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Hybrid T5/LED advice


Reefgeek

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Hi guys! I just finished setting up a 54 gallon corner tank and as you may know the lighting can be challenging on these. What I went with is 2 x 24 w T5HO with 1 blue+ and one ATI actinic, and 12 x 3w bridgelux LED's with 4 RB and 8 5600K (no optics yet). Overall, the color looks nice but I have two problems with it.

 

A. Not enough par. Mushrooms halfway up the tank are reaching

B. The colors don't pop. I have a green lobo and it just isn't as intense as it was in the old tank with just LEDs.

 

I already have a mix of spare LEDs to play with from warm white to 10K and extra royal blues to play around with. I also don't mind spending money. Remember space is tight! I can probably add some extra LEDs but not many, maybe 12 more tops. So ideas? Optics? Different mix of T5 bulbs? More RB?

 

Thanks in advance!

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I checked out nanobox and I don't see any 13up boards, just fixtures. How much do they run and what kind of driver do they need?

 

I'm a bit confused, are you suggesting I swap out 1 or more 6500K for RB or just add more RB? How many would you suggest?

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Thanks for the link! I read a couple of the threads on the boards and they don't really seem to be what I'm looking for. Given the shape and size of the tank I'd need probably at least three of these boards and I really don't have the space for them, not to mention that it would be pretty spendy.

 

What I do have room for is a heatsink about 3" x 24" with whatever LEDs I can pack on it. I already have a driver that will run 12 x 3 watt LEDs at 700ma so I will pick up another one to double the quantity. Given the two T5 bulbs, what would be a good combo to run with them? It would be a total of 24 LEDs. I'd be happy to purchase some more new LEDs to go with the new driver, just need a suggestion about color/quantity as a starting point. I'd like to shoot for a 14K overall color, but both drivers are dimmable so it's adjustable.

 

~edit: Wait a minute, they are only 1.5" square???? Thats tiny. That would work! I could put three of them across the heatsink I already have and just ditch the existing LEDs. Now I have to look into what kind of drivers I'd need for three of them.

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The boards are only 1.5" x 1.5" They pack 13 LED on there. It is a nice spectrum that is a crisp 14K. More than enough room on your heatsink.

 

You can run two LDD's for each channel.

 

-Dave

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Oh, hi Dave! The only issue I'd worry about is that not only is it a pretty deep tank, but it's shaped weird. How many would I need to get decent light to the bottom of the tank? Are there optics on them? Also it would be a shame to just scrap what I already have on there. I'd prefer to supplement than replace. On the plus side, all my corals are on a small island in the center of the tank so I'd really only need the extra intensity right over them.

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Oh, hi Dave! The only issue I'd worry about is that not only is it a pretty deep tank, but it's shaped weird. How many would I need to get decent light to the bottom of the tank? Are there optics on them? Also it would be a shame to just scrap what I already have on there. I'd prefer to supplement than replace. On the plus side, all my corals are on a small island in the center of the tank so I'd really only need the extra intensity right over them.

how deep is your tank? Dave's boards are pretty strong even without optics.
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I'd save yourself the hassle of going thru mad lights to get what you like and what make your coral happy and healthy.

 

Get 3 of Dave's 13up's(-/+ $180) a powerful enough power supply ($40-$50),6up Coralux board($14),6 MW 700mA LDD's and a Coralux Storm controller($50-$60). Wired and set up correct you should be able to do left to right sunset/sunrise as well. Sounds like a huge upfront cost,which it kinda is,but TOTALLYYYYY worth it.

 

What t5 bulbs are you using ?

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