Mixing T5s & LEDs

M

matt_longview

Looking for opinions on mixing T5s and LEDs...

I'm wanting to grow out SPS in a frag tank. Some Acros for sure... so I'm looking to have around 700 par.

Each tank is 48" x 12" x 12". Each tank will have two 48" T5s with individual reflectors (one ATI white, one KZ Fiji Purple) and LEDs between the two.

The heatsink for the LEDs will be approx 3.5" wide and 48" long. They'll be 3w bridgelux LEDs (80 degree optics) with dimmable meanwell drivers. How many LEDs would you recommend?

I'm thinking either 36 or 48... with them being dimmable I'm leaning towards 48 just because... well... why not? Better coverage and I can dim them if I need to. However... if 36 will give me the PAR I'm looking for and enough people say it'll be just fine I'll go 36 and buy three sets instead of two.

Remember, the tank is only 12" deep, and Acros would be up on a frag rack so that they're at least 6" up in the tank.

Thoughts?
 
700 par is too much you will fry the corals. On my LEDs at highest par at the coral it is 375-400 with pumps off. Being only 12" deep tank prob can go no optics


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That's good news. I believe I can hit those par numbers quite easily.

I think I've put together a decent plan. I'm going to go for 14 cool white LEDs and 28 royal blue LEDs (total of 42 LEDs) with 80 degree optics ran by Meanwell dimmable drivers. That's 14 LEDs per driver with a 2:1 blue:cool white ratio. I can use the T5's to mix the color and fill in the spectrum. I'm thinking 1 aquablue special and 1 KZ Fiji purple. That'll give me a spectrum similar to a phoenix 14k MH with a higher peak at 450 because of the 2:1 LED ratio. I should get very high par numbers with this setup as well. If the price is right, I could go with these lights over all three of my frag tanks. If not, I'll start off with two tanks setup this way and 1 tank with three T5s over it (likely for undata, monti caps and birdsnests... maybe digitatas).
 
Screw all of this research and data. I did the math and buying all LEDs instead of running the T5s will pay itself off in just over 1 year. So I'm buying all LEDs instead of mixing with T5s. lol.
 
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