my 55 gallon with no Co2 liquid Seachem comprehensive and I suppose I will have to get into the root tabs to if I get the green light to grow like Swords, crypts and vals, So what do you all think?

and has any one had experince with these fixtures?

By the way I ordered thru KennsFish a SD sponsor he seemed really nice I emailed him some questions and no lie not even ten minutes after I hit the send button he was calling me with the answers he gets 100% for customer care as well as oh I forget his name dang it the guy at IGOPRO hes realy cool as well. These two orders are my first two with SD sponsors and so far its been awsome I am going to keep using our SD sponsors for everything I can.

Oh and as always thanks in advance for any info you can provide,
You SD pal DM :p

[Discus master]

Is there any body out there? I am, starting to feel a little bit slighted, I have been posting and asking questions and I am getting very little in and some cases, ie:this thread no response at all. Now I know I am a discus newbie but I am not knew to SD. I would have thought I earned enough street cred to get some more responses, lol.

Come on guys this is the best Discus forum on the World Wide Web don't prove it other wise.:shocked:

[David Rose]

Hey DM... no worries.... I don't think anyone is slighting you. I think a lot of the more experienced on SD have be on a break not monitoring SD as closely. That and may not be using the type of lights you're inquiring about.

As for me, I keep my lighting simple....regular florescent and a few 50/50 Coral Life bulbs, but I don't have any planted tanks.

You may want to try PMs to folks that have posted about these light having experience with them.

All the best,
David

[waj8]

I don't know anything about those particular fixtures but I will have a lash. The things to look for in a fixture are individual specular reflectors. The reflectors should be at least 3" wide and mounted very close to the lamps. The fixture needs to have sufficient ventilation so that the ambient temperature does not much exceed 35 degrees C. If the case gets uncomfortably hot that is too hot. Those lamps are designed to operate at that temperature and if your fixture doesn't allow for ventilation lamp life and light output will be compromised. The ballast should be programmed start and have a 1.0 ballast factor. It's possible a very cheap instant start ballast could be used on a light fixture that would reduce lamp life and light output. I have never seen one though. Just saying it's possible. You will only need 2 lamps on a 55 to grow most plants period. A few really high light plants will grow but maybe won't thrive. One lamp should provide enough light for low light plants. The light won't be distributed very well though. 6500K lamps are very nice to look at in a planted tank. I feel the CRI of the lamp should be at least in the 80s. This indicates a deluxe so called rare earth phosphor. Plants grow well under lamps like that and everything looks good.

I realize I am not directly answering your questions, but by looking at the ballast and lamp code and asking your supplier some questions you should be able to come to your own conclusions.

[Herbicidal]

Is there any body out there? I think for better exposure, this topic would be better placed in the 'Tanks, Equipment and Supplies' forum. :)

[Discus master]

I don't know anything about those particular fixtures but I will have a lash. The things to look for in a fixture are individual specular reflectors. The reflectors should be at least 3" wide and mounted very close to the lamps. The fixture needs to have sufficient ventilation so that the ambient temperature does not much exceed 35 degrees C. If the case gets uncomfortably hot that is too hot. Those lamps are designed to operate at that temperature and if your fixture doesn't allow for ventilation lamp life and light output will be compromised. The ballast should be programmed start and have a 1.0 ballast factor. It's possible a very cheap instant start ballast could be used on a light fixture that would reduce lamp life and light output. I have never seen one though. Just saying it's possible. You will only need 2 lamps on a 55 to grow most plants period. A few really high light plants will grow but maybe won't thrive. One lamp should provide enough light for low light plants. The light won't be distributed very well though. 6500K lamps are very nice to look at in a planted tank. I feel the CRI of the lamp should be at least in the 80s. This indicates a deluxe so called rare earth phosphor. Plants grow well under lamps like that and everything looks good.

I realize I am not directly answering your questions, but by looking at the ballast and lamp code and asking your supplier some questions you should be able to come to your own conclusions.

This helps a lot, and this is a reflector for just one bulb bought seperate so any additinal bulbs would also have there own reflectors as well I heard this is the way to go. I will say this about the fixture the place that sells them sells all kinds of light and these are specifically for like in door gardens and hydroponics. This company sure sounds like they know what they are talking about I remeber reading something about 90cri on their site but was not sure what that mean. I will say this it makes the tank look awsome in my opinion all the colors of the plants and fish look spectacular under this lighting, and the tank in general just looks nice and bright. i was thinking of going with a 6,700K bulb but I am not sure what that would look like and I do not want to waste my money. I will be getting a second fixture in the near future but rite now I am running the one with a 36inch coralife T5NO dual fixture with a 10K and a 6K bulb, to be honest I turned it off and I did not even see any decrese in the amount of light in the tank Iw as wondering if I even need to run it at this piont? I guess just becuse I can not see it does not mean the plants are not benefiting from it I guess? I am growing anubias one amazon sword i think a ludwig or something its kind of redish hue to it and java fern and oh in the back round something that looks lik grass like a val maybe a jungle val? do you think I can eliminate the coralife fixture or wait till I get the other T5HO bulb and reflector? oh and thanks for the help its very useful

[waj8]

You should see a difference with the NO fixture gone. NO T5 lamps are actually more efficient than HO T5 lamps. Shorter lamps are less efficient than longer lamps so in the end the 3' NO and 4' HO should be about the same per watt. NOs just are not that useful because you need so many of them and it's not all that worth it to buy a reflector for them.

If given the number and wattage of your lamps as well as age and operating temperature of your lamps and the ballast factor of your ballast I can quite accurately determine the total light output of your lamps. However, I can never really tell you how efficient your fixture is at getting light to the bottom of your tank. I can only make a fairly wild guess. My guess is that your current setup will put almost as much light into your tank as your proposed setup. However, there should also be a considerable increase in light level at the bottom of the tank with the 2 54 watt lamp idea. I doubt if it will knock your socks off though. Likely no more than a 25% increase.

[Discus master]

You should see a difference with the NO fixture gone. NO T5 lamps are actually more efficient than HO T5 lamps. Shorter lamps are less efficient than longer lamps so in the end the 3' NO and 4' HO should be about the same per watt. NOs just are not that useful because you need so many of them and it's not all that worth it to buy a reflector for them.

If given the number and wattage of your lamps as well as age and operating temperature of your lamps and the ballast factor of your ballast I can quite accurately determine the total light output of your lamps. However, I can never really tell you how efficient your fixture is at getting light to the bottom of your tank. I can only make a fairly wild guess. My guess is that your current setup will put almost as much light into your tank as your proposed setup. However, there should also be a considerable increase in light level at the bottom of the tank with the 2 54 watt lamp idea. I doubt if it will knock your socks off though. Likely no more than a 25% increase.

Thank you for all your input certainly helps me know that I am on the rite path then. So when I up grade to say my 100 - 150 gallon do you think I would be ok with say 4 T5HO's on either set up? and still be able to get away with out the use of Co2? and I have not totally wrote Co2 off. I feel at some point my hobby will take me into that direction so I would like to plan and possibly buy for it now. I think a 5th T5HO fixture over a 100 or a 150 maybe a bit over kill, I could almost grow some soft corals at that point, lol thanks again I really appreciate all and any input.:D

[roundfishross]

The sunblaze is a solid fixture it will perform up to standards. it will not dissapoint:D

[Discus master]

The sunblaze is a solid fixture it will perform up to standards. it will not dissapoint:D

Good I was worried about that sience it is not made specifically for aquariums and geared more toward like greenhouses and such. I figued if it is good for a green house it must be good for aquarium plants, I just knew nothing of the type of balasts or anythig. I bought the seperate additinal reflector it says its that popular german aluminum or whatever, and I have been hearing lately that the seperate tubes and reflectors is the way to go so ar least I have that working for me, lol. I know one thing I ran it with out the reflector for a minute just to see the difenance OMG is all I can say, the refelctor made a huge diferance huge, glad I got it. I will be ordering like two or three more for my up grade probably three more for a total of 4 lights if I need more than that I will get more I will run two on the 55 and then all four on the new set up any where between a 100 and a 150 gallon which ever I decide to get. It also made a diference in the way the tnk and fish looked brightened it up something awsome! I mean it makes everything look so nice and bright it came with a 6500K was thinking of switching to a 6700K or the 10K but iam not sure what do you all think?

[jimg]

If you want to upgrade in the future to 4-54w t5 TEK light from sunlight supply I have 2 and will sell one. They keep my 90 planted well light and plants growing fine. they are 4' long.

[Discus master]

If you want to upgrade in the future to 4-54w t5 TEK light from sunlight supply I have 2 and will sell one. They keep my 90 planted well light and plants growing fine. they are 4' long.

Thats an idea let me know how much you will lt one of those go for and I will certainly think about it. I am not ready just yet I am currently saving money as we speak, I am going to be buying a component at a time, well except for I will probably buy a stand, tank, canopy combo but the lgihts filtration and so forth will be all bought seperate I am doing it all custome so to speak. Thanks! for the offer

[waj8]

4 54 watt will give you pretty good light on a 100 gallon tank, which would be a good choice. A few light loving plants might give you some trouble but most would grow well. If I were choosing a tank I would go with a 4' long tank no more than 2' tall, just because it is easy to light. Anything taller than 2' is very difficult to aquascape as well.

[Discus master]

4 54 watt will give you pretty good light on a 100 gallon tank, which would be a good choice. A few light loving plants might give you some trouble but most would grow well. If I were choosing a tank I would go with a 4' long tank no more than 2' tall, just because it is easy to light. Anything taller than 2' is very difficult to aquascape as well.


Thanks for the heads up and thanks for the info!