Led vs T5 for Frag tank

[bcheriyan]

I have some experience in building led fixture for my DT. That was an year back .. Not Sure what has changed since. I got a 40 Breeder (36 x 18 x 17) Tank and now it comes to the light . The plan is to have two regions , keep Zoanthids , Chalice and softies etc at one half.. and the Other Half towards SPS and LPS . Trying to explore options T5 VS LED; in my dt 125G I have 2:1 blue to while and have good coral growth at least most of them.

I can build a full spectrum led approx 36 leds .. with more blue on one side and more blue and white on the other will also have violets some green and cyan not sure about red may put red also , But Royal blue to Coolwhite will be 2:1

What about T5's will it get me the same growth as that of the LED ..

How do you do a mixed tank light .. Since the frang tank will be around 12 to 14 inch of water level..

[bcheriyan]

Ok If I a going with led then I will have
16 RB
8 Blue
6 NW
6 CW
2 green
2 cyan
2 orange
4 violets

Will that work ? Some suggest the Oslon 660nm Red also in the mix will that be needed too ?

[bcheriyan]

I can even go with an MH also but ..Combine with led ?

[bcheriyan]

I am also thinking of Combaining leds with T5 will that be good have any one tried it ..?

[bcheriyan]

The Idea is that all the blue light can come from LEDs and the Violet and White from the T5 will that work ? I haven't use T5 in a long time what will be ideal brand for T5 or you all DIY that too ?

[Jooce01]

Most people use the Cyan, Blue (cool blue), and Deep Red in 1:1:1 ratios, it also goes by the name Ocean Coral White (they are sold on one 24mm star from a certain online vendor). From what I've been seeing, recently with full spectrum builds, people tend to go something like 6:3:3:1 for Royal Blue:Neutral White:True Violet:Ocean Coral White. This could be done on just about any of the LED websites, just replace the OCW with 1 Deep red, 1 cyan/turquoise, and one blue. There are also websites that can combine more than one LED onto a single star, to avoid the disco effect of poor color mixing.

[YoungREEFA]

okay, the wavel lengths of 400-420, 440-460, and 640-660 are whates needed for corals to feed them selves from the light they recieve to better use phtosynthesis. If going t5, GE 6500 k grows corals like nuts, so if your not concerned about pop in the frag tank then throw those in with ati blue plus and your good.
For leds, provide 3500 k to 8500k for the whites, and royal blue and blue, and even 440 blue. you most certainly do no not need a 1:1:1 ratio with red, you will grow algae like nuts. Of 36 leds include 12 royal blue, 4 blue and 4 Uv-violet, 12 whites within 3500k-8500 k . Now 4 red, an your good

[YoungREEFA]

But with a 14 inch heigth, i would definently go t5 as the spread is maximized

[brad]

For a frag tank, I wouldn't worry about extra colors - just royal blue and cool or neutral white should work fine.

I would not mix t5 and LED, especially on a smaller tank. You will get the worst of both, with more complexity than either - frequent bulb changes, high build cost, etc.

The correct ratio will depend on the power you run the LEDs. 2-1 ratio of neutral white XMLs at 3000ma to Royal Blue Rebels at 1000ma will look very yellow. 2-1 ratio of cool white to royal blue running at the same current will probably look too blue.

[Jooce01]

you most certainly do no not need a 1:1:1 ratio with red, you will grow algae like nuts. Of 36 leds include 12 royal blue, 4 blue and 4 Uv-violet, 12 whites within 3500k-8500 k . Now 4 red, an your good

You most certainly misread what I wrote. I said that you need 1:1:1 for Deep red:Blue:Cyan/turquoise. That falls under OCW, which I said is used a low ratio for the whole tank.

Let me break the ratio down in case I was unclear:
6xRoyal Blue
3xNeutral White
3xTrue Violet
1xDeep Red
1xBlue/Cool Blue
1xTurquoise


I was trying to say that DR/B/Cyan are used in a 1:1:1 ratio, and that they are usually combined on one star, to reduce any disco effects you have from the exotic colors.

[GooGs]

Wouldn't you want to use the same lighting method for the frag tank as you have in the display tank? Assuming the frags will be grown out then placed in the DT...wouldn't it make sense to use LED's for both so the corals don't have to acclimate to the lights between tanks?

[bcheriyan]

Thank you all for your input , What I have currently is 2:1 RB to NW/CW and some blue and Violet for RapidLed. But doing the Frag tank I also doing experiment to see it the the full spectrum lets make the coral looks better .. What is the diff BTW Violet and True Violet . I used what Rapid on their site. So no one is suggesting green .. I think I can drop that also In my current DT NW to CW is 1:1 Jooce01 NW is considered having red in it adding addational red would n't it be too much red

Here are the two options total 36 leds

Option 1

12 RB
4 Blue
4 Violet

12 NW/CW 2:1

2 Deep red and 2 Cyan


Option2

12xRoyal Blue
6xNeutral White
6xTrue Violet
2xDeep Red
2xBlue/Cool Blue
2xTurquoise
IF going with Option 2 I prefer for add 4 more Blue is that too much


Thank you for all the your input

[bcheriyan]

Another Option3 is
Get
18 RB
9 NW
9 TV
3 OCW

How do you wire OCW all series

[Jooce01]

Another Option3 is
Get
18 RB
9 NW
9 TV
3 OCW

How do you wire OCW all series

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGSromOKud0
Skip to 8:00, you'll see why I recommended them, and he talks about them some. Wiring wise, you connect them all in series, and run them at 700mA max. Set up a channel (driver) just for them.

If you want to learn more about full spectrum and what not, I'd watch his two videos on them. They are helpful and it kind of helps compile what people have been writing about in various threads.

EDIT: Color combo looks good to me, just cluster them up, and you'll be golden!

[bcheriyan]

Thx Jooce01

[bcheriyan]

Jooce01 or any one
If I use the 6:3:3:1 .. RB:NW:TV:OCW I see we do not use CW's at all is that Ok ?
And TV's 405nm or 430 nm need to be more ? It looks like 2 430 to 1 405 will be good ? does it matter ?

[Jooce01]

Its not critically important which TV you go for, they come in packages though, so you can only order a minimum of 2 405 and 6 430 if I recall correctly. In a perfect world I'd say go half and half, I believe I read that each one is almost directly on a photosynthetic peak, so either are good, both are slightly better.

And NW does everything that CW does and more. There is no need for CW as far as I can see, you can do the same thing with NW in a different ratio (ratio to RB), but with the NW combo you are hitting more of the spectrum.

I don't mean to hate on anyone's CW build and start people flaming me, CW has served its purpose and performs nearly just as well as NW, and you could go with either and still have growth and color, just from what I've read NW does everything as well or better than CW.

[bcheriyan]

Thank you Jooce01 You are great help