[Brian317]

Hey all !

I am gathering alot of options to light my 55 gallon now with a glass top. I have a few routes I could go so far, so just gathering options now. I've been using 24" dual hoods w/ daylight fluorescent bulbs, but I came across this Aqueon T5 light fixture which looks good. It comes with a Colormax lamp and a 6.7K lamp, but I figured I would just get a few daylight 6500K bulbs and that should work better. Any opinions?

Link: Aqueon® Freshwater T5 Light Fixture - Lighting & Hoods - Fish - PetSmart

I personally think it would be good, but would love to hear it from somebody else

As always, thank you for your time,
-Brian

 

[hydrophyte]

If you can swing it I would go with an Aquaitc Life instead. They are built better.

 

[Brian317]

If you can swing it I would go with an Aquaitc Life instead. They are built better.

Those are wayy over my budget, lol. I've looked at those, they are nice, but just need something good, easy on my wallet, and will last a while.

 

[Youngherp420]

I use this

Zoo Med AquaSun T-5 HO Double Light Linear Fluorescent Hood at PETCO


with two 8,000k bulbs and my plants are growing amazing anad healthy

 

[Dartolution]

Those aqueons are cheap but they work for their purposes intended. Not the best quality but it does it's job for the price paid

 

[Brian317]

I use this

Zoo Med AquaSun T-5 HO Double Light Linear Fluorescent Hood at PETCO


with two 8,000k bulbs and my plants are growing amazing anad healthy

I've looked at those, they look nice too. It will prolly come down to either that one or this aqueon one...about the right price range I want to spend. Plus I need the 48" one !

Thanks

 

[Brian317]

Those aqueons are cheap but they work for their purposes intended. Not the best quality but it does it's job for the price paid

Yeah, I know they wont be the best in the world, but will get the job done.

Which would you go with? The Aqueon or Zoo Med T5? I need a poll hah.

Thank you for the help so far, I do appreciate it.

 

[Youngherp420]

I've looked at those, they look nice too. It will prolly come down to either that one or this aqueon one...about the right price range I want to spend. Plus I need the 48" one !

Thanks

sounds good. I didnt want to spend the money but IMO it is worth it in the end

your welcome

 

[Brian317]

sounds good. I didnt want to spend the money but IMO it is worth it in the end

your welcome

I hear ya, I wish I could afford these amazing fixtures I've seen around, but I will make due with what I get !

Thanks

 

[smk46]

go to ebay and look at the oddysea fixtures you'll hear some bad stuff about them but i've been using them for years on my aquariums trouble free now using them on my frog tanks
scott

 

[phender]

Don't know if you noticed or not, but the Aqueon fixtures are not HO (high output) fixtures and won't run HO bulbs. The light output will be no more than half that of the ZooMed or any other 2 bulb HO T5 fixture and probably less.

 

[Brian317]

Don't know if you noticed or not, but the Aqueon fixtures are not HO (high output) fixtures and won't run HO bulbs. The light output will be no more than half that of the ZooMed or any other 2 bulb HO T5 fixture and probably less.

Well that just made my choice a little easier haha. I did not realize that. This is why I love to get others opinions before-hand. Thank you for pointing that out, it looks like I may just go with the zoo-med then...

 

[WeeNe858]

I would also recommend the Zoomed T5HO unit as the best solution out of the 2. They are also on sale at Petco for 15% off all light units. It might be worth it for you to check out.

 

[motydesign]

everyone that buys the expensive fixtures states that they buy them because they are better built. a fixture is just a fixture, it houses the lamps with a reflector. most the time we try to hide them anyway. the only thing that needs to be "better" is the ballast. if the ballast and the lamps are quality the rest is just paying for a design or a name. because the only thing between the ballast and the lamp is wire and some plastic/aluminum to hold the lamps. if you can get a fixture that holds the right bulb (T5HO, if thats what you want) and their ballasts are good, go with the one that cost less! as stated before the oddysea does a good job of putting out light and they have decent reflectors in them as well.

 

[Brian317]

Thanks for the heads up. I went ahead and got the Zoo-Med fixture. I think it will work out for what I need and it is right in my range of what I wanted to spend, plus was 15% off !