Nova Extreme T-5 Fixtures

[sneeyatch]

i own the 48" 4 bulb nova, and use it over my 75 mixed reef. i keep a wide variety of corals, and all appear to be doing quite nicely. i'm bleaching some shrooms on the bottom, but other than that - i like and dislike the fixture at the same time.

quality wise, i find the fixture itself to be well made. i like the plastic lens that "snaps" back into place in the track. i do not like the legs. they seem way to flimsy.

the reflector is nice. it's not "the individual, reflect the sun back in your tank" reflector, and it is not flat - it has an overall "u-shape" which does help - not perfect, but good.

i hate the fact that there are individual plugs for the led's and fans. imo - that sucks. the fans are loud, but after the first day or so (or whenever it turns on or off), it just kind of blends in to the background noise.

i also agree that the lamps are not the best, and once i get my use out of them, i will upgrade them to a better quality lamp.

all in all, would i recommend the lamp - yes. would i have them change some things - yes. are they better than the piece of crap pc fixtures that i ran - yes. better than halide - don't think so, but heating issues, and the fact that i hate canopies swayed my decision to t5's. bottom line is i'm happy.

[HowardW]

<<< I have friends who have had coralife and nova fixtures, and they think that they are crap as well in the end. >>>


I agree with a lot of what hahnmeister says except for the above comment. Just because something is not the very best, absolute top of the line, state of the art retina burning setup does not make it crap. I have both the Coralife Lunar and Current Dual Satellite PC fixtures and I like them both, and they suit my lighting needs just fine and my tanks flourish very well using these lights. I have also seen tanks using the Nova T5 fixture that looked great and flourished also.

I think depending on what you keep, that high watt MH or multiple individual reflector T5's are not only unnecessary but can actually be detrimental in some cases by burning specimens that don't require and are harmed by super intense lighting.

[FishMaster1000]

I have the 24" light. It has been more than enough for my lps/ softies so far. I thought about trying some less needy SPS but figured I would wait until the light gains more popularity, and I just so happend to come across this thread. I have a Trach Brain on the sand doing fine about 18" down. My frogspawns about midway up and doing great! Some blah brown zoas on the bottom rocks doing so much better then they were in my nanocube. So far they have been great. THis is my second reef, first being a 6 gallon nc. This is only a 28 bowfront, but I am only 16 so cannot really go crazy due to size restraints. So far so good!

[robsmith32]

um, the comment referring them to the pc's is way off base.
the coralife 2 x 21 normal t5 is brighter then their 65w pc fixture.
and it isn't individual reflectors either. And is perfectly fine for softies down to 15" or so in my tank.. I've seen growth since switching to them.
FYI< it is a PARABOLIC reflector not a "flat" reflector.. granted not the super duper indiv. but they DO work.

[hahnmeister]

HowardW, I wouldnt call it a POS if I didnt have good reason. Simply not having the best output is just where my gripe with these two mfg's begins. I have owned the above brands as well...although I dont like to admit it. The fixtures, only a few years old at the most, are in my basement collecting dust because they are broken. I have a 2x65watt Coralife (24"). The ballasts run hot, the bulbs color shifted quickly, and the fans turned into noise makers within months. The light was the loudest part of the tank in this case. When the ballast quit firing the bulbs (tried a backup pair as well), I just put it on the shelf and bought a halide.

Then there was the JBJ 3x36wattPC. Both of the ballasts quit working, fans werent as bad as the coralife, but the ballasts sure fried quick. Turns out they are the cheapest of the bunch...not even in their own box...just shrunk wrapped circuit boards in the back of the fixture.

Then the CSL/Current USA. The fans were the best of the 3 for me, but the bulbs color shifted rather quickly. Overall the fixture was rather flimsy and dented easily due to being thinner construction than the other two.

From my visual inspection of the Nova, it uses the same crap fans, a flat reflector, and sub-PAR ballasts on the inside.

My personal experiences along with very similar ones that have been conveyed to me over the years towards these fixtures is why I call them crap.

"I think depending on what you keep, that high watt MH or multiple individual reflector T5's are not only unnecessary but can actually be detrimental in some cases by burning specimens that don't require and are harmed by super intense lighting."
-HowardW

Using T5s doesnt mean you are getting the most intensity and you will melt your corals. It means you are getting the most PAR/watt across the whole tank. If 60% of the output of T5s is due to the reflectors, and a potion of that is due to parabolic rather than flat reflectors, a better option than a 4 bulb fixture with a flat reflector would be a 2 bulb reflector with indicidual reflectors...I bet the light output would be about the same for half the wattage.

To suggest that the output could be too much so the solution should be a more inefficient unit is a bit like saying that you only need to travel 6 miles in your car, so if your car only gets 6 mpg its not as big a deal as if you were going 60 miles. Its still a waste of gas.

[robsmith32]

i'm glad most of us are free to have our own opinion still. ,

[BigJPDC]

hahn - you cleared up a ton of confusion I had regarding lighting - thank you for your comments.

jp

[Covey]

Originally posted by hahnmeister
With all the comparative loss of light you will have of not using individual reflectors, and if getting the highest output isnt so much important....(not to mention how other bulbs like the GE and the Geisemann bulbs outperform the Current ones by a wide margin).

Do you have numbers to back that up. This isn't meant as a flame but I have been looking for hard numbers for a comparsion between T-5 Bulb brands for some time. Did someone finally put them under a PAR meter?

I owned the ATI/DD/Geismann, AquaMedic, Current, and Covalvue T-5ho Bulbs and the only ones I really noticed any difference in was the Covalvues were crap. Quality wise I have never seen the reason for the 2-3x price increase for the ATI versus anything else.
And this is from a ATI owner.

[jman77]

It's a great price... Why not buy it ...then buy the reflectors and install them into the nova

[hahnmeister]

Covey, Grim has tested the various bulbs and compared.

[BigJPDC]

you can't install reflectors in the Nova carcass, not four of them anyways, probably not even three of them.

[smatter]

I had one. Lots of plastic, only ventilation is a LOUD little fan, too many plugs, but it worked. Would I buy another one? No. Is it adequate for maintaining a large variety of corals? Yes.

[cato]

mayor10, I have that T5 light on my 38gal and it is more than enough light for what you want to do. Heck I had 2 montipora frags under it and it bleached them. (they were up high now on the bottom and coloring back up) I also have xenia and tree corals in the tank too. No problems. So if you want advice from someone who has the set up you are aksing about, here you go. Plenty of light.

[hahnmeister]

I blame the mfg's. As is, there is only one USA made T5 fixture that does the job, the SLS Teks. If you want something else, you need to import it, and even at that, good luck. I really really wish Icecap would make fixtures, or at least 'carcasses' so that you could mount their ballasts/sockets/reflectors inside and really have a nice unit that doesnt require DIYing everything. If Aquaconnect or ATI would import their fixtures... problem solved. Current is smart for making the nova and cashing in on the better bulb at least...but they fell short of making an effective reflector. Maybe Coralife will do a better job...who knows. Even Aqualine/Geisemann dont have individual reflectors (but they do use a nearly as good 4-bulb parabolic reflector...better than a flat mirrored piece at least).

[-TS-Vash]

The nova has a good 4-bulb parabolic reflector its not a flat mirrored piece. Are you saying they are flat?

[Don424]

Originally posted by mayor10
Not yet, I'm still cycling my live rock, about 45lbs. I currently have PC's over the tank, leftover from my FW planted tank.

I like your rock arrangement. Where did you get your rock from and what kind is it?

[hahnmeister]

-TS-Vash, its not an individual parabolic, nor is it very curved...its curve is very long and not very effective. Geisemann and Aqualine use 4-bulb parabolics that might not be as great as the individual reflectors, but use the angles inside the unit better.

[-TS-Vash]

Its a U shaped parabolic reflector or is mine just special?

[hahnmeister]

Yeah, its 'U' shaped. Let me end the confusion...its performance lags behind individual parabolic reflectors.

[FishMaster1000]

So did anyone attempt SPS with this fixture?

[-TS-Vash]

I have many sps, lps and clams but im getting HQI lights now since i want more clams.