WP Endcaps needed?

[Algae]

I am going to be building two canopies for seperate tanks and want to t5 light them. I am talking about 12-16 pairs of endcaps. I have all my ballasts (cheaper by the dozen). The math gets up there pretty quick at $9 a pair for endcaps and $5 for standoffs.

I want to have the bulbs about 6 inches above the surface of the water (shallow tanks).

The question is: Do I need waterproof or water resistant end caps,? I do not want to use glass under the fixture. This will expose the reflectors and to a lesser extent, the endcaps.

Maybe I should go with glass and use less expensive endcaps?

[dsoz]

El Duderino (I could not resist), I would recommend using a piece of acrylic or glass to protect your reflectors. I made the mistake of trying to cut corners and not get a bulb shield. I let it go for about a year (cleaning the reflectors about every other month), and the aluminum reflectors are stained and scarred some. What finally convinced me was the salt creep that entered the endcaps and caused enough of a short circuit to melt one of the endcaps. I figured that it is better to be late in my decision to put in a shield. So after buying a couple new endcaps and installing them, I got a piece of acrylic at HomeDepot and cut it to fit under my T5 lights. Now I just have to wipe down the plastic to clean my lights.

 

It is worth it to save the reflectors.

 

dsoz

[Algae]

I was thinking of using Tek II or the new Aquatinics (sp?) reflectors and they are supposed to be resistant to staining, but that might just be optimistic advertising?

The PAR rating of t5's are way high anyway so a shield might not be that bad. That and there is much more than PAR to lighting.

So, maybe I might not have to be locked into high end endcaps, standoffs?

[dsoz]

I have the old model of the TEK light and love it. That is except the staining of the reflectors.

 

How did the make them stainproof? Anodized them longer?

 

dsoz

[Algae]

The only thing I don't like is that they are close to 3" wide for Tek II's. The Aquatinics are just 2" and the Icecaps are inbetween.

I am just wondering if standard endcaps are going to fit? Have to go to Jerry's (our Eugene hardware boxstore that has customer service).

[defigart]

Depending on how much "extra" room you have, you could offset the lights a big. Ive seen this done a couple times, and it looked pretty good.

 

Heres a VERY crude diagram:

 

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But you can kind of see what I mean and that the lights could be a bit closer to each other. The indent feature is to much of an indent.

 

Just remember that T5's get pretty hot. What are you plans for keeping that heat out of your water?

[Algae]

Can't offset too much.

I think I'll run a couple of 4" fans for cooling. With glass as a protecter, I should be radiating/convecting heat upward if I drill venting holes through the mounting plywood for the reflectors?

Depending on how much "extra" room you have, you could offset the lights a big. Ive seen this done a couple times, and it looked pretty good.

 

Heres a VERY crude diagram:

 

[----------]

[----------]

[----------]

[----------]

 

But you can kind of see what I mean and that the lights could be a bit closer to each other. The indent feature is to much of an indent.

 

Just remember that T5's get pretty hot. What are you plans for keeping that heat out of your water?