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Fluval Roma 200 Light Upgrade T5HO, Will this work?

Hey Ian

Thanks for finding that. I skipped the last bit you wrote and straight away clicked the link lol. I was trying to find the one that would fit my tank. It was a bit more expensive but looked promising then my mind clicked and I realized my light unit isn't centered so would need another LED for the front slot.

I've now seen you mentioned buy two of these so got my own hopes up a little as I forgot I would need a second lol. I don't want to sound cheap but truth is £320 is a bit to much for me right now. I wouldn't of minded going to £200. If I do buy some cheap T5 tubes also like the ones in the thread linked a few posts back, it would take the upgrade below £100. The T5 ballast is only £32 which i'm quite shocked about. I hope its not going to be a case of you get what you pay for.

I'm happy you found them LEDS though as I would of never known such a product is out there. I've only ever had two Fluval Roma tanks as I like the cabinet and tank but the light unit seems its downfall for me or I'm not a very good plant grower. :lol: If I succeed with T5's and I get more confident then maybe the £320 won't be out my budget next time. Thank you again everyone.

I have not purchased any of the equipment yet but once I do and add the T5s. I will let you all know how I got on. If I do fail at it you can all have a good laugh and if if anyone in the future is rubbish at DIY like me and I do fail. Then take Ians advice above. :lol:
 
Actually looking deeper they don't do a 39W 850mm version, looks like they are only Juwel (and other tank) lengths only. As you say not cheap...but a simple, but expensive, swap over for Juwel lengths.
 
Jafooli said:
I'm not sure how I would get that attached to the Arcadia T8 reflector
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Hi Jafooli,
I'd probably just bodge it by drilling a couple of holes either end and either side of the reflector and use some loops of wire through the holes in the reflector, looped under the LED bar to hold it tight against the reflector where the tubes were.

It's always less stressful to do what you're capable of and easy to agonise over the huge multitude of choices available , so yeah, always best to work to your strengths.

good luck phil
 
Hey Ian I think it would work for a Fluval Roma. My T8's are 36" and 30w and the LED is 35"

I think this one would work from what I can see:
http://www.aquariumgardens.co.uk/aquatlantis-easy-led-895---6800k-1296-p.asp "Replaces T8 Lamps: 30w"

My only concern would be if the LED strip fits nicely as the T8 end caps are close to the plastic on the light unit but I think the LEDS are not much wider than a bulb so I think they would fit.

Thanks for the reply Phil that make's sense, shame I don't have your knowledge lol, as this would all be a breeze. My mind just did not think of that :lol: however it might be a tight fit as the brace bar could hit the LEDS. I know there is about a two to three cm gap between brace bar and bulbs. I guess someone would need to look at that but yeah I think your idea could work for someone. 😀
 
These LED lights must be quite clever to work with Juwel ballasts, as a lot of LED lights meant to go in T5/T8 fittings specifically mention not suitable for Juwel ballasts. This is because Juwel ballasts start the lights with a 1000V pulse, before applying the voltage across the tube. This 1000V start pulse will destroy the LED electronics unless suitable protected.

Shame not much cheaper else I would rush out and buy two tomorrow for my Vision 180 🙂
 
Hey guys,

Just an update as everything arrived yesterday. I will try to keep this short.

I managed to drill all the holes fine, it was very simple and much easier than I thought it was going to be. So no problems there.

I also had not purchased the M3 screws as I wasn't to sure what mm I needed. I should of known from the 3mm drill bit that I would of needed 3mm but I wanted to wait to check the size of the hole on the T5 bracket. Anyway 3mm was fine so I went out to my local bnq and I had a feeling they wouldn't have what I wanted as that's my luck. I was correct they only had the 3.5mm by 16mm which I wasn't sure about. In the end I found a independent shop and he had 3mm but they were also very long. He was like you can cut them to size with pliers or whatever. I paid £2 for 10 and upon cutting them the bolt would then not screw on the ends.

In the end I just used them at full length and thought I would just change them when I purchase some smaller ones. The next issue was the guide says:
"The end caps on the starter are colour coded so you don’t mix them up" well I thought the left side did one bulb and the right side did another so was confused. My mum said it should be colour to colour so in the end I could see from his picture that they were right. Once all connected I switched it on but only one bulb come on lol, reconnected bulb and it worked next time. Reconnected bulb again just to check encase of a loose connection but came on again so all working.

Next part was a nightmare, when the guide says you need someone to help you to put the unit back on the tank you really do.
I was trying to rest the light unit on the tank and mum was holding the T5 unit, there literally is cables everywhere lol and it don't help there very short, especially the main plug cable :O.

I thought I had rested one end of the light unit but it slipped and went for a quick dip, so yeah not good. Then the main light unit started bubbling on top where its sealed, only in the corner and it smelt really bad. It did seem to be a smell of glue. It stopped after a minute or so and luckily the new T5 ends didn't seem wet. I wont be making that mistake again but it was hard trying to sit it down with wires everywhere so my own stupidity there or lack of concentration. I'm not sure why it bubbled the T8 ballast had not been switched on so it cant of been hot inside.. and the tank has loaddssss of condensation in the morning so yeah very confusing. I've yet to switch on the light unit as thought I would let it dry a bit just encase. I did switch on the T5 unit and all works great! Its such an improvement!

My next job today is to go to another bnq which online says they have the correct scews in stock. 3mm by 10mm. I have to change them as the other screws are just to long so I cant put the lid flaps on. I've also got to screw the T5 unit to the wall as I don't want it to fall into the tank when doing maintenance.

I am also concerned as the T5 tubes are only held by the T5 clips. The clips aren't the steadiest things in the world, so was just wondering if I could use cable ties on the fluorescent bulbs? as if a tube falls in then the ends caps and bulb will get soaked and it will all be a waste of money, and not sure how good fish do with electrocution lol.

So all in all the DIY side of things were very simple, but putting the light unit back on the tank and keeping cables tidy is very hard lol and maintenance will be harder from now on, but if plants start to grow then its all worth it imo. I just hope my T8 ballast still works. 😱

Thanks for everyone's help I will update once all done, but just wanted to know mainly about the cable ties being ok? as I don't want them melting all over the bulbs. I know the T5 clips are plastic but its very thick compared to that of a cable tie. If not I will cable tie the light caps on the ends of the bulbs to each other instead.

Thanks again.
 
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Jafooli said:
I am also concerned as the T5 tubes are only held by the T5 clips
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Might want to see if you can get metal clips, as the Juwel clear plastic clips I used were disintegrated by the UV light from my Arcadia Tropical (the slightly pink one). Clips on Freshwater lamp were fine.
 
Jafooli said:
just wanted to know mainly about the cable ties being ok?
Click to expand...
Hi Jafooli,
No, don't use cable ties, they won't melt but they will get very brittle and then fracture after a while. (go on, ask me how I know...! )

Well done for having a go at it, DIY gets easier the more you do it.

The T8 ballast would bubble if it still has power going to it and you dunk it in the water as that is likely to cause short-circuits, even if the bulbs themselves are switched off. (or it might be just air escaping out the casing).
cheers phil
 
Hi all,
Another Phil said:
No, don't use cable ties, they won't melt but they will get very brittle and then fracture after a while.(go on, ask me how I know...! )
Click to expand...
I've done that one as well with an "under-cabinet" T5 link light. Fortunately the light unit didn't fall in, mainly because it was still fixed with another cable tie and the link connector.

About 3 months later the plastic body of the link light cracked as well, when I took it off all the plastic had photo-degraded (I was already a bit suspicious because the white plastic had discoloured), and it fell apart in my hands.

The link-lights were only in use for about 18 months.

cheers Darrel
 
Hey Guys,

Thanks for the replies.

Ian I think I might purchase some metal clips to put in the middle just to add extra support. Do you think I should change all the other four clips to metal ones? or just keep an eye out and see how they hold in the upcoming months.

Thanks Phil for the info about the cable ties, unfortunately I've just read your message now. I decided to put cable ties on the T5 end caps and to the T8 bulb which will now have to remain off. I've put a photo below so you can see. Now I've seen your message can you tell me a alternative method? as the cable ties really have added that extra security so another similar option would be great. Regarding the bubbling when my unit went for a dip it had been switched off for half the day and was unplugged at the time. It did work this morning so fingers crossed. I hope the water just got in through the top and then it was the air escaping but it did give of a horrible smell. I couldn't see how else the water got in but lets hope the damage is not to serious.

119cf0k.jpg
 
Sorry Jafooli,
running out of ideas for a tidy alternative to cables ties; I'd probably use some stiff wire wrapped around and then twisted, but I'm a bit of a magpie so have lots of spare bits of earthing wire etc.
Glad the ballast was disconnected, that's one of the reasons naughtymoose was warning about safety!
cheers phil
 
Thanks guys for all that information,

I will probably look into buying stainless steel cable ties then. That looks the best and cheapest option.

Not sure if this question is stupid, but in the picture you can see the T5 black plastic end caps and the T8 bulb behind. In the future if I wanted to run all four tubes or even just the T8s for a midday burst or something along then lines, will the UV from the T8 bulb degrade the end caps on the T5 light? Like I say might be a stupid question but as you said the cable ties would, It got me thinking why not the end caps. I don't mind if it takes longer than a year for them to degrade. My only logic was it should be fine as the end caps are much thicker than the plastic cable tie and unlike the cable ties there not in direct contact with the bulb?

I also cant see any other heat issues that might happen unless someone else can? I'm only curious as in the future I might want to experiment with higher light levels, or mid day bursts etc. I have no idea about all that as not researched it yet, but for now the T5's I think are more than enough and i've probably got an algae battle on the way anyway lol. But if anyone can let me know if they can see any issues that might happen that would be great. Like both bulbs making each other to hot or something for example? I also presume it will be safe to switch on the T8 bulbs with stainless steel cable ties actually attached to the them.

I did a water change yesterday which is a bit more tricky now due to the reflectors and as I have 2x Fluval U4 filters next to each other it was impossible to clean the second as I normally do as the reflector was in the way. I will have to move one to the front and keep the other at the back where it is. I may also have to look into getting an external filter sometime in the summer just to free up that extra space and makes things easier. 😀

If I was more comfortable with DIY I would rather just rip out the T8 bulbs and caps, and somehow have the T5's attached in there place instead. This would make things simpler but I guess I would need open ballast for that and I don't want to risk doing any major damage or making it unsightly. I can see why EnderUK did this but If I get plant growth its worth the harder maintenance.

Thanks again everyone for all your help and I'm now really looking forward to seeing how my plants respond with these new lights.
 
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Hi Jafooli,
Jafooli said:
will the UV from the T8 bulb degrade the end caps on the T5 light?
Click to expand...
No, not a problem.


Jafooli said:
I also presume it will be safe to switch on the T8 bulbs with stainless steel cable ties actually attached to the them.
Click to expand...
I've used metal jubilee clips before without problems.

Jafooli said:
Like both bulbs making each other to hot or something
Click to expand...
Shouldn't be a problem; Marine keepers often cram tubes close together.
cheers phil
 
It would be a bit naff if the tube end caps were not UV resistant as they would degrade by the light from the tube they are holding. So are UV resistant.
 
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