T5 with led for shimmer

[Bfofre]

Anyone have experience (real life)  with adding some stunner strips to a 6 bulb t5 fixture to get a shimmer effect?

I have read that the  8k led strips give the best shimmer effect.. 
But how many?  Does it work?

I'm not convinced after reading reading reading that I want to ditch my t5 lighting for straight up led,  but i do want to achieve the shimmer that my moonlights give...

Hoping someone has some experience with this!

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[Salty Cracker]

I don't comment much on LED because everyone has their own opinion on things, and I only know what I know, and even not always then.

If you want shimmer you need optics and water movement, plain and simple.  More water movement, more shimmer.  However, I'm only familiar with CREE bulbs, and 65-80 deg optics.  Whites will give you more shimmer but colour is crappy.  Blues give a little less shimmer but there is nothing on the market that can make your tank look better than RB led's.  If you're coming to fragfest check out my display, it's all blue and UV leds, and it was described by one person as "false advertising" because it makes the corals look so awesome, but it's not false advertising because if you have blue LEDs the corals will look the same in your tank

I'm 100% LED, I get good light and good colour, however I have to be very diligent on water changes and coral feedings.  Probably more than if I was conventional T5 and/or MH. 

 

[Bfofre]

I don't comment much on LED because everyone has their own opinion on things, and I only know what I know, and even not always then.

If you want shimmer you need optics and water movement, plain and simple.  More water movement, more shimmer.  However, I'm only familiar with CREE bulbs, and 65-80 deg optics.  Whites will give you more shimmer but colour is crappy.  Blues give a little less shimmer but there is nothing on the market that can make your tank look better than RB led's.  If you're coming to fragfest check out my display, it's all blue and UV leds, and it was described by one person as \"false advertising\" because it makes the corals look so awesome, but it's not false advertising because if you have blue LEDs the corals will look the same in your tank

Ok, I'll be over to check it out...

I'm 100% LED, I get good light and good colour, however I have to be very diligent on water changes and coral feedings.  Probably more than if I was conventional T5 and/or MH.


Why is this???

 

[Salty Cracker]

To be honest, I think it's kind of touch and go on spectrum with LED.  I think the technology is still in it's infancy.  I wasn't having much luck with colour in my original build, so I swapped in some "UV" bulbs (440nm I think), and removed a bunch of whites and the reds and suddenly I had much better growth, but I find feeding and water changes takes that up another notch.  If I don't feed, I notice a decrease in growth tips, if I don't do consistent water changes (15 gal every week), I notice a decrease in colour.  Who knows could be the same thing with T5s.  Anyway, like I said it's a bit tricky to get it right...I'm on year 2 of LED and still going strong so I am to the point of completely leaving them alone until a bulb burns out or a driver fails (have not had a single driver failure in 1.5 years, and I have 9 drivers running daily). 

I don't have any experience with pre-assembled units so I don't comment on them. 

 

[reeferkeeper420]

Yeah your tank looks amazing salty...im still jelous lol.

 

[reeffreak]

To be honest, I think it's kind of touch and go on spectrum with LED.  I think the technology is still in it's infancy.  I wasn't having much luck with colour in my original build, so I swapped in some \"UV\" bulbs (440nm I think), and removed a bunch of whites and the reds and suddenly I had much better growth, but I find feeding and water changes takes that up another notch.  If I don't feed, I notice a decrease in growth tips, if I don't do consistent water changes (15 gal every week), I notice a decrease in colour.  Who knows could be the same thing with T5s.  Anyway, like I said it's a bit tricky to get it right...I'm on year 2 of LED and still going strong so I am to the point of completely leaving them alone until a bulb burns out or a driver fails (have not had a single driver failure in 1.5 years, and I have 9 drivers running daily). 

I don't have any experience with pre-assembled units so I don't comment on them.

Sounds like a headache and a pain in the ass. I pick my T5 bulb colour and put them in and .... Done.

Way to much messing around with junk for those LED just to find out it's hit or miss 

 

[Salty Cracker]

[quote author=Salty Cracker link=topic=8396.msg89585#msg89585 date=1397190923]
To be honest, I think it's kind of touch and go on spectrum with LED.  I think the technology is still in it's infancy.  I wasn't having much luck with colour in my original build, so I swapped in some \"UV\" bulbs (440nm I think), and removed a bunch of whites and the reds and suddenly I had much better growth, but I find feeding and water changes takes that up another notch.  If I don't feed, I notice a decrease in growth tips, if I don't do consistent water changes (15 gal every week), I notice a decrease in colour.  Who knows could be the same thing with T5s.  Anyway, like I said it's a bit tricky to get it right...I'm on year 2 of LED and still going strong so I am to the point of completely leaving them alone until a bulb burns out or a driver fails (have not had a single driver failure in 1.5 years, and I have 9 drivers running daily). 

I don't have any experience with pre-assembled units so I don't comment on them.

Sounds like a headache and a pain in the ass. I pick my T5 bulb colour and put them in and .... Done.

Way to much messing around with junk for those LED just to find out it's hit or miss 
[/quote]

[quote author=Salty Cracker link=topic=8396.msg89585#msg89585 date=1397190923]
To be honest, I think it's kind of touch and go on spectrum with LED.  I think the technology is still in it's infancy.  I wasn't having much luck with colour in my original build, so I swapped in some \"UV\" bulbs (440nm I think), and removed a bunch of whites and the reds and suddenly I had much better growth, but I find feeding and water changes takes that up another notch.  If I don't feed, I notice a decrease in growth tips, if I don't do consistent water changes (15 gal every week), I notice a decrease in colour.  Who knows could be the same thing with T5s.  Anyway, like I said it's a bit tricky to get it right...I'm on year 2 of LED and still going strong so I am to the point of completely leaving them alone until a bulb burns out or a driver fails (have not had a single driver failure in 1.5 years, and I have 9 drivers running daily). 

I don't have any experience with pre-assembled units so I don't comment on them.

Sounds like a headache and a pain in the ass. I pick my T5 bulb colour and put them in and .... Done.

Way to much messing around with junk for those LED just to find out it's hit or miss 
[/quote]

The only counter I have to this, because yeah it's true, is that when I was using conventional bulbs I had what I think were severe spectrum swings.  I had the following issues:

inconsistent bulbs (usually cheap ebay ones)
inconsistent spectrum (from leaving bulbs installed too long)
Problems I couldn't nail down (from a faulty ballast that took me forever to diagnose)
Expense(!).  Holy crap replacing T5's, PC and MH bulbs costs a fortune!

Now that I have the bulbs set, I don't have to worry about any of the above...so for me I wouldn't go back...

If I was to go back to "real" lights, I would want more redundancy (more ballasts and drivers instead of less) and unlimited funds so that I could swap out T5's every 6 months and MH every 12.  I would likely rotate it so that I am swapping out one bulb every month kind of thing.  To me, that sounds like more of a pain in the ass

 

[Bfofre]

Salty....This is what i'm thinking for my plan...
L
I have a 4 bulb Current T5 HO setup i totally forgot about...
It's about 7" wide.
So here is what i'm thinking over my 90

2 x 165w LED fixtures (china), on 10-12 hrs per day
4x 54 T5 Current fixture (with ATI Blue +) on 4-6hrs, when i'm not home...
Then i get for sure coverage, and get the shimmer look i want when I'm home viewing the tank!!

or alternatively....Startup each day with my t5's for first 4-6hrs, then on with the LED's for afternoon and evening..


What you think??  Opinions...

 

[Duke]

your going to fry your coral.. thats too much led imo.  not to mention theres no way to evenly space a 4 bulb fixture and 2 led fixtures without gutting the t5s and using each bulb individually. why not DIY a few RB led strips.. get your shimmer, run 2x blue plus 1x actinic + and an aquablue special or coral +

 

[Bfofre]

Duke,
Can you explain to me how i've seen others running MH and these LED fixtures...
I would think that is even more powerful then what i'm proposing...

 

[Duke]

Duke,
Can you explain to me how i've seen others running MH and these LED fixtures...
I would think that is even more powerful then what i'm proposing...

they have huge tanks.. if your tank is a standard 90 gallon i dont think that combo will work out very well in terms of even coverage. usually you want to mirror your lighting on all sides.. so the right side is equal to the left.. and the front to the back.. like i said if you gut the fixture and run 2x t5's on each side of the leds that might work better.. but running a 4 bulb t5 in the front and the leds in the back probably wont work good, or even look good for that matter. i use t5's and LEDs, i have 90 leds 60 blue and 30 white running at 100% and about 60% respectively. with 2 t5's(blue+ and purple+) mixed in that come on for peak lighting times, im happy and with my tank and i know 2 more t5's would be pushing it for my tank, more light isnt always better. i get lotsa shimmer if you check out my youtube videos.

blue only

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUYoNCBKuMA

t5's and leds on

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hilgkGGX39w

 

[Bfofre]

Thanks Duke..
That was a very informative post for me...especially with the videos!!

Ok some more details about your lights please??


What about the D120 i am looking at??? Could i go this way with a 2 bulb t5 retro?? 1 t5 bulb on each side?

 

[Duke]

Thanks Duke..
That was a very informative post for me...especially with the videos!!

Ok some more details about your lights please??


What about the D120 i am looking at??? Could i go this way with a 2 bulb t5 retro?? 1 t5 bulb on each side?

thats something i think you should look into, i've never owned that light, but i've seen a few of those similar ones here and there and they all look good to me.. the t5's will surely add that little bit of color, if its possible to custom order the led colors i'd go without the reds, maybe replace  them with more RB ones. you could probably sell that t5 fiture and buy a retrofit kit and save some money, or go all out and run all 4 t5's but just stagger all the lighting so its kinda ramping up and down during the day. i just dont think youll be happy with the spread and look without modifying it all so your t5's are on either sides of the LEDs

 

[Bfofre]

Oh....what's more money...
If you saw my extra equipment list...well...i'm ready to start a aquaculture farm..LOL!!

I'll look for a 2 bulb retro first...shouldn't be hard to find..

What LED do you have?

 

[Duke]

Oh....what's more money...
If you saw my extra equipment list...well...i'm ready to start a aquaculture farm..LOL!!

I'll look for a 2 bulb retro first...shouldn't be hard to find..

What LED do you have?

they are bridgelux from aquastyle online

 

[pulpfiction1]

very nice videos indeed duke,i wish i could get that kind of wave action without noise in my overflow

 

[Jewel]

I had a 6 bulb T-5 but I thought I get a little more pop so I acquired a Reef Brite 50/50 strip and screwed to the front of my fixture, I was really looking for more blue. After awhile I thought I had way too much light. I liked the shimmer for sure but just too much light on my LPS tank.  I took it off and it sits over my fuge now.

 

[Bfofre]

Did you get shimmer with your t5 and led on at the same time?

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[Jewel]

Yes I did, It was nice for sure, it made me think about building an LED light, But the T-5 light fits perfectly on my tank. It's a Guismann Reflexx, So I gutted it, bought a replacement T-5 fixture and I'm in the process of building the LED in the T-5 housing.

 

[benzzz]

Duke your video was stunning. Beautiful tank