Fulham Workhorse 7? Decent? Plus a wiring question...

I am going to be adding 2, maybe 3 54 W t5's to my retro hood.

How is the fulham workhorse ballast?

I was going to go with the icecap, but decided i dont want to OD my lamps because i don't think i need to with 6 or 7 lamps over a 75, and i dont want to burn em out.

Also because this is the first time im actually doing the wiring myself... all i need is the ballast and the endcaps, right?

Why would i need the standoffs? Anything im missing ? I already got the SLRs BTW....

Thanks,

 

The standoffs hold the endcaps to whatever your mounting them too. I really like my workhorse 7's but dont really have much to compare them too.

~Will.

 

Ok so since im going to be clipping them into the icecap SLRs i dont need the standoffs...

Anything else i need other than the caps then?

 

Trust me, you want the standoffs. Without them you would have to mount the reflectors to the top of your canopy and the only thing holding up the lamps and endcaps would be the 2 little clips. With them everything is much more secure, and air can get up behind the reflectors to help cool them.

~Will.

 

Yea, actually the nature of my canopy forces me to do that.

That is how my 4 on SLRs are setup now...

the two little clips on the ICEcap slrs are pretty diesel though

 

on that other reef forum, I am known as the "official workhorse driven t5ho guinea pig"

I have been using workhorse ballasts to run t5s since like 2003. The W ballasts work great, don't reduce bulb life like many "experts" thought they would, and are totally reliable.

I like how a w ballast can drive multiple configurations of bulbs, and that they will run nearly any fluorescent bulb if you hook them up.

In a scientific style test of PAR, the w driven t5s are a tad lower PAR compared to a spec t5 ballast like a sylvania or advance, but for the price, you can't go wrong with a w ballast.

I need to buy a w7 for my 80w t5s I bought. Ebay looks to be a good place, unless you know of a better place. Nowhere local sells them that I have found.

6 bulbs will be more than powerful enough for any corals you want to keep.

A local reefer has an IC660 running at least 4 IIRC OD t5ho's on a 90g. All the corals are growing, but many are very pale from being bleached by the OD' d t5s. I bought a couple frags from that tank, and they are coloring up under my t5 and mh lit 200g.

 

Dude go to diyreef.com.

I got my W7 for 36 bucks

On another note, what do you think for the last two bulbs.

IM kinda thinking i might just go with two more aquablue+ cause i want to keep it simple (they may end up being UVL 12k's just cause i can buy them at the LFS)

Right now i have g-mann 2x aquablue 2x actinic +

My incredible hulk i got a few weeks ago is growing like crazy under this

 

Yeah, I snapped up one w7 and a few other things on diy reef

UVL 12k's are pretty pink IIRC. If those are the ones, I would go with another option, depending if it is too blue, white or whatever for your tastes. How does the tank look to you color wise?

 

Clean white/blue - i like the color that is is right now....

I should be able to get a few more giessman aquablues pretty easy though. Do you think its going to be too much light with two more of those though?

 

If you like the color now, just add 1 more of each bulb then.

I don't think it will be too much at all.