T5 Hood

[gonzoclownzo]

Newb here with two Ice cap 660 ballast. looking to keep some lps and softies in a 21 inch deep aquarium. 6 t5s!?! What do you think?

What is your favorite setup?
What is your favorite retrofit?

[rtparty]

What size tank?

The Ice Cap ballasts are going to overdrive the bulbs and I think that will be too much for most softies and LPS.

[gonzoclownzo]

36x19x21

4 bulbs?

[aquaticartist]

I have a friend who is running 5 bulbs on his 60x18x24 lps/softie tank. He actually runs 2 ATI Blue Plus bulbs with an Ice Cap 430 from 12pm to 1pm and from 8 pm to 9pm. The other 3 bulbs (1 ATI BP, 2 ATI Aquablue Spezial) are run by an Ice Cap 660 and are on from 1pm to 8pm.
The corals are doing amazing and he is so happy with the results.
Since you are going to be overdriving the bulbs, try 3, if you are not happy with the results or want to have your actinics on a different timer, go with 4.

AA

[rtparty]

Here is my opinion and experience. I have been using T5's for almost 6 years.

Overdriving T5's with Ice Cap ballasts is not needed on 99% of the tanks out there, Especially a 21" tall tank. Overdriving creates more heat and uses more electricity for a small gain in performance. You will be replacing bulbs about every 6-7 months at the cost of about $25/bulb.

Make sure either way you go to get some fans to cool things down or bulbs will die even quicker than that.

And never use true actinic bulbs on Ice Cap ballasts. They literally last 4 months before they are shot. The actinic phosphors don't hold up well at all when being driven that hard.