Cheap actinic addition

[1badbrd]

Is there such a thing? I have 150g with (3) 250watt 14k Hamiltons but i would like just a little more blue. Is there a cheap way to add a little blue?

I mean are LED an easy and cheap way to add a little more blue to my color spectrum?

 

[scbauer]

LED's aren't cheap. Your best bet would be a T5 retrofit kit. Not sure how long your tank is but it shouldn't be too expensive. You can get just a single ballast with 2 bulbs and reflectors and it should give you the actinic you're looking for. T5 actinics look amazing!

-Scott

 

[scbauer]

As a side note, I have a 250W 14,000K MH over my tank and 4 24" actinics. Can't imagine my tank without the actinics.

 

[laud]

I bought a used ballast and end caps for VHO and then got 2 bulbs new for actinic. The whole thing cost roughly $130. Is that cheap enough? Otherwise, I guess you could get a smaller ballast and use just one bulb.

Good luck.

 

[1badbrd]

i do have VHO bulbs (48") from my old tank but i dont have a ballast, and i was thiking if i get a new ballast that might cost about $100, i need to do more research on cost of ballasts.

But i'm pretty good with DIY projects (for the most part) and i really curious how many LED's would i need to add just a little more blue depth to the tank.

I had 10k MH and VHO actinic and i thought that look good, but since i got my 150 tank i just used 14k and was pretty happy with growth and color but now a lot of my corals are gettingn to the size were i would like a little more color pop.

So with size and cost in mind i didnt know if a little DIY LED build was possible, but i still need to research the cost and difficulty on LEDs.

Being a 6 foot long tank i thought getting (4) 24-36" T5 bulbs and ballast and reflectors would cost well over $150.

How many t5 bulbs do you think i would need. A workhouse 7 (220watts) is $40 at a LFS

 

[Crawfish00]

T8 led actinic 40$ with ballest and shipping.. That's what I use and my corals POP!!

 

[1badbrd]

were abouts did you get them, any pics