36" ATI T5HO DIY LED Retrofit Feedback

[mdd1986]

I recently modified a 6 Bulb T5HO ATI 36" fixture with LEDs. I replaced the center 2 lamps with 2 heatsinks and 2 channels of LEDs. Below is a snapshot of my design. I'm dealing with a lot of disco ball effect and poor color blending from the LEDs themselves. Currently this is over a 36"x18"x17" tank. The fixture is mounted approximately 22" from the substrate. I'm using 80 degree optics on all of the LEDs.


The red LED seems to be the worst as I can easily see red in the middle of the tank.


This the layout recommended by a certain DIY Led company and I’m not really happy with the results.


I’m looking feedback on how I can get some better color blending/less disco ball effect. I’m willing to swap out LEDs for different colors as well as lenses.

I appreciate any feedback.

 

[Water Dog]

I would get rid of the cool whites, reds and greens and replace them with neutral whites, warm whites and cyan (I’m mimicking the Nanobox Array here). Also getting rid of the optics will further reduce the disco ball effect.

 

[mdd1986]

Can you recommend me a number of neutral whites/warm whites? so I shouldn't run any optics at all? Wouldn't I be losing intensity?

 

[Water Dog]

I have a Nanobox retrofit in my Biocube and I think the color rendering in his arrays are phenomenal. So if I were to DIY an LED set up, I would mimic his LED selection.

• 2 - Violet
• 2 - Lime
• 1 - Cyan
• 1 - Blue
• 4 - Royal Blue
• 1 - Neutral White
• 2 - Warm White

Dave’s been using warm whites for years... way before Ecotech became “cutting edge” for recently including warm whites in their G4s.

Yes, removing optics will cut down on par, but that’s what the T5s are for. I’m a big believer in having the T5s do the heavy lifting while the LEDs allow you to adjust for color, provide shimmer and allow ramping for dusk/dawn effects.

 

[mdd1986]

Yes I agree with that. Right now it so ridiculously bright. Really not worried about losing some intensity. I'm just worried that since they are not cluster together like the nano box the color mixing won't really work the same way. Maybe I just have 2 of the exact same LEDs on both strips (same Leds as the nano box)? Instead of different colors on each?

 

[Water Dog]

I would put the blue, royal blue and violet in one category (let’s call it dark) and neutral white, warm white, cyan and lime in another (let’s call it light).

Then alternate along the heatsink - dark, light, dark, light... etc.

 

[coseal]

are you using a pre drilled heatsink? or thermal adhesive? clusters seem to help with disco as well. what optics are you using?

 

[mdd1986]

are you using a pre drilled heatsink? or thermal adhesive? clusters seem to help with disco as well. what optics are you using?

I'm using thermal adhesive between heatsink and die, no screws (heatsinks are outlined in yellow in the photo above). I'm using 80 degree optics. I was thinking of removing the lenses and using an acrylic light diffuser sheet.
https://www.acrylite-shop.com/US/us...atinice-satin-ice-wd852-df-8zr5hvdgnja~p.html

 

[Water Dog]

The other possibility I was thinking about as far as your LED diode selection was to just go 50/50 cool white and royal blue in an alternating manner, thus avoiding any disco issues even if you still use the optics. CW & RB have pretty much been proven that they can grow corals. The full spectrum light for coral aesthetics would then be provided by your T5 bulb selection.

Maybe in the following arrangement too.

T5
50/50 LED strip
T5
T5
50/50 LED strip
T5

 

[Moo76]

lots of good advice, but yes you can get rid of the optics, maybe keep the ones on the corners but that will "blend" the colors better and reduce the shimmering some.

 

[ChrisOFL]

Remove the optics, this helps tremendously with the discoball effects. I just finished redoing my 48" fixture with the same layout as yours, 2tubes on each side and 2 strips of LEDs down the middle. What I went with is 18 royal blue, 5 violet, 5 hyper violet mix. 9 royal blue in each lane, with the violets mixed in. The T5s serve as my daylight lighting and I use the LEDs for sunrise/sunset (they stay on all day as well). The color rendition of corals is excellent and with the T5s on there is a nice shimmer effect from the LEDs.

 

[mdd1986]

Remove the optics, this helps tremendously with the discoball effects. I just finished redoing my 48" fixture with the same layout as yours, 2tubes on each side and 2 strips of LEDs down the middle. What I went with is 18 royal blue, 5 violet, 5 hyper violet mix. 9 royal blue in each lane, with the violets mixed in. The T5s serve as my daylight lighting and I use the LEDs for sunrise/sunset (they stay on all day as well). The color rendition of corals is excellent and with the T5s on there is a nice shimmer effect from the LEDs.

Thanks for the advice. You are using the LEDs mostly as supplemental light and not so much for growth? (since you are not running any whites)? what 4 T5 bulbs are you running? I should probably get a PAR meter on this thing to be sure but are you able to grow SPS with that setup?

 

[ChrisOFL]

Thanks for the advice. You are using the LEDs mostly as supplemental light and not so much for growth? (since you are not running any whites)? what 4 T5 bulbs are you running? I should probably get a PAR meter on this thing to be sure but are you able to grow SPS with that setup?

Oh yeah, burning out my SPS is no problem with this LED setup. I have the new Cree XP-G3 for my royal blues powered with 48V at 1500ma so they are putting out some serious light (violets are at 700ma). I'm around 110W total output for those 28LEDs and they sit inside the reflector so there is no light spilling out of the tank. I use blue/violet LED primarily because I like fluorescent appearance that the LEDs cause the corals to have. For T5's I have a Blue+/Aquablue Special, these are the back two bulbs when looking at my tank and I use a Blue+/Coral+ for the front two bulbs. Lighting schedule is currently following my lat/long coordinates so sunrise is around 07:10 for the LEDs ramp up over 30minutes to blues at 30% and violets at 50%, back two T5s on at 09:00 off at 14:15, front two T5s on at 11:00 off at 16:15, sunset begins around 5:10 for 30minute ramp down to LEDs off.

The LEDs are used like a supplemental lighting but they are also designed to cover the majority violet-blue PUR spectrum to provide strong intensity in the right spectrum for the chlorophyll. They are an estimated 1/3 of my total light output and are definitely necessary for my SPS.

 

[mdd1986]

Oh yeah, burning out my SPS is no problem with this LED setup. I have the new Cree XP-G3 for my royal blues powered with 48V at 1500ma so they are putting out some serious light (violets are at 700ma). I'm around 110W total output for those 28LEDs and they sit inside the reflector so there is no light spilling out of the tank. I use blue/violet LED primarily because I like fluorescent appearance that the LEDs cause the corals to have. For T5's I have a Blue+/Aquablue Special, these are the back two bulbs when looking at my tank and I use a Blue+/Coral+ for the front two bulbs. Lighting schedule is currently following my lat/long coordinates so sunrise is around 07:10 for the LEDs ramp up over 30minutes to blues at 30% and violets at 50%, back two T5s on at 09:00 off at 14:15, front two T5s on at 11:00 off at 16:15, sunset begins around 5:10 for 30minute ramp down to LEDs off.

The LEDs are used like a supplemental lighting but they are also designed to cover the majority violet-blue PUR spectrum to provide strong intensity in the right spectrum for the chlorophyll. They are an estimated 1/3 of my total light output and are definitely necessary for my SPS.

That is great. So Maybe I'll just swap out my whites/reds/green for more blues and UVs. Right now my 4 bulb T5 setup is front: Blue +/purple +. Back Blue +/Purple+. I really like this spectrum so far. Purple+ and coral + are very similar.

 

[ChrisOFL]

That is great. So Maybe I'll just swap out my whites/reds/green for more blues and UVs. Right now my 4 bulb T5 setup is front: Blue +/purple +. Back Blue +/Purple+. I really like this spectrum so far. Purple+ and coral + are very similar.

Keep a ratio of at least 2x as many royal blues vs violets, gives a better blue appearance IMO. Good luck with finding something that works for you.

 

[mdd1986]

So removing the reflectors makes a big difference. I also bought a sheet of acrylic light diffuser panel which really eliminates all of the discoball effect. I will be using this for sure. I think I may remove all the cool whites all together for more blue and a few warm whites. Now with the diffuser panel I'm less worried about color blending issues.

Here is what I used for reference. Highly recommend it: https://www.acrylite-shop.com/US/us...atinice-satin-ice-wd852-df-8zr5hvdgnja~p.html