# 24" 36" and 48" T5 at Home Depot



## cainm13 (Jan 27, 2008)

I've been DIY Lighting and have spend way too many hours at Home Depot.

I finally got a 48" T12 shoplight for $10 (made by Lithonia Lighting), except it has a magnetic ballast. My T8s tubes works fine in it though. I also bought a 4x32T8 electronic ballast (Sylvania Quicktronic) for $15. Was going to ODNO the 2 T8s, but decided to stick with the 64watts I'm getting for now. Looks a lot brighter than my 2x20w CFL and 2x20w 24" T12 I had in it. My plants were growing fine with the old lighting so the 2x32T8 should work fine. 100gallon.

Anyway, I found they carry 24" 36" and 48" T5s fixtures now, bulb included, finding replacment bulbs there is another issue. The 24" single tube is $15 and the double is $22. I didn't look at the single tube 36" or 48". I'll take a peek when I'm there sometime.


----------



## hokuryu (Jan 6, 2009)

cainm13 said:


> I've been DIY Lighting and have spend way too many hours at Home Depot.
> 
> I finally got a 48" T12 shoplight for $10 (made by Lithonia Lighting), except it has a magnetic ballast. My T8s tubes works fine in it though. I also bought a 4x32T8 electronic ballast (Sylvania Quicktronic) for $15. Was going to ODNO the 2 T8s, but decided to stick with the 64watts I'm getting for now. Looks a lot brighter than my 2x20w CFL and 2x20w 24" T12 I had in it. My plants were growing fine with the old lighting so the 2x32T8 should work fine. 100gallon.
> 
> Anyway, I found they carry 24" 36" and 48" T5s fixtures now, bulb included, finding replacment bulbs there is another issue. The 24" single tube is $15 and the double is $22. I didn't look at the single tube 36" or 48". I'll take a peek when I'm there sometime.


Don't know if you happen to have this at hand: What kind of reflectors are on the T5 fixtures? Bulb color? Ballast/ignition?


----------



## CL (Mar 13, 2008)

hokuryu said:


> Don't know if you happen to have this at hand: What kind of reflectors are on the T5 fixtures? Bulb color? Ballast/ignition?


The bulbs are probably something like 5000k soft white


----------



## hokuryu (Jan 6, 2009)

clwatkins10 said:


> The bulbs are probably something like 5000k soft white


Was just online, the only T5's I saw were "bronze undercabinet," 8W-14W, at $49-$64. I'll head in and poke around. I think the reflector might be an issue, no? I'm wanting to goose my El Natural tank just a bit - a 10 gallon, currently 15W cool white, wanting to bring it up to about 2-2.25 WPG.


----------



## cainm13 (Jan 27, 2008)

There's no reflector, it looks like this but is a T5.
The 2 tube 24" is roughly 2"x2"x24". 1 tube a little thinner, being one tube.

I don't know what bulb it is. 24" is 14watts per bulb.

They're new stock, so probably going to take awhile to have bulbs in. You can special order the 24" 14watts from home depot for $6. I don't know what temperature range they are though. Don't know what ballast either.

http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs...3&productId=100148706&N=10000003+90048+502059
http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs...3&productId=100553387&N=10000003+90048+502059

















I was going to retrofit it into my 24" light box, but no regularly available replacement bulbs, the T8 just looked easier. Plus, I get more light for my money. I think there is replacement bulbs for the 36" and 48".


----------



## Burks (May 21, 2006)

Not really that great. They aren't the HO variety and don't have individual reflectors. You're better off with T8's more than likely. Plus you have a good supply of cheap bulbs. I'd do ODNO T8's and call it a day.


----------



## WNC_Dave (Dec 3, 2007)

I bought 2 of the dual bulb 24 inch t5's last night whiloe at Home Depot. I am going to try them on my 56 Tall and see how they do.I have not decided on how to do some reflectors for them yet.


dave


----------



## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

You can buy the reflectors that clip onto the bulbs at several online stores. That would help a lot, but these aren't HO lights, so they aren't what we usually mean in praising T5 lights.

The light fixtures in the original posting may be the type that you can't easily replace the bulb in. I have seen several of that type in stores, usually made in Europe, as I recall. I don't think they are suitable for aquarium use.

I have an undercounter T5 light over my kitchen sink now. It is 3 feet long, and is a nice light, but again, not good enough for an aquarium.


----------



## cainm13 (Jan 27, 2008)

These are not actually under the counter, at least it's not with all the other under the counter lights they have. These are with the mount/hang on the ceiling fixtures. So if they expect you to hang these on the ceiling say 8-10 feet up. I think the lighting should be brighter than the under the counter variety. Just saying, but I haven't tried it.

WNC_Dave, let us know how it goes.


----------



## cainm13 (Jan 27, 2008)

2 tube 48" T5 is $35
1 tube 48" T5 is $30
2 tube 36" is $26


----------

