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Cultivated Reef

My T5/LED hybrid light


metrokat

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Since lighting is always a hot topic, I wanted to give you more info on my custom retrofit light which was done by Nano-Box.
I'm a huge believer in T5's. My Red Sea Max came with PC/T5s which were powerful enough to grow this nasuta:
20130417_162547.jpg
I wanted true T5s knowing the colors and growth that is possible under them by observing so many tanks. I began researching how to retrofit true T5s into my RSM hood. Anybody following my tank thread knows that I am not a fan of the open top look, I like to keep a lid on the tank, it looks pleasing to me. But I soon learnt that there was no way I could comfortably retrofit T5s into the hood. For one there was nobody willing to do it for me, and I have no knowledge of electric mumbo jumbo. I would have most likely ended up frying my whole building.
I emailed Steve's LED's and they would only retrofit their RSM LED kit. I finally decided that I I had to get rid of the hood. JBB was awesome and sent me two units of 24W Aquatic life Dual T5-HO lights. I strapped them together and this tank was on T5s! The fixtures left a lot of room and could fit another module. So I thought I would strap 3 together to have 6 bulbs on the tank. Then the idea of the hybrid came to me.
Now a T5/LED hybrid light has been a dream light for me. The most common hybrids out there were MH with T5s or MH with LED's. When Decoz had Dave Fason build a custom T5/LED light, I nearly fell off my chair. YES! It was possible!
My first step was to contact Aquatic Life. They sent me an empty housing for the dual T5 fixture they sell and which I was already using. I communicated with Benny and Evil many times and then I sent a PM to Dave Fason.
Dave said Yes! omgomgomg
ReefBuilders first reported the ATI LED/T5 hybrid light (http://reefbuilders.com/2012/05/30/ati-led-powermodul-hybrid-light/), a sleek looking fixture at a steep price (~$1,100 for the same kind of I had built). My custom built light has
  • 22 REBEL ES LED's ( 2 - Warm white, 2 Neutral white, 1 Cyan, 2 Blue, 4 Royal Blue )
  • 4 SEMILED LED's ( 4 - Violets )
  • Two 40w Inventronics drivers ( 1-10v capable )
  • CNC Driver Enclosure
  • Tight Weave Cable Sleeving ( the BEST out there )

The unit can have PAR of 800+ when pushed to full power and is capable of growing any coral.

On either side of the LED are Aquatic life Dual Lamp T5-HO running 24W ATI bulbs.
The light covers the full length and width of my tank and looks neat. Pictures below.
20130707_101921.jpg
20130706_152033.jpg
20130706_152136.jpg
The tank is still acclimating to the LED add-ons. While that is going on, I decided to re-vamp my tank and push myself to the next levels of reef-keeping (for me). I began selling off my large SPS colonies to make room for the uber exotic acroporas like Red Dragon, Microlades, Strawberry shortcakes, Tierra Del Fuego..... Yeah I'm drooling again.
My T5 bulb combo:
ATI Blue+
GE 6500K
ATI Purple+
ATI Blue+
I bought my first 3 frags a week ago. So far so good. fingerscrossed
I'll do a post on my new fuge light in a little bit.
Enjoy,
Kat
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i just did a t5 with a custom led set up myself and i love it, your looks way better though. cant wait to see where all this goes

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It's not sexy and sleek, but it is neat and not an eye sore. If I had that ATI fixture it would need to be ceiling mounted, I draw the line at that. It's just not my thing.

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Thanks for the shout out Kat. Here are a couple other Hybrid units...

 

Gerards black/gold

9295363349_9c2103fa66_z.jpg

Kats Unit without T5

9024057981_7f7689c060_z.jpg

Brads Black with blue racing stripe

8642753606_4ab343cb74_z.jpg

8642753686_f3a4e26730_z.jpg

 

-Dave

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  • 2 weeks later...
Snow_Phoenix

This is a very interesting concept, Kat. I'm planning on creating a hybrid T5/PAR 38 setup for my future 56 gallon. This looks very promising; keep us updated, if you can. I'm guessing all the corals are responding well and the like. :)

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What is the name of this cord sleeve where u get it? Im gonna swipe it for my build!

Dave Fason put the kat woman cord for me.

 

This is a very interesting concept, Kat. I'm planning on creating a hybrid T5/PAR 38 setup for my future 56 gallon. This looks very promising; keep us updated, if you can. I'm guessing all the corals are responding well and the like. :)

The corals so far do love it. I usually document growth progression so I should have some comparison shots even for color progression in a couple of months.

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Snow_Phoenix

The corals so far do love it. I usually document growth progression so I should have some comparison shots even for color progression in a couple of months.

 

Excellent, I can't wait. :)

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  • 4 weeks later...

Nice job.

 

I also personally think T5 + LED is the way to go. I run an ATI 8 bulb unit and I also have that same Aquatic Life 2 bulb unit on another tank.

 

I think your Aquatic Life units can get a major boost by fitting on ATI Sunpower Parabolic reflectors. I saw someone on RC did that and I plan to do the same on mine if I continue using the light, it's only $16 each.

 

I've been debating taking out 2 bulbs on my 8 bulb unit to install a long heatsink and fan with some Cree LEDs controlled by my Apex but I think I'm dumping that idea. I'm just going to get this:

 

http://www.prestige-led.com

 

Very reasonable for the price.

 

Or I might just get an Orphek Atlantik and move my ATI unit to another tank then do a comparison.

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Mine do too, but I think someone on RC did a test between TEK and ATI reflectors, somehow the ATI reflectors came ahead although I'm not 100% sure if they used a PAR meter or not.

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