Danger69

I have a 29g tank and I'm just starting things out. I have read tons of info on lighting and wanted to know if the AH 55w retrofit is stronger then a 65w pc thats not a retrofit.

epicfish

AHS reflectors are top-of-the-line pretty much, as far as PC reflectors go. I'm pretty sure they'll beat other 65W PC fixtures.

Speaking of which, I believe that if you put a 65W bulb into the AHS kit (Workhorse ballast), it could possibly drive it to 65W instead of 55W, but I'm not certain on this.

John N.

Ahsupply 55 watt kit beats out 65watt fixtures like a Coralife. You will be getting more light into the tank with that kit.

I have a Coralife 65 watt over my tank, and found the colors of plants like L.aromatica are more green instead of a brighter hue of red/orange. A glosso foreground did not stay horizontial in this setup either.

If you are expecting to create a high light tank, I would get the 2x55watts kit, and run one bulb for the total 8 hours and the second for a 3-4 hour high noon effect.

If you want just a medium light tank, then one 55watt kit would be enough to grow a carpet of dwarf sag, and HC (very slowly, I tried), as well as some stem plants like Rotala green. Since I used a 65watt Coralife, I would expect the range of stem plants to be greater with an AH kit.

-John N.
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John N.

I too was not certain, so I asked Kim at AHsupply your question. And here is his response.

If the 65W bulb has a 2G11 base, then it can be used with our 55w kit and it will produce the same amount of light as a 55W bulb.

I do not know of any fixture that actually operates a 65W 2G11 bulb at 65W. The 65W refers to the bulbs potential, but the 55W 2G11 bulbs actually has the same potential.

Regards,
Kim Bryant
A H Supply

So sticking a straight pin (2G11 base) 65watt bulb in an AHSupply kit, or any other fixture for that matter will only produce 55 watts of light. Hope that clears up some confusion.

-John N.

epicfish

Well....thanks! I never knew...and now I do. =)

However, Kim also said you couldn't use square-pin ADA bulbs with the AHS ballast, but you can. He said you couldn't switch out the endcaps from straight to square-pin, but a few people said they've done it and gotten great results.

John N.

I'm sure there was missing information somewhere, as it makes sense that one could find an converting adaptor to use square pin bulbs with a straight pin endcap. Same applies to using a AH workhorse ballast with squarepin endcaps.

Maybe he said the above, because it's not practical to do so without some extra effort. Anyways, I believe him as he's been in that business for a long time and knows his products.

-John N.

epicfish

Oh, definately, he's a great guy and won't try to force you to buy his products. Go for AHS! =)

I was just throwing that out as a FYI. I'm actually getting my ADA bulbs in a few weeks! =)