Coralife 30" T5 strip light

5630 Views 41 Replies 19 Participants Last post by CmLaracy, Nov 20, 2007

crazie.eddie

Discussion Starter · Sep 7, 2007

I just bought the Coralife 30" Aqualight T5 strip light. Apparently, it doesn't require legs, since it there are wires that pullout to fit a larger tank. The only thing is, I prefer having legs. I bought the lights from BigAls. I also bought, what I thought would fit, Coralife mounting legs, which states "The Aqualight mounting legs easily attach to any Aqualight fixture". Upon receiving the lights and legs, I can see that the legs will not fit on the 30" T5 fixture I purchased. I don't want to keep buying other legs to see if they will fit. Unfortunately, Coralife's website is down.

Any suggestions on legs for the lights?

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PHalas

· #2 · Sep 8, 2007

I believe most of the coralife fixtures that utilize legs have grooves running the length of the fixture. I 'm thinking the one you have recently aquired does not have this feature.
But in the event it does, here are a couple of options.. http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Produ...ll&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&Np=1&N=2004&Nty=1

Which I'm sure this is what you already have ??

crazie.eddie

Discussion Starter · #3 · Sep 8, 2007

Yeah, they are designed for grooves. I have a Coralife 72" deluxe strip light on my 125 gallon, that has this specific groove, but the Coralife 30" T5 fixture I have doesn't. Looks like I'm stuck. I don't want to move up to the CF lights (65 watts), because these would be too much for my tanks, since I want to stay low tech.

macclellan

· #4 · Sep 8, 2007

Sorry to hear that.

However, I'm about to buy 3 of that exact same light from big al's. What do you think of it? I wasn't planning on using legs anyway, so your problem is a non-issue for me.

if_fishes_were_wishes

· #5 · Sep 8, 2007

macclellan said:
Sorry to hear that.

However, I'm about to buy 3 of that exact same light from big al's. What do you think of it? I wasn't planning on using legs anyway, so your problem is a non-issue for me.

I have the 48" Coralife T5 and I love it. It's very sleek-looking. I wish I could fit another on top of my 55 I like it so much. It puts out a good amount of light as well.

eklikewhoa

· #6 · Sep 8, 2007

I have a 30" t5 from coralife and they are not meant to have legs on them.

What you could do though if the light is long enough for your tank is pull the wire out and bend them so that it suspends a little but even then you are not gonna get much. Another thing you could do is go to the hobby store or somewhere where they sell wire or the like and get a longer piece to bend and insert where the wires are now.

Riley

· #7 · Sep 8, 2007

I have the 30" t5s and I love them. I have three over my 29 gallon tank and I can grow just about anything ( except for HC

) ..I would definately recommend them...I have a 48" 2x65 and the 4x65 and I want to switch all my tanks to the t5s. You could always rig up something to suspend them from above....but that would be difficult.

crazie.eddie

Discussion Starter · #8 · Sep 8, 2007

macclellan said:
Sorry to hear that.

However, I'm about to buy 3 of that exact same light from big al's. What do you think of it? I wasn't planning on using legs anyway, so your problem is a non-issue for me.

I think it's sleek looking as well. This is my first T5 only NO light, so I was a bit shocked. I now have to buy T5 replacement bulbs. All my previous NO light were off the shelf All-Glass or Perfecto lights, which allowed me to use either T-8, T-10, or T-12 bulbs. All of which are available at my LPS, like Petco or Petsmart.

The only thing that disappointed me was the leg issue. I was also planning to buy Coralife Lunar lights, which attach to the groove in the Coralife lights, but I can't now. So for now, this tank has no lunar lights. Prior to that, I used to have a 30" All-Glass NO light strip, resting over a glass top. So I was able to place the Current USA lunar lights on top of it. With no glass top, I have no where to put it. I have to look for an alternative for lunar lights.

But those are my only complaints. Otherwise, it's great. I bought the FW version of the lights from BigAls, which comes with a Colormax Full Spectrum and one 6700K T-5. I thought I was going to replace the 6700, with a 10,000K bulb, because I like the neutral coloring of the 10,000k bulbs, but the pair that come with the light strip seem to complement each other.

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macclellan

· #9 · Sep 8, 2007

Yes, I was especially pleased that they come with one 6700k and one 10000k.

I have only 6700k and it is too yellow for me.

thx.

Ulan

· #10 · Sep 8, 2007

macclellan said:
However, I'm about to buy 3 of that exact same light from big al's. What do you think of it? I wasn't planning on using legs anyway, so your problem is a non-issue for me.

I have two 30" ones, and I like them. The tank gets a big hot if you put two of them on a glass top. One other thing: one of the starters failed after about 8 months.

trfjason

· #11 · Sep 8, 2007

macclellan said:
Sorry to hear that.

However, I'm about to buy 3 of that exact same light from big al's. What do you think of it? I wasn't planning on using legs anyway, so your problem is a non-issue for me.

Why don't you buy the Coralife Power Compact instead? It is so much brighter than NO T5.

crazie.eddie

Discussion Starter · #12 · Sep 8, 2007

I decided to use the glass top. I couldn't find any info regarding that the light MUST be used with a glass top, but I decided to go ahead anyway. The light is so slim, that it fits perfectly on the back half of the glass top I have. At least I can still use the Current USA lunar lights with it, which rests on top of the opening portion of the glass top. Unfortunately, the moon lights looks kind of ghetto.

macclellan

· #13 · Sep 8, 2007

trfjason said:
Why don't you buy the Coralife Power Compact instead? It is so much brighter than NO T5.

I don't want to buy the 65w PC precisely because it is so much brighter. I am setting up 4 20L tanks (3 planted) and don't want to break the bank each month on electricity nor waste my life trimming stem plants and fighting algae.

I now have a CO2 manifold and Fabco valves to drive these tanks and 36w of T5 light is plenty for my purposes. 1 is non-planted, 2 will be low light but with co2 and the fourth has an AHS 65w and co2.

I'm not worried about heat. I use glass tops too, but there will be only 1 strip per tank. I use small wood risers in the summer to keep my lights off the glass and a room fan to move air across all my tanks - A 96w AHS 'The Beast' is VERY hot on the glass; as much as 5 degree temp rise on my 30L!

zergling

· #14 · Sep 9, 2007

I have the 30" 2x18W T5NO of coralife and IMO don't waste your money on it. They have some crap aluminum foil as "reflector" that the 2 bulbs share, and the bulbs are right next to each other so you lose a lot of light due to restrike. You also have to use this on a glass top, and I promise you that the heat it generates and the cooling of the tank water from below will make the glass top crack. My 36W PC light with so-so reflectore generate a LOT more light that gets INTO the tank than this coralife POS.

I'm actually about to go and get a Triad ballast, a 24W T5HO bulb (probably 10000K), an IceCap SLR 24" reflector, moisture resistant endcaps and stand-offs, and wiring from HD. This way I'll use less electricity but still be able to put a LOT more light into the tank....and only one bulb to replace when the need comes.

....or get 2 IceCap SLR 36" reflectors (and cut it to 30"), gut out the coralife fixture, and use the reflectors.....cheaper but less efficient in PAR/PUR:watt ratio.

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if_fishes_were_wishes

· #15 · Sep 9, 2007

My T5 fixture is over an open top with no problems so far.

Ulan

· #16 · Sep 9, 2007

zergling said:
I have the 30" 2x18W T5NO of coralife and IMO don't waste your money on it. They have some crap aluminum foil as "reflector" that the 2 bulbs share, and the bulbs are right next to each other so you lose a lot of light due to restrike. You also have to use this on a glass top, and I promise you that the heat it generates and the cooling of the tank water from below will make the glass top crack. My 36W PC light with so-so reflectore generate a LOT more light that gets INTO the tank than this coralife POS.

Just the remark that you do not have to use them on glass tops. But I agree with the reflector. It's next to useless, and it corrodes very quickly. Plus, as I said, the starter or ballast die pretty soon.

That's how I used them until the ballast died:

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crazie.eddie

Discussion Starter · #17 · Sep 9, 2007

Hmmm. I thought the those with replaceable starters were old school, which is why I opted for the Coralife with the electronic ballast. Another reason was cost.

Since my Coralife is still new, I may look for an alternative. I prefer not going with the All-Glass 30" striplights, since they use 24" bulbs. The nice thing with the Coralife is that it uses 30" bulbs.

Meanwhile, I will probably keep the glass top on and see how hot it gets and end of day. I prefer not using glass, but I have no where to use my lunar lights, which rests on top of the glass.

2wheelsx2

· #18 · Sep 13, 2007

I use 2 36" Coralife T5's on my 125 gallon along with the All Glass T8's and they are all just sitting on the glass top. No problems whatsoever. Growth of my plants is good but slow, which is what I want. I don't want to do massive pruning each week. I inject CO2 from 2 points. I have found it tough to prevent algae in that tank at that lighting level without CO2.

narhay

· #19 · Sep 21, 2007

I have two Coralife T5's, the 48" and the 36". They were nice when I got them, but there are much better alternatives...especially if you can put a retrofit somewhere in a canopy. Even 1 NOT5 bulb with an individual reflector will apparently put out 300% more light, and fewer bulbs to replace. It's nice that one of you has 3 of these on a tank, but that's 6 not so cheap bulbs to replace when they need it. 2 T5HO with individual reflectors would put out way more, only 2 bulbs to replace and more bulb choice.

enzo

· #20 · Sep 21, 2007

I have one of those--been using it since august of 06. No problems so far..

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