Coralife AquaLight T5HO

[BossHoggin]

Couple questions:

1. Do the legs come off these fixtures?

2. Does anyone have experience running fixtures shorter than their tank?
I'm looking at the 48" light but my tank is 72" long (standard size 125G).
It's just that the price is right and the way I see it is if your average aquarium lighting can illuminate a tank front to back while only directly lighting a fraction of the surface, could I not expect some of the same passive lighting via the lights spread in the unlit ends of the tank? I am by no means expecting the same results as a 6' light would give me. I'm just planning on using this fixture for aesthetics, no livestock will be relying on it.

Any input would truly be appretiated.

[DownwardDawg]

Do they make a 60" fixture? If not, go with 2 x 36" fixtures. You'll kick yourself in the butt later if you buy the 48" for a 72" tank. Everything I read on here says a 60" light will be fine with some low light spots on the sides, but I don't think a 48" will work very well.

Edited to say: Forgive me. I'm a dummy. I didn't read the last part where you clearly stated no livestock would be depending on it.

[greg1786]

Since you have no livestock depending on it there is no real problem with doing that but just to share my two cents i did the same thing on a 48" tank w a 36" fixture i regretted it every second of every day i had it so i eventually ended up spending the money for the 48" light anyway and it ended up being a huge waste of money. the coral life lights what i had as well and just my opinion it was a piece of garbage i hated it

[BossHoggin]

I've read a lot of 5 star reviews on this light believe it or not. What did you dislike so much about it Greg? Did the legs come off willingly?

I was originally looking at an amazon tank... really nice pieces of malaysian driftwood, sand substrate, river rocks, maybe a few plants... I thought of putting in blackwater extract, and I tried something on my 2 bulb t5ho on my reef, I pulled the light back a foot on one side, it wasnt too dark in the corner and it didnt look too stupid, I guess it would tie in with the look I'm going for. Hoping to have a nice biotope, like reef tanks create in comparison to your average FW tank.

[HV1990]

I have had a coralife t5 fixture go out on me 4 times. Each time they sent out a new ballast just to go out again. I finally got tired of replacing the ballast so I replaced it with a workhorse ballast and have never had an issue since.

[BossHoggin]

Looking at a Seychelle Sun T5 HO 72" 2x80w. $278.95 free shipping

[TL1000RSquid]

I have a coralife over a 29g reef tank x4 T5HO. I got it dirt cheap as it was damaged unit(plastic end piece has a crack) legs are removable. The reflectors could be better other then that no real complaints, I have 3 different T5HO fixture brands the coralife, oddysea and Tek's, I'd rate the coralife somewhere between the two. I don't think I'd buy another at retail prices though when you could get a Tek for another $90.

[BossHoggin]

I have been eyeing the 48" 4x54w bulb Tek Elite. I was planning on hanging it. I figure raising the light will resolve spread issues. However, I have one major concern: will the light be blinding as I look up at the tank when viewing it? (Stand is 3' tall plus the 22" tall tank and then the light hanging even higer). I was thinking if I only raise the light 6-8" and kept it mounted further back over the tank, I may be ok. It's currently inbetween this fixture and the Hamilton one referenced in my last post. The cost of either light is less than $2 apart. Although I will end up spending another $100 on the hang kit and bulbs for the tek. What should I do?