help tek t5 confusion

[Ethan Music]

Well I plan on buying the 6x54w fixture for my 90g. The only thing that is stopping me is the ballast i know they switched to workhorse ballast but i keep hearing both sides the ballast is fine works good than i get the other side do not buy them the ballast is cheap and not ment for t5 fixtures. I would like people who have owned the tek fixtures please post your exsperinces with them and if you can post pics of your tank with light i would really appreciate it. Or if anyone has a good thread on this subject i would love to read it.

[milkman55]

I have the 8x54w original TEK and it works great. These fixtures have been sold for years and I never hear anything bad about them. Yes, you can spend more and claim you have the latest and greatest, but these fixtures are a "workhorse". I would not worry about the ballast.

[Ethan Music]

thanks ima wait a little longer because i still have to set it up not in a rush. I figured they would be fine from what a gather quite a few people use them. Direct aquarium one of are new sponsers i guess is having a 15% off sell so i think knows the time to get it with a bunch of other stuff. Anyone ever purchase anything from them yet? hows their customer service?

[tinkerman]

My brother has a tek retro, I helped him with. Haven't heard him complain about it. I got the same reflectors and bulbs but have icecap 660's and can tell a big difference in how much brighter my tank is than his.

[Ethan Music]

yea i would do a retro fit kit but I like the open look my self. Not a fan of canopys unless its a sleek look don't really like the big tall ones that are bulky. I don't know might just be me lol.

[reefermad619]

I've read that if the lights are on more than 8 hours there will be no noticeable difference in bulb life. How's that little bit of info? I read that and was more confused when I was looking to purchase my lights. I went ahead and bought a TEK retro just so I could have spec T5 ballast.

[Ethan Music]

thinks ima just put out the cash and buy an ati 6x54 fixture im not going to take the chance the thing with the retro fits is they come with a diffrent ballast than the fixtures don't know why they do that but im going with an ati fixture because im the kind of person that will just keep thinking about it.

[Johnny C]

I owned both a Tek and ATI. While my Tek performed flawlessly for a long time, the ATI was significantly nicer (and much more powerful) and I'm glad I switched. HTH

[solitude127]

You might want to check out the ReefGeek forum. They usually have factory 2nds on sale. Most items are cosmetic and/or fairly small scratches.
But to answer you ballast question.
Do they(workhorse) work? Yes
Are there better ballast out there? Yes.
I've learned (and I'm sure a lot of people and attest to this) that you'll always 2nd guess your purchase if wanted to purchase something better. There's always that "what if" feeling.

[Ethan Music]

hey who ever is looking at the tek fixtures i found a website that sells them with the triad t5 electronic ballast don't know if their any good? Are they better than work horse ballast?

[milkman55]

The Triad is considered a better ballast for T5 than the Workhorse, but both work fine.

[Ethan Music]

sweet thanks for the info and if anyone is woundering reef specialty is selling the 6x54w t5 tek fixture with triad ballast, splash guard, your choice of mounting legs or suspension kit, and a choice between three bulb combinations they are uv lighting bulbs all for 390.95$.

choice between their super actinic, aqua sun, and actinic white bulbs

[solitude127]

One thing that makes ATI fixtures so good is active cooling. Heat is probably the worst enemy of life of the bulb. If you that tek fixture w/o active cooling, you may consider skipping the splash shield to allow the bulbs to operate cooler.

[Ethan Music]

Kinda ordered the ati fixture already just posted it to show others if they were looking at it.

[solitude127]

Kinda ordered the ati fixture already just posted it to show others if they were looking at it.

You'll be very happy. Which fixture did you order?

[Ethan Music]

went with the sunpower 6x54w fixture with bulbs. I went with 1 ati purple plus,3 ati blue plus, 2 aqua blue special. would have went with the dimmable one but i figured wants my funds come back i'd just get a controller so i can do ato and more.

this build is going to go really slow still in college so funds are slow but christmas is around the corner maybe my parents will be nice and cheap in=].