aharrow
Active Member
Well I wanted to document my conversion from a T-5 / Metal Halide to T-5 / LED and show a step by step build in the event that other reefers out there wanted to convert an old T-5 Fixture to a T-5/LED.
Special thank you to Tim at Aquatics Elite for getting me some spare parts and outstanding customer service to rebuild this great fixture. If you are looking for a Sfiligoi fixture Tim is your guy.
I purchased my Sfiligoi Stealth fixture from a fellow reefer (Thanks Soccerbag) a couple years back and Craig hooked me up for a pretty sweet deal. The Stealth is 48" long by 20" and about 3.5" deep.
The fixture had some ballast issues and instead of a 12 bulb T-5 it was only working on about 6-8 bulbs. My preference at the time was metal halide and I decided to convert the unit to a 2 x 250 Radium MH and 4 t-5's as well as fitting in a standalone reefbrite LED. The problem with retrofitting this fixture for Metal Halide was the lack of clearance for the bulbs. I could not use the glass of the fixture because the bulbs would sit on them and too much heat. It worked well for several years and now I am ready to make the move from MH to LED. I will keep 6 T-5 Bulbs in the fixture.
So before I could take down my Stealth I had to build one half of the LED fixture. I purchased a kit from Bill at ReefLedLights that consists of 35 LED's that will mount on the 18" x 8.9" Heatsink. When the fixture is done I will have two of these kits for a total of 70 LED's. I will be running the following configuration for LED's. On each heat sink will be 35 stars consisting of 20 Cree 3W Premium Royal Blues, 10 Cree Premium XRE Cool Whites , and 5 XPG Cool Whites. I am using Carlco Optics and Inventronics pre-tuned Dimmable ballasts.
This isn't quite the 2-1 ratio I wanted to get the 20k look so I will supplement that by running 2 Blue T-5's, 2 fiji purple and 2 white. The white XPG LED's are the stronger brighter ones for a high noon affect. Since I will be at work during the day when the High noon whites are on bringing my spectrum down more along the lines of 12-14k it won't bother me, plus it offers some better growth spectrum. After the high noons turn off around 4pm, it will be back to a more 20k spectrum which is my preference when I am home.
So on to the pictures:
Here is the fixture retrofitted for MH in the center and 6 t-5s along with the reefbrite tucked in there as well. Not the cleanest retro but it worked.
Here is the fixture gutted and only the shell remains:
Here is the LED build for one half of the unit
Because I didn't want to see all those wires I cut a piece of Lexan to create a shield to hide the wires. I am very OCD and even though no one will ever see the wires up in the fixture, it drives me crazy.
So here is the shield painted metallic silver mounted over the heatsink. I think I am going to strip it and paint it black, not sure yet if I like the silver. The shield is seperated from the heatsink by 1/2" extender posts and each LED is cut out using a standard 1" Hole bore drill bit.
Special thank you to Tim at Aquatics Elite for getting me some spare parts and outstanding customer service to rebuild this great fixture. If you are looking for a Sfiligoi fixture Tim is your guy.
I purchased my Sfiligoi Stealth fixture from a fellow reefer (Thanks Soccerbag) a couple years back and Craig hooked me up for a pretty sweet deal. The Stealth is 48" long by 20" and about 3.5" deep.
The fixture had some ballast issues and instead of a 12 bulb T-5 it was only working on about 6-8 bulbs. My preference at the time was metal halide and I decided to convert the unit to a 2 x 250 Radium MH and 4 t-5's as well as fitting in a standalone reefbrite LED. The problem with retrofitting this fixture for Metal Halide was the lack of clearance for the bulbs. I could not use the glass of the fixture because the bulbs would sit on them and too much heat. It worked well for several years and now I am ready to make the move from MH to LED. I will keep 6 T-5 Bulbs in the fixture.
So before I could take down my Stealth I had to build one half of the LED fixture. I purchased a kit from Bill at ReefLedLights that consists of 35 LED's that will mount on the 18" x 8.9" Heatsink. When the fixture is done I will have two of these kits for a total of 70 LED's. I will be running the following configuration for LED's. On each heat sink will be 35 stars consisting of 20 Cree 3W Premium Royal Blues, 10 Cree Premium XRE Cool Whites , and 5 XPG Cool Whites. I am using Carlco Optics and Inventronics pre-tuned Dimmable ballasts.
This isn't quite the 2-1 ratio I wanted to get the 20k look so I will supplement that by running 2 Blue T-5's, 2 fiji purple and 2 white. The white XPG LED's are the stronger brighter ones for a high noon affect. Since I will be at work during the day when the High noon whites are on bringing my spectrum down more along the lines of 12-14k it won't bother me, plus it offers some better growth spectrum. After the high noons turn off around 4pm, it will be back to a more 20k spectrum which is my preference when I am home.
So on to the pictures:
Here is the fixture retrofitted for MH in the center and 6 t-5s along with the reefbrite tucked in there as well. Not the cleanest retro but it worked.
Here is the fixture gutted and only the shell remains:
Here is the LED build for one half of the unit
Because I didn't want to see all those wires I cut a piece of Lexan to create a shield to hide the wires. I am very OCD and even though no one will ever see the wires up in the fixture, it drives me crazy.
So here is the shield painted metallic silver mounted over the heatsink. I think I am going to strip it and paint it black, not sure yet if I like the silver. The shield is seperated from the heatsink by 1/2" extender posts and each LED is cut out using a standard 1" Hole bore drill bit.
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