Adding T5 supplemental lights

[jboone82590]

I have a 75 with a fluval marine LED 2.0 I am wanting to add a fluval duel T5 light to it and I have some questions.

Is it really needed? (I plan on doing some hard coral after a few month)
What bulbs should I use?
How should I position the light? (Led in front or t5?)

And anything else anyone can thing of thanks

 

[mcarroll]

Is it really needed?

Why would it be needed? I'm not sure I understand why you want to add T5's.

If you're trying to save money or be more efficient, then you're going to want to stick with all LED's.

Although people do it, I really don't think there's any advantage to running T5's too. Mostly the folks who do it have purchased LED lights that cast more shadows than they like. But there's no rule that says they had to buy those kinds of LED lights, so even that doesn't make sense to me.

Strip-format lights like yours don't create shadows like that, FYI.

Let us know if I got it wrong and there was another idea behind keeping/using the T5.

 

[jboone82590]

Why would it be needed? I'm not sure I understand why you want to add T5's.

If you're trying to save money or be more efficient, then you're going to want to stick with all LED's.

Although people do it, I really don't think there's any advantage to running T5's too. Mostly the folks who do it have purchased LED lights that cast more shadows than they like. But there's no rule that says they had to buy those kinds of LED lights, so even that doesn't make sense to me.

Strip-format lights like yours don't create shadows like that, FYI.

Let us know if I got it wrong and there was another idea behind keeping/using the T5.

It was basically for more light and a different kind because I have heard that some coral grow better under different kind of lighting is all. Don't really know if it's true but just something a few people have said.

 

[helldiver]

I have added 2 super blue and 2 super purple run 4 hrs a day close to sunset time

 

[reefwiser]

I would add T5 for sure. The fluval is a pretty weak LED fixture and the t5's will make up for it's low par towards the middle of the tank.
Shading is bad in LED's the light is straight down an not defused as it is with t5's. All LED fixtures would be well served by adding T5 lights to the mix.

 

[LetItReef]

My Current orbit led gen 1 does not have enough punch but I like the ramping capabilities so I added adual t5 w/c is placed in the front.
These might help selecting bulbs.

 

[mcarroll]

@jboone82590 Which Fluval did you get? Can you tell us a model# or watts or something to identify it? Is it the full length of your tank?

It was basically for more light and a different kind because I have heard that some coral grow better under different kind of lighting is all. Don't really know if it's true but just something a few people have said.

Gotcha. Not all that true....certainly not as much as you'd think by reading the lighting forums. Most people still don't use any kind of light meter to set up their lights, so there's a fair bit of guesswork and mythology involved in the conversation in spite of the technology and capability change. Corals are also much less selective or picky than they are sometimes made out to be.

Use a [HASHTAG]#lux[/HASHTAG] [HASHTAG]#meter[/HASHTAG] to measure how much light your two fixtures put off.

Measure the LED bar by itself too.

Post up your results here if you don't mind.

Get A Light Meter
Start off by getting a free [HASHTAG]#lux[/HASHTAG] [HASHTAG]#meter[/HASHTAG] app for your smartphone - like "galactica luxmeter" for IOS, but there are dozens of them. I'd also suggest ordering a $15 handheld lux meter from amazon or eBay or wherever....search for the "LX-1010B" or similar...better readings and much more safe around saltwater than your phone!

From reading, there are no lenses on the Fluval, it's giving no more than 50 or 60 watts and you're only going to get around 16,000-17,0000 lux at the surface. That's not impossibly low – one of my two stony coral tanks only gets around 14,000 lux. But without lenses (mine have 30º lenses), the bottom isn't going to be bright enough to make corals happy – only about 2500 lux according to Fluval.

I'd say if you're not at least over 20,000 lux on your measurements, you're going to need more light. If that's the case, use the T5's since you have them. But, I'd pick up a second Fluval asap to avoid sinking too much money into replacement T5 bulbs and wasted electricity.


Compensation Point
Corals need at least 5000 lux to achieve their compensation point, sometimes up to 10,000 lux....once they've got that much light, they can survive just fine. More light is "just gravy" so to speak, which they can use for assimilating more nutrients, etc. Less than their compensation point and they become dependent on their food sources for carbon. They can do it, but you're essentially raising a non-photosynthetic coral at that point. Look up the success rate for that before attempting it. (Not good.)

It Can Work
That's why my 14,000 lux tank works - my corals have at least 4000 "extra" lux to do with as they see fit. Yours can to, but without lenses (which aren't an option for you) or the T5 boost, you'll be keeping corals in the upper half of the tank. Not really that big a deal since you'll be getting a second LED strip soon anyway, right?

2¢

 

[jboone82590]

@jboone82590 Which Fluval did you get? Can you tell us a model# or watts or something to identify it? Is it the full length of your tank?



Gotcha. Not all that true....certainly not as much as you'd think by reading the lighting forums. Most people still don't use any kind of light meter to set up their lights, so there's a fair bit of guesswork and mythology involved in the conversation in spite of the technology and capability change. Corals are also much less selective or picky than they are sometimes made out to be.

Use a [HASHTAG]#lux[/HASHTAG] [HASHTAG]#meter[/HASHTAG] to measure how much light your two fixtures put off.

Measure the LED bar by itself too.

Post up your results here if you don't mind.

Get A Light Meter
Start off by getting a free [HASHTAG]#lux[/HASHTAG] [HASHTAG]#meter[/HASHTAG] app for your smartphone - like "galactica luxmeter" for IOS, but there are dozens of them. I'd also suggest ordering a $15 handheld lux meter from amazon or eBay or wherever....search for the "LX-1010B" or similar...better readings and much more safe around saltwater than your phone!

From reading, there are no lenses on the Fluval, it's giving no more than 50 or 60 watts and you're only going to get around 16,000-17,0000 lux at the surface. That's not impossibly low – one of my two stony coral tanks only gets around 14,000 lux. But without lenses (mine have 30º lenses), the bottom isn't going to be bright enough to make corals happy – only about 2500 lux according to Fluval.

I'd say if you're not at least over 20,000 lux on your measurements, you're going to need more light. If that's the case, use the T5's since you have them. But, I'd pick up a second Fluval asap to avoid sinking too much money into replacement T5 bulbs and wasted electricity.


Compensation Point
Corals need at least 5000 lux to achieve their compensation point, sometimes up to 10,000 lux....once they've got that much light, they can survive just fine. More light is "just gravy" so to speak, which they can use for assimilating more nutrients, etc. Less than their compensation point and they become dependent on their food sources for carbon. They can do it, but you're essentially raising a non-photosynthetic coral at that point. Look up the success rate for that before attempting it. (Not good.)

It Can Work
That's why my 14,000 lux tank works - my corals have at least 4000 "extra" lux to do with as they see fit. Yours can to, but without lenses (which aren't an option for you) or the T5 boost, you'll be keeping corals in the upper half of the tank. Not really that big a deal since you'll be getting a second LED strip soon anyway, right?

2¢

Thanks for the reply and my buddie got 2 of the fluvals on his 75 and it lights some crap up that's for sure I just figured I would go a different route and see if it did any better but u make a good point I might just get another fluval 2.0 and call it good thanks

 

[mcarroll]

Exactly. And like I said, since you have the T5's already, there's nothing wrong with experimenting in that direction! Even two Fluval 2.0's and the T5 would not likely be too much light, so that's even a worthy experiment.

Get and use that lux meter regardless. That way you have some real numbers to use when you're making the transitions between light systems and when you make changes.

Once your corals get established, they are much more sensitive to changes in lighting, so you'll want to keep the overall light-levels similar across these transitions.

(Without a meter, you are left guessing.)

 

[Bpb]

Especially if you already have them...definitely put the t5 lights in use. At this point, with your setup...the t5ho isn't the supplement, it's the workhorse. The LEDs are then the supplement. If you were running higher power bridgelux, cree, or Philips LEDs, maybe then the other way around, but right now I wouldn't expect the best growth and color from stony corals with the Fluval light alone. I've had better results with t5ho personally anyway. There are great led tanks out there sure, but some people just never get the hang of them. T5ho is set and forget. The simplicity and results are worth the extra expense to me anyway

 

[jboone82590]

Especially if you already have them...definitely put the t5 lights in use. At this point, with your setup...the t5ho isn't the supplement, it's the workhorse. The LEDs are then the supplement. If you were running higher power bridgelux, cree, or Philips LEDs, maybe then the other way around, but right now I wouldn't expect the best growth and color from stony corals with the Fluval light alone. I've had better results with t5ho personally anyway. There are great led tanks out there sure, but some people just never get the hang of them. T5ho is set and forget. The simplicity and results are worth the extra expense to me anyway

Would you recommend what bulbs I should put in it? And that's for the comment I think I'm going to keep it and use it for a while and see how things go all I have in the tank know is mostly soft and a few acans and chalice and Monti

 

[Vaughn17]

IMO, corals exhibit better growth, color, and health under T-5s than LEDs. I use a combination of blue plus, coral plus, and actinic bulbs. LPS really love the actinic. For supplementation, I use a ReefBrite LED strip. Besides my own experience, I have seen two really nice large sps tanks switch to LEDs and go downhill big time. Sorry LED lovers, but corals are just not that crazy about point source lighting and light with poor UV.

 

[Bpb]

For just 2 bulbs I would use ATI blue+ and ATI true actinic. That'll cover the entirety of the blue spectrum from nearly invisible 400nm all the way up to green/cyan over 500 nm. Use the white channel on the LEDs sparingly to dial in enough daylight color to suit your tastes. The blue+ and actinic bulb will provide every bit of growing wavelengths important for you. The whole "actinic bulbs provide zero par only looks" sentiment is pure nonsense. Every bit of power in those bulbs is pumped into the 420-430nm area which is a massive absorption peak for photosynthesis. Older par meters just were incapable of picking that spectrum up so they registered a false low reading. Rest assured, they're very much useful beyond just looks

 

[jboone82590]

IMO, corals exhibit better growth, color, and health under T-5s than LEDs. I use a combination of blue plus, coral plus, and actinic bulbs. LPS really love the actinic. For supplementation, I use a ReefBrite LED strip. Besides my own experience, I have seen two really nice large sps tanks switch to LEDs and go downhill big time. Sorry LED lovers, but corals are just not that crazy about point source lighting and light with poor UV.

I have had a few people tell me this but then some people tell me that LEDs are just as good and I'm not light expert so I don't know the difference. I had a t5 on my planted tank and it was great and I switched to LEDS and it was still great. I had small t5s on my small tanks and they did ok I just don't think I had the right bulbs in them but my soft corals did fine. I switched to LEDS on my 29 and my coral did way better even my chalice and other not so soft coral.
But I have heard that with the "STICKS" the t5 where the way to go

 

[jboone82590]

For just 2 bulbs I would use ATI blue+ and ATI true actinic. That'll cover the entirety of the blue spectrum from nearly invisible 400nm all the way up to green/cyan over 500 nm. Use the white channel on the LEDs sparingly to dial in enough daylight color to suit your tastes. The blue+ and actinic bulb will provide every bit of growing wavelengths important for you. The whole "actinic bulbs provide zero par only looks" sentiment is pure nonsense. Every bit of power in those bulbs is pumped into the 420-430nm area which is a massive absorption peak for photosynthesis. Older par meters just were incapable of picking that spectrum up so they registered a false low reading. Rest assured, they're very much useful beyond just looks

Awesome thank you. And this will make the coral look good all the time right?
As in the bright colors?

 

[ReeferMaddness843]

I added 4 t5 to my kessil 160s for shadowing reasons. It was over a 90 gal tank so was also to boost the lighting a little. Was really happy with the addition.
One ati coral+, one ati blue+, and 2 zoomed 420nm (just because I had them lying around, will swap for more ati when time comes to change)
Before:

After:

 

[jboone82590]

I added 4 t5 to my kessil 160s for shadowing reasons. It was over a 90 gal tank so was also to boost the lighting a little. Was really happy with the addition.
One ati coral+, one ati blue+, and 2 zoomed 420nm (just because I had them lying around, will swap for more ati when time comes to change)
Before:

After:

Awesome tank

 

[ReeferMaddness843]

Thank you! Lots of love and time in it.

 

[jboone82590]

Thank you! Lots of love and time in it.

Mine is still a baby but my 29 is over a year old now but it dosent have anything in it I moved it over to the new tank

 

[Bpb]

Awesome thank you. And this will make the coral look good all the time right?
As in the bright colors?

...yes and no. It'll help. But with sticks, light is only about 1/4 of the equation. Flow, parameters, stability, and food are all equally as important in coaxing color out of sticks. With softies...the color is more of a you get what you get situation. No matter what conditions. Better water will give bigger polyps and faster growth yes...but not as dramatic of a color impact. Small water quality and light adjustments on an acropora can take it from solid brown to glowing vibrant rainbow colors. But those lights will help