★Ultimate DIY Lighting Canopy★ (T5,Kessil, T5 Dimmable, LED, LED) Combo: THE JOURNEY

[kevin32]

This should be sticky!! Great info Wally. My LET miro t5s are up and running. Thanks for ur help.

 

[Wally.B]

Oops.

Noticed I didn't put the URL to the GYRE Controller (MOD) project in post above.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2513254

 

[Wally.B]

Extended T5 Life, since Kessil is doing most of the DISPLAY Lighting work.

I didn't plan this when building the lighting setup.

I was starting to think about when I need to replace the T5's. Normally to be safe I'd replace every 6 months, not when they burn out.

But when I did the calculations on the fact that Full T5's run only a couple of hours a day, and the T5 Dimmables are even used less (since running at various dim levels).

I only really need to replace my T5's once a year!! (since the Kessil does most of the lighting work).

Cool! [I Hate keeping track of T5 expiry dates]

Also. I'm saving on Electricity Costs, with Efficient LED Kessil.

 

[Wally.B]

TANK Photo Update (After 4 months with new Lighting)

The tank is doing really well, under the New Lighting setup. (Don't miss the MH lights at all).

I had a bit of an Algae cycle for a few weeks, but it stabilized. Near Zero Algae at this point, and hardly any snails or CUC.

It took me a while to figure out lighting Intensities, and Photo Periods, but I'm getting close.
(The most I can Set the Kessil at this point is 40% intensity, to have the Acans open up.)

- Frogspawns & Torches took a while to adjust but love they the lighting now.
- The Finger Leather doing is ok but is giving me hints it wants more light to polyp up (That why it's at the top).
- Acans and Ricordias were most sensitive and I'm still adjusting their placements.
- Zoa's are still baffling me (Why some grow, and other just fade away), might not be lighting related (Not sure what is).

What also helped in general was getting rid of the Gyre, and running the tank at much lower Circulation with 3 cycling power heads.

Figured out how to get a Actinic shot with my Camera. (White Balance reference works great)

Full Spectrum (All lighting on @ 100%)

 

[moatdaddy]

love the build, think its a spot on idea to mix t5 and LED, awesome work and thanks for sharing. So i looked at those kits for the T5, i liked them then saw these also on brs. Not dimmable but may do the trick also. I was thinking same thing for my new build, LED in middle, and two sets of T5 on outside. I would use different cheaper LED, and maybe these t5. Thoughts?

http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/48-sun-blaze-t5-ho-lighting-fixture-sunlight-supply.html

 

[Devaji108]

and this is where canopies come in. I kinda miss them sometimes been quite a few years since I had one.

amazing write up. read the whole thing just because it was interesting. if this was a school project you get:
A+

 

[Wally.B]

love the build, think its a spot on idea to mix t5 and LED, awesome work and thanks for sharing. So i looked at those kits for the T5, i liked them then saw these also on brs. Not dimmable but may do the trick also. I was thinking same thing for my new build, LED in middle, and two sets of T5 on outside. I would use different cheaper LED, and maybe these t5. Thoughts?

http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/48-sun-blaze-t5-ho-lighting-fixture-sunlight-supply.html

You can use whatever works for you. Especially the LED add-ons.
They are more for visual, and for me the 5050 SMB strips are the look I spend looking at my tank the most (evening).
They 5050 are Cheap, and my BLUE strip has a nice blue glow, for lighting up florescence in the corals.
My 2nd 5050 white strip is also a good choice for low heat but good visual (both 5050 LEDS are not for Coral growth, but both also not for Algae growth so you can run them on (one or both) for as long as you want to look at your tank).

Since I only went for 4x 3ft T5's (Staggered) on 4 Ft tank, my Kessil is the ideal filler, and the extra boost in lighting. Which I am just now realizing I need. 4x T5 is not quite enough (at current photo period). So I am ramping up the Kessil power.

The only thing that that BRS video you pointed me to didn't talk about, is that some of the "all-in-one" T5 Fixtures have the Ballasts in the fixture (so heat from bulb and heat from Ballast). I prefer at the cost of running wires to place ballasts outside of the canopy, so their heat is not above tank, but in my cabinet underneath (which has nothing, since my sump is basement below).
Obviously this is not for everyone.

And don't worry about the Dimmable T5. Not sure if it's worth the extra money. I did like it for when I couldn't figure out my Zoa lighting needs to tune the lights. But if you go with pairs of T5's (ie 1 pair, or better two pairs, three pairs), you can turn each pair on/off to do combos with different bulb types.

 

[Wally.B]

FINALLY (Got Lighting Setting figured out for ALL Corals to Like it!! ) :
So after months of tuning the lights to get all kinds of Corals to get Happy, I think I have reach a ideal setting.

I had issues with Zoa's not liking the Kessil, then LPS not having enough light, to other acclimatization challenges.

I make this programming change as below (to lower Kesil Intensity) during the time when T5's come on (T5 Full Pair, and T5 Dimmable Pair).

And kaboom!! All corals are Happy at the same time, all day. Zoa's Open up. Acan's Stay open. LPS all have enough light for glow.
Been like 3-4 days.

 

[Wally.B]

** JUST ONE (CAUTION/WARNING) Never use a RGB 5050 Strip. I did that, and I strongly feel that using Red, Green, Blue LEDS combined, resulted in a Algae problem since I was using (Red and Blue), with the (Green) at full power, to make white. Use White 5050 if you want White. ***

(RED and BLUE) is ideal for Algae Growth (RED specifically, with a bit of Blue)