t5 HO fixtures

[CoastalSharkin]

I was given a 48 in Current USA Sundial T5 fixture, it has 4 54watt bulbs in it. I have a 55 gal FOWLR right now and want to add a few corals. Can I use the UL VHO bulbs in my current fixture or should get another fixture that can handle thoes bulbs?

[charlie]

Good morning



Personally, I would use a proper VHO fixture and ballast, but that is just me. You could call the manufacturer and ask them also. Let us know???

[Ninong]

Hi CoastalSharkin,




The Current USA fixture holds four 54w T5 (0.625" diameter) fluorescent tubes. You cannot get four 110w VHO (1.5" diameter) fluorescent tubes to fit in it. And you can't run 440 watts of fluorescent tubes on a ballast designed for 216 watts. So you would have to change the end caps and the ballast and then hope that you could somehow get the tubes to physically fit into the enclosure.

[CoastalSharkin]

yeah i just found the specs on the fixture. Since it was given to be it didnt have and papers so i did some searching. thanks for the response.

[Poseidon]

You are much better off with anyway.

[kgross]

If you are talking about the UVL T5-V-ho bulbs it will run them without any problems. If you are talking about T12 VHO bulbs, no it will not.

Kim