Aquatic life T5/LED Hybird

[BoisBlancBoy]

This may be a dumb question but lighting confuses the crap out of me.

1. With the hybrid setup can you still use the sunrise/sunset feature of the LEDs?

2. Would the t5’s alone be enough for softies and LPS? Then if I want to start into SPS I can add the LEDs later.

[BoisBlancBoy]

Forgot to add this would be for a 48x24x24, 120 gallon tank.

[rocsec1]

T5’5 are the preferred light for many people. I use two t5 retro fit fixtures with two Radion g3’s between them and it works great.

[jayball]

1. With the hybrid setup can you still use the sunrise/sunset feature of the LEDs?

Yes, Many people with t-5/LED systems use the t-5 for the middle 6-8 hours of the day.

As an example, I start my lights with a 30 minute ramp of my violet and blue LED's, then my 2 actinic t-5 come on, my white LED's ramp up, then my 2 coral+ t-5 turns on. The LED's are on for about 10 hours total, the actinic bulbs for 8 and the Coral+ for 6


2. Would the t5’s alone be enough for softies and LPS? Then if I want to start into SPS I can add the LEDs later.

4 bulbs over a 120 is not quite enough, IMO, especially with them spread out and not together over the center of the tank where you can concentrate the coral.

[BoisBlancBoy]

Thank you. Great description!

Do you have to have an pictures of the different stages of lighting during the course of the day? Just curious how it looks with LEDs only vs everything on together.

So even for LPS you would recommend some Led lighting as well instead of just the T5’s?
Certainly the T5’s will be fine for FOWLR as I don’t plan on getting any corals until way down the road. At least a year is my plan.

[SDboatguy]

For a 120 - an 8 bulb ATI T5 fixture would be outstanding and you could grow ANYTHING you want. IF you want to have a bit more flexibility (ie.sunrise / sunset ) then the Aquatic Life Hybrid is an option. You have your choice of LED fixture(Radions , Hydras or Kessils are the most common) you'd probably need 2-4 for your tank, and then the 4 T5s. I personelly run 3 AI Hydra 26s and 4 T5s on my 60x20x18 tank. Before I had the LEDs, I ran 6 T5s. Both setups are nice, I do like the gradual sunrise/sunset the Hydras provide and my tank is doing really well. For the initial investment though, T5 is a bit probably a bit cheaper than the Hybrid.If you go Hybrid you could start with 2 LED units,depending on which brand, and the T5 then add more LEDs when you go SPS.