# Coralife 30" T5 strip light



## crazie.eddie (May 31, 2004)

I just bought the Coralife 30" Aqualight T5 strip light. Apparently, it doesn't require legs, since it there are wires that pullout to fit a larger tank. The only thing is, I prefer having legs. I bought the lights from BigAls. I also bought, what I thought would fit, Coralife mounting legs, which states "The Aqualight mounting legs easily attach to *any* Aqualight fixture". Upon receiving the lights and legs, I can see that the legs will not fit on the 30" T5 fixture I purchased. I don't want to keep buying other legs to see if they will fit. Unfortunately, Coralife's website is down. 

Any suggestions on legs for the lights?


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## PHalas (Oct 27, 2005)

I believe most of the coralife fixtures that utilize legs have grooves running the length of the fixture. I 'm thinking the one you have recently aquired does not have this feature.
But in the event it does, here are a couple of options.. http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Produ...ll&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&Np=1&N=2004&Nty=1

Which I'm sure this is what you already have ??


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## crazie.eddie (May 31, 2004)

Yeah, they are designed for grooves. I have a Coralife 72" deluxe strip light on my 125 gallon, that has this specific groove, but the Coralife 30" T5 fixture I have doesn't. Looks like I'm stuck. I don't want to move up to the CF lights (65 watts), because these would be too much for my tanks, since I want to stay low tech.


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## macclellan (Dec 22, 2006)

Sorry to hear that.

However, I'm about to buy 3 of that exact same light from big al's. What do you think of it? I wasn't planning on using legs anyway, so your problem is a non-issue for me.


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## if_fishes_were_wishes (Jul 29, 2007)

macclellan said:


> Sorry to hear that.
> 
> However, I'm about to buy 3 of that exact same light from big al's. What do you think of it? I wasn't planning on using legs anyway, so your problem is a non-issue for me.


I have the 48" Coralife T5 and I love it. It's very sleek-looking. I wish I could fit another on top of my 55 I like it so much. It puts out a good amount of light as well.


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## eklikewhoa (Aug 29, 2006)

I have a 30" t5 from coralife and they are not meant to have legs on them.


What you could do though if the light is long enough for your tank is pull the wire out and bend them so that it suspends a little but even then you are not gonna get much. Another thing you could do is go to the hobby store or somewhere where they sell wire or the like and get a longer piece to bend and insert where the wires are now.


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## Riley (Jan 24, 2006)

I have the 30" t5s and I love them. I have three over my 29 gallon tank and I can grow just about anything ( except for HC  ) ..I would definately recommend them...I have a 48" 2x65 and the 4x65 and I want to switch all my tanks to the t5s. You could always rig up something to suspend them from above....but that would be difficult.


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## crazie.eddie (May 31, 2004)

macclellan said:


> Sorry to hear that.
> 
> However, I'm about to buy 3 of that exact same light from big al's. What do you think of it? I wasn't planning on using legs anyway, so your problem is a non-issue for me.


I think it's sleek looking as well. This is my first T5 only NO light, so I was a bit shocked. I *now* have to buy T5 replacement bulbs. All my previous NO light were off the shelf All-Glass or Perfecto lights, which allowed me to use either T-8, T-10, or T-12 bulbs. All of which are available at my LPS, like Petco or Petsmart.

The only thing that disappointed me was the leg issue. I was also planning to buy Coralife Lunar lights, which attach to the groove in the Coralife lights, but I can't now. So for now, this tank has no lunar lights. Prior to that, I used to have a 30" All-Glass NO light strip, resting over a glass top. So I was able to place the Current USA lunar lights on top of it. With no glass top, I have no where to put it. I have to look for an alternative for lunar lights.

But those are my only complaints. Otherwise, it's great. I bought the FW version of the lights from BigAls, which comes with a Colormax Full Spectrum and one 6700K T-5. I thought I was going to replace the 6700, with a 10,000K bulb, because I like the neutral coloring of the 10,000k bulbs, but the pair that come with the light strip seem to complement each other.


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## macclellan (Dec 22, 2006)

Yes, I was especially pleased that they come with one 6700k and one 10000k.

I have only 6700k and it is too yellow for me.

thx.


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## Ulan (Dec 8, 2006)

macclellan said:


> However, I'm about to buy 3 of that exact same light from big al's. What do you think of it? I wasn't planning on using legs anyway, so your problem is a non-issue for me.


I have two 30" ones, and I like them. The tank gets a big hot if you put two of them on a glass top. One other thing: one of the starters failed after about 8 months.


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## trfjason (Aug 10, 2006)

macclellan said:


> Sorry to hear that.
> 
> However, I'm about to buy 3 of that exact same light from big al's. What do you think of it? I wasn't planning on using legs anyway, so your problem is a non-issue for me.


Why don't you buy the Coralife Power Compact instead? It is so much brighter than NO T5.


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## crazie.eddie (May 31, 2004)

I decided to use the glass top. I couldn't find any info regarding that the light MUST be used with a glass top, but I decided to go ahead anyway. The light is so slim, that it fits perfectly on the back half of the glass top I have. At least I can still use the Current USA lunar lights with it, which rests on top of the opening portion of the glass top. Unfortunately, the moon lights looks kind of ghetto.


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## macclellan (Dec 22, 2006)

trfjason said:


> Why don't you buy the Coralife Power Compact instead? It is so much brighter than NO T5.


I don't want to buy the 65w PC precisely _because_ it is so much brighter. I am setting up 4 20L tanks (3 planted) and don't want to break the bank each month on electricity nor waste my life trimming stem plants and fighting algae. 

I now have a CO2 manifold and Fabco valves to drive these tanks and 36w of T5 light is plenty for my purposes. 1 is non-planted, 2 will be low light but with co2 and the fourth has an AHS 65w and co2.

I'm not worried about heat. I use glass tops too, but there will be only 1 strip per tank. I use small wood risers in the summer to keep my lights off the glass and a room fan to move air across all my tanks - A 96w AHS 'The Beast' is VERY hot on the glass; as much as 5 degree temp rise on my 30L!


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## zergling (May 16, 2007)

I have the 30" 2x18W T5NO of coralife and IMO don't waste your money on it. They have some crap aluminum foil as "reflector" that the 2 bulbs share, and the bulbs are right next to each other so you lose a lot of light due to restrike. You also have to use this on a glass top, and I promise you that the heat it generates and the cooling of the tank water from below will make the glass top crack. My 36W PC light with so-so reflectore generate a LOT more light that gets INTO the tank than this coralife POS.

I'm actually about to go and get a Triad ballast, a 24W T5HO bulb (probably 10000K), an IceCap SLR 24" reflector, moisture resistant endcaps and stand-offs, and wiring from HD. This way I'll use less electricity but still be able to put a LOT more light into the tank....and only one bulb to replace when the need comes.

....or get 2 IceCap SLR 36" reflectors (and cut it to 30"), gut out the coralife fixture, and use the reflectors.....cheaper but less efficient in PAR/PUR:watt ratio.


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## if_fishes_were_wishes (Jul 29, 2007)

My T5 fixture is over an open top with no problems so far.


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## Ulan (Dec 8, 2006)

zergling said:


> I have the 30" 2x18W T5NO of coralife and IMO don't waste your money on it. They have some crap aluminum foil as "reflector" that the 2 bulbs share, and the bulbs are right next to each other so you lose a lot of light due to restrike. You also have to use this on a glass top, and I promise you that the heat it generates and the cooling of the tank water from below will make the glass top crack. My 36W PC light with so-so reflectore generate a LOT more light that gets INTO the tank than this coralife POS.


Just the remark that you do not have to use them on glass tops. But I agree with the reflector. It's next to useless, and it corrodes very quickly. Plus, as I said, the starter or ballast die pretty soon.

That's how I used them until the ballast died:


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## crazie.eddie (May 31, 2004)

Hmmm. I thought the those with replaceable starters were old school, which is why I opted for the Coralife with the electronic ballast. Another reason was cost.

Since my Coralife is still new, I may look for an alternative. I prefer not going with the All-Glass 30" striplights, since they use 24" bulbs. The nice thing with the Coralife is that it uses 30" bulbs.

Meanwhile, I will probably keep the glass top on and see how hot it gets and end of day. I prefer not using glass, but I have no where to use my lunar lights, which rests on top of the glass.


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## 2wheelsx2 (Jan 27, 2006)

I use 2 36" Coralife T5's on my 125 gallon along with the All Glass T8's and they are all just sitting on the glass top. No problems whatsoever. Growth of my plants is good but slow, which is what I want. I don't want to do massive pruning each week. I inject CO2 from 2 points. I have found it tough to prevent algae in that tank at that lighting level without CO2.


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## narhay (Feb 28, 2007)

I have two Coralife T5's, the 48" and the 36". They were nice when I got them, but there are much better alternatives...especially if you can put a retrofit somewhere in a canopy. Even 1 NOT5 bulb with an individual reflector will apparently put out 300% more light, and fewer bulbs to replace. It's nice that one of you has 3 of these on a tank, but that's 6 not so cheap bulbs to replace when they need it. 2 T5HO with individual reflectors would put out way more, only 2 bulbs to replace and more bulb choice.


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## enzo (Aug 21, 2006)

I have one of those--been using it since august of 06. No problems so far..


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## crazie.eddie (May 31, 2004)

enzo said:


> I have one of those--been using it since august of 06. No problems so far..


Is the lights over an open top or glass? I currently have it on top of my glass top and the glass does *not* even seem to get hot enough to break, let alone even touch.


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## ruki (May 28, 2007)

trfjason said:


> Why don't you buy the Coralife Power Compact instead? It is so much brighter than NO T5.


I use several Coralife T5 NO fixtures. Three reasons:

(1) It doesn't use much electricity and my monthly bill is high enough with all my planted tanks.

(2) It doesn't produce much heat. I have around 30 tanks in a rather small area. Since they are cool, you can put them right on top of the tank's glass cover.

(3) It's really compact. I have 4-shelf rack that is tight on space. These fixtures are actually too narrow to have a really efficient reflector, but with lots of tanks crammed into a small space it's an acceptable trade-off. I would like to see a similar light that is twice as wide with an efficient reflector.

Be sure to use a surge suppressor though. Voltage spikes will zap the electronic ballasts.

Power Compact uses a brute force approach. They are bright, but they tend to be wasteful of the light they generate. Much of the light gets stuck in the fixture and never makes it down into the aquarium. I have one those 98 watt Coralife Power Compact lights and it's a total joke with it's three bends in the bulb. Light sent up into the reflector gets blocked by all the bends in the tube... It's really hot too. Much more heat per unit of light sent into the tank compared with my T5 HO fixture. I'm paying for this unwanted heat with my monthly electricity bill and then it raises the air conditioning bill to compensate for the heat...


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## crazie.eddie (May 31, 2004)

Cool. I just purchased another 30" T5 light strip to use over my 29 gallon tank.


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## ruki (May 28, 2007)

Still, I would really love to see something like the Coralife strip light with a high efficiency reflector. If anyone knows where to get something like this, please let me know.


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## McgJosh (Jun 4, 2006)

Does anyone know where you could buy 30" quality reflectors for t5 lights so I could retrofit them with my coralife fixture?


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## ruki (May 28, 2007)

The coralife fixture is too small to fit an optimum reflector. It's not deep enough and not wide enough. (You have to separate the bulbs enough to put a reflector between them to eliminate them shining light into each other.)


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## McgJosh (Jun 4, 2006)

ruki said:


> The coralife fixture is too small to fit an optimum reflector. It's not deep enough and not wide enough. (You have to separate the bulbs enough to put a reflector between them to eliminate them shining light into each other.)


I knew that, I didn't expect to fit it back into the casing, but I wanted to use the bulbs and ballasts and all of that. So, anyone know where to find good, cheap 30" t5 reflectors?


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## crazie.eddie (May 31, 2004)

On my 29 gallon, since I put these lights, I'm starting to get Green spot algae and hair algae on the plants, mainly the taller ones, closer to the light. The other plants are starting to get them. I didn't have this problem when I used the standard AGA single NO flourescent light. My 20 gallon long has the same light, but it's allot more heavily planted than my 29 gallon. The 20 gallon long is just starting to get them, but it's not spreading as quickly as the 29 gallon. I'll probably start pulling allot of the plants and give them a quick bleach dip to kill off the remaining algae.

This stinks. My low tech, really low/easy maintenance tanks are starting to be more maintenance. Before the light change, all I did was just feed the fish and water changes. I know on my 29 gallon tank, I was experimenting with Water top-offs only, instead of WC, so I may go back to see if it resolves the algae issues.


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## Johnny Relentless (Sep 2, 2007)

What kind of bulb is in my fixture? The box doesn't seem to say. 
What it does say is: Coralife Freshwater Aqualight Deluxe Series - Single Linear Strip Straight Pin Compact Fluorescent at 6700K. 
I don't see any T# designations anywhere on the box or on the bulb itself. Although the fixture is 30" the bulb itself is only 21". And the bulb looks like two bulbs sharing the same socket. I suppose that means a lot of restrike. The reflector is like a mirror though. I got it at Big Al's. I never know how it compares to other lights I'm reading about online, because I don't know what it is.
I use it with the legs, although I still need a cover because the water evaporates ridiculously quickly and since the water here is also ridiculously hard, I am concerned that water changes won't be enough to stop the GH from reaching lethal levels. But that's another topic altogether.
I have to move it frequently because the legs block the opening of the glass cover (inconvenient). I always grab it from the top center, and it is warm to the touch, but never too hot.
I'd really like to know how it compares to others out there, as far as the light that actually gets in the tank.


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## Chalu (Oct 3, 2007)

Anyone here use icecap individual reflectors on a planted tank? I hear they are awesome... have bought three of them ...but am yet to assemble them into a canopy.... when done I hope to replace my PC's. :thumbsup:


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## McgJosh (Jun 4, 2006)

I was considering doing that chalu. I would like to see your results.


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## zergling (May 16, 2007)

I bought 36" icecap reflectors, and plan to gut out my coralife 30" 2x18W T5NO fixture. I'm busy with my other tank right now, so I probably will get to it in the next couple of weeks. I wish I could borrow a PAR meter from someone to see the difference :wink:


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## eon17 (Aug 30, 2007)

these lights are POS i had one on my tank for 4 months, ballast died. the LFS exchanged for free and 6 months later the ballast died again. I had it with a glass top and the head didnt crack it though.


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## McgJosh (Jun 4, 2006)

zergling said:


> I bought 36" icecap reflectors, and plan to gut out my coralife 30" 2x18W T5NO fixture. I'm busy with my other tank right now, so I probably will get to it in the next couple of weeks. I wish I could borrow a PAR meter from someone to see the difference :wink:


I had the same plan. Just out of curiosity, where did you buy the reflectors? I would love to see what you come up with.


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## zergling (May 16, 2007)

reefgeek.com

I think they can be bought at other sites as well, but reefgeek had the best price at the time I was looking.

I'll make a thread when I get around to it, but it won't be anything fancy as I have non-existend DIY skills LOL :hihi:


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## McgJosh (Jun 4, 2006)

Thanks

Ill keep an eye out for your thread


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## ruki (May 28, 2007)

Please post pics. I've been thinking of doing this, but in my head, it resulted in an ugly, bulkier fixture. Someone out there may come up with a really smart way of doing this I hope.


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## Left C (Nov 15, 2003)

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Johnny Relentless said:


> What kind of bulb is in my fixture? The box doesn't seem to say.
> What it does say is: Coralife Freshwater Aqualight Deluxe Series - Single Linear Strip Straight Pin Compact Fluorescent at 6700K.
> 
> I don't see any T# designations anywhere on the box or on the bulb itself. Although the fixture is 30" the bulb itself is only 21". And the bulb looks like two bulbs sharing the same socket. I suppose that means a lot of restrike. The reflector is like a mirror though. I got it at Big Al's. I never know how it compares to other lights I'm reading about online, because I don't know what it is...


This is the PC (Power Compact)/CF (Compact Fluorescent) straight pin (2G11 German style base) 6700K bulb that is in your Freshwater Aqualight: http://www.bigalsonline.com/BigAlsU...oralife65watt6700kpowercompactlampstraightpin


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## CmLaracy (Jan 7, 2007)

does anyone know if this fixture will fit over a 75-P?


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## crazie.eddie (May 31, 2004)

CmLaracy said:


> does anyone know if this fixture will fit over a 75-P?


The strip has 2 wire hooks that extend, which could probably fit a tank length of about 35" or so. I could measure to get an exact number for you. What's the length of the tank?


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## CmLaracy (Jan 7, 2007)

29.5" is the length!


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## CmLaracy (Jan 7, 2007)

any word crazie.eddie??


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