# I have a SmartLite fixture by CustomSeaLife



## PinchHarmonic (Mar 30, 2007)

I just found out they are out of business -- lovely.

Anyway, I just realized I had this fixture from my old 90 gallon that fits perfectly over my new 55 gallon.

The two bulbs I found inside (each one is a twin-bulb power compact) is a CustomSeaLife bulb, which I assume is probably garbage.

I figure I should just get the typica 9325k/10,000k everyone is talking about and try it out, but how would that work in my fixture? My fixture only allows one power compact per side.

When people were doing the 50/50 were they doing one bulb on one side of the fixture, another bulb on the other? That wouldn't seem to "blend" well IMO.

Do I need another fixture?

I kind of like those fixtures that rest above the tank maybe 4-5 inches or more, giving a lot of room to feed fish and making it not necessary to have a tank cover at all. Are those fixtures for all kinds of lights? MH, Power compact, etc?

thanks for any suggestions. This is a confusing hobby.


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## Left C (Jun 14, 2005)

http://current-usa.com/ bought out Custom Sealife. Check out their Orbit fixtures. They may be similar to the fixture that you have now. They also carry a good selection of square pin 65w bulbs. Coralife carries a good selection of bulbs as well.


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## PinchHarmonic (Mar 30, 2007)

Left C said:


> http://current-usa.com/ bought out Custom Sealife. Check out their Orbit fixtures. They may be similar to the fixture that you have now. They also carry a good selection of square pin 65w bulbs. Coralife carries a good selection of bulbs as well.


Awesome thanks!

So I did find my fixture. It's the one the houses two power compact bulbs, one on each side.

I'm looking at different bulbs on their website and they have bulbs that range from 18w to 130w!

So I have a standard 55 gallon aquarium, and i'm assumming I'll need about 5 watts per gallon. That is about 250 watts total necessary.

That means I'll have to get the bulbs that are rated 130w each, so I can get 130x2 =260 watts over my whole tank? Any other bulbs would not come close to the 5watts / gallon.


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## Left C (Jun 14, 2005)

5 wpg is a lot of light for a 55g tank.

Are your stock bulbs 44.25" long or are they 21.25" long?


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## goalcreas (Nov 20, 2006)

www.tricitytropicals.com

they are the cheapest place to buy new and refurbished Current Satellite and Orbit light fixtures and they also sell the Sunpaq bulbs for the lowest price.

If you decide to get a new fixture, see if they have the refurbished in stock, you will save big time $$'s and for a small fee, they will provide you with your choice of bulbs. Make sure to get either the 10,000k or the 6700k, or the dual daylight combo 10,000k / 6700k bulbs, otherwise they ship with the 10,000k / actinic bulbs that are for salt water tanks.

When buying bulbs for another fixture or if you get a new one, make sure to see if it takes the square pin or the straight pin configuration.


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## PinchHarmonic (Mar 30, 2007)

Left C said:


> 5 wpg is a lot of light for a 55g tank.
> 
> Are your stock bulbs 44.25" long or are they 21.25" long?


My stock bulbs are probably 21.25". Each bulb is actually two bulbs, there is no wattage specified on each bulb. It looks bluish, i believe it was for saltwater fish only.


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## PinchHarmonic (Mar 30, 2007)

goalcreas said:


> www.tricitytropicals.com
> 
> they are the cheapest place to buy new and refurbished Current Satellite and Orbit light fixtures and they also sell the Sunpaq bulbs for the lowest price.
> 
> ...


Hi, thank you.

I'm at the site right now. I can't figure out which fixture to get besides the length. Approximately how many watts do i need for my standard 55? I am willing to get something overrated for my tank because that's just my personality. Rather buy something better and not have to upgrade later.

I see the Satellite, Dual Satellite, Orbit 2-lamp, Orbit 4-lamp, OuterOrbit.

It seems like all the Orbit ones are for reef tanks ( i could be wrong). So that would leave me looking at the satellite and dual satellite?


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## goalcreas (Nov 20, 2006)

48" should work for the 55 gallon. the dual 65 watts should / could be enough or go for the 4 x 65 watts. The satellite or Orbit, the satellite is cheaper, the orbit might be better, but I have never used one, just the satellites and I am happy with them. You need to call to check Refurb stock as they don't really keep the list updated. If they have what you want, then discuss the bulb swap with them. They might make a 48" fixture with dual 96 watt bulbs and that might be your best in between bet.

Anyways, call them, they are real nice and helpful and they will help you decide what is best for you.


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## goalcreas (Nov 20, 2006)

BTW if you get a 2 x 65 watt, you get two power cords. One for the 2 x 65 bulbs and the other for the moon lights that you run at night.
If you get the 4 x 65 fix, then you get 3 cords, one for two of the lights, one for the other two lights and one for the moon lights.

So if you get this fixture you don't have to run all bulbs at one time.
A good way to run them is to run 2 of the bulbs for the whole photoperiod, between 7 to 10 hours and then run the other for a 2 to 3 hour mid day blast, replicating "high noon"

Of course those are starting times, you will have to adjust the actual times based on your tank, plant mass and co2 injection and ferts that you are using and the presence or absence of algae.


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## PinchHarmonic (Mar 30, 2007)

What is T5 lighting? THis seems very expensive, is it overkill for freshwater planting?

So far I know of Compact FLourescent, metal halide, and t5. ANy other categories I should consider?


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## goalcreas (Nov 20, 2006)

T5 is the asme diamater light as the compact folurescent, but it is not bent, or twin tube. It last longer then most all other bulbs and is more efficient. There are two types, NO (normal output) and HO (high output) HO is double the wattage of NO.
IN the HO fixtures, TEK being one of the top affordable ones, and sunlight supply who makes TEK also maked a coulple of less expensive models, Sun blaze and New Wave. I have a Tek and it cost me $220 shipped off ebay and then another $60 in light bulbs. That could have been as low as $40 and as high as $100 for the four 54 watt bulbs.

With T5 you get smaller diamater flourescent tubes and you can space them out better and put high polished reflectors and with the Tek and the new reflectors that means about 98% effective light into your tank and only 2 percent wasted or mis directed.

T5 will penetrate much deeper then the other flourescent tubes and compact flourescent and IMO is a much better light.

Coralife also makes some NO fixtures and they only come with 2 bulbs and a single reflector, but the color of the bulbs makes them really work well IMO. I have some 30" fixtures on top of 20 longs and a 29 gallon tank. They make 48" fixtures and they cost around $45 each and two to three of them on a 55 gallon would work just fine. These fixtures are super low profile and hang on the lip of the tank.

The Tek, they sell legs for it, but that is another $60. I hung mine, see here. 
http://aape.naturalaquariums.com/forum/index.php?topic=1128.0
and this is my favorite way to use these lights.

If you have the money, I don't think you can beat T5 without stepping up to MH.
IMO that is overkill for plant tanks, I know most here are in love with them and will bash me for saying it, and I say it never having used MH, but I do love the T5 fixtures and that is just my bag.
If you are interested in MH, you should ask around, you will get those who will point you in that direction and you will be just as happy with them in the long run, just a little less rich as you will also be less rich buying T5 over CF, but that step is worth it, I think.


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## Left C (Jun 14, 2005)

PinchHarmonic said:


> My stock bulbs are probably 21.25". Each bulb is actually two bulbs, there is no wattage specified on each bulb. It looks bluish, i believe it was for saltwater fish only.


Those blueish bulbs are for saltwater use and they won't work well for a planted tank. Those are 65w bulbs. You can't use the 130w bulbs like you mentioned earlier in your fixture because of the length and wattage. I suppose that you know this by now.

Goalcreas mentioned something about liking the color of the Coralife Colormax bulbs. Coralife makes a square pin 65w Colormax/6700K PC bulb that looks good. I use it in combination with the Current 6700K/10,000K bulb. Coralife's site is down right now for some reason. It's http://www.esuweb.com/ Here's the bulb at Big Al's: http://www.bigalsonline.com/BigAlsU...coralifecolormax6700k65wpowercompactlampsqpin

I have two of the Orbit fixtures. I like them really well. But, if I had the money, I'd get the TEK fixture like Goalcreas mentioned.


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## PinchHarmonic (Mar 30, 2007)

Hi guys,

thank you so much for your time, it's really helping me understand everything.

I think I will go for the Tek T5 HO fixture. The reason being, I'd rather spend more money to get something I don't have to change in the future. I will not go MH because I am also starting a reef tank and I know I will probably have to get MH for that. For a moment I thought (since both reef tank and freshwater plant tank are 48 inch long) I could just get a nice fixture and swap it back and forth between the two tanks, but then i realized that would be dumb because I coudln't look at both at the same time.


Anyway, from what you guys say, you strongly suggest the 6700 and the 10,000 bulbs. What about this 9325 bulb everyone's talking about?

I know now to stay away from the blue saltwater bulb as well.


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## Left C (Jun 14, 2005)

Here's some info about the 55w 9325K straight pin PC bulb: http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/...quatic-lighting/723-9325k-the-difference.html

Check out this very good discussion about lighting: http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/...lighting/39106-tek-t5-vs-coralife-pro-vs.html


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