T5 + LED on a nano

[TheSheff]

I'm just curious, has anyone in here done a hybrid t5/LED fixture on a nano tank? I have a 15 gallon with a kessil a160 but I'm curious if it would be beneficial at all.

 

[BanjoBandito]

T5/LED fixture is generally used to prevent "shading" and give a nice blanket of light. Paired with a LED it gives you "shimmer" and some more PAR. That seems like overkill for a 15 gallon, and that's coming from someone that ran an XR15 on a 10 gallon. lol. But I'm sure people have done it, the smallest T5 bulbs are 24" I think? I'm not sure an 18" fixture/bulb exists....but I'm no T5 expert so we'll see if anyone says anything.

 

[Nano sapiens]

I used to run (4) 12" T5s on a 12g nano (stock bulbs, came with the system's lighting). Was not enough 'punch' for even mid-light level coral.

For a brief time I ran (2) T5s and a number of LED 'Stunner Strips', which was an improvement.

Long story short, I ended up building my own wide-coverage LED array (think ATI Straton or CoralVue style) way back around 2013(?) to get the best of both (coverage and LED shimmer/fluorescence). Today there are many good LED commercial lighting options that are all a small nano needs, IMO.