So higor if I did supplement my lights....

[cilyjr]

I could easily run a few 2 foot t5 between them to experiment and see if I liked the colors better....

But ....

How many? Maybe 4 two foot bulbs?
What bulb and what color?

Thoughts?

 

[cilyjr]

For everyone who didn't see my and higors conversation in the other thread, I'm thinking of adding a few t5 to my ai sol blues. I don't want spend the money to buy the upgrade kits for them.

Also now I have 4 over my tank I might take one out if I add the t5 and keep one as a spare light....

 

[dmurb]

I run 2 Ai sol blues on a 36" tank and I also run 4 36" t5 bulbs. All ati. I run 1 coral plus. 1 purple plus. And 2 blue plus bulbs. I love the coloring of my corals everything grows extremely fast. And all has great color. I'm not sure what it is but I do feal as though the sols lack in spectrum which is why I covered the spectrum with my t5 bulb choice.

 

[cilyjr]

Why did you add blue t5 bulbs when there is a lot of blue already in the sol?

 

[dz6t]

For matter of fact, you can add DIY LED to supplement.
What you need is the following LED:
UV, purple, green, red and deep red. If you can find an old eBay type pendant, swap out their white LED with these colored LED.
Or you can swap LED chip directly on AI Sol, they use 3 w chips.

 

[dz6t]

These 3w chips are available on eBay
UV 365nm
Purple 400-410 nm
Red: 625-630 nm
Deep red: 660 nm
Green:520 nm

 

[Angelodr2]

I have a ai vega and a hydra 52 over my 90g and I also added t5s cause I thought it was too dimmed, although the colors of the led are great I felt like it was missing some additional lights


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[mbian112283]

If supplementing with t5 how many hours do you run them?

 

[Angelodr2]

I do 5 hours


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[cilyjr]

For matter of fact, you can add DIY LED to supplement.
What you need is the following LED:
UV, purple, green, red and deep red. If you can find an old eBay type pendant, swap out their white LED with these colored LED.
Or you can swap LED chip directly on AI Sol, they use 3 w chips.

I've thought about this dong. Actually you and I talked about 1/2 an hour or so when we had the light talk awhile back. In the end I don't think I'd have the control as I'd have to keep all the colored leds on the same channel. I'm just not convinced they'd mix well.

I thought about the vega upgrade kit but I'm not ready to drop at least 400 bucks.

 

[cilyjr]

I think the cheapest way to do it is to add 60 in 80 watt bulbs
Probably go with an aqua blue special and a purple plus if I do this

 

[dz6t]

You can use a true actinic and a purple plus to supplement.

 

[cilyjr]

Oh the true actinic is to grab some of the 350 nm range...I see

 

[dz6t]

yup, I use UV brand super actinic

 

[SilverWolf229]

I sold my hydra and kept my T5 setup. Im using the following: coral plus, aquablue special, blue plus and true atinic all ATI bulbs. Im running 8 hour lighting period.

 

[higorc]

WOW, called me out on the thread's tittle huh?!


This is what I think, Actinics are a waste of time on T5s unless you are running a 10+ T5 fixture. You are trying to supplement and get the best out of your T5s. So forget about Atinics and Purple+ and go for bulbs that have better par and still hit an UV/Overall Broad spectrum.

And I honestly wouldn't bother supplementing with any other types of LEDs...they still LEDs and would defeat the purpose of using a proven/well known technology if that’s the reason you are doing this and supplementing (Sorry, no offence Dong ) your LEDs.

Something like I had when I had my AI Sol Blues... like this http://www.bostonreefers.org/forums...l-of-my-new-Rimless-120G-Cadlights-tank-Higor

Worked well for me. Sometimes I even think I shouldn't have swapped fixtures, but I'm impulsive and like to try new things

All the corals that were changing colors bounced right back and I was able to finally keep Acans and original SPS colors. ATI Blue+ and Coral+ gives you the UV/Spectrum (from Actinics and Purple+) u need but still puts out good Par for a 2 or 4 Bulb configuration (not sure what you are going for). I had one of each over my 72G (doubled over my 120G upgrade) and I had really good results.

Now if your are curious why I don't have LEDs anymore and switched back to T5s, well... I think this topic has been discussed more than enough and I really don't want to "Hijack" your thread .


Good luck bro!!!

Higor

 

[Technorch]

Not sure if it helps but I supplement my radion with 2x coral plus t5. And I like the look it gives.


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[reefstarter]

Back when ( a few months ago ) I was doing tons of research on Leds , I was super close to pulling the trigger on one , had the cash in hand . I decided to go with T5's due to UVA and UVB spectrum coverage . the only UV "chips" I found worth even considering were comercial super high wattage ones used for curing products . not knocking Leds at all just not for me . And I do believe that the light manufacturer I was considering WILL top the market with them . but in a few years when some genius figures out how to creat UV in them aaaand tune it to grow corals . Plants .... sure corals are an animal of their own And you can't beat the color of leds I agree with that .

 

[dz6t]

Actinic t-5 does not look bright to human eyes, but it provides important spectrum for coral growth. For many years, actinic was thought to only provide look.

 

[dz6t]

ATI blue + peaks around 460nm
UVL super actinic peaks at 420nm and goes lower too.
Individual t-5 can not provide full spectrum , t-5 require bulbs combination to work.