LED and T5 Combo Input

[rushbattle]

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

The stand fascia and the floating canopy will end up being curly cherry and curly black walnut. It's a theme in my house, I use these two for most of my projects. I am not capable of fancy woodworking, but I can find nice lumber to compensate!

To be continued...

 

[rushbattle]

Update:

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 LEDs to the setup as well.

 

[rushbattle]

Any opinions on these 3-up stars to go with the aforementioned ten Blueacro pucks, three (80w) Blue Plus, two Purple Plus, one Actinic? There will be one of each of these per Blueacro puck, so ten of each:

 

[theatrus]

Any opinions on these 3-up stars to go with the aforementioned ten Blueacro pucks, three (80w) Blue Plus, two Purple Plus, one Actinic? There will be one of each of these per Blueacro puck, so ten of each:

Depends if you want to tune for warmth/white or tune for blue

I usually like having some tuning for warmth, but T5s are already good emitters in green so its a bit of a toss up.

 

[rushbattle]

Depends if you want to tune for warmth/white or tune for blue

I usually like having some tuning for warmth, but T5s are already good emitters in green so its a bit of a toss up.

The thinking is thus, the violet and blue only for super florescence at dawn and dusk, using your pucks for the more full spectrum ramp up. The other stars were to tune broad spectrum to balance out the blue predominance from the T5s for viewing stylos, porites, and other coral that don't fluoresce but lok great in full spectrum. I didn't think about how much green and red would be coming from the T5s, the lime/white/coolblue stars are probably unnecessary. I think I will end up with only Blue+ T5s, and use the LEDs for the rest, hence my white balancing broader spectrum idea.

 

[Steven Garland]

I love Steves and order mainly all of leds thru them,but LedSupply has a 3up where you can put 410-420nm and 400-410nm violets on a 3up or you can do all 3 violets. But they also have Cyan too. But its $22 for a one idk how much money you want to throw at them.

 

[rushbattle]

Depends if you want to tune for warmth/white or tune for blue

I usually like having some tuning for warmth, but T5s are already good emitters in green so its a bit of a toss up.

I think I am going to treat the T5s as just grow bulbs, and not worry about the aesthetics just yet. Your 48w pucks should look perfect on their own so I don't need anything to supplement. Then if I decide I need something to go with the mostly Blue+ T5, I can add that later because I have extra drivers and enough power in the supplies if I want to add something. Maybe after a while those inexpensive spectrometers will be working and I can see what I am working with before I add anything

I love Steves and order mainly all of leds thru them,but LedSupply has a 3up where you can put 410-420nm and 400-410nm violets on a 3up or you can do all 3 violets. But they also have Cyan too. But its $22 for a one idk how much money you want to throw at them.

That would be nice, I already have some really nice Luxeon violets from Blueacro on my main pucks but it might be nice to have a channel with just 400-440nm. Just wanted some pure blue/violet for evening pop, but I can just use the blue oriented channels on the Blueacro pucks. I think I am going to hold off on adding anything for a while. Thanks for the input!

 

[rushbattle]

Update: The glass for the tanks is finally ordered, so they should be done in a month or so. I went a bit bigger footprint, so I am going to have to hang the lights a bit higher. 72"x44"x27" tall for the display, and 72"x48"x18" tall.

I didn't order any supplemental LEDs either, going to give it a try first and then see what I think I need after getting it all together.

Does anyone have an opinion on putting a plexi G splash shield on the bottom of the floating canopy? Seems like a good idea but interested in other's thoughts.

 

[Dukereefnz]

Any update on your light build?
I am about to start a similar build and would like to know what T5 bulbs you went with?

My tank is 36 x 24 x 24
Plan is 4 x Blueacro pucks and 2 x T5's

 

[rushbattle]

I should be getting around to it in the next few months. There were some unforeseen problems along the way unrelated to the lighting setup.

 

[Dukereefnz]

You and i are in the same boat.
But I do not know what T5's to buy.... if you had to guess which would be your chose?

 

[rushbattle]

You and i are in the same boat.
But I do not know what T5's to buy.... if you had to guess which would be your chose?

If I had to just guess, I would pick whatever bulb you like. If you like bright white, go 6500k. If you like bright blue, go Blue+. Ultra fluorescence, actinic. Hope you end up with something you love!