Keep the radiums and skip the T5 and LEDs except for dusk/dawn.
Phoenix 14K look VERY similar to the radiums - they are not any whiter. I use both, although my Phoenix 14K are DE but still on M80. I don't use any tubes or LED - just halides on/off.
TDB's 320 SPS Rebuild
- Thread starter tdb320reef
- Start date
Keep the radiums and skip the T5 and LEDs except for dusk/dawn.
Phoenix 14K look VERY similar to the radiums - they are not any whiter. I use both, although my Phoenix 14K are DE but still on M80. I don't use any tubes or LED - just halides on/off.
I'm really interested to follow along and see how you like the lighting combo. I switched to 3 250 radiums on galaxy electronic ballasts about 10 months ago and am very happy with them. At one point I also had 4 80 watt t5s as supplements by ended up just using them for dusk/dawn. I tried a couple different combos of acticinics, blue + and coral + and always seemed to prefer the radiums by themselves. I just upgraded my reflectors and redid my light rack and am considering replacing the t5s with leds. I've been going back and forth between a full spectrum build or just the rapid led royal blue kit.
tdb320reef
Active member
Honestly I could actually get away with running T5 and led only as the par will be about 300 at the shelf. I have 2 Radiums on one outlet and the other 2 on individual outlets so I was thinking about staggering them 2 hours each. I think once i get the T5 led combo working correct I should be okay with the Radiums.
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tdb320reef
Active member
It is a great kit with everything you need. My only suggestion is if you order them try to negotiate more regular Blue in your mix. The Cree Royal Blues are Like a Dark Navy Blue and I am quite disappointed with the look in comparison with my old Evergrow panels.
I am going to have to Pull the Rack and add about 32 Regular Blues which will be another 100 and a days worth of work removing the old and soldering in the new ones.
As Far as T5's I have been running an 8X80 watt on my Frag system and I am getting great colors, The look of the T5's are great and I am very happy with the unit and the low watt draw with the great coverage. Also, I was at Cherry Corals the other day and they have one Raceway under 400 Watt Radiums and the other under ATI t5's and to me the corals under the T5's looked much more vivid and healthier. For SPS corals I think T5's might be the best which is why I added them.
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tdb320reef
Active member
Man SRO really did it right with this skimmer. 12" body with a DC pump. Unfortunately I need to take the Trim from the stand apart to get it in the sump. Ill post a video of it running so stay tunned!
tdb320reef
Active member
Well its been 3 fusterating days of removing Fish, Sand, Rock, rewireing the system, installing the new skimmer and adding Blues to my DIY light.
I have the rock work in place and am happy. Not by the look but functionality. Imagine it being covered all with acros.
I have the rock work in place and am happy. Not by the look but functionality. Imagine it being covered all with acros.
jackson6745
Yeah Yeah
The corals look great in the frag system! That's a heck of a lighting system over the display. Looking forward to seeing you back.
tdb320reef
Active member
Progress update
Progress update
Morning All,
I finished the rock work and finalized the lighting and am very satisfied with the look. I have a few test colonies as the new rock breaks in.
In the final light design I ended up with:
4 250 Watt Radiums with Lumenmax 2 pendant reflectors
96 Cree Royal Blue leds running at 700 MA
24 Cree Blue leds running at 700MA with 90 degree optics
6 ATI Blue + 48" T5 over driven to 80 watts
2 ATI Coral + 48" T5 over driven to 80 watts.
8 Cree Royal Blue LED running at 350 MA for Moons.
The light is incredible and I have not seen better lighting with my own two eyes.
I also finalized the rock work. While it looks to be sitting on the bottom it is actually suspended to allow an underflow. I am going to get two of gyre pumps to keep continuous flow at the bottom of the shelf.
The only issue is that new skimmer is not pulling skimmate like my old SRO 5000 which is prob. because I changed half of the water getting the sand out.
Stay tuned.
Progress update
Morning All,
I finished the rock work and finalized the lighting and am very satisfied with the look. I have a few test colonies as the new rock breaks in.
In the final light design I ended up with:
4 250 Watt Radiums with Lumenmax 2 pendant reflectors
96 Cree Royal Blue leds running at 700 MA
24 Cree Blue leds running at 700MA with 90 degree optics
6 ATI Blue + 48" T5 over driven to 80 watts
2 ATI Coral + 48" T5 over driven to 80 watts.
8 Cree Royal Blue LED running at 350 MA for Moons.
The light is incredible and I have not seen better lighting with my own two eyes.
I also finalized the rock work. While it looks to be sitting on the bottom it is actually suspended to allow an underflow. I am going to get two of gyre pumps to keep continuous flow at the bottom of the shelf.
The only issue is that new skimmer is not pulling skimmate like my old SRO 5000 which is prob. because I changed half of the water getting the sand out.
Stay tuned.
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overexposed
Acroholic
Awesome. I'm sure you will get great results with that light fixture!!! Combining light sources like this really seems to have highly positive results.
jackson6745
Yeah Yeah
Insanity!! Love the lighting!
tdb320reef
Active member
Thanks All. Just waiting for the rock-work to "break-in" and see if I have a cycle as I removed a ton of sand. Once parameters are stable I will start to move the colonies up.
overexposed
Acroholic
I know it's too late now tbd, but have you ever tried the violet 405-420 nm LEDs? I had a handful on my old fixture and they are quite cool, add some good pop on top of the RBs.
tdb320reef
Active member
The good thing about DIY is that it is not late to add/remove, I designed it in a way that I can always add. The beauty of using aluminum is that it doubles as a heat-sink. You can literally glue LEDS about 1 every 6 Inch or so.
Regarding 405-420, I made a 48" light for a frag tank one time and had the 405's and 420's on one channel. They did illuminate the fluorescence when turned on alone but your eye really does not see the light in that range so the reflection to the eye was very minimal
I also found that they will also "œbleach" your corals of too much which I had 6 of each. With that tank I ended up running them a few hours. With this design, I found you get enough pop with the RB/B and figured I'd let the T5 and Radium's handle that range which is arguably what many believe that LEDS are missing.
But it is a great point, If LED only, you defiantly want to add a few of those.
