# ViaAqua T5 Reflectors?



## Troy McClure (Aug 3, 2005)

Has anybody used the single lamp T5 reflectors made by ViaAqua? They are considerably less expensive than IceCap or Tek reflectors but I'm concerned about whether or not the $10-20 of savings is worth it, or will it rob my tank of light. Can anybody comment on the quality? The model I'm looking at is LT-VAPRT5-18, located at the bottom of this page -> http://www.customaquatic.com/customaquatic/subsubcategorypage.asp?subcatindexid=lt-t5-rf

Also, if anybody can look at the Ice Cap reflectors at the top of the same page...any idea what model those are? They don't look like the SLRs that reefgeek.com carries.


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

www.froogle.com is my friend.  Same price at this place for the newer Tek II reflectors: http://www.horticulturesource.com/product_info.php/products_id/2181


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## Troy McClure (Aug 3, 2005)

Impressive! The price on the Via Aqua is actually around $10. Wholesale pricing or something like that. Is there a significant difference between the ViaAqua and Tek reflectors? The Tek II has more bends, right?


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

Troy McClure said:


> Impressive! The price on the Via Aqua is actually around $10. Wholesale pricing or something like that. Is there a significant difference between the ViaAqua and Tek reflectors? The Tek II has more bends, right?


The new Tek II's are also even more reflective than before...96% I believe. This makes them something like 97.1% efficient. I'm guessing that is hard to beat. They do also have more bends than before and are slightly wider than the older reflectors. That is by far the best price I have seen. As soon as I get the money together I'm ordering a large order from there for an upcoming project.


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## Troy McClure (Aug 3, 2005)

Thanks for the hot deal, Aaron. I bought a pair last night!


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

Sweet. Let me know how you like 'em. I'm guessing you'll be very satisfied with the Teks. I know I love my fixture on my 75 gallon tank.


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## ruki (Jul 4, 2006)

So the new Tek reflectors are better than the old ones?

I'll have to think about updating the Coralife T5's I got with their silly reflectors.


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

ruki said:


> So the new Tek reflectors are better than the old ones?
> 
> I'll have to think about updating the Coralife T5's I got with their silly reflectors.


Yes, they claim to be. I'm guessing they are using the new MIRO Silver instead of the MIRO IV reflector material. You might want to measue to see if the reflectors would fit in the coralife fixture. I'm not so sure they would. I know they are close to 3" wide (the new ones).


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## ruki (Jul 4, 2006)

AaronT said:


> Yes, they claim to be. I'm guessing they are using the new MIRO Silver instead of the MIRO IV reflector material. You might want to measue to see if the reflectors would fit in the coralife fixture. I'm not so sure they would. I know they are close to 3" wide (the new ones).


Nothing useful would fit inside the Coralight fixture. I'd have to make a new enclosure.


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## snickle (Apr 8, 2007)

I love the reflectors with my ahsupply lighting. They sell them separately.


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## Troy McClure (Aug 3, 2005)

Those are designed for PC bulbs, not T5.


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## Troy McClure (Aug 3, 2005)

While I got a good deal on the Tek II reflectors, it's taking forever for them to ship. It's been over a week and they still haven't left the shipping dept. of the company I bought them from. I wrote them an email asking was the status was. They apologized for the delay and said they would upgrade the shipping for free if it doesn't leave in the next day or two.


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

Troy McClure said:


> While I got a good deal on the Tek II reflectors, it's taking forever for them to ship. It's been over a week and they still haven't left the shipping dept. of the company I bought them from. I wrote them an email asking was the status was. They apologized for the delay and said they would upgrade the shipping for free if it doesn't leave in the next day or two.


Good to know. I plan on ordering from them in a short while. Keep us updated on how it goes please.


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## Troy McClure (Aug 3, 2005)

They finally shipped the order last night but I haven't been able to see the updated UPS info on the ETA. I will definitely take this into consideration if/when I need another set of reflectors. If this is their standard MO, I'll take my business elsewhere. Time is money.


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## Troy McClure (Aug 3, 2005)

[edited...situation resolved, read below]

Not only was my order shipped almost two weeks after placing the order, they sent me the wrong item! As Aaron can confirm, the website lists these at the new Tek II reflectors which are supposed to have 29 or 30 facets. The reflectors I was sent are the old model with only 10 facets. Their website is very misleading. The item is listed at II Tek retrofit reflector. He and I both believed these were the Tek II yet they are not.

I have written the company to find out how the would like to handle the situation and will keep you all informed of how things go. Hopefully they will send me the right products along with lamps clips (I think they can spare a few $.80 lamp clips as a show of good faith.) A full refund would be nice too. They also need to change their product listing and add a detailed description of the product so future confusion (fraud cough cough) can be avoided. I will give them the benefit of the doubt for now, it may all be a misunderstanding. We'll see.....


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

Troy McClure said:


> WARNING!!!!!!!!!!!!!
> 
> Do NOT buy from this company! ...at least for now until I see how this pans out.
> 
> ...


Thanks for the update Eric. I'll take this into consideration when I order my stuff.


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

If they didn't come with lamp clips they may be the real Tek II's. You have to order the clips separately with the newly designed reflectors. I'm not sure about the bends though.


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## Troy McClure (Aug 3, 2005)

Just to clarify, and Aaron you asked me about this and I made sure to note it on my message to the company - the old Teks are 2 1/8" wide, whereas the Tek IIs are 2 3/4" wide. The reflectors I received are 2 1/8". I'm sure these are great reflectors and I probably wouldn't have any problem using them, it's just that I was lead to believe I was buying one item and received a different one. Like I said, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and maybe this was just a simple mistake. I wouldn't make accusations to them just yet as I'd like to see how they respond. *If* it was bait-and-switch or false advertising, that's fraudulent. But again, I'm going to wait and see how they remedy the situation before pulling out the guns (figuratively speaking, of course!)


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## Troy McClure (Aug 3, 2005)

Good news! The company has made good on the situation and will be sending me the correct Tek II reflectors and told me to keep the ones that were sent to me. So from that standpoint I would recommend them, but it still took a long time to ship out. Greg from ReefGeek.com called me at work (AT WORK!) to tell me that he can get the Tek II reflectors for a couple bucks more but you have to call him because they're not on the site yet. How is that for service! ReefGeek has been awesome to deal with so I will recommend them before anybody else.

One question I have - The reflectors that I was sent in error seem to be quite rough or dull. They don't have the mirror finish that my AHS reflectors have. Is this right? It would seem like that would really hurt the efficiency.


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

That is good news. That's also very cool of them to handle the situation like that. 

The reflectors do have a dull looking finish to them on the Tek fixture that I have. They are definitely reflective though.


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## Troy McClure (Aug 3, 2005)

Aaron - I got the Tek IIs in the other day. Friggin SWEET is the best way I can describe them. The shape and finish are completely different. The reflector looks more like a shallow, curved 'M' shape with all the different bends and angles. It definitely has a mirror finish too! Only problem is that the company never made any mention that lamp clips had to be purchased separately, so I'm writing to Greg at ReefGeek.com to place an order for some, as well as a couple Workhorse ballasts.

BTW, Greg does carry the Tek II reflectors. Just call and ask. His "price" is actually less than the company I dealt with considering how much time it took them to process and ship my order, the frustration of having the wrong thing sent to me, etc. It's best to just buy them from ReefGeek and be happy!

If I have time later, I'll try to upload a couple pics.


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

Thanks for yet another update Erik. I went ahead and ordered the IceCap SLRs from ReefGeek. Everyone seems to really like those too and they have the same "M" design you described. They're about the same price when you consider they come with clips. 

ReefGeek had them and my bulbs on backorder. They called me within an hour of placing my order to let me know and asked how I wanted the order handled. They really have some top notch people working over there.


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