Lighting

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garrethm

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Hi Everyone

Finally I'm in the final steps for getting my new tanks going.:thumbup:

Needing to get some info regarding lighting, I have 2 dual T5 units 54watt. 2 blue 1 white and 1 purple. Will this setup be ok for softies and LPS?

Also what hight should i have them above the water?

I would like to add some LEDs does anyone have DIY ideas?

Thanks
 
Do you want add LED's to your existing lights or do you want to replace your T5's with LED's?

HI Viper357 thanks for this reply, I want to add to my existing units thanks
 
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LED units normally are mounted higher above the water surface than T5 units. Splashing and water evaporation can cause a lot more issues within a LED unit that with a simplistic T5 unit. Waterproof end caps and the T5 basically cannot be bothered.

Running LED as an add on to T5, and positioning becomes a problem. Other way around where the LED unit is the main light source and T5 is added additionally, there the T5 units are mounted on the same height as the LED. So in cases where the T5 is the main source, they do need to be closer to the water. And then the LED unit position can become a challenge.

Agreed, it does seems that hybrid T5 and LED units are becoming more preferred.
 
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Perhaps a pic of your current lighting units will help as we can then see where and how some LED's might be able to be added.
 
4e7yjupu.jpg


The unit is 35 cm wide std four foot with 10cm between each light unit
 
That space inbetween the two units looks perfect for some LED's.
 
What do you want the LED's for, night time lighting or for extra daytime lighting?
 
A little bit of both, I really like the idea of the shimmer effect and the additional colours for day time and then possible something along the lines of moonlights
 
I got a 1.5m heatsink from mantech, it is the right width to fit in that space you have. It is wrapped in plexiglass and sits about 10cm from the water. I attached 60 x 3w LEDs on 4 channels. I got the LED kit from Aquastyle. Here is a pic from the top.
IMG_0260.JPG
 
jimilutz said:
I got a 1.5m heatsink from mantech, it is the right width to fit in that space you have. It is wrapped in plexiglass and sits about 10cm from the water. I attached 60 x 3w LEDs on 4 channels. I got the LED kit from Aquastyle. Here is a pic from the top.
IMG_0260.JPG
Click to expand...

Hey Jimi,have you replaced all light with the led unit?

Do you have more pictures of the build?:thumbup:
 
I just added this strip to my existing T5 setup. I didn't take photos of this build but used the same equipment on a Boyu 550 build, obviously less equipment though. I made a thread about it called something like "another 550 led build ". There are hundreds of LED build threads here to check out.
 
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