Best design for this hybrid light

[Webmanny]

Hey guys,

I added this one to the national forums, but I trust this team better.

I'm playing around with the idea of a hybrid T5/LED combo light and would like your input on the best design.

This will be a 24" light with two T5 bulbs and 45 3W LEDs. Please note that I have built many lights in the past. Therefore, I am not looking for help with what LEDs I should use or the color of the bulbs, I am only looking for help with the best location for the T5 bulbs.

My question is, should I go with the T5 bulbs outside of the LEDs or inside the LEDs.

The two pictures below will help illustrate.

T5 bulbs on the inside of the lamp with LEDs outside.

T5 bulbs on the outside of the lamp with the LEDs inside.

 

[Nwest]

truthfully I don't think that would make to much difference.

 

[MrHarvard]

I would put one on the outside and one on the inside, basically alternating t5/led/t5/led. This should give you even coverage. If you want to keep it between the choices you have then I would definitely put them on the outside that will take care of any shading from the LEDs.

 

[CrazyEyes]

Can you fit another t5 in between the row of LEDs? I think t5/led/t5/led/t5 would be awesome. If not Id leave them on the outside.

 

[bmullikin1]

best would be like mike suggested,otherwise go w t5s on outsides, fills in the gaps that led wont cover, individual reflectors for all t5s or just outside ones even better.

 

[Webmanny]

Great suggestions everyone. I think I will try the T5/LED/T5/LED idea and see how it looks. Otherwise, I will go with inside LEDs, outside T5s. Thank you again.

 

[rogergolf66]

i would put one on the outside and one on the inside, basically alternating t5/led/t5/led. This should give you even coverage. If you want to keep it between the choices you have then i would definitely put them on the outside that will take care of any shading from the leds.

+1

 

[richgoose]

Here is another hybrid light build I will have to keep an eye on - I've pondered this configuration issue myself and am curious to see what comes of your efforts.

If you don't mind sharing your led list / driver info I'd be very interested to read it.

 

[Richocet83]

I have an LED/T5 combo and have my LEDs in the center and T5s on the outside. I run mine this way so the LEDs are focusing down directly over the coral/rock. The T5s are on the outside to add that extra light to the shaded surfaces the LEDs don't reach. Just my 0.02

 

[narms72]

Very interesting.

 

[Webmanny]

OK. Now is time to start discussing actual LED diodes placement and color combination.

Based on everything I have learned about full spectrum lights, pucks and successful lights in the market, I have come up with the design below. I believe that I have all the needed colors covered for this hybrid light, but wanted to get your input.

Please let me know what you think.

 

[CrazyEyes]

I'm just going to say this, I'd personally leave out all the CW, red and green. Id run all NW. Replace the green with limes, and replace the reds with 405 - 430nm.

 

[Webmanny]

I'm just going to say this, I'd personally leave out all the CW, red and green. Id run all NW. Replace the green with limes, and replace the reds with 405 - 430nm.

This is interesting. I would like some feedback from the team here to see what they have to say about this one. I trust your judgement, but everything I have found on full spectrum lights includes the color combinations I included.

Do you have any examples of these color combinations in use and maybe any positive results?

I would love to learn a bit more about this.

 

[CrazyEyes]

My favorite light uses these colors, and also cyan. Google NanoBox led and it should show some good results. I mean, the whole reason people use red is because it's a pretty important spectrum. Not alot of people like lower kelvin whites and royal blue because it gives a real purple look. But with the addition of lime it gets rid of the purple look and brightens the tank up, and the NW has enough red spectrum to not need red leds.

 

[richgoose]

The biggest deviation from standard is the ratio of blue to royal blue. Everything I have seen recommends 3:1 RB to blue.

See this note off the LED groupbuy website:

The XP-E blue should be used in combination with neutral white and royal blue over reef aquariums. Use one XP-E blue for every four XT-E royal blue or every one Luxeon M royal blue for a ~14K look. Using more than that can be detrimental, as our eyes can pick blue out much better than royal blue and the color of the light can quickly turn into a Windex blue.

I also agree with CrazyEyes about the lime chips - I have 5 in my fixture, I believe they help balance the perceived color temperature and they are supposed to pump out some decent PAR. I have a few red chips on OCW 3-ups - I would keep those and ditch the green for lime.

I disagree with the "go all NW" take - I have 3k, 4k, and 5k white chips and at peak photoperiod my tank looks like a shallow reef - there is a decent amount of yellowish/red that look to my eye very much like a shallow reef at high noon. I feel like that is really an issue of personal preference - use more WW chips if you enjoy a natural look - lean more toward NW / CW if you like the bluer / whiter light.

I am interested in what brand(s) of ships you are using, also what is your driver / dimmer setup?

 

[Webmanny]

Alright. Taking into account your feedback so far the information I found on the nano box setup. This is option 2. I also added the channel separation I may end up using. What do you think?

 

[ReefWreak]

I know I'm a "national forum" guy, but I really love what you're doing, and the idea of mixing the LED with the T5s, which I think needs to be explored a lot more than people are currently doing, to really bring good LED lighting to larger tanks than just nanos.

That's also a TON of light for a 24" wide tank IMO, but you'll see how it goes.

I think your color combination makes sense though. The bluer ratio that you have relative to what I'm running will probably make sense and be fine with your T5s. I haven't played with straight Blue LEDs much, but I definitely feel like with RBs only and the rest of the full spectrum that I have (see below) I am not missing out on any coloration. It's really well balanced, and I could tune it further if I wanted to take the time/effort with my current LEDs and maybe a third driver for CW/NW only or something.

For reference, I'm running a slightly modified RapidLED full spectrum color combination, I just replaced 2 of their CWs for NWs. I run the RBs on one channel at 1300ma and the rest at 700ma, both channels dimmed to 45%. I have fantastic coloration in my tank and from my acropora in my biocube.

My color combination is 6 CW, 2 NW, 10 RB, 1 G, 1 R, and 4 Violet, all solderless from RapidLED. I have a lime that I want to try out instead of the green. Apparently it'll make the light look "whiter" but honestly I don't feel like my tank is too purple right now. I think having the full spectrum is more valuable than having the B:W only combinations. I know there is spectrum overlap, so there shouldn't be a big difference, but honestly if it's wasted space, then why is every professional LED company going to full spectrum? Marketing (maybe)?

I most like that you just have a lot of different coloration to play with. Swap out a T5 to see a difference, swap out an LED, change up the dimming on some LEDs, and you can get all sorts of interesting colorations.

I still want to find a perfect substitute to the Reeflux 10k bulb, and get that bluest of blues out of my coral (they have a spike in amber, but there isn't really a good amber LED though there are some available).

Good luck!

 

[CrazyEyes]

The other thing to consider is using whites and royals together in a way that's going to give you the color temp you're really looking for, shouldn't be too hard if the whites and royal blues are on separate channels but for example, if you were going for a 14k look you'd want a 1:14 mix, so 1 part white and 14 parts royal blues. So if you had 100 lumens of white you'd want 1,400mw of royal blue, or as close as possible.

 

[Webmanny]

Very good feedback. Please keep it coming. I like where this is heading and I am exited to start this build.

To answer richgoose's question. The LEDs I use are eBay LEDs. I have been using these from China for a while now with great success. I'm growing LPS corals like there is no tomorrow. However, their coloration can get better and that is why I am exploring this hybrid light approach.

As far as power and dimmers goes. This is what I will use:

For the T5s. I will use the built in T5 Ballast [Output 2x24W] that came with the fixture I will convert to Hybrid and also the timer that it came with.

For the LEDs I will use a 12V 20A 240W Switching Power Supply Driver connected to a 240W Multi-function LED Programmable Timer Dimmer Controller. I currently use these for my current setup and I love all the flexibility and consistency I get from them. I have provided a few links below for you.

Power Supply

Controller

 

[CrazyEyes]

For the small extra cost I'd HIGHLY recommend and Meanwell HLG or CLG PS since they're both IP65 and IP67 rated.