T5 and T5 High output

[Ziggs180]

Today I had to replace the LED's for my tanks lighting, and saw they had some Bulbs that were more Wattage. I mistakenly bought the LED bulbs a size to small for my Hood, and I will be exchanging it for the proper size, however it says that the Bulb is a T5 High output. This might be a silly Question, but would this matter as long as the Hood is a T5? I Wouldn't want to have my Hood explode or melt due to a different type of T5.

[Gti_Leo]

if your fixture is just a standard T5 lamp then the ballast will not start a high output, it is not pushign enough wattage through it to allow it to start, if you have a high output fixture and you place a standard lamp in it it will be alot brighter but it won't last as long, in some cases the ballast will say "this is the wrong bulb" and it won't turn it on.

when replacing lamps its best to find out which you are using and buy according to the wattages not the size and what fits

[fort384]

Yup, GTI's advice is right on - Florescent ballasts are made for a specific type of bulb. It is not like an incandescent lamp where you can pick and choose what strength bulb to screw in.

I am confused though by the OP... You said LED (Light Emitting Diode), and then you said T5HO, which is a florescent type bulb. I don't understand what you are asking for sure I guess. These are 2 completely different types of lighting.

[Ziggs180]

Bad LFS Store advice, it is a Flourescent light, and they confused me and said it was LED. Anyways I returned it and got the new one, because all of them basically said ''T5 Highoutput'', and I needed a replacement. Well the light actually does fit and shines pretty brightly. I'm using the Coralife T5 on a Aqueon T5 light setup.

[mfdrookie516]

I was going to say, I'm farily confident that T5HO bulbs will fire in a T5NO fixture, as long as they are the same length (seems like some T5NO bulbs are shorter). I've read somewhere (can't remember where) that the majority of ballasts are load sensing, meaning that a T5NO bulb in a T5HO fixture will still only produce the light it would in a T5NO fixture, but a T5HO bulb in a T5NO fixture will only produce the light that a T5NO bulb would. No idea if that's reality or not, since I just read it somewhere.

[Ziggs180]

Well the lighting currently being produced in my T5 is way brighter than the bulbs I had before, the wattage is 31 (compared to 18 before) but both bulbs are 6,700 K.