jbb Posted October 15, 2013 Author Share Posted October 15, 2013 I wondered if anyone would catch that . Link to comment
jedimasterben Posted October 15, 2013 Share Posted October 15, 2013 That is what has been on this tank from the start . I would go DIY (lumia 5.1 most likely) , but at the moment I don't have time. I could copy Kat & get another T5 fixture to match the ones I just bought , then pop a few (maybe 3-4) lumia chips in it . The Vegas have worked fine for me to be honest , but they do have their short comings which is why I have ordered the T5 to give them a little boost. Toss some ideas at me , maybe one will stick. Tank is 48x20x21 I'm still kinda 'meh' on the Lumia. Efficiency leaves something to be desired out of everything but the violet chips. There is a new version in the works (can't say too much about it), and it will better in that respect, but still not what I'd like it to be (a high-CRI base so that you wouldn't need supplementation). Honestly, I can't say enough good stuff about the bigass Bridgelux 4000K chips. Immense power and the best color I've seen from an LED, even better than my good ol' Rebels. Link to comment
Veng Posted October 15, 2013 Share Posted October 15, 2013 I'm pretty "meh" on efficiency when it comes to LEDs. It doesn't really matter if your hybrid is getting 56 mpg or 60 mpg, you'll never notice the difference. I'm much more interested in the coloration and such. Link to comment
jbb Posted October 15, 2013 Author Share Posted October 15, 2013 I'm still kinda 'meh' on the Lumia. Efficiency leaves something to be desired out of everything but the violet chips. There is a new version in the works (can't say too much about it), and it will better in that respect, but still not what I'd like it to be (a high-CRI base so that you wouldn't need supplementation). Honestly, I can't say enough good stuff about the bigass Bridgelux 4000K chips. Immense power and the best color I've seen from an LED, even better than my good ol' Rebels. I'm pretty "meh" on efficiency when it comes to LEDs. It doesn't really matter if your hybrid is getting 56 mpg or 60 mpg, you'll never notice the difference. I'm much more interested in the coloration and such. Thanks for the input guys. The color aspect is what has led me to move forward with the hybrid setup. I am getting good color out of my coral , but its not really what I want it to be. With the Vega I do notice that "laser beam" effect from time to time and that leads me to believe that I'm not getting that evenly dispersed light that I really need. I really like the shimmer that the MH / LED put off , so I'm not wanting to go full T5 just yet , but I'm not saying that it will never happen. Who knows , it may be back to MH/T5 for me. When it comes to LED's , the technical side is very confusing to me , mostly because I haven't sat down and made any attempt to learn it. This will be on my to do list before buying anything new in the LED world. My hopes are that adding the T5 will get me to where I want to be , and no further changes will be needed. Link to comment
jedimasterben Posted October 15, 2013 Share Posted October 15, 2013 I'm pretty "meh" on efficiency when it comes to LEDs. It doesn't really matter if your hybrid is getting 56 mpg or 60 mpg, you'll never notice the difference. I'm much more interested in the coloration and such. When they're close in performance (pretty much all the high-powered diodes like Cree, Philips, real Bridgelux, etc), I totally agree. The Chinese diodes in the Lumia, though, are a different story - they don't have the best color by themselves and are about half the efficiency of an XT-E or Rebel ES. Thanks for the input guys. The color aspect is what has led me to move forward with the hybrid setup. I am getting good color out of my coral , but its not really what I want it to be. With the Vega I do notice that "laser beam" effect from time to time and that leads me to believe that I'm not getting that evenly dispersed light that I really need. I really like the shimmer that the MH / LED put off , so I'm not wanting to go full T5 just yet , but I'm not saying that it will never happen. Who knows , it may be back to MH/T5 for me. That's one of my issues with the way most do LEDs - just a tight beam that goes straight down. That's why I leave the LEDs that are 'for color' without lenses, otherwise they really only effect what is under them. Distributed light is really where it's at. LEDs are great for powering light down, but since the light is coming from a single source with minimal refraction in the water, it doesn't wrap around the coral, leaving some polyps without light. The same thing happens in nature, so it's definitely more 'natural', but most people don't particularly want that. You can emulate distributed light by using rows of LEDs without lenses, but it takes a lot of them to do it properly. When it comes to LED's , the technical side is very confusing to me , mostly because I haven't sat down and made any attempt to learn it. This will be on my to do list before buying anything new in the LED world. If you need any info on stuff like that, don't hesitate to ask. I still have a half-written LED guide that I need to finish and post up, though the basics are in evil's sticky in the lighting forum, it's a great place to get started. My hopes are that adding the T5 will get me to where I want to be , and no further changes will be needed. Hopefully! Four tubes is a lot, though, IMHO, to fix an issue. Link to comment
jbb Posted October 15, 2013 Author Share Posted October 15, 2013 Four tubes is a lot, though, IMHO, to fix an issue. I agree , but all of the single bulb fixtures look like poo. I would like to find a non working giesemann infiniti fixture that I could gut and make it my own. Link to comment
jedimasterben Posted October 15, 2013 Share Posted October 15, 2013 I agree , but all of the single bulb fixtures look like poo. I would like to find a non working giesemann infiniti fixture that I could gut and make it my own. That fixture is badass, I would have loved to have one of those instead of the canopy I made, that fixture is one sexy beast. Link to comment
jbb Posted October 15, 2013 Author Share Posted October 15, 2013 That fixture is badass, I would have loved to have one of those instead of the canopy I made, that fixture is one sexy beast. I just emailed Giesemann to see if they will sell me just the naked fixture, or lead me to where I can find one. Link to comment
DaveFason Posted October 15, 2013 Share Posted October 15, 2013 Naner box hybrid Four tubes is a lot! Link to comment
Veng Posted October 15, 2013 Share Posted October 15, 2013 It is an 87 gallon tank, most people seem to be going 8-10 bulbs on tanks of that size, so it sounds like about half your lighting budget is T5, which isn't bad for a LED/T5 Hybrid. Link to comment
jbb Posted October 15, 2013 Author Share Posted October 15, 2013 Naner box hybrid Its very tempting It is an 87 gallon tank, most people seem to be going 8-10 bulbs on tanks of that size, so it sounds like about half your lighting budget is T5, which isn't bad for a LED/T5 Hybrid. I knew 4 tubes would be on the higher end of things , but for the price I couldn't pass it up. If it proves to be too much I can always sell it , and go a different route. Or , with the dimmable ballasts I could always just turn them down a bit . Link to comment
Veng Posted October 15, 2013 Share Posted October 15, 2013 Its very tempting I knew 4 tubes would be on the higher end of things , but for the price I couldn't pass it up. If it proves to be too much I can always sell it , and go a different route. Or , with the dimmable ballasts I could always just turn them down a bit . I didn't pull up the exact module you ordered, but if they've got the external ballasts, then they will likely have 2 individual ballasts in that box connected to a single power cord and a single switch, so if you wanted to, there's no reason you couldn't mod them and use only a single bulb in each fixture. Link to comment
jbb Posted October 15, 2013 Author Share Posted October 15, 2013 I didn't pull up the exact module you ordered, but if they've got the external ballasts, then they will likely have 2 individual ballasts in that box connected to a single power cord and a single switch, so if you wanted to, there's no reason you couldn't mod them and use only a single bulb in each fixture. It is your fixture split in half , It will have an external ballast for each fixture. If I went the dimming route , then I would run it off of my reef keeper with the ALC (which I already have). What I would like to do , is have the T5 & LED on the same controller . That would allow the T5 to dim down when the LED went into cloud cover mode. The only way I can see doing that is maybe with something similar to the Coralux setup , but I haven't really looked into it. So for now I will only dream about it . Giesemann Infinity Fixture , filled with Naner Box Hybrid / Dimming T5 , Storm Controller , oh the sexiness of that is too much to handle . Link to comment
Veng Posted October 15, 2013 Share Posted October 15, 2013 It is your fixture split in half , It will have an external ballast for each fixture. If I went the dimming route , then I would run it off of my reef keeper with the ALC (which I already have). What I would like to do , is have the T5 & LED on the same controller . That would allow the T5 to dim down when the LED went into cloud cover mode. The only way I can see doing that is maybe with something similar to the Coralux setup , but I haven't really looked into it. So for now I will only dream about it . Giesemann Infinity Fixture , filled with Naner Box Hybrid / Dimming T5 , Storm Controller , oh the sexiness of that is too much to handle . My fixture is actually 2 of the 2 bulb fixtures, it's not a single 4 bulb fixture. You could drive the LED dimmable driver off the same ALC module you use for the T5s. Not sure how many outputs the ALC has, I know if you had an Apex you can drive 4 0-10V outputs from a single module Link to comment
jbb Posted October 15, 2013 Author Share Posted October 15, 2013 Yeah well the ReefKeeper sux , so I don't have that option. Im lucky that it hasn't crashed my tank yet. Between you with the APEX , and Benny saying I have S#!$$% LED's , and Dave trying to sell me the NANER Hybrid , Im NEVER going to get a place to live . Link to comment
jedimasterben Posted October 15, 2013 Share Posted October 15, 2013 The dimming circuits on most LED drivers and the HEP ballasts are only a few mA, so you should be able to link them no problemo. I am trying to figure out an easy way to convert the 5v PWM signal from an Arduino to the 0-10v analog signal that the HEP ballast takes so I don't have to have my Reef Angel do anything but be a relay to the T5 ballast, right now I have my Typhon dimming the LEDs and the RA dimming the T5. Link to comment
Veng Posted October 15, 2013 Share Posted October 15, 2013 Yeah well the ReefKeeper sux , so I don't have that option. Im lucky that it hasn't crashed my tank yet. Between you with the APEX , and Benny saying I have S#!$$% LED's , and Dave trying to sell me the NANER Hybrid , Im NEVER going to get a place to live . Reef keeper works just fine. I just don't like it's user interface and for what I wanted, I needed to either move to the RKE or the Apex from the RKL and decided to try the Apex because it was something different, new, and thus fun. Your LEDs look fine to me. But hey, i'm the guy who downgraded back to T5s. You can tell me what you think of my T5s when you are over drinking all my whiskey in a couple of weeks. Link to comment
jbb Posted October 15, 2013 Author Share Posted October 15, 2013 You can tell me what you think of my T5s when you are over drinking all my whiskey in a couple of weeks. Who's driving me home after the whiskey tasting party ? Link to comment
Veng Posted October 15, 2013 Share Posted October 15, 2013 I've got plenty of couches. You might have to fight the dog for one though... Link to comment
jbb Posted October 15, 2013 Author Share Posted October 15, 2013 Time to party Benny , Vegas are going BYE BYE . Link to comment
jedimasterben Posted October 15, 2013 Share Posted October 15, 2013 OH SNAP please tell me you're not replacing them with a Radion. Link to comment
jbb Posted October 15, 2013 Author Share Posted October 15, 2013 OH SNAP please tell me you're not replacing them with a Radion. You couldn't give me a Radion Link to comment
jedimasterben Posted October 15, 2013 Share Posted October 15, 2013 You're right, I couldn't, cause that would mean I'd have to have it first! Link to comment
DaveFason Posted October 15, 2013 Share Posted October 15, 2013 Nano Box Hybrid, say whaaaaaa? Matte white, matte red accents and pin stripe. Ahhhhhh -Dave Link to comment
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