New light help t5 vs D120

[killersnake0]

Hello everyone
I will soon be buying a new light for my 29 biocube. I am trying to pick between
A full spectrum D120 or a four buld HOt5 fixture. Any input would be helpfull

What would you pick? And why?
Thanks
Dan

 

[Webmanny]

I can tell you from personal experience that the D120 is a much better choice, as it will be the last light you will buy for this tank. I know that some here will disagree because of growth and things of that nature, but IMHO unless you are planning on keeping solely high light demanding SPS corals, you should do what I did. Go with the D120.

The reasons are many:

• Low power consumption
• Lower heat generation
• Longer lasting (50K hours)
• Great flexibility for PAR control
• Fully dimmable for Sunrise and sunset effects(This requires a small add on from eBay. PM me if you need the item number.)
• Much better colors from coral.
• etc.

Check the link below for some of the pictures of my Biocube LED conversion. Good luck.

Link:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2463570

 

[Vorog]

New light help t5 vs D120

I have t5's currently running on my nano. However, I was thinking about switching to a full spectrum led fixture. I really like the control you can get with LED's. And imo LED fixtures look better hanging, than a bulky t5 fixture lol. Just my 2 cents though.

P.s. I'm not saying t5's are bad. I have great success with coral growth. And ATI bulbs look amazing! I just want more options on spectrum, less heat, and control!

 

[bigzman]

I am doing both and mike i think is running the IT units. Granted larger tank
I have 3 d120 and 2 t5 60inche

 

[rogergolf66]

Well really for your small tank it comes down to heat. I have run the d120 and I personally don't think my corals looked as good as they do under t5 that being said I think the d120 grew the coral quicker.

You r talking 4 2ft. T5 power is a bit lower with the t5 bulbs they the d120 watt unit so power pretty even heat will be less with d120.m

It's up to u. People have done well with both. What kind of corals r you going to keep?

 

[Webmanny]

I've received a few PM's about the sunrise and sunset controller I added to my LEDs. Therefore, I've decided to share with all. I will try to take a video of the accelerated mode tomorrow and post it here.

Meanwhile, here is the product from eBay. Super easy to program and works great.

http://m.ebay.com/itm/141501136006

 

[asmodyus]

From What I have leanerd and seen T5 will give you all around best color and growth. I have 8 T5 on my 120 and its amazing how nice and fast they are growing yes yearly up keep. Led seem to be hit or miss always fast growth. Color depending on the LED and percentage. Now there A lot of talk about the Hybrid LED/T5 ATI and Guiessman (probably spelled that wrong) are now building new fixture with both.

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/blog/giesemanns-new-aurora-hybrid-led-t5-lighting-system

Man if I had the money that would be my route.

 

[Webmanny]

As promised, below is the link to the auto dimmer accelerated x256. This is a built in feature for you to test it before you upload it to the dimmer.

Please note that fade in and fade out takes 30 minutes in my tank, but you can change it to whatever you want.

http://webmanny.com/post/107358581048/a-quick-video-of-the-automated-dimming-feature-on

 

[nctinter]

Thank you webmanny! How are you controlling this? Can this be controlled by an Apex?

 

[Webmanny]

I have it plugged to my PC4 on my RKL, but it is solely for the security in case temp goes too high or something along those lines. The controller I mentioned above, which I got on eBay is the one that handles the automatic sunrise and sunset function.

The link and photo are on my previous posts here. Also, please note that my LED light is 100% DIY, which is why I can add this feature. I am not sure how much you can do to the D120, but I have one on my frag BioCube and I will research and test this when I get home tonight and let you know.

 

[Tryder]

First question should be what corals are you growing?

If your only options are the T5s or Chinese LEDs
Growing mostly sps go T5s
everything else D120

I've had the D120s over my tank yes the did grow corals like pearl berry acro, red planet, and some others but the color was not was I expected compared to T5/MH.

BTW when I had the d120s my tank crashed when i restarted i went with the it2080 trashed those after 6 months, then went back to MH Radiums. If i was going to go LED I would just go all in on the Radions.

 

[killersnake0]

Thank you everyone