Matteo Posted August 17, 2020 Share Posted August 17, 2020 35 minutes ago, mcarroll said: Things have come a long way on the commercial end of things. All of my DIY's are in the closet with my old halide rig. 🤷♂️ Of course, that doesn't mean DIY is any less-good at growing corals than it was....could be the right option for the right person in the right situation. There must be 100 good lighting ideas in this thread so far. Hopefully the OP isn't distracted by haters. LOL Funny how none of your comments have any likes nor people who agree.. Yet you call us haters.... Get out of here dude 😂 1 1 Quote Link to comment
mitten_reef Posted August 17, 2020 Share Posted August 17, 2020 I’m not gonna bore you with my opinion. I’ve used both, and have documented my tank under both lighting types (led & T5) in my journal. They both grow beautiful And colorful corals. They both have their pros and cons. Feel free to look me up, actually here the link, and make your own conclusion. 3 1 Quote Link to comment
Reefkid88 Posted August 17, 2020 Share Posted August 17, 2020 28 minutes ago, mitten_reef said: I’m not gonna bore you with my opinion. I’ve used both, and have documented my tank under both lighting types (led & T5) in my journal. They both grow beautiful And colorful corals. They both have their pros and cons. Feel free to look me up, actually here the link, and make your own conclusion. If we take any advice from anyone in this thread @mitten_reef is the one to listen to. Not saying myself or @Matteo and I aren't knowledgeable enough,but mitten is a wizz !!! 1 1 Quote Link to comment
mitten_reef Posted August 17, 2020 Share Posted August 17, 2020 1 minute ago, Reefkid88 said: If we take any advice from anyone in this thread @mitten_reef is the one to listen to. Not saying myself or @Matteo and I aren't knowledgeable enough,but mitten is a wizz !!! Sorry, I'm far from a wizz, let me correct that statement. I have plenty of failures, but I've tried my best to share my first-hand experience with them. 4 Quote Link to comment
Matteo Posted August 17, 2020 Share Posted August 17, 2020 @mcarroll Please feel free to browse the builds of those who posted here with T5s https://www.nano-reef.com/forums/topic/406434-matteos-nuvo-40-lps-and-bta-reef-new-video/#comments https://www.nano-reef.com/forums/topic/380206-mochis-sushi-tank-750xxl-blues-whites-and-orange-filters-oh-my/ https://www.nano-reef.com/forums/topic/408179-🌊-80g-shallow-🐠-clownfish-spawned-❤️/#comments https://www.nano-reef.com/forums/topic/412803-40b-peninsula-build-new-lightagain😎/page/3/?tab=comments#comment-5969517 https://www.nano-reef.com/forums/topic/374445-mitten_reef’s-im30l-new-fts-724/#comments Also...being a reef forum...where's your build and example of anecdotal knowledge? 2 1 Quote Link to comment
Reefkid88 Posted August 17, 2020 Share Posted August 17, 2020 30 minutes ago, mitten_reef said: Sorry, I'm far from a wizz, let me correct that statement. I have plenty of failures, but I've tried my best to share my first-hand experience with them. Come on man,learn to take a compliment lol !!! 1 2 Quote Link to comment
Cyndrol Posted August 17, 2020 Author Share Posted August 17, 2020 you are more than welcome to share your opinion @mitten_reef lol What type of LED or T5 would you recommend for my tank? I mentioned the ATI Sunpower 6x54w, now I think it would be a bit overkill and go one smaller with a 6x39w. It should be more suited for my tank (maybe I am wrong). What do you think of two AI Hydras or similar LEDs like the Red Sea LED 50? Would that be a good choice or should I need to get more? What is your overall opinion on T5 expenses? Some say they are not much more expensive than LED, some say they are just eating money. Would love to hear your opinion. 2 Quote Link to comment
Reefkid88 Posted August 17, 2020 Share Posted August 17, 2020 Like I said in my opinion,when I had a 4 bulb t5 fixture,it was not much. Granted it was only 4x 24w fixture I barely saw an increase in my bill and swapped bulb every 10-10 months. My hybrid was barely noticable either. That was 2x 24w t5 and about 50-60w worth of royal blue and violet leds. 1 Quote Link to comment
mitten_reef Posted August 17, 2020 Share Posted August 17, 2020 21 minutes ago, Cyndrol said: you are more than welcome to share your opinion @mitten_reef lol What type of LED or T5 would you recommend for my tank? I mentioned the ATI Sunpower 6x54w, now I think it would be a bit overkill and go one smaller with a 6x39w. It should be more suited for my tank (maybe I am wrong). What do you think of two AI Hydras or similar LEDs like the Red Sea LED 50? Would that be a good choice or should I need to get more? What is your overall opinion on T5 expenses? Some say they are not much more expensive than LED, some say they are just eating money. Would love to hear your opinion. LEDs, specifically the programmable kind: I loved them, still do. Unlimited adjustability, but that also means unlimited places where things could go wrong, unfortunately. But when tuned right (and a lot of presets out there helped with that), corals really pop and it supports growth just fine. Prior to switching to 100% T5, my tank growths were good (most people would be more than happy to see my kind of growth) but polyp extensions were always so-so on the acros. Shadow/shading is real with LEDs, especially the point-source type. and I played around with a few led-pucks/led-bar hybrid layouts. Also another reason we're seeing the rise of led bars. T5s Ever since I put up my T5s in the past few months, growth has exploded. Now, the caveat is the tank may have just hit its stride, and it could have gone gangbuster under led as well, but the acros PE improvement is undeniable. shadowing is less - not all gone, but much much less. I'm now in the camp of T5 hybrid fan. while I have yet to run one myself, I've got a couple of things in planning right now. As for costs? I haven't thought about it much, and no that doesn't mean I don't sweat the cost. $80+ to fit out a 4-bulb 24" fixture was not an easy pill to swallow, especially if you wanna be on 6-month schedule. at the same time (if you're like me) we spend as much, if not more, on corals on regular basis. so we should spend enough on what will grow them well, and light source is #1 growth contributor. If you were to go with Hydra, I would go with no less than 3 fixtures, arranged perpendicular to the tank length, that way you have two rows of 3 pucks. Cranking two lights way up to get the 4 foot coverage creates peaks and valleys throughout areas of the tank. giving 3, you can lower the peak intensities, and have more even light across the tank. But I'd do 4 personally, that's where the costs of LED is baked into upfront vs ongoing bulb replacement. Just look around online, great led-lit tanks don't skimp on fixtures, they still all want to provide that even blanket of light. for T5, I'd stick with 4' fixture. maybe even scale back to 4 bulbs, and explore some led bars for the front and back. 6 Quote Link to comment
Cannedfish Posted August 17, 2020 Share Posted August 17, 2020 8 minutes ago, mitten_reef said: Shadow/shading is real with LEDs, especially the point-source type. and I played around with a few led-pucks/led-bar hybrid layouts. ^100% this. This is the reason I am considering adding two more Primes to my 10 gallon.... 1 3 1 Quote Link to comment
pokerdobe Posted August 17, 2020 Share Posted August 17, 2020 1 hour ago, mitten_reef said: If you were to go with Hydra, I would go with no less than 3 fixtures, arranged perpendicular to the tank length, that way you have two rows of 3 pucks. Cranking two lights way up to get the 4 foot coverage creates peaks and valleys throughout areas of the tank. giving 3, you can lower the peak intensities, and have more even light across the tank. But I'd do 4 personally, that's where the costs of LED is baked into upfront vs ongoing bulb replacement. Just look around online, great led-lit tanks don't skimp on fixtures, they still all want to provide that even blanket of light. for T5, I'd stick with 4' fixture. maybe even scale back to 4 bulbs, and explore some led bars for the front and back. I think this point deserves particular attention. The 4 fixtures is actually the bare minimum I would go with (assuming it's the double puck fixture). It may seem like overkill, but as other people mentioned, shadowing from point source lights is a problem and the only way to address it is to add more points of light. That upfront cost of multiple fixtures kills effective LED set ups. For example, I run 4 Radion XR30 pros (I would run at least 5-6 if I wasn't running a hybrid). At the old cost of 800 per fixture, that's basically $3,200 in fixtures (plus whatever I would actually need to mount/hang/etc). A 60" 8 bulb sunpower, which is what I would go for if I was going pure T5s, can probably be had for 700-800. Even with 8 bulb replacements at 25 per bulb per year, I would need to go through 12 swaps, which for me, is 12 years at a 1x annual swap before it catches a rough break even price. 12 years is a long time, which most likely by then, you would have swapped your old LED fixtures anyways. Another downside, which is overlooked, is the number of outlets you'll need. The sunpower dimmable is a single cord, single outlet beast. 4 LED fixtures require 4 bricks and 4 plugs. Dealbreaker? No. Annoying? Absolutely. For background purposes, I currently run an AquaticLife Hybrid 4 bulb T5 fixture with the aforementioned leds in the center. As @mitten_reef knows, I've been contemplating adding a 5th radion for some time now. My ideal fixture would actually be 6 T5 bulbs with 4-5 radions -Edit- The numbers I came up with are for my tank, which is significantly larger than yours. Just scale to adjust :). Except for the 4 fixture rec. I stand by that. 3 Quote Link to comment
NoOneLikesADryTang Posted August 17, 2020 Share Posted August 17, 2020 1 hour ago, Cannedfish said: ^100% this. This is the reason I am considering adding two more Primes to my 10 gallon.... I think you're kidding... Kind of. lol However, we've gone from a Hydra 26HD, to two primes on the tank keepers ADA 60P (17 gallon) SPS dominant tank, with a third waiting in the wings for when the shadowing really does come in to play. Putting two primes really smooths things out, versus one 26HD. 1 Quote Link to comment
Cannedfish Posted August 17, 2020 Share Posted August 17, 2020 1 minute ago, NoOneLikesADryTang said: I think you're kidding... Kind of. lol Hahaha... Nope. I have a third Prime ready, looking for a fourth... Soon as I find a Prime HD (non-16 HD) at a reasonable price... 4 2 Quote Link to comment
jcreefer Posted August 17, 2020 Share Posted August 17, 2020 I've always run T5 + LED hybrid for my 36in tank. IMHO, T5's has its place in the hobby, uniform lighting being its biggest asset. LED's has also proven it works with user defined controls, but the biggest drawback is spotlighting/shadowing. So the hybrid plays on both's strength and weakness and is a great complement to each other. Ask yourself this, which is more important, uniformity or shimmer? That will tell you which system you should look at. If budget is not a great concern, hybrid is something worth contemplating with. If you decide to go with hybrids, then ask yourself which light is the main light source. That answer will tell you what LED (and how many) you will need to promote coloration and growth. I love that Aquatic Life offers the BYOL option, the possibilities are endless. I heard Ryan @BulkReefSupply may be working on a single fixture that includes all of the major LED manufacturers to show them literally side by side over the tank. -Jeff 2 Quote Link to comment
Cyndrol Posted August 17, 2020 Author Share Posted August 17, 2020 How many T5s and what size would you guys recommend for my tank (47 inch long, 21 inch high, 17 inch wide)? I always read "get as many as you can fit over your tank". However the recommended chart says that a 4x39w ATI Sunpower would be enough to cover my tank. I would still like to get six T5s since you get more freedom in Bulb choices. Should I hang on to the 39w or 54w fixture? Also another question I have is if anybody has any experience with the Giesemann Matrixx 2 or Stellar Fixtures and how much better or worse are they compared to ATI? Is there ven a difference? They are more expensive, is the pricing justified? Quote Link to comment
NoOneLikesADryTang Posted August 17, 2020 Share Posted August 17, 2020 (edited) If you want some lower light areas on the edges of your tank, go with the 39w fixture. If you're wanting full even coverage of your tank, go for the 54w fixture (this was my choice, for our IM SR80, with very similar dimensions). I went with the 6 bulb, because I wanted the whole tank covered with even coverage... With that being said, if you're going to add LED supplemental bars, you could probably get away with 4 bulb pretty easily. Our Reef Brites are on the inside edge of the tank, at 9.5" above the water line. Edited to add picture. Sorry it isn’t a great picture, but it’s the best I have on my phone currently, that shows the light fixture. You can see how it pretty much runs the entire length and width of the tank. Edited August 17, 2020 by NoOneLikesADryTang Added a picture to post. 5 Quote Link to comment
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