# Helios T5's - What do you think?



## Jimbo205 (Feb 2, 2006)

What do you think of this?

I really want to get some of these, but am confused about everything except what 10,000K Daylight is. 
What are the other colors for?

If I were to get one for my 20 inch wide 10 Gallon Planted Fresh Water Tank and 
another type for a 20 inch wide 10 Gallon Salt Water Reef tank that I am slowly planning 
to have one or two Marine Plants or Algae in; which fixtures should I get?

I don't want to miss out on a great deal. 
Should I get anything besides the 10,000K Daylight for the Fresh Water Planted Aquarium?

http://www.commodityaxis.com/ProductDisplay.aspx?id=6

Please tell me what you think. I am trying to figure it out. It all seems good, if not great!

Jim


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## Jimbo205 (Feb 2, 2006)

32 views in 2 days. Come on. You either love them or you hate them. 

Let me know. Is stuff great, good or what?


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## david lim (Mar 30, 2004)

I don't have any experience with these fixtures, but I would try the 10000K mixed with their pinks. You might want to email them and ask if the pink comes at a specific kelvin rating. Not that it matters, but the pink should lean itself to bringing out anything in the red spectrum of your fish tank.


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## Jimbo205 (Feb 2, 2006)

So, pink would be primarily for the appearance of the fish or the plants? 

Would the pink do anything special for the plants growth?


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## david lim (Mar 30, 2004)

As far as growing plants are concerned you could use almost any of those lights (ie like the 6700K). The 10000Ks and pink (which might be around 8800K, but I'm guessing) won't have any adverse affects on the plants. People report that plants grown under different color spectrums of light will have different growth pattern effects on plants (this has been scientifically seen in terrestrial plants), but I haven't seen this myself in my tanks. So will the pink have "special effects" on the plants? I don't know(maybe) , but they definately won't have adverse affects.

The problem with 10000K is that they might "bleach-out" the look of your tank. They are a whiter light and this might make colors in your tank appear more mute compared to what a pink light might be able to bring out. However, a tank full of pink lights will have a pink tinge to everything, which might become annoying. This is why I like to mix white lights with pink or sometimes "yellow" (6500-6700K) lights, because to me it's aesthetically pleasing. But, as for growing plants, I have seen that the amount of light is much more important than what spectrum of light you use for your plants.


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## Jimbo205 (Feb 2, 2006)

I goofed once at the office and got ribbing from the guys about my 'purple' office cubicle light until I exchanged it. It was annoying. I prefer bright white lights myself but when I can get 'daylight' instead of 'cool white', I like that also. 

But this is not for that type of situation. This is for my tanks at home and future tanks planned or in the planning stages. 

With prices like these I am hoping that someone has actually used this company. Kind of hard to go wrong with prices that good. 

But then again people also say - when it seems to be to good to be true.......


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## goalcreas (Nov 20, 2006)

I do use T5 pink bulbs. One that I use is a T5 HO Aquamedic Planta bulb, the others that I use are the Coralife Freshwater T5 NO fixtures, they are great for smaller tanks, but 24" is the smallest, so they don't fit a 10 gallon properly but neither will the Helios as T5 shortest is 24"
the pink really tones down the tank, but used with other white bulbs, 6700k and 10000k, it is not dark at all, just pleasing to look at. And the extra color in the spectrum it really great for growing plants.

You might want to take a look at the Coralife fixtures, they are priced right also and you can get them at Big Al's for around $30

I have heard great things about the Helios also, but never tried them.
If you do get them, go with one 10,000k and one of the Pink Grow lights.
If you want the High Output ones, get Helios, but if Normal Output is OK with you, like I said, in one package you should get the coralife, here is a link to a 24" light, if you are on a 20" tank it will hang over, but so will the Helios.

http://www.bigalsonline.com/BigAlsU...4/cl0/coralifefwt5aqualightdoublestriplight24


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## timewalker03 (Feb 27, 2007)

I have t5 lights on my 55g and I love them. I use the planta bulb as my 12hour light and the 6700 as my day lights. Here are some pics so you can see the diff. I also used the 10000k lights but like the 6700 k better. Here is a pic of planta and 6700k on at the same time.


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## Jimbo205 (Feb 2, 2006)

goalcreas and timewalker03, how are the reflectors on those? 
I followed the link but I could not see them.

I saw a Helios listed at 19 inches for a 10 Gallon on the above link.


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## goalcreas (Nov 20, 2006)

Planta's are just bulbs. You need a fixture to put them into.
If helios makes a 19" fixture for a 10 gallon, get it, as a matter of fact, I will probably get some for my 10 gallon and replace the PC on it.
I will most likely get a 10,000k and a pink one.

The coralife fixture is one rectangular reflector for both lights. There are better reflectors out there, but for small tanks, I think the color temps that Coralife put into these fixtures makes up for the reflectors, I and many I know are using these and even replacing higere wattage PC fixtures with one or two of these, or complimenting the PC fixtures with one of these.


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## goalcreas (Nov 20, 2006)

OK, I was just looking again and the only ones with the reflector are the T5 2 delux and the High Output T5 2 delux, but the high output, the shortest is 23"

Now you know you need either a canopy, or you need to build some sort of housing or lid that you can mount these to, you can't just rest them ontop of your tank.
These are best for set up's with canopy's.

Also, these are throw away fixtures, once the bulb is gone, you need to replace the whole thing.
what happens if you need to replace it and they are full price? Then your $26 plus ship turns to $52 plus ship.

for ease of use and for cost and cost replacement, I would go with the Coralife fixture, the bulbs for that one are cheap to replace also, like $9 to $12 max.

You will have some hang over with the fixture and it is small and easy for it to be moved, or you can build some kind of hanger and hang it on top, or make up some sort of legs to secure it better, but you can't beat the cost and performance.


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## Jimbo205 (Feb 2, 2006)

So you could not just put these on top of a glass canopy? 

I saw something very similar in my local fish store where they just lay the T5 light (reflector & fixture) on top of the glass tank cover. I assumed this was similar.



More importantly, there is no phone number to reach them with. This makes me suspicious.
When I hit the submit button nothing works. 

If I can ONLY reach a company by email or fax and cannot find a physical address or phone number for them; maybe it is too good to be true. I am trusting. But not that trusting. 

Shucks. I hope to find out later that they are trustworthy. Just looked so good. Hmm..


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## goalcreas (Nov 20, 2006)

I have never used them, but looking at them, I don't think they would just rest on top of the glass tank top.


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## Jimbo205 (Feb 2, 2006)

I think I am going to be looking up John N.'s plans for that great 10 gallon AHSupply Hood Fixture he made. 

I am about ready to give a way a jam packed 10 Gallon tank of Java Fern, maybe some Rotala; completely tear out my substrate and add a 1 inch layer of soil underneath 

and just grow HM and Mermaid Weed and grow the stuff until it bubbles like crazy with AH lights and CO2. Screw fish. 

Later.


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## CincyCichlids (Oct 14, 2005)

Helios has some odd sized bulbs.. that are for only their fittings. For example I got two "48 inch" 11,000K T5HO bulbs... well they're actually 1" longer than the normal 4' T5s... which I just moved the end caps in my canopy so no problem.

I am using their 1x54W T5 retrofit.. which has very low quality connectors on their ballast, but I'm just using the bulb to light a rack of seven 10 gallons with their small side facing out, so I'm not using a reflector.

I swear by T5s though for my plant lighting. I usually use Workhorse 7 ballasts, which I hear overdrives the T5s a bit..but don't think it's that big of a deal.


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## Jimbo205 (Feb 2, 2006)

CincyCichlids, so you have ordered Helios off of commodityaxis.com? 
Or somewhere else? 

I would love to see photos if you have any.


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