work horse or ice capp 660 ballast for T-5 setup

[ROGERWILCO357]

which of these two ballast do you find the best fit when replacing old vho setup with 4 4' HO- T-5 bulbs. And will the ice capp 660 run 4 bulbs or 3 bulbs? chime in and help me figure this out. It will run on A mostly SPS tank.

[Sir Patrick]

Wondering this also....havnt heard much myself on the workhorse 7 ballests in a while- and never on a t5ho set up.

[Casanova Cowboy]

I would run your "white" growing light bulbs on T-5 HO overdrivin with the IC and supplement with WH actinics to your likeing

[RedfordReefer]

which of these two ballast do you find the best fit when replacing old vho setup with 4 4' HO- T-5 bulbs. And will the ice capp 660 run 4 bulbs or 3 bulbs? chime in and help me figure this out. It will run on A mostly SPS tank.

I switched over from an ARO ballast running two 4' VHO's to an icecap 660 running 4X 4' T5HO's with individual reflectors. The difference is amazing. I have a 2' deep watercolumn, so I decided that the icecap overdriving the T5's would give me the penetration that I wanted lower in the tank. I currently have SPS, LPS, Softies, Shrooms, Ricordias, just about everything you can have. Everything seems happy. I keep my SPS in the top 1/2 of the tank and my green sps and my mili have shown signs of growth in just the past week that I've had them.

I would pony up the extra dough for a 660 to run the 4' T5's at 80w IF you have a tank that is deeper than 18". If not, I would just use the Workhorse ballasts to drive the T5's.

[Casanova Cowboy]

Wondering this also....havnt heard much myself on the workhorse 7 ballests in a while- and never on a t5ho set up.

DO it all the time but if he has a IC and gonna run SPS he is in a good spot so far IMO.

WH & is a great DIY ballast with the right endcaps

[ROGERWILCO357]

how many bulbs will each unit run the ice capp will run what 3 or 4 bulbs same for the work horse how many bulbs will it handle?

[RedfordReefer]

The Icecap 660 will run up to 16 feet of bulbs, 4 or less. So, you can run 3 5 footers, 2 8 footers, 4 4 footers.

MAX of 4 bulbs totaling less than or equal to 16 feet.

[ROGERWILCO357]

ok so all i need is the ice cap 660 to run 4 48in bulbs ..Now what reflectors should i get ? what is the best reflector ?

[ReeferRob]

Why not just buy a DIY Retro that included the ballast wiring harness, reflectors, endcaps, and bulbs? Our sponsor PremiumAquatics.com Im sure sells them!

[Tom@HaslettMI]

ok so all i need is the ice cap 660 to run 4 48in bulbs ..Now what reflectors should i get ? what is the best reflector ?

I have TEK II reflectors and am impressed with the amount of light they bounce back (especially when they were new). They're a few years old now and have some discoloration/staining but still perform pretty well. I've heard that the Icecap reflectors don't stain as quickly/easily but I've never owned one.

+1 to ReeferRobs suggestion.

HTH,
Tom

[ReeferRob]

I have TEK II reflectors and am impressed with the amount of light they bounce back (especially when they were new). They're a few years old now and have some discoloration/staining but still perform pretty well. I've heard that the Icecap reflectors don't stain as quickly/easily but I've never owned one.

+1 to ReeferRobs suggestion.

HTH,
Tom

Tom have you tried cleaning your reflectors with Vinegar or Alcohol?

[Tom@HaslettMI]

Tom have you tried cleaning your reflectors with Vinegar or Alcohol?

Vinegar yes... no affect.

Alcohol... no. What proof should I use? JK. I'll try it tonight.

Thanks,
Tom

[Manoj's Reef]

I have been using work horse for about 2 yrs now. I run a 5 bulb set up. I like them and have not had any problems. The blubs are on individual reflectors.

[tazzy695]

most any individual reflector will work well ice cap and tek make some very good ones

I personally run 4 t5ho 48" bulbs on a workhorse 7 ballast they will run at 54w

one benignity of using the workhorse ballast over ice cap is the bulbs will last longer and stay cooler as they wont be over driven

over driving the bulbs causes them to run hot and need cooling in the form of a fan which adds noise to the tank