# Arcadia T5 LED



## Lukes (1 Nov 2016)

Hi, has anyone tried these Arcadia T5 LED, I seen these in a local store but no where on the box/packaging does it state the lumens it produces. 
It says that it produces double the light of the equivalent fluorescent It does say on the box  
"8Watt LED = 24 Watt fluorescent"

But with clever use of words 

Quoted "Uses 1/3 electricity, producing double the light of equivalent fluorescent"

Does this mean produces double the light of equivalent florescent mean 8 Watt LED vs 8 Watt fluorescent or 8 vs 24 watt 

Was thinking about buying them but without knowing they will be the same power or even better, I'm not willing to risk buying them.

Any advice will be appreciated

!


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## ian_m (1 Nov 2016)

Judging by the number of LED's (compared to cheapy Chinese T5 LED fixtures) I suspect they may be equivalent to double the light output. Just a shame they don't quote lumen output. Try emailing Arcadia ?


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## Lukes (1 Nov 2016)

Funny enough I emailed them a few days ago, I received an email from them not long after I posted this, they are saying that the T5 LED 8 Watt is 398 Lumens which seems very low to me


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## ian_m (1 Nov 2016)

Lukes said:


> Funny enough I emailed them a few days ago, I received an email from them not long after I posted this, they are saying that the T5 LED 8 Watt is 398 Lumens which seems very low to me


Well that's very low only about 1/2 a T5 lumen output. Arcadia 24W T5 freshwater is 1900lumen.


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## akbar19942k10 (14 May 2017)

I doubt that's the case, i'm 100% sure they're brighter than regular T5 tubes.
I'm actually convinced about buying two of the freshwater versions for my juwel vision 180 due to the boasts that it provides 5 times more light than the traditional lamp per kilowatt hour. Plus it fits straight into the the juwel t5 light unit so no additional units required. Not to mention that it creates that ripple effect unlike traditional fluorescent t5 tubes and ip67 waterproof safe. What's not to like about them? 
Would have been nicer if they were slightly cheaper though.
Is there anyone that already uses them that can tell us how they perform?


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## Lukes (14 May 2017)

Hi Akbar, I have had these in the past, they claim to create a ripple effect but do not, they are ultra bright but in my opinion they do not perform to a standard! I ended up swapping these for an LED unit, I had 3 freshwater pro and 2 tropical pro over a 125l and they just didn't perform.   




Any questions I'll be happy to answer


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## Lukes (14 May 2017)




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## akbar19942k10 (14 May 2017)

Ok, the fact that they don't provide the ripple effect is pretty annoying especially as that was one of the biggest selling points for me, however when you say "they do not perform to a standard!" how do you mean?


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## Lukes (14 May 2017)

Well I had a carpet of hair grass, and a red ludwigia plant in my aquarium, which were growing alright, not the best but the grass was growing slowly and the ludwigia was red but not deep cherry red when I had 2 T5 fluorescent bulbs 

I swapped to the T5 LED (2 bulbs) expecting things to grow slightly better but in fact the ludwigia grew greener and the carpet started to die, so I bought another freshwater pro bulb and things started to get better but then the tank looked off, so I bought a tropical pro which made the ascetics of the tank look better but this was with 5 bulbs crammed into a small plywood homemade lid with about 10 wires after 4 months I decided I just didn't like the amount of wiring, tank colours, fish colour and this was the final straw as such I just decided to throw it all up into the loft and get a LED unit that sat over the tank I just removed all the hoods and I'm happy with the growth and spectrum of the tank, 

My opinion of the bulbs, basic growth and basic white colour of the tank, no ripple effect I would say their great, they last 50,000 hours (or so they claim) and use less energy so the initial buy is expensive but the savings make up for that after the first year I'd guess? I think it all depends what you want them for but for my needs these bulbs didn't do what I wanted


Also a small note, I had a Hagen Glo T5 unit which these bulbs blew and I later found out they don't work with electronic ballasts for some strange reason so if you are still considering these check your ballast is compatible 

Anymore questions or anything I've missed I'll be happy to answer


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## akbar19942k10 (14 May 2017)

Ahh fair enough, and I'm sorry to hear that you had a poor experience with them, but as you mentioned i'm just going for the bright white light effect with basic growth as i'll be keeping Utricularia Gramnifolia and probably some java fern so I'm still gonna give it shot, however I think i'll be having a word with Arcadia regarding the shimmer effect. 
As to reagrds to the electronic ballasts i believe they've created seperate t5 led tubes specifically for Juwel Light units now so i believe they should be ok. 
I'll try to keep you updated on here when I get hold of them.


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## Lukes (14 May 2017)

I wish you luck! Any more queries / advice I'll do my best


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## sfdt (16 Aug 2017)

Hi Akbar. Did you get the Arcadia T5 LEDs? I would be very interested in hearing your opinion of them.


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## akbar19942k10 (10 Oct 2017)

I still haven't bought them yet as Juwel just released the Helialux LED unit so now i'm in limbo as I don't know what to go with as of yet. I've bought a used T5 unit off Ebay, and i'm thinking of buying the Arcadia T5 tubes and trialing them. If they're not as good as they claim to be i'll probably just return them, sell the Juwel T5 unit and get the Helialux.
I'll get back to you once i've got the t5 tubes.


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## Lukes (10 Oct 2017)

Hi Akbar, yes would be nice to find out if they are any good! Keep me posted


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## Stefan888 (26 Oct 2017)

Hello, very nice tube, well packed and looks good quality. This company offers T5 tubes with built in power supply, the mains is connected to one end. The only issue is the colour temperature, CCT 5500K.

https://www.ledison-led-lights.co.uk/bc/led-tubes-t5-led-tubes/1-2.htm

Extra cool white is available on request.


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## Lukes (26 Oct 2017)

Stefan888 said:


> Hello, very nice tube, well packed and looks good quality. This company offers T5 tubes with built in power supply, the mains is connected to one end. The only issue is the colour temperature, CCT 5500K.
> 
> https://www.ledison-led-lights.co.uk/bc/led-tubes-t5-led-tubes/1-2.htm
> 
> Extra cool white is available on request.



Very good, way cheaper than the Arcadia lights!


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## Edvet (26 Oct 2017)

Sadly all these lights are without PAR data, the only usefull data


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## akbar19942k10 (3 Feb 2018)

Lukes said:


> I wish you luck! Any more queries / advice I'll do my best



Hi Luke,

I've decided to change my mind and opt for a hardscape only discus setup and maybe a couple plants later on once the tank has been established if any...would you say the Arcadia T5 LED lights be fine or shall i just get the basic t5 flourescent tubes?

I just can't justify spending £150 on a brand new Juwel Helialux LED unit when I won't be setting up a full on planted tank.

Any thoughts?


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## Lukes (3 Feb 2018)

Hey man, yeah the T5 LED would be fine for basic plants, if you decided to go for the colour type bulbs they might be better for the fish if you had hardly any plants.
but baring in mind if you are putting these bulbs into an existing T5 ballast unit I’d be cautious incase they blow the units as they did with my Hagen glo, blew 3 of these lucky the shops replaced them. 
What sized bulbs are you requiring?


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## akbar19942k10 (3 Feb 2018)

I just intend to use the lights purely for aesthetics really and if they support plants growth then that'll be a bonus, but mainly just want some bright white lights.
In need of 742mm T5 tubes for my Juwel Vision 180
In regards to the blow out you experienced Arcadia makes separate tubes specifically for the Juwel units since Juwel have just released their Multilux units which requires T5 LED tubes so hopefully they shouldn't cause an issue.
Still pretty annoyed you never noticed the ripple effect which is what Arcadia claims, one of the main reasons i got excited about these lights.
If the T5 LED tubes by Arcadia are definitely brighter than the standard flourescent tubes then I'll give them shot otherwise i'll happily stick with the standard tubes since they cost half the price of the LED versions.


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## Lukes (3 Feb 2018)

The only problem I found is that obviously the higher the LED the more spread the light angle is, been so close to the water level created the top inch or so to be darker, I corrected this by building my own lid to raise them up as high as I could, they are defiantly brighter than fluorescent tubes I can assure you on that. 

I have a interpet Tri-Spec 690mm to 800mm which I love and this creates a great ripple effect! Very pricy though and it can work with aquarium lids
This unit has grown almost anything I have put below it.


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## akbar19942k10 (3 Feb 2018)

That's it then! I'm sold!
I'm ordering them tonight
Thanks for the sound advice Luke, much appreciated.


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## dw1305 (3 Feb 2018)

Hi all,





akbar19942k10 said:


> I've decided to change my mind and opt for a hardscape only discus setup and maybe a couple plants later on once the tank has been established if any.


I would definitely have some floating plants, the Discus will appreciate them and they mean you don't have the filter as a single point of failure. 

cheers Darrel


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## akbar19942k10 (6 Jul 2018)

Hi All,

So as promised I decided to go for the 742mm Freshwater Pro Arcadia T5 LED's for my Juwel vision 180. So after about 2 months burn in time I thought I'd give a review on them based on my experience.

As mentioned earlier I decided to go for a hardscape only setup for now, so the lights are being used purely for aesthetics purposes as I am going for a South American biotope feel. Nott looking to grow any plants as of yet however I may add some floating type plants in the future(if you guys have any suggestions let me know), but as for now i'm enjoying the growth of algae on the driftwood and rocks; creates a more mature look I feel. So honestly I couldn't tell you how well these lights perform at growing plants or any demanding types like ludwigia.

I have my lights fitted on my existing Juwel t5 unit and the tubes I picked up off Swell UK are to be used specifically for the Juwel units, however they do offer other lenghs and colours for normal T5 units.

The lights definitely deliver when it comes to brightness, sometimes I wish I could tone it down or have a phase in/down feature especially with my Rummy Nose Tetra's going absolutely barmey when I turn the lights off but no complaints in that department. With some surface agitation created by the filter outflow the LED's create a subtle shimmer affect which is exactly what I was excited about when discovering these tubes. The shimmering is probably not as vivid as you would probably see with the dense matrix LEDs inside Kessil lights however they are enough to satisfy my needs.

Great build quality with these tubes as once fitted on, they have a wide adjustment range allowing you to set the preferred direction of light with a clicking feature a lot like the bezel on a divers watch. Slight annoyance is that the packaging claimed a waterproof seal, however I have noticed condensation can build up within the tubes from time to time, which you can't do much about, but any exterior water marks created from splash backs is wiped down everytime a big water change is carried out.

At the time I came across these lights the Juwel multilux T5 LED tubes were not available to me otherwise I probably would have gone for them as apparently they're slightly cheaper than the Arcadia's so I had no choice and picked these up for £31.99 from Swell UK. I have come across them in the later versions of the Juwel visions recently and they don't look much different at all so once my current Arcadia tubes blow out I'll give the Multilux tubes a go.

But as for now these Tubes are doing my tank well.

If you guys have any questions, I'll try my best to answer them for you.
















Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk


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## Zeus. (6 Jul 2018)

Thanks for the review 

Hardscape looking good too


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## Lukes (7 Jul 2018)

Glad you are having better luck with them than I did, great review, maybe they have altered them in some way to make the ripple better? 
I have a friend who bought some and they didn’t break there Hagen glo units so they seemed to have corrected this issue


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