T5 Penetration and overdrive

[regal55]

I have a 21" deep tank with a 250W 10k MH Ushio. My tank is only 30" long.

I need to add some T5 supplementation to help color.

My MH is about 10" above the water. So with my canopy the T5's will be about the same height. With the 24" T5HO bulbs this far up will they do any good?

Also I understand the Icecap ballast would over drive the T5's. To what wattage?

I see Workhorse has a ballast that does 140W, could I use this to overdrive four 24" T5 to 35 Watts?

 

[Scooterman]

I think IC 660 will drive at 54watts for a 4ft lamp, not sure on the shorter lamps. If your using the T5 with a individual reflector & think that will make a nice addition to your tank & I would think it would aid a good bit even at that distance but not as much if they were like 6" off the water.

Welcome to RF BTW

 

[ReefferMan]

hmmm, i thought the 4 footers would drive to about 80watts a piece on a 660. My wife talked to an icecap rep for the info.

 

[Scooterman]

I think it is 84 watts on 5 footers, unless they are wiring them differently, I spoke with Andy about that a while back but it was when they were first testing them, so that may be.

 

[ReefferMan]

yeah somthing like that, almost double! thats what im firing up this week. Ill finally do a show case! SW is mixing, sump is flowing! Still have a loud durso!

 

[regal55]

A workhorse 3 should overdrive a single 24" T5HO to 48 watts. Not sure how this compares to the icecap.