JUWEL High-Lite Nature T5 Aquarium Tube - 438 mm - 24 Watt

JUWEL High-Lite Nature T5 Aquarium Tube - 438 mm - 24 Watt is a 24 watt T5 fluorescent tube for JUWEL aquarium hoods, 438 mm long, in the High-Lite Nature spectrum.

Key Features

• Order it by the length: This tube is 438 mm and draws 24 watts. It has to match the hood, so measure the old tube rather than going by tank size.
• The Nature spectrum: A warmer white at around 6500 K. The usual choice for a planted tank, because it is the spectrum plants actually grow under.
• T5, so more light from a thinner tube: 16 mm across against 26 mm for a T8, and more light per watt. It also runs hotter, which matters more here than in Europe.
• Worth a reflector behind it: About half a bare tube's output goes up into the hood and is wasted. A HiFlex reflector returns much of it, for far less than a second tube.

Fitting It And Running It

• Order by the length in millimetres, not by the litres of your tank. Measure the tube you are replacing, or tell us your aquarium model.
• Six to eight hours a day to start with, on a timer. More light than the plants can use grows algae, which is the commonest first-tank mistake.
• Change one tube at a time in a two-tube hood, a week or two apart. Doubling the light overnight invites an algae bloom.

Electrical Safety

• Keep the transformer, the plug and the socket above the water line and outside the cabinet, and leave a drip loop in every cable.
• Unplug it before you put your hands in the tank or work on the hood.

Good To Know

• One tube. A two-tube hood needs two, and they do not have to be the same spectrum. No reflector included.
• Fluorescent tubes dim and shift colour as they age. Plan on twelve months even though they still light up.
• Glass tube, so it travels in its sleeve. Bring spent tubes back to us rather than binning them and we will dispose of them.