What about T5 and LED?

[Jeff000]

I see lots of MH that use a couple of T5 actinic to supplement the light.

Would a lighting set up with XP-G and two T5 actinic be a good compromise until there are XP-G RB LEDs? Or until the actinic need replacing and then just go LED.

For my 90 gallon I was thinking the 2 actinic T5 bulbs and then 24 XP-G whites. Or 36 if 24 isn't enough light. Then in 8 months or so switch the T5 out for some LED, or just leave them T5 if its working good.

Trying to keep replacement costs down on the bulbs, can get expensive with T5.

[ORayRay]

I hate to say this but if your already thinking of ditching the T5's in 8 months id save the hassle and got all LED

[Jeff000]

I am really not sure. T5 gives great color consistently, and led is still not proven as the threads about growth and colors with led illustrate. I could keep the t5 a lot longer if led is still up in the air.

[mike_cmu04]

I would just go all led you will eventually i have sps under it and color is great.

[yeldarbj]

I'm doing a gradual transition from T5 to LED, kind of replacing a couple bulbs at a time. First replacing the front 2 T5's - Blue Plus & Pure Actinic with mostly XR-E RB's and a few XP-G RG white's. I'm expecting to see some spot lighting with the XP-G's but just want to see how it looks.

If I'm pleased with the first phase, I'll replace the back 2 T5's (Blue Plus, 75/25) with more LED's tweaking the LED array based on what I see with the first batch.

I'm planning on keeping the middle 2 T-5's to be able to tweak the overall tank color. I expect they will get replaced over time too.

[der_wille_zur_macht]

Would a lighting set up with XP-G and two T5 actinic be a good compromise until there are XP-G RB LEDs?

Don't hold your breath. Also, don't worry - the specific outputs of the XR-E and XP-E RBs are very high (significantly higher than RB's from other vendors) so the fact that they're a different physical chip than the "newer" XP-G isn't really an issue. It's really just a marketing thing, not an inherent "problem."

Your plan to replace the T5's slowly might strike some people as a lot of extra hassle, but IMHO it makes a lot of sense - it lets you get your feet wet with very little risk.

The Blue Plus T5 lamp is probably closer to a plain blue than a royal blue in spectrum. I agree with you that if you're replacing a small number of T5s with a small number of LEDs from different models/colors then you run the risk of color separation/spotlighting, but once you have more of the T5s replaced you should get up to the point that things blend in better.

Out of curiosity, what size tank is this?

[Jeff000]

I have a 90 gallon tank.
I would use the t5 to cycle the tank too, let me spread the cost.

[yeldarbj]

Mine is a 100g corner pentagon (diamond shape). I custom made the canopy for my T5's so it will be much easier for me to put the LED's in "strip" form similar to T5's. I plan on screwing in all the stars so I will be able to change out the LEDs as I need to.

dwzm, thanks for all your posts in the "big" LED thread. It's been very helpful in deciding that I can go this route. I've read about 100 pages so far.