DIY light retrofit

[zab34]

Right now I have a corallife pc fixture, when the ballast for two of the pcs went out I replaced it with 2 t5 bulbs instead. So now we have two t5s and to 65w power compacts in between. Im looking to replace the Powercompacts with leds so there will be two t5s and however many leds in the middle. How many do you think I'll need, what color t5s and what color leds?

 

[boxer]

What size tank is it. What color do you prefer your tank be?

 

[zab34]

55 gallon mixed reef, looking to keep mostly lps, and softies, maybe a sps or two and a clam. Looking for great growth, maybe around 14k, and maybe a way to go all actinic at night for a while to see it glow.

 

[boxer]

i would say 36-48 leds 50/50 royal blue and cool whites. I would make it a dimmable fixture so you can adjust the look of your fixture and this will make it possible to acclimate your coral to leds. then you could have actinic plus t5s to keep the 14-20k look depending on how high you turn up your whites on the led fixture. And you could add some moonlight leds for that night time glow.

 

[zab34]

36-48 crees? would it be okay to go with bridgelux as they are much cheaper? I know they arent as good but with the t5s I figured they would be good enough.

 

[boxer]

36-48 crees? would it be okay to go with bridgelux as they are much cheaper? I know they arent as good but with the t5s I figured they would be good enough.[/QUOTE
Im a firm believer in cree so i cant give any advice on bridgelux. If this hobby has taught me anything Its dont cheap out and you get what you pay for. In the end its up to you but i would recommend you go with cree. Talk to bill at reefledlights.com. Crees have reduced in price in the last couple of years by alot, almost 50 percent. so its really not that crazy expensive for what i recommended your looking at around 400 dollars. which is about the price you are going to pay for any good grow light and it will last a long time.

 

[zab34]

Appreciate your help. So say i got 36 leds in the middle. THe fixture is about 46.5x 4 inches of room in the middle of the t5s, Would it be best to get two U channels of aluminum and go 18 each alternating white and Blue?

 

[boxer]

The u channel seems okay but there again i have no experience with it. I always use heatsinks to ensure the expected life of the leds and thats what they are made for to take heat away from the leds and ensure they stay cool and working properly for their life span and i use fans. They have heatsinks that are roughly 4 inches wide and you could do rows of three. as far as the length goes you have plenty of room for wat ever, say 2 16 inch heatsinks spaced out. The layout can be done 1000 diff ways so you should play around with idea before making a plan. You should space them out as evenly as possible. In my case i space the leds 1 1/2" apart from center to center in the rows then i space the rows about 3" apart from center to center.