T-5 diy lightning

[jjmccloud2011]

hello everyone,
I was thinking of switching to t5 lightning over my 3' 65 gallon mixed reef my question is can I buy a t5 shop fixture from Lowes or something and put aquarium/reef bulbs in them or can you not run the reef t5 bulbs in a shop fixture is the ballast different or something or does it matter or could I just buy regular t5 from there for cheaper and make a DIY fixture any info or help would be appreciated thx so much
Josh


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[tkeracer619]

Aquarium bulbs are ho vs no. So the ballasts won't fire them properly.

You are better off buying a retrofit with waterproof end caps and individual reflectors. T5 bulbs get 50% of their light from the reflector. If the reflector is junk the light output will also be .
Aquacave has good retrofit setups.

[Michigan Mike]

I would stick to good retros, but... If I had shallow frag tanks that no one was looking at I may consider a shop light type fixture like this but it may not be worth it.http://www.prolighting.com/rb4t5.html

These are t5HO program start ballasts so they are fine for reef bulbs.