Marine T5 Lighting On A 4ft Tank

[N12k_GT]

As above, would a dual 39 watt T5 setup be sufficient for a fish, invertabrates and minimal coral setup in a 4ft long, 2ft deep tank? I've been trying to find a 4 x T5 light ballast that will fit in a Juwel/rena hood, but my powers are weak and haven't found one.

I've narrowed my skimmer and powerhead options down to what I want, now the last step is lighting before I ask Santa for my tank in December/January

 

[fraservet]

As above, would a dual 39 watt T5 setup be sufficient for a fish, invertabrates and minimal coral setup in a 4ft long, 2ft deep tank? I've been trying to find a 4 x T5 light ballast that will fit in a Juwel/rena hood, but my powers are weak and haven't found one.

I've narrowed my skimmer and powerhead options down to what I want, now the last step is lighting before I ask Santa for my tank in December/January

depends what you mean by minimal coral - there are certainly a few you can keep with that sort of light, but it's not ideal and you will be very limited.
there are plenty of easy mods you can do to add more t5's to a juwel hood, and some of the tanks you can even buy a 3 flap set which lets you run 2 juwel light units - rio 240 + I think.
if that isn't possible for your one you can attach light units to the underside of the flaps - either standard t5 units, or power compacts.

I have squeezed 150w into my trigon 190, and might add another 50w shortly.

 

[mbu man]

i have a 4ft juwel with 4 t5`s in. bought them new from my lfs.
fit straight on cost £179 with 4 bulds in it

 

[AK77]

http/cgi.ebay.co.uk/High-Quality-150W-Me...1QQcmdZViewItem

Get two to three of those. £40 each + postage. You can get 450 watts of MH lighting for £120. Wall mount them above the tank. Save yourself £££'s

NB you will have to wire these up with an inline cord switch or a plug/timer and get some 10k - 14k bulbs.

 

[mbu man]

http/cgi.ebay.co.uk/High-Quality-150W-Me...1QQcmdZViewItem

Get two to three of those. £40 each + postage. You can get 450 watts of MH lighting for £120. Wall mount them above the tank. Save yourself £££'s

NB you will have to wire these up with an inline cord switch or a plug/timer and get some 10k - 14k bulbs.

that link dont work.

 

[AK77]

Hmm. The address is correct. Sometimes it does that with ebay. If the link doesn't work in an hour, just copy and paste the address below into your browser

cgi.ebay.co.uk/High-Quality-150W-Metal-Halide-Floodlight-inc-lamp_W0QQitemZ330165973411QQihZ014QQcategoryZ94941QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZV
ewItem

(put the http/ infront of it though. I couldn't put the full URL because it hotlinked it and shortened the address as in my first post.)

 

[SkiFletch]

Agree with AK. Also consider, you don't have to fit the ballast in the hood. In fact that's a bad idea... extra heat

 

[AK77]

Yup the lights contain the ballast, ignitor and the capacitor, so there's no messing about with tonnes of technical electrical stuff. If you can wire a plug, then you can wire one of these lights up. All you need is some 3 core flex from Wickes. I picked up some inline cord switches too from Maplin.co.uk.

To wall mount them, get some coach bolts. I think I used M6 or M8 (will have to check if you want the same), some heavy duty raw plugs, and a rachet to bolt them to the wall. No messing with hanging from the ceiling, no resting on the tank. Perfect.

Just remember not to mount them on a plasterboard wall as they'll rip straight out.