Higher output T-5 lamps???

ooja3k

ooja3k

AC Members
Jul 3, 2007
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San Luis Obispo
Has anyone seen/had experience with these lamps?? My current 36" T-5 fixture has 4 39watt tubes, ( 2 actinic and 2 10000k)

Would replacing them with these two lights be beneficial?? They are for 36" fixtures but are 60 watts each instead of 39... So i would have 240 watts instead of 156 watts..

Has anyone had experience with these?

Daylight:
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+3733+13821+16768&pcatid=16768

Actinic:
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+3733+13821+16887&pcatid=16887
 
It's my understanding that the ballast determines the amount of wattage going to the bulb. If the ballast is only designed to put out 39w per bulb, there'll never be 60w getting to each bulb (unless you change ballasts).

I also thought these newer (sometimes called T5 VHO) bulbs were merely designed and labeled for higher wattages in an effort to target users that overdrive their T5 lamps (on an IceCap 660 ballast, for example). With these bulbs being designed to run at higher wattages, they're essentially made to handle overdriving better than the standard T5 HO bulbs (like the 36" 39w bulbs you currently have).

I'm not 100% certain, so someone please correct me if I'm wrong... ;)
 
Yup you are right or should I say that that is what I have been told also

fsn77 said:
It's my understanding that the ballast determines the amount of wattage going to the bulb. If the ballast is only designed to put out 39w per bulb, there'll never be 60w getting to each bulb (unless you change ballasts).

I also thought these newer (sometimes called T5 VHO) bulbs were merely designed and labeled for higher wattages in an effort to target users that overdrive their T5 lamps (on an IceCap 660 ballast, for example). With these bulbs being designed to run at higher wattages, they're essentially made to handle overdriving better than the standard T5 HO bulbs (like the 36" 39w bulbs you currently have).

I'm not 100% certain, so someone please correct me if I'm wrong... ;)
Click to expand...

What size tank do you have these on and how deep is it??
 
^^That is all correct. The DFS ad is a little misleading there. You can only overdrive that bulb to 60w with an IceCap ballast. It will still run the standard 39w in your fixture.
 
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