Importance of LED when supplementing with T5

[scar79]

Looking for your thoughts on the importance of the LED when it comes to building a T5/LED fixture.

I ask because I used to run my tank (48"x24"x27") with two Radions (not pro, no UV) and was never quite happy with SPS colors. I have decided to put my 4x54w Miro retro kit back into use. The question is, do I keep my Radion Gen2s or replace them with two Kessil A360Ws?

My thoughts are that since I'm running the four tubes of T5, I don't need the eleventeen different channels, power, or spread of the Radions. I never ran them past 60-70% either when they were alone. The kessils offer a smaller footprint, simpler function (goodbye apex WXM module), and save some money.

 

[dendrite]

for 150.00 dollars apiece you can upgrade your radions to a G3, and for 250.00 dollars apiece you can upgrade your G2's to G3 pros. So for a lot less money you can still have your eleventeen channels and all the bells and whistles of the radions.

 

[jda]

I would spend the money on a few more T5 tubes if you were not happy with the LEDs.

 

[rovster]

Just keep the Radions and you should be good, especially with 4 tubes. Mine are g2 pro but I also run 4 tubes....

 

[scar79]

Looking good! Happy with color and growth? Have any pictures of the fixture with the lights off?

 

[rovster]

Its not a fixture, just a rack that sits on my Ecotech rack/rails. Growth was always decent with just the radions. Unfortunately adding of the T5 coincided with some major alk swings so its hard to tell what kind of difference the T5 made. Now the growth has been really picking up, again hard to judge how much is T5 and how much is stable Alk. My pieces are also much larger now, and we all know that the growth starts to snowball as the pieces reach that critical size.

This is what the rack looks like...


It bolts directly to the ecotech rails. Looks somewhat finished. I just need to hide the wires and run them through the wall.