Is it a good buy?

[jollyhawley]

I have a 39 gallon aquarium, 30" across, and am looking to upgrade to T5. From what I've found, this seems to be the best buy: Buildyouraquarium - 30'' Aquarium Light T5 HO 6 x 24 Moon Lunar

Is it? Does anyone have any suggestions on where to look to buy lighting? Thank you.

[charlie]

Not real sure ???? I have never heard of this company before this. Try any one of our sponsors, maybe Marine Depot and you can find something to maybe compare it too.

[Poseidon]

Well, if the measurements are accurate, then it can NOT have good independent reflectors. It states the fixture is only 9" wide, the icecap SLR reflectors are close to 3" wide for EACH bulb, so a 6 bulb fixture would be close to 18" wide, not 9"!

I'd skip it, it says "made in the USA" but the text is certainly not written by someone who uses english as their first language.

I would get a TEK fixture over this in a minute!

[charlie]

Well, if the measurements are accurate, then it can NOT have good independent reflectors. It states the fixture is only 9" wide, the icecap SLR reflectors are close to 3" wide for EACH bulb, so a 6 bulb fixture would be close to 18" wide, not 9"!

I'd skip it, it says "made in the USA" but the text is certainly not written by someone who uses english as their first language.

I would get a TEK fixture over this in a minute!

Thanx Mike!!! I am sure glad we have a T5 expert in the crowd, that is something I didn't even think about.

[Poseidon]

No problem Charlie!

[Ninong]

I'd skip it, it says "made in the USA" but the text is certainly not written by someone who uses english as their first language.

What makes you think that? I didn't notice anything that would make me suspicious. They say they're located in California. They also say that ALL of their fixtures can be custom built to your exact specifications. That alone pretty much guarantees you that they're being made in the U.S.

Currency options are US dollars, euros and Australian dollars.

I agree that if the fixture is only 9" wide, then the individual reflectors (which they claim are in this fixture) would be very narrow compared to others I have seen.

They do show a photo of the exact fixture from the top but not from the bottom. Their other photos are not of this particular fixture. It's clear from their description that the photo immediately under the price is of the fixture in question, not the photos of the hanging fixture pictured beneath the text. The fixture is black and it comes with 2" legs. It does not come with suspension cables.

I have no opinion of them one way or the other but I doubt that they're Chinese, if that's what you're thinking. They might be Aussies who set up shop in California, or they might be Americans who have operations in California and in Australia. However, I didn't pick up on any foreign accent at all in their text, not even Australian.



P.S. -- Mike, if you're talking about the spelling of the word chord for cord, then I think that's probably just a typo. However, the dictionary does give chord as an alternate spelling for cord. I always think of chord as a musical chord and cord as an electrical cord but who knows. I wasn't able to discover if chord is a common spelling for an electrical cord in Australia.

[Ninong]

Hi jollyhawley,

[Poseidon]

The spelling of the word "chord", a chord is music, a cord is what you plug in. (Just read the rest of your post that wasn't in the email...) Also, this sentence looked like it came through a translator to me:

Light can just rest on top of tank if that is where you prefer it to lay.

It is proper I guess, but not what I typically see in ad text.

I am not convinced that the reflectors are what they say, and in the T5 world, that is a LOT of why the bulbs work so well.

[Ninong]

Mike,

Yes, the statement, "Light can just rest on top of tank if that is where you prefer it to lay," is grammatically correct. To tell you the truth, I doubt that any of the machine translation programs would get that one correct.

The confusion always comes in because lay is the past tense of lie but laid is the past tense of lay. Lie and lay confuse a lot of people. Forget about telling an untruth and concentrate on the other meaning of lie. I will lie down on the sofa. I will lay the book on the desk. People lie down but they lay objects down.

What did you do with my book? I laid it on your desk. (Laid is the past tense of lay.)

Did you take a nap? Yes, I lay on the sofa for a couple of hours earlier this afternoon. (Lay is the past tense of lie.)

People misuse those two verbs frequently.

Here is an example that looks like it's incorrect but it's not: Now I lay me down to sleep. Lay is correct in this instance. It would be incorrect to say, "Now I lay down to sleep." The correct version would be, "Now I lie down to sleep." But when you throw that "me" in there it becomes "Now I lay me down to sleep." Very confusing, I know.

Bob Dylan's song, "Lay, Lady, Lay," should be, "Lie, Lady, Lie." But then people wouldn't know whether he was encouraging her to be untruthful or to lie down, except for the next sentence, "Lay across my big brass bed." Which is grammatically incorrect. It should be "Lie across my big brass bed."

I feel sorry for kids growing up today because TV commercials are frequently grammatically incorrect. They do it on purpose. And many of the pronunciations in common use by TV news anchors are incorrect. What has happened is that the TV industry decided years ago to adopt standard pronunciations for most English words and many of the pronunciations they chose were not the most correct ones. Here's an example, the word "culinary" is almost always mispronounced. It drives me crazy. The first sylable should be pronounced the same as cue in cue stick.

There are hundreds of words whose pronunciations have changed over the past sixty years or so. I always refer back to my 1951 edition of the American College Dictionary that I got when I was a 13-year-old freshman in high school if I want to find the correct pronunciation. The word Caribbean is not supposed to be pronounced the way the Royal Caribbean Cruise Line pronounces it.

OK, that's enough of that crap. I'm going to lie down on the sofa and watch TV. After I have lain on the sofa for two or three hours, I will probably get up and check my computer.

[Poseidon]

WOW! Now I know where to go for help with my next manuscript! ;) Thanks Ninong!

[charlie]

OK, that's enough of that crap. I'm going to lie down on the sofa and watch TV. After I have lain on the sofa for two or three hours, I will probably get up and check my computer.

Be sure to keep us informed on how that went.;);)

[jollyhawley]

Thanks for the input. I looked into the TEK lights but only found 24" and 36" ones. So far the best 30" I've found is the one I posted. Would it be possible for me to somehow put a 24" over my tank- or should I really try and find a 30" one?

[Poseidon]

Well, since the better bulbs are made in 24, 36, and 48" lengths, I would not spend any time looking for a 30" fixture only to be forced into only one bulb choice.

If it were me, I would get a 24" fixture and hang it over the tank with 3" on each side. That little bit of area that is not directly under the bulbs will not appear any darker to your eye.

[charlie]

You beat me to it Posiedon, I was gonna say the same thing. I don't think there would be much loss of light. I think you will be OK with what he suggests.