T8 in a T12 setup?

[DARKPHREAK]

For my 75g I bought 2 shoplights(4*40 watts 48 inch) with reflectors and made myself a nice canopy getting over 2WPG considering 3-4 inch gravel. I kept the ballest in the fixtures and notice that there is alot of heat now, water temp rises about 2 degrees. Im wondering if I can change the t12 bulbs for t8's or just keep the t12's in there and if so what type of floresenct bulbs can I use. Below are some pics that show my setup.






Thanks
James

[Urkevitz]

Looks like you already have a T8 in there, so I would think you can use them. I'm not sure a T8 would produce less heat than a t-12.

[blk]

Hello,

I have 4 T8 bulbs above my 55gal planted tank running on electronic ballasts. Under these conditions each bulb draws 32 Watts (8 Watts less than a typical T12 bulb), so it likely would run slightly cooler. The T8's are reported to produce as much or more usable light than the T12's. They are thinner and there is less strike back. So, if they work in your fixtures I'd say go with T8. The biggest problem I have with the T8 bulbs is finding them in the daylight spectrum range. Right now I have cool white, which is the closest I could find.

[DARKPHREAK]

Thanks for that info. I just wanted to get some powerglo's and add them with the super daylight t12's. One thing nice about t12 is the price, 4$ compared to 45$

[Wasserpest]

Originally Posted by DARKPHREAK

One thing nice about t12 is the price, 4$ compared to 45$

What do you mean by that? You can buy dedicated T8 aquarium bulbs from BigAls for example for about $10.

[bklock]

I have a 75 gallon also... Very similiar setup... Bought two shoplights. I removed the ballast and then setup an ODNO configuration with my ballasts remotely located in the cabinet below. I am hoping to rebuild a new canopy in the spring, but for right now, I just have the shoplights sitting on the glass.

I also had a very difficult time locating t8 lamps in the daylight spectrum. Try Grainger. They are an industrial supply company with branches all over the country. We have a local Grainger here, and they had the lamps I wanted in stock.

I am using the GE 6500K lamps and 5000k lamps.
Grainger part# 1G946 (5000k) $9.43
Grainger part# 3JJ79 (6500k) $6.91

www.grainger.com

[blk]

Thanks for the part numbers bklock. I did almost the exact same thing in my home-built canopy: I bought 4' shoplights and pulled the ballasts, mounting them below. The ballasts are the biggest heat producer in the fixture, and taking them out of the very tight canopy helped greatly with heat. The poster with the heat problem might want to consider this option, but check to be sure your ballasts will work under these conditions first.

[DARKPHREAK]

Thanks for the info guys. Living in Canada, between Ottawa and Montreal its hard to locate very much that isnt 100 miles away. T8's at Big Al's run 40$ plus 15% tax so 4 bulbs would costs WAY more then then hood cost me to build. As for the extra heat I dont think that its a problem cause it only ups the water temp by 2 degrees.

[BOTIA]

Hiya Fellow canuck..
If you put T8 or T10 in an cheapo shoplight fixture you could have problems with bulb life as T12 run at 400 ma ea but T8 only need 200 ma. It will result in overdriving them.Also T 8 bulbs are design to run off electronic ballasts and don't last as long with magnetic ballasts(which is usually what shoplights have).

The cheapest ImHO setup is fulham workhorse 7 industrial ballast about 50$$ cad. It is a very high quality electronic ballast for up to 228 watts. I use 3 T12 Plant and aquarium bulbs(5.99ea)
and one T8 6500k ge bulb

.The T8 ends up running at 2xoverdrive for 6000 lumens @64watts.The end result is 184 watts with a decent color for viewing. I also installed a 12v computer fan in my hood and run it at 6v to reduce the flow in winter and will power it with 12v in the summer for cooling. I mounted the ballast on the outside back of my hood to keep it cool. The ballast and 6500k T8 are available from commercial lighting suppliers. Check out fulham.com for more info.
I'm throwing out water sprite ,water lettuce weekly it's growing so fast.

[bklock]

Here in the US, the cheap shoplight fixtures available at Home Depot have electronic ballasts designed for T-8. The model: "Commercial Electric" Shoplight (with SKU#140-904) have a Sunpark electronic ballast mounted in them... and cost about $9

READ AND DO THE FOLLOWING
AT YOUR OWN RISK

In fact, for a really cheap 2x overdriven setup, you can buy two of the cheap CE Shoplight light fixtures, pull the ballast out of one (and throw the rest away)... Mount the ballast in the first unit, rewire, and you have a 2x overdriven shoplight for under $20.

I have several units like this that work great. I don't use them on my aquariums, since I built a set of 4x ODNO fixtures before I realized that these inexpensive fixtures had electornic ballasts. However, my wife and I own a video production company, and we bought a pile of these to make into 2xODNO lights that we use for video shoots. The output is about 40% higher!