LED and T5 Combo Input

[rushbattle]

Howdy All,

I am building a display and frag tank with a very similar footprint, 66"x40"x25" for the display and 66"x44"x16" for the frag tank. I am configuring the same lighting for both tanks so I don't have to do any spectrum acclimation, just match PAR between the tanks.

Currently I have this plan front to back:
2- T5 (60" and 80W)
60" Heatsink with 5 Blueacro Mega4Z Pro LED PCBs
2- T5 (60" and 80W)
60" Heatsink with 5 Blueacro Mega4Z Pro LED PCBs
2- T5 (60" and 80W)

I have Actinic and Blue Plus from ATI for the T5 bulbs for now, but that is subject to modification for sure, but the Mega4Z Pro are definite, already purchased. The LED PCBs are about 20K color balance.

It seems like I will need some combination of white/mint/lime/red LEDs added to the heatsinks to balance out the T5 bulbs. This is what I am asking for help with. I will have a 48V supply and two channels available per heatsink, with a max of 1A current from the Blueacro drivers.

Alternatively, a different T5 combo and whatever LEDs added to heatsink to compliment, or none at all if that's your opinion.

Any input anyone? Would be much appreciated!

Edit: This is the current plan, I will try to update the top post so you can see what I am doing.

The above setup will be supplemented with 3 blue plus bulbs, two purple plus, and one actinic T5s. For LED supplement I am currently thinking a tristar with neutral white, lime and cool blue or cyan LEDs. I have an extra channel that won't be used at first, so I can add more LED power to the setup as well.

 

[rushbattle]

I should add that I would like to keep corals that look good in full spectrum light like blue/purple acros/stylos etc. Yellow corals like turbinaria, etc. Pink corals. Etc.

I will also be keeping the green and fluorescing corals like rainbow/fluorescent acros, euphyllia, acans, etc. as well that look great in 420-450nm wavelengths.

 

[theatrus]

It seems like I will need some combination of white/mint/lime/red LEDs added to the heatsinks to balance out the T5 bulbs. This is what I am asking for help with. I will have a 48V supply and two channels available per heatsink, with a max of 1A current from the Blueacro drivers.

I'd also consider Purple Plus bulbs.

I'd personally skip adding too many Lime or Mint LEDs - they're great color correctors but don't add significantly to missing spectrum. If you want to lighten things up, a very high CRI (90+) white can smooth over peaks from the fluorescent bulbs. Cyan is also a good gap-fill for LEDs.

 

[rushbattle]

I'd also consider Purple Plus bulbs.

I'd personally skip adding too many Lime or Mint LEDs - they're great color correctors but don't add significantly to missing spectrum. If you want to lighten things up, a very high CRI (90+) white can smooth over peaks from the fluorescent bulbs. Cyan is also a good gap-fill for LEDs.

Thanks!!!

I ordered the Purple Plus to give them a shot as well, and I’ve asked Steve’s if they have some cyan LEDs to add the some 3 up boards. I would run a 5000k with them, but not sure of the third diode. Maybe a royal blue? Deep red on a different channel?

 

[rushbattle]

Anybody else with an opinion? @theatrus Thanls for your help!!!

 

[rushbattle]

@theatrus What wavelengths are you referring to specifically with Cyan? 500nm?

 

[rushbattle]

I guess I will keep updating this thread for future reference by myself and others. Steve's LEDs doesn't like Cyan because it fuels green nuisance algae growth. They suggested Lime instead, which Theatrus said to avoid.

So my solution is to run a string of 12w Luxeon 5000K quad diode stars to supplement the Blue Plus, Actinic, Purple Plus T5 bulbs. I have one more string of LEDs available for experimentation. I may do a couple IR, and 3up tristars with Cool Blue, 4000K White and Lime. I am sure these channels would be pretty low current. Would give me about 160 watts of white and other LED to balance 480w of T5 as shown above. Anybody have an opinion on this combo?

My Acrostar drivers and 48w PCBs will be here today, but I will be experimenting with these slowly as my tanks aren't started yet by @Tankme USA , so I have time to mess around with the floating canopy and LED balance. But I will need to buy a seneye or other spectrometer to see what I really have going. I have a PAR meter already so I just need the spectrum. Not that I would know what to do with it anyhow!

 

[Diamond1]

Don't know much about the color combos your using for the LEDs but I like the ATI bulbs. IMO the best fluorescent bulbs out there.

 

[Diamond1]

Are you planning on running these lights with a reef-pi? If so are you going to be using dimmable ballasts on the t5s?

 

[rushbattle]

Don't know much about the color combos your using for the LEDs but I like the ATI bulbs. IMO the best fluorescent bulbs out there.

Agreed, I've got 6 bulbs in use over each tank, and I bought 6 Purple Plus, 6 Blue Plus and 6 Actinic. I am thinking about running 3 BP, and then 2 PP and 1 Actinic, or 1PP and 2 Actinic.

 

[rushbattle]

Are you planning on running these lights with a reef-pi? If so are you going to be using dimmable ballasts on the t5s?

I will run the 5ft T5 ballasts on a timer, perhaps the pi will control it. There aren't any dimmable 5ft T5 ballasts that I have seen. I will use the Bluefish mini to control the LED drivers, just because it is easier to get running right away and I can take my time on the reef-pi stuff. I haven't even set one pi up with reef-pi yet and I am not that confident that I can get 6 channels working well before my tanks get here. But I haven't ordered the Bluefish mini's in case I find it super easy to get it running with reef-pi. I get my replacement pi tuesday as they damaged the one that should have been here already in shipment.

 

[Diamond1]

Agreed, I've got 6 bulbs in use over each tank, and I bought 6 Purple Plus, 6 Blue Plus and 6 Actinic. I am thinking about running 3 BP, and then 2 PP and 1 Actinic, or 1PP and 2 Actinic.

I think the 2 PP and 1 actinic option might be visually better since your LEDs are 20k. But that's probably just gonna come down to your personal preference for the overall color of your tank.

 

[rushbattle]

I think the 2 PP and 1 actinic option might be visually better since your LEDs are 20k. But that's probably just gonna come down to your personal preference for the overall color of your tank.

Agreed. But if I add the 12w 5000K Luxeon quad diodes (8 per tank), that might balance it out enough to run the other combo. I have so much going on that it is hard to figure out exactly what I need. Such is life with a somewhat large SPS tank and DIY.

 

[rushbattle]

Pretty sure I will have to experiment a bit with the LED and T5 bulb combinations, but working on the LEDs won't be super duper easy as they are mounted to 60" heatsinks in a floating canopy. I guess I am just lazy.

 

[Diamond1]

I was just looking at the Blue Acro leds. They look really cool. I like the fact that they come with a diffuser.

 

[rushbattle]

I was just looking at the Blue Acro leds. They look really cool. I like the fact that they come with a diffuser.

@theatrus did the good work! They look the worst for DIY LED because they are the most expensive per watt, but then you look at the spectrum and the reflector with diffuser and it starts to look like a much better option. With the reflector/diffuser combo they might be one of the best in light output into the tank per watt. I would have done a third row of Mega4Z Pros on both tanks, but T5s are both very diffuse and very cheap in comparison. So I went for T5 / Mega4Z combo. I also figure that more diverse spectra from multiple sources is better, but that is definitely not obvious or definite.

 

[Diamond1]

It looks like there was a lot of thought put into these LEDs. He did a great job.

 

[rushbattle]

Just an update to this thread with regards to reef-pi vs bluefish controller. reef-pi is super easy and can control 16 channels of PWM driver, or whatever signal you can control with a PWM output with some work, for $40 for the 5GHz raspberry pi 3 a+ and the PCA9685 board. Well, if you power supply doesn't have a 5VDC output you need a $5 or less buck converter to power the rpi. I will be going this route instead of bluefish because of the cost savings and I want to support reef-pi efforts as much as I can. Hopefully my 6 channel setups will be impressive enough that others are inspired to give it a shot and build some momentum for the reef-pi project. It is looking like sometime in the next few years reef-pi will rival even Apex in functionality and in some ways be better because it is open and more flexible than Apex which is driven by profitability primarily. Which is understandable because they are a business.

 

[Diamond1]

Just an update to this thread with regards to reef-pi vs bluefish controller. reef-pi is super easy and can control 16 channels of PWM driver, or whatever signal you can control with a PWM output with some work, for $40 for the 5GHz raspberry pi 3 a+ and the PCA9685 board. Well, if you power supply doesn't have a 5VDC output you need a $5 or less buck converter to power the rpi. I will be going this route instead of bluefish because of the cost savings and I want to support reef-pi efforts as much as I can. Hopefully my 6 channel setups will be impressive enough that others are inspired to give it a shot and build some momentum for the reef-pi project. It is looking like sometime in the next few years reef-pi will rival even Apex in functionality and in some ways be better because it is open and more flexible than Apex which is driven by profitability primarily. Which is understandable because they are a business.

I couldn't agree more! I love the versatility and expansion capabilities of reef-pi. If I were to buy an Apex with all the stuff I have on my reef-pi, I would be into Apex for well over a grand. As it is my reef-pi is coming in at around $275-$300. My next project for it is to build my existing LEDs into a hybrid system and adding dimable ballasts to my t5s.

 

[naterealbig]

Hi rushbattle - checked out the led website you're using, and those look awesome. Well planned and well engineered. I definitely would take advantage of the customizable LED assemblies.

Since you've got ten, I'd definitely mix it up enough to give you some flexibility on color temperature. You mentioned floating canopy - what will you make this out of?

Best - Nathan