Hi all,

I currently have a Cayman 110 with the standard T8 lights. Sometimes the light doesn't come on correctly in the morning. It's go on and then immediately off - I believe this is something to do with the Ballast?

I'm looking at either, replacing them completely with some more powerful T5's, or, adding a single or double T5(s) to increase the Watts per gallon.

Anyone have any experience with the likes of the kits you can buy: Glo T5 Electronic Double Ballast? Just wanting to know whether or not they are easy enough to set up.

Still not sure whether of not to add to the existing ones or not. The new T5's would have to be a max 36" due to the hood size.

Im about to purchase 4 30ltre tubs of Nutrasoil, and going with DIY preassurised CO2 using brewery CO2 etc. Or, may try with Flourish excel if I decide to keep with the current lights and go low-tech.

thanks

I had issues with the light unit that came with my Roma - it used to flicker and not always start properly. When I looked in to it, water had got in to the hood and corroded some major parts of the unit - bit of bad design I think.

I opted to remove the complete unit and get the GLO T8 set for my tank - I found it really easy to screw in the new clips and set up. Took me about an hour to modify the hood to make it fit.

The other bonus is that the ballast is now in my cabinet and not in my hood - no more electrical shorts

Great, thanks :)

I had planned to take some step by step pics as I did it - but got carried away and completely forgot until I was nearly done

Do you have a pic of the finished masterpiece?

No, but I could probably manage one

Would appreciate that, thanks ;)

Hi,

I had an issue with the ballast in my Cayman 110 a couple of years ago wherby the lights just stopped working completely. At the time I replaced it with this: http://www.trilight.co.uk/pc-2-30-t8-pro.php but now that my bulbs need replacing due to age I plan to go down the conversion to T5 route too, which is how I came across this post! I'd be very interested to know how you get on.

By coincidence, I made the move to pressurised Co2 today. I found that a 2Kg fire extinguisher sits nicely in the Cayman's cabinet beside my external filter but I don't expect a pub bottle will.

Hi Shadrick,

Welcome to FK.co.uk :)

It's all on the drawing board at the moment,as you'll see from my other posts that I'm considering a DIY aquarium.

In the meantime though, be careful with the fire extinguisher. It's best to use food grade (brewery) CO2.

What type of regulator are you using? A duel stage (not duel gauge) will prevent empty bottle dumps. A quality needle also helps.

I'll let you know if i decide to convert to T5 :)

p.s. Im glad you found this forum. The advice on here is second to none. Perhaps not always what one would want to here, but, it's advice tailored soley on the wellbeing of the fish :)