I bought this t5 aquarium lighting unit after some trouble with my older lights.  This unit has served me well for a couple of months now and I figured I would review it for anyone else that has been interesting in trying a T5 aquarium light or the Current Nova Extreme Pro.  The exact light is theNova Extreme Pro T5 High Output Lighting Fixture – 6x39W – 36 in.  I have this Light over my 46 gallon bowfront reef aquarium.

  The T5 lights are a high output light (HO), that run on an electric ballast.  T5 lighting uses less energy and puts out far less heat then T12 and metal halide lighting.   There is even talk that these bulbs can last 2-3 years without loosing that much lumen content.  The T5 lighting bulbs are only 5/8″ and in the Nova Extreme Pro they come in a 10k and 460nm spectrum.  This enables the reef keeper to have a dawn to dusk effect on there reef tank.  I use this light on a Coral Life timer to mimic this effect.

   Current currently has four sizes for these lights the 20″, 36″, 48″ and the 72″.  The only difference between the four are the wattage.  The 36″ has three 10k bulbs and three 460nm bulbs, each bulb containing 39watts of light for a total of 234 watts.  The Nova extreme pro also has a individual bulb contoured reflector, meaning that the reflector is one big unit but it is molded to reflect each bulb individually.  Having individual reflectors or countered reflectors plays an important role when choosing T5 lighting as most lower end units do not have this and the light is not as effective penetrating the water.

  Having using four lighting units so far in the hobby I can say that the nova extreme pro is the quietest light I have used this far.  This lighting unit is also very bright and hardly puts out any heat.  In fact this unit puts out less heat than some power compacts that I have used.  The 36″ unit uses two fans to keep the lights cool and comes with a splash lens for the bulbs.   This unit also came with docking mounts, this is a major plus since some units charge extra for them.

   There are more expensive T5 lighting units for this hobby that have individual reflectors, these lights are usually in the $500-$700 range.  For the $300 that I spent on this T5 lighting unit it was well worth the purchase.  This unit is a solid construction and so far as been very dependable. I am very happy with this purchase and so are my corals. 

  You can see more pictures of the Nova Extreme pro on another post of mine, Current Nova Extreme Pro Shots.