Canopy Lighting Prices

[Stevie D]

I am opening up a 55 gallon high tech tank soon and wanted to build the lighting into the canopy, as i decided a canopy would look best where the tank will be situated. I was looking around a t5 ballasts and everything one would need to do this and it looks to me like it would be much more expensive than just buying a Catalina or Current Nova Extreme 48". I was looking at icecap ballasts which are really nice, but i don't really see anything for too much less anywhere else.

Is there a cheaper way of installing lighting into a canopy? I figured it would be a lot cheaper to do it yourself than buy an assembled product, but it looks to be almost 2x as expensive, and much more if i went with the icecaps.

I need 4x 48watt bulbs and i need there to be 2 ballasts so i can stagger my lighting times between the 4 bulbs (2x2). The other reason I'd like to do this is this 55 gallon has plans to be a 75 gallon reef eventually with at least 6x T5 which i could add later.

I have heard things about AH Supply Workhorse ballasts on this forum, but don't know if this is what i should be looking into. I also don't care about super duper individual reflectors at the prices they are goin for, a dual polished reflector would suit me just fine for now. I really don't want a ton of light on this tank, so that is not my goal.

Anyone have any suggestions for a cheap, decent quality t5 lighting system? I do not want something that is really cheaply made that would be considered a fire hazard , but i don't need what the icecap ballast would offer me at this time as it's already going to cost me over a grand to get this tank up and running.

On a side note, anyone know any ballast that supports the +0v-10v dimming modules like the icecaps??

Thanks so much for your experience,

Stevie D

[macclellan]

The quality of Icecap ballasts and reflectors is better than Current and Catalina. That's why they are more expensive.

If you are planning on using the light on a 75g reef in the future, you'll definitely want to go DIY in a hood since it will be more scalable/upgradable and you will definitely want the extra light that good reflectors give.

As a side note, I'm quite happy with the Catalina 4x54w, and you can't beat the price!

[Stevie D]

You know for the price of the Catalina, it would be worth just getting that and selling it later when i upgrade the lighting. Just wondering if there are any better options right now for the DIY route. I didn't buy the canopy yet, so i might just forfit it for now.


Stevie D

[jjp2]

For a canopy, you can get the TEK II retrofits for about $95. These retrofits are 48 inches and will hold 2 54 watt bulbs. The new ones come with the advantage ballast instead of the workhorse ballast. The workhorse ballast on this retrofit would overdrive the bulbs and they would have a shorter life, but run brighter. This retrofit does not come with the bulbs. I just bought 2 of the 60inch retrofits, but don't have them installed yet so I can't say much more about these.


Catalina has had a nice 4x54 fixture on sale for a while now for about $150. This would be the best buy.