Rikko's DIY T5 strip (with pics)

[Rikko]

Well, a bit 'o history:
I was originally running by 77 gallon freshwater with 2x40W grolites in a shop light. My plants were so-so, so I got a second shop light. 160W! The light was still crap and the plants only appeared a bit different because they had more algae.
Then our store's Envirolite rep came in and started flouting their new T5 rigs. I was impressed, but decided to do some research. I'm glad I did.

Here's what I came up with.




Supplies used:
4" white PVC, sawed lengthwise to give half-pipes
4" white PVC end caps
3" black PVC end caps, sawn in half
5/8" rubber O rings
Workhorse 7 ballast
Boot connectors
Electrical wire, grounded plug, etc
T5 fluorescent tubes
Aluminum flashing (I believe this was intended for gutter use.. oh well)
Hose clamps and rubber hosing

My overall inspiration for this strip was the new Hagen WaterHome euro-styled canopies. The electrical is shielded but the bulbs hang directly over the water. A long-time user of sliding glass tops, I knew that this was an absolute joy for getting more light into the tank and less algae scraping for me.



I had each half of the PVC as my reflector (let me tell you, that white is an awesome reflector on its own), and drilled holes in the 3" end caps to let the bulbs fit through. I stuck an O ring on the bulbs where they met the black cap to provide a nearly complete moisture seal.





To connect the electrical, I found boot connectors that are used a lot in car audio. Home Depot has them in the electrical area for some other use, but these are rated as something like 15A, so they're just fine for my purposes.



No big surprises there - the wires running from each boot go directly to the ballast. The fit they make with the T5s (after a little prying with a screwdriver) are so snug that you could probably dangle them alone over the water without any problems (or IN the water? :P). Nonetheless, I've electrocuted myself a few times, so I like to be cautious. Note the white cap has been partially sawed away with the back side intact. That allows the cap to sit onto the tank rim and the back side prevents it from moving across the top of the tank and falling in.



With the boots plugged into the bulbs, I attached the white endcaps using a hose clamp and used that black rubber hose to seal the connections from the water. If I had found a better material than that wretched hose, I would most certainly have used it.



Workhorse 7 ballast mounted on top. I used some aluminum flashing to mount it in to give some halfway decent heat dissipation. These ballasts get fairly warm so I'm glad I did it. It's ugly, but it's really not recommended to extend the ballast leads any farther with an electronic ballast (though what can precisely happen doesn't appear to be known, nor how likely it is). If i'd bought a Longhorse instead I could have put the ballast in a hobby box and hidden it away.



Underside once assembled. Yes, that black hose is ugly but it gets the job done.


Some comparison shots:


That's my strip on the left, with all 4 bulbs running. See the 4 bulbs shop light beside it? Look very closely. It's plugged in and lit. All 6 tubes are running. Wow, eh?
(The image is cropped for size, but I didn't cheat with angles - the picture is aimed right in the middle of both fixtures)
The only cheating here is that I only had the one shop light there instead of both.



But just to prove it, there's the shop light plugged in and my T5 strip unplugged. This photo is reversed because of my angle, and because it's too late for me to flip it on Photoshop .


And, of course, here's what the tank looks like now.



Initial wattage: 160W.
New wattage: 112W.

Increased light: a LOT. The gravel is almost hard to look at now. Before you could hardly see it.

I guess it's true what they say - T5 isn't worth much until you reflect it. Then it's a godsend.

And, by the way, any suggestions on what I could try instead of that hideous black tubing? It needs to be somewhat rigid and somewhat rubbery so it can form a proper seal against the PVC.

[Wasserpest]

Very cool, thanks for sharing! I am about to do a similar switcheroo, a WH7 driving 54W T8 bulbs. Still waiting for the reflectors to come in, for some unknown reason UPS ships them all over the place instead of to me

Does the WH7 really get hot? I wouldn't have expected that, especially with 28W (?) bulbs. I am planning to mount mine outside of the canopy, in the back (invisible).

I used to be a firm believer that 1 Watt fluorescent light = 1 Watt fluorescent light, boy was I wrong. I will replace all of my T8's except for one pink "grow light" (Florasun) with T5's, it is a big difference.

I wonder if I could drive both T5 and T8 bulbs from the same ballast... have to try that.

[Rikko]

Originally Posted by Wasserpest

Does the WH7 really get hot? I wouldn't have expected that, especially with 28W (?) bulbs. I am planning to mount mine outside of the canopy, in the back (invisible).

It gets pretty hot. For interest's sake, I'm going to drop a jar of water on top of it and check the temperature in a few hours.. We shall see how hot it really is. If you left your hand sitting on there for a while you could certainly burn yourself (a bit), but it's certainly not going to do too much damage. If you mount it on a piece of metal and just let it breathe a bit (ie. don't trap it inside a sealed hobby box) you have nothing to worry about.

Originally Posted by Wasserpest

I used to be a firm believer that 1 Watt fluorescent light = 1 Watt fluorescent light, boy was I wrong. I will replace all of my T8's except for one pink "grow light" (Florasun) with T5's, it is a big difference.

I wonder if I could drive both T5 and T8 bulbs from the same ballast... have to try that.

I was sold on T5 the second I dropped an unreflected T5 fixture beside an unreflected T12 fixture in the store. One tube each and you can see plainly how much more light is coming from the T5. With decent reflection it's that much better.

I see no reason why you can't drive both types of bulbs. In essense, you're running 4 separate 54W ballasts so you ought to be able to run any combo you like. I know some people caution you not to mix bulbs in a ballast but I've yet to see them back it up. Perhaps the higher wattage bulbs will simply wear out the ballast quicker than the smaller?
I tested mine with a 4' T5 and a 1' T5 when I first got the ballast and was playing - worked fine.

[Wasserpest]

I am currently using a 4x 32W electronic ballast, and even when connected to four T8 32W bulbs, it gets only warm, no problems touching it. One thinks that with T5 technology being more advanced and efficient, the ballast would not get that hot...

What made you choose 28W pairs instead of single 54W HO per fixture?

Here an article that "sheds some light"

http://www.lightsearch.com/lightnow/technology_T5.htm

[Rikko]

I avoided HO/VHO namely due to heat. I'm really not a fan (no pun intended) of having to deal with excess heat from bulbs and ballasts. That said, I may play with some small T5 HOs for my mini reef.
Well, that and because we had the salesmen for the NO T5s come in the door and I get them close to wholesale.
He's now said they're going to be selling HO T5s (probably actinics and 6400K again) so I'll give that a shot in my reef.

As for ODNO - tried it. It's not worth it (on T5s anyway). I ran 2 bulbs side by side. One was NO and the other VHO (three leads on it).. The light increase was marginal (not even double), and the heat increase was .. well obvious. :P

Thanks for the link.


Oh, and an update on the heat measurement.. I wasn't able to get a proper reading of the ballast temp, but approximating I would probably say it runs around 50C. Well within the acceptable range but perhaps warmer than you'd want stuffed inside an unventilated hobby box.