T5 lighting for 60" tank?

[Dah-nah]

My tank is 60"x24"x24" and I'm looking into getting T5 lighting for it rather than PC but 60" units seem to be hard to find. I'm thinking of getting the 48" unit and centering it above the tank, placing lower light corals towards the ends. How would I go about mounting a 48" unit to a 60" tank? Does it not need to be mounted end to end?

Thanks in advance!

[sniggir]

hang it from the ceiling

[assiegordon]

I have a 48" fixture on my 5' tank.  My tank has a open top canopy(four sides of the hood rests on the four sides of the tank), so I got two pieces of hardwood, bolted the fixture to it, and layed it in the canopy(lights are 4" above the water).  The fixture is supported front-to-back.  Works well form, allows me to slide the fixture sideways if I want to get into either end of the tank.  If I want to lift the hood, it simply pivots back opening the whole top of tank.

[xenon]

You can get 60" retrofit T5 setups but I have not seen a 60" fixture for sale in North America.

http://www.reefgeek.com/lighting/T5_Fluorescent/IceCap/SLR_Retrofit_Kits/

In europe you can get 60" ATI Powermodule fixtures with 60" 80w T5 bulbs.

[sniggir]

nice ,more power... insert tool time grunt

[greddy]

As snigger mentioned hanging kits arae a good way to go, and there are 2 options for hanging...

1 is just a standard cable suspension kit

2  is a cable suspension kit that can be lowered or raised quite easily, it has little tensioners to suspend at a desired height.

though currently I'm using a cheapo method until I figure out how heavy my fixture is, then hopefully some tensioners..
My simple method is using a hockey stick cut in pieces and using them as bars for the fixture to sit on, though you need to be careful as its not really safe or secure..but it works for the mean time...

Let me say the hockey stick method works but it really sucks when I need to do tank work, it doesn't provide easy access..and you need to be really careful when moving it around...

I have a 6 bulb tek light and it sits about 1 inch above my tank, which is covered with glass...if you hang these units any higher I find there is too much ambient light in the room....So I'm also looking into a type of canopy to block the excess light  maybe just a front cover plate ? still working on that one ?

Hey there AssieGordon, it would be cool to see some pics of you mounts and how it works..though I think I get the picture ??


Good luck !

[sniggir]

I was at Super T's place and he has the 8 bulb Tech lighting and everything is looking beautiful, if you decide to go with T5's I think that would be the way to go as you tank in 24" wide, would give you good light coverage

[xenon]

The tek light is nice (i have one) but there are better choices out there if you have more money to spend.

The 4bulb ATI Powermodule will put out the same amount of light as the 8bulb tek light.

So if you want to have the same amount of PAR you only need 1/2 the amount of bulbs and that will save on hydro costs.

[Dah-nah]

I like the Tek light, but I don't want to hang the lighting. Is there any way that I can mount them on a canopy or something? I really like the look of T5 but if it's going to require intricate DIY work to have them then I'll probably just go with PC.

[ray]

PM sent re lights