[naegling23]

I have an odyssea 48" fixture that takes two 54W T6's....does anyone still make these? I cant seem to find them anywhere online.

 

[fmueller]

T6 is very non-standard. If I was in your shoes, I'd check if I could not pick up a T5 fixture including bulbs for less money than T6 replacement bulbs. Best of luck!

 

[naegling23]

unfortunately, thats the conclusion I've been building toward....is there somewhere that I can get T5 plugs and just replace the T6 with the T5?...im fine soldering them, and my ballast should be fine since its the same wattage.

I was eventually looking to upgrade my hood to a 4 bulb setup, so if I have to replace it, thats where Im looking....but those are out of my current price range, so Im looking for something inexpensive just to get me by.

 

[fmueller]

Well, if you are handy in other ways than soldering - which I personally suck at - you could consider building a hood. You can buy double strip T5 fixtures for surprisingly little money at the hardware store. I paid under $10 for my T8 fixtures, and last time I checked T5 wasn't much more expensive any more.

 

[smitty]

I will get back to this post because my brother just bought T6 bulbs. I will speak with him later.

 

[naegling23]

thought about building a hood, but I was unsure about how to do the reflectors.

The key to soldering is just to make sure you heat the material.

smitty, ill keep my fingers crossed, thanks!

 

[fmueller]

thought about building a hood, but I was unsure about how to do the reflectors.

I have never owned a saltwater setup, but I understand that if you want to keep some of those super light sensitive corals, every last lumen you can tickle out of your lighting system matters. For a setup like that high end reflectors might be critical, but for a cichlid tank the issue is less important. I bought the cheapest shoplights I could get a Home Depot - they come with basic, white reflectors - and painted the entire inside of the canopy with a high gloss white paint. The reflective properties of such a high gloss white surface are actually quite hard to beat!

The key to soldering is just to make sure you heat the material.

I've been told that before, and I still can't get anything to stick together that I attack with a soldering iron.

 

[naegling23]

Well, I finally got a call back from one of my good LFS's (you know, the ones you buy your stock from, but the drive is a little far to get routine stuff like crickets from). For the cost of two replacement bulbs, the owner traded me my T6 hood for a brand new T5 one. Nice....I know who is getting my business from now on.