Has Any One Put Different Brand Tubes In Their Rio 125?

[Truck]

Hi

im converting my Rio to a reef tank and i need to change the tubes to white tubes, but juwel want £25 a tube!!!

and arcadia sell a 600mm tube where as the juwel ones a 590 but i have heard this doesnt include pins?

would the arcadia marine white T5 tubes fit? the rio has the T5 ballast

 

[markandhisfish]

as far as i kinow as long as you get the right fitting ie t5/t8 shouldnt be any issue at all ive got an arcadia light unit and have used several different tubes in it.

 

[Truck]

as far as i kinow as long as you get the right fitting ie t5/t8 shouldnt be any issue at all ive got an arcadia light unit and have used several different tubes in it.

its just juwel and their silly sizes that annoys me. damn second thoughts i wouldnt be able to as the ballast would over power the tubes! looks like another £50

 

[markandhisfish]

dont spend 50 quid spend half that and get 1 like mine ive got an arcadia t8 twin tube unit the tube fittings are on cables with watertight fittings so as long as the t5/t8 is the same and wattage is suitable i can use any length tube i like

this is the unit i bought
http/www.urmstonaquatics.com/index.php?a...amp;portrelay=1

 

[Truck]

dont spend 50 quid spend half that and get 1 like mine ive got an arcadia t8 twin tube unit the tube fittings are on cables with watertight fittings so as long as the t5/t8 is the same and wattage is suitable i can use any length tube i like

this is the unit i bought
[URL="http/www.urmstonaquatics.com/index.php?a...amp;portrelay=1"]http/www.urmstonaquatics.com/index.php?a...amp;portrelay=1[/URL]

i cant adjust the size of the fitting as its an Ibar and juwel have their own wattages and theyre 28 watt T5's and these arent standard, there normally 24 watts.

 

[treefella83]

i had the same problem as truckasaurus but with my trigon 190.
the light unit held t8 lights but i found that other brand tubes fitted exactly the same as the juwel brand.
im not to sure as it was a while ago that i had the tape measure out but the measurment given on the packaging for these tubes in mm is the length of glass not including the metal end caps but the measurment from end cap to end cap was the same as the 2 other brands that my local shop had in stock.
after my second juwell ballast failed( the first one using juwel tubes ) i cut the ballast out and fitted an arcadia twin tube with cable ties nice and neat and i have never looked back.