Upgraded to T5's, normal this hot?

I upgraded to T5 (54x4 watts) lighting today, two 15k midday bulbs and two 420nm blues.

The fixture housing in general seems to get pretty got to the touch, is this normal for these lights?

 

hehe you fell for the hype. People go crazy for the heat difference between halides and t5. There is a difference but not a huge one .

of course since t5's are so spread out you can actually touch them, halides will burn you.

 

yep another victem, they get hot, hotter then any would imagin

 

From what I understand, most people mean they don't heat your water up as much as halides and therefor are cooler running.

How hot is the fixture? What type of fixture is it? Does it have built in fans? My tek light gets somewhat warm to the touch. The reflectors are hot enough to burn you.

 

That's what they mean but newbies don't really hear that. They think t5, there won't even be a possibility of needing a chiller and the fixture will be cool. Which isn't true.

 

I don't know. Hot doesn't sound right at all to me. What fixture do you have?

I've got an 4x54W Sunpower and the fixture is nowhere near hot. It's been running for 5 hours now with all 4 bulbs and after feeling it, I would say the fixture itself is barely warm. As for heat transfer - I usually see 1 - 1.5 degree water temp increase when the lights come on and the my house warms up during the day.

 

My T5 bulbs get really hot.They slightly burn me if I touch them. However, the fixture does not. If your fixture is actually getting hot, that doesn't sound too good to me.

 

The bulb temperature gets up to 140*.

 

Lol no guys misinterpreting what Im saying. The heat isnt radiated toward my tank what-so-ever. I'm almost positive it isnt affecting my water temps at all. Just the housing of the fixture above the reflectors seems to be getting pretty warm but I got it figured out. Not worried anymore. The reason it is getting warmer is due to the acrylic cover over the bulbs, it reflects more heat up, which still isnt really a concern.

Heck I got the light for 150 from a guy on CL with Advanced ballasts and 5 extra brand new bulbs not including the four 2 month old bulbs in the fixture.

Edit: It's a current 48" 54Wx4 t5 HO fixture. It has four large vents on the top, two on each corner, no fans that I see.