# Coralife Aqualight T-5 series



## Phillyman (Dec 2, 2004)

Has anyone tried these yet? There is a single and double bulb type. I am thinking of trying a 36" double (21 watt) bulb type over my lower light tank. The fixture seems to look narrow and I wonder if there is a lot of restrike with the double bulb type, or if there is enough room between bulbs to let the light shine through. I also am wondering about the overall quality of the fixture.


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## dennis (Mar 1, 2004)

Personally I would not bother with the regular output T5. Its just not worth the money and small selection of available tubes. I would use either a 2x39watt T5 or a 2x36watt PC. Either will use the same ballast and the T5/PC ballasts are starting to be cheaper than ones that will run only T8 (oh yeah, T5/PC ballasts should run T8, although it will overdrive them slightly) 

Good luck!


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## Phillyman (Dec 2, 2004)

I am planning on using this fixture over a lower light tank. I am looking at this fixture to replace two old single bulb strips. The one strip is a 36" single 25 watt bulb, and the other is a 24" single 18 watt strip. I am getting tired of lifting off the 24" light every time I feed or need access to the tank. Advertising from this fixture states "The Coralife F/W Aqualight T-5 is a double lamp fixture ideal for freshwater and planted aquariums. Includes one Colormax Full Spectrum and one 6700K T-5 (5/8 diameter) fluorescent lamp. Features an on/off switch, a built in electronic ballast, sleek black aluminum housing, a highly polished reflector, acrylic lens cover and adjustable width tank mounts." The available bulbs from Coralife are a colormax(pink), a 10,000 k (white) a True actinic 03 Blue fluorescent( for salt water), and a 6700 k (greenish). These bulbs come in the following lengths- 24" (14 watt), 30" (18 watt), 36" (21 watt), 48" (28 watt). So it seems there is a selection of standard t-5 bulbs if someone has another fixture needing lights.


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## dennis (Mar 1, 2004)

Sounds better than I though. The last time I paid much attention the the T5NO they were very new. Seems like you could easily get good bulb colors/combinations and that fisture woudl probably work great for a lower light setup.

I am not familiar with the T5 fixture from Coralife but I am familiar with a Coralife fixture and they seem very nice. I would not hesitate to buy one although it is the only comercially available fixture I am familiar with.

Luck!


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