The T5 Q&a Thread - split
- Thread starter eagle9252
- Start date
Wao, waooooo. You have give me an excellent confidence. I have an open top canopy and the Sun power is flush with the top so i will prefer the clean look of the Reefbrite.
One last question, should I go with the Tech or the Xho in terms of watts? Hope you say the Tech for the price. Jajajajaan
Once again thanks for sharing your experience and expertise.
One last question, should I go with the Tech or the Xho in terms of watts? Hope you say the Tech for the price. Jajajajaan
Once again thanks for sharing your experience and expertise.
FranktheTankTx
New member
Sahin-
That's an excellent mod. Assuming you had to switch out a T5 ballast as well to fire one bulb alone. While a very cool mod, I don't think I have the guts to rip apart my brand new Sunpower
But yes, where there's a will there's a way.
That's an excellent mod. Assuming you had to switch out a T5 ballast as well to fire one bulb alone. While a very cool mod, I don't think I have the guts to rip apart my brand new Sunpower
But yes, where there's a will there's a way.
sahin
Ultimate Reefer
Haha, no expertise. Just a hobbyist like you. But I read lots and of course experiment with DIY.
As for the Reefbrite Tech or XHO, check some build threads. My reading around of this is that most people go for the Tech.
Based on the specs:
Tech: http://www.reefbrite.com/reefbrite-tech-led/
XHO: http://www.reefbrite.com/reefbrite-xho-led/
I would go for the Tech; here is why: On my Sunpower I had about 20 watts of Royal Blue using the old Cree X-RE diodes. On my current ATI LED Powermodule, there is around 20watts of much newer Philips made diodes which have better output than my older Crees. However, I cannot tell a difference in the output.
The Two units if you check the specs are running at the same power in terms of watts, I pressume the XHO has slightly more output per watt, but you wont likely be able to tell a difference. I dont think its worth the extra $$$.
If you can afford it, man get 2. But one will be nice enough. You can always add a DIY version at the back later.
Sahin-
That's an excellent mod. Assuming you had to switch out a T5 ballast as well to fire one bulb alone. While a very cool mod, I don't think I have the guts to rip apart my brand new Sunpower
But yes, where there's a will there's a way.
Haha, I know the feeling. I felt like a crazy nutter cutting up my Sunpower. :wildone:
I did replace one of the twin ballasts with a single. Was cheap off ebay. LOL.
sahin
Ultimate Reefer
Wcharon: have a look at these two YT vids.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Vy0y9g1ezs
This one shows the difference a single 24inch Reefbrite makes when already lit with a 20K halide.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_SYEyCy8vE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Vy0y9g1ezs
This one shows the difference a single 24inch Reefbrite makes when already lit with a 20K halide.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_SYEyCy8vE
DiscusHeckel
Acropora Gardener
I added 2 X TMC Reef Blue led units to my sunpower as shown below:
gordonheimer
New member
I am looking to purchase a 60"" 8x80w for my 60x27x27 190g. Would this be enough coverage? Whats the proper bulb recommendation? I dont want it to be too blue but I want good color as well.
Guys.....I'm a T5 fan and planning an upgrade. I'm running an ATI 6 x 39 Sunpower over my 40B. I'm planning a 48 x 24 x 16 right now and am on the fence about my lighting. Without a doubt, I'm keeping my T5. Color and growth are both good. Color better than growth, and I'm OK with that. I plan to supplement LED on the upgrade, but the question for me is should I upgrade to a 48" fixture or keep the 36"? My gut and wallet say keep the 36" and supplement with reefbrites, but there is part of me that says go 48" T5/LED Power Module. The wallet however says no.
Thoughts?
Thoughts?
I have a current nova extreme 6 bulb fixture on my 75g. It has cooling fans and individual reflectors. How much improvement will I see upgrading to ati sunflower? Primarily growing spa right now and most of my corals are either frags or small colonies. Looking for growth and color. Thanks!
rtparty
Raise The Reef!
Plenty of light. 5 Blue Plus, 2 Coral Plus and 1 Purple Plus. Grab an extra Coral Plus to play around with as well.
rtparty
Raise The Reef!
Get the wallet drunk and talk it into the LED Powermodule....LOL :beer:
Your current lighting is fine if you add a ReefBrite to each side of the unit.
rtparty
Raise The Reef!
An ATI will put out roughly 30% more light. Whether you need that much more light is your opinion. 75g tanks are pretty shallow overall and I have seen 6 bulb Current fixtures work well on them.
With that said, you will never regret getting the best and using it on an upgrade later on.
TropTrea
New member
The Sun power is a much more powerful fixture mainly because of the improved reflectors. A year aro I woud tell you to go for it if you want to spend the extra money. But in reality your fixture is more than enough to handle a 75 gallon tank and ubless you start running several atinic bulbs the Sunpower could be too much for your tank.
If you panning on going to a bigger tank later than you might consider it but I would get the bigger tank before I got the bigger light fixture.
TropTrea
New member
So your new tank is going to be a little under 80 gallons. The T-5/LED Power Module fixture would cost you $1700 roughly for 225 Watts of LED's and 216 Watts of T-5's. That is roughly enough light for a 150 gallon tank. I have found that combining LED's with T-5's does give you the best of both worlds. However for you 80 gallon tank I would aim for something in the range of 2 T-5 54 Watt T-5 bulbs and 120 Watts of LED's. Keep in mind that a quality LED fixture will give you a lot more light per watt than T-5's.
That's great!! Tis not the season for me however to spend that kind of cabbage on myself.
I agree that I'll get more light per watt from LED vs. T5. My goal is to upgrade the system without dropping a ton of cash into equipment. Since my current skimmer is adequately sized for the new system volume and intended bioload, all I need is a new return pump. Everything else will be transferred with the only question being lighting. I love my sunpower fixture. It puts out a ton of light and I like the flexibility in color of T5. Yes, I know the newer LED offer tremendous color flexibility as well, but I'm not ready for the investment right now. Maybe down the line, but not now.
That's why I'm thinking of using my current 6 x 39W sunpower and shoring it up with reefbrite strips. The goal is to have an 80G display but, due to space constraints, I may have to reduce the footprint to 42" x 24" in which case I'll have a net 65G display. If in fact I have to do this, then I'm good regardless I think.
TropTrea
New member
Being cost consious woupld you feel safe with adding some DIY LED's? You could easily run two strips one in front and one behind your T-5's to give you good boast in your lighting. Cost wise is a fraction of the comercial fixture and you can tune the colors to your personal taste.
This would also give you enough light you could even run some Atinics in the T-5's 42" strip would be about 50 Watts, and a 48" strip of about 60 Watts of LED lighting.
Yes, I would feel comfortable doing that and have considered it. I appreciate the insight.
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