Fish need it (lighting T5's)

right so recently i decided to upgrade my lighting to some T5's as i get pressurized CO2. over at TPT there was a thread inquiring about guy/gal/bisness, Fish Need It, who was selling really Cheap MH lights and also had T5's. the MH's got good reviews from Tom Barr and from some other people who had them. really no one on there i believe had used there T5, but i decided for being $53 for a 3 foot fixture it was worth a try. so got two of these fixtures to allow more flexibility with lighting. Just got them today so i though i would share my initial opinion of them.

Packing was decent not superb but not that bad ether (got the job done)




the light them selves look good and nothing was broken out of the box. thay don't have individual reflectors but with two fixtures this should not be that much of a problem with two fixtures.




the only thing that i truly find annoying are the mounting legs that come with it. thay are rather cheap plastic and don't fit over the plastic rim that tank has (fairly standard rim). even if i had a rim less tank i think i would try and find something else to use as legs. i'll try to get some better pictures of the legs latter tonight.

in general my first impression of the lights are good, time will tell how thay actually hold up. also any one who has dealt with these light please chime in any time always good to hear from people who have had them longer than I.

O and i put this in the planted section because that is what i'm using it for and is best suited for (next to a reef set up that is)

well i'll try to get better pictures, was on the run when i took those. not sure about the bulb but my tank is a standard 30 gal (36x12x?) so the bulbs are a bit smaller than the fixture. i think i'll be able to find them. i know i wont find them locally though just because i've already looked at bulbs before.

i think there 39 watt. i know that T5's do better with individual reflectors and these most defiantly aren't that. thay are some type of metallic material though i have to look t it closer to figure out what. recently i was looking for reflectors for my DIY fixture for my 4 gal so i do have some idea of what makes a good reflector. this is the info i got when i was asking around at TPT for help with that actually.

Here's some info on reflective surfaces.
white plaster 90-95%; polished silver 90-92%; flat white paint-75-85%; gloss white paint 75-80%;white paper 82%; mirrors (silvered) 70-85%; polsihed aluminum 62%; aluminum paint 60-65%
Don't have the info on mylar so I'm not sure if it would be closer to the polished silver or mirrors. But as you can see, a bright white surface can give you a pretty high reflective rate.
On my diy hood, I'm going to use a product made by 3M called light enhancement film that has a 94% reflective rate. It is applied like contact paper & since it's made for signs, it'll hold up on the hood.

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ether way i don't mind messing with it a bit for the price i got them for

ya well probably more stupid, i'm going to mess with them more tomorrow. in the end i might just tape them down lol