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mmoore0803 · 12/30/2005, 01:32 AM

So I went cheap for my 30g hex and decided on t5 lighting b/c premium aquatics was having a sale on 23" hoods with lights included

I had that fixture on the tank for about 1.5 months and then came across a thread that said one could modify the Finnex hood to contain individual reflectors instaead of just 1 big one (thanks trottman)

Well, I wanted more light w/o the heat of Halides and after being convinced that t5s were the way to go as long as each bulb had it's own reflector...I dove into this project...and when it was all said and done, I spent about $200 rather than the $300+ it would have cost me to buy a TEK hood

so here's what I started with

the ballasts....these hoods come apart real easily

This was fun....figuring out where to drill for the screw holes to hold the reflectors in place...can you see the holes I made in the original reflector?

All put back together

This hurt to look at....seriously...my eyes still hurt

the whole thing from start to finish took me a whopping 30min...now I have to track the growth of my corals.

12/30/2005, 01:32 AM	#1
mmoore0803 Premium Member Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Oceanside Posts: 667	T5 finnex conversion So I went cheap for my 30g hex and decided on t5 lighting b/c premium aquatics was having a sale on 23" hoods with lights included I had that fixture on the tank for about 1.5 months and then came across a thread that said one could modify the Finnex hood to contain individual reflectors instaead of just 1 big one (thanks trottman) Well, I wanted more light w/o the heat of Halides and after being convinced that t5s were the way to go as long as each bulb had it's own reflector...I dove into this project...and when it was all said and done, I spent about $200 rather than the $300+ it would have cost me to buy a TEK hood so here's what I started with the ballasts....these hoods come apart real easily This was fun....figuring out where to drill for the screw holes to hold the reflectors in place...can you see the holes I made in the original reflector? All put back together This hurt to look at....seriously...my eyes still hurt the whole thing from start to finish took me a whopping 30min...now I have to track the growth of my corals.