Sunblaze Pioneer IV T5 4x54

[Acefspds]

Alot of debating going on about the cheap hydro fixtures. I figured since I wanted to change my lights and try out T5's I would give them a shot. Bpro mentioned the Sunblaze fixture. I was really suprised when I went to Custom Aquatic and seen the 6x54 version over some plants in their hydro store. It was a decent fixture for a good price. I seen the fixture on their site and went right by it when I read the description. I told the guy standing there looking at the 6x54w fixture...... The website did not do the fixture justice.

The fixture is $159.99
https://www.customaquatic.com/estore...uct=LT-SVSP104


I will be posting updates with before and after pics of corals including SPS.

So here we go...

I currently have 2x150w HQI 20k's over my 60g "frag tank". Will get some pics up in a bit.

I am changing to the Sunblaze Pioneer IV 4x54w fixture with UV Lighting bulbs. 1 x Super Actinic, 2 x 454nm, 1 x Aquasun 10,000k. The only reason I got the Aquasun bulb was because the Actinic White 12,000k bulb was out of stock.

Here are some pics of the Sunblaze 4x54w fixture......







The only bad things I see so far besides not having a shield is one switch and one cord. The 6 and 8 bulb fixtures have one cord and two switches...Also the endcaps are not waterproof.




The bulbs and how they will be arranged in the fixture......



Bulbs Installed....





Fired up...

[bpro32]

Any updates on this? How do you like it?

[Acefspds]

It is a great fixture. I still have it rather high off the tank because of no shield but everything is doing really well. I just have to wipe my reflectors and bulbs once a week just to make sure they stay clean... I will try to find some pics that I took before I put up the light of a few different corals. It is doing better then my 2x150w HQI's. More coverage and no more spotlight effect. The tank stays 79.8-80.9 with only a small fan on the tank. After the heat of mid day passes the heater has to kick on every now and then to keep the tank at 79.8 even while the light is on.

I am getting great color out of my sps as well as growth and nice growth on my zoanthids. I miss the shimmer look but my corals are doing great so I am very happy with it.

I just changed my heater...Guess I could have taken the pic without the coard going across the tank
Here you can see how far off I still have the light. Even at that distance I am getting better response from my corals. Expecially the sps. These are the only pics I can find of corals I had before and after the light switch.

Before


After



Before and after shots of sps....

Much more color in the base after on this mille.....
Before


After




Purple digi
Before


After


Purple Acro with Green Polyps
Before


After

[Acefspds]

Remember this light has only been up since 8-2-2010

[bpro32]

Colors are looking way better, any new growth?

[Acefspds]

Colors are looking way better, any new growth?

Ohh yea.... i got some Zoanthids from Ricenoodle about 2 weeks ago maybe that was 5 polyps. Its 8 polyps now. I also have a few sps frags that have taken over their plug. I dont have any before and after pics of anything else tho. I have some Acro frags that was going south when I did the switch that are coloring back up and starting to encrust. You can see some growth in the pics above of the purple acro. Same with the mille. If you look close at the base you can see its grown a bit. Those pics was taken maybe a week apart.

The FTS was a few months apart. That first FTS was the only one I could find.

I will not use HQI's anymore if I can help it. Its T5's from now on until I venture into the led'd which I might be doing with a 10g or something very soon.