led and t5 light schedule

cincyfishguy · Mar 20, 2018

Looking for recommendations on what people are running an Led/T5 combo.

My tank is a nuvo 60 Mixed reef. Couple sps mixed with more LPS then anything. But it also has mushrooms, zoas and a leather.

I currently run 4 t5's with 3 blue plus and one actinic. The real question is where should I run the two radion xr15 g4 pro's?? I run run the radion on a 9 hour cycle with an hour ramp. The T5's run about 4 hours in the middle of that cycle. I tried a number of the coral lab templates but they were all to blue for me. So I settled on a radiant template which adds more white in. I don't hate what it looks like but I'm not in love with it. Anyone running similar set up want to give me some different templates to try or a different variation of T5's?

Thanks so much for your help!

Daniel Waters · Mar 20, 2018

A 9 hour lighting period is perfectly fine. Running your t5s for 4 hours to supplement your LEDs is fine also. I run mine longer, as I prefer the way my tank looks with the t5s on with the LEDs versus LEDs alone. You really need to measure your par levels with your LEDs and your t5s so you have an idea of the par you are getting. You can adjust your radion intensity levels as needed to meet your coral needs, and you can adjust them as needed when your t5s are on.

If you felt like the coral lab AB+ program is too blue (which is one of the presets), then I know your t5 bulb choice is too blue for what you are wanting. 3 blue plus and an actinic is going to be very blue. Try a coral plus bulb by itself and see what you think. If you like that, you could certainly use 4 of those. If you want a little bluer, then you could try a blue plus with the coral plus and see what you think. You just need to find the ratio of bulbs you prefer visually. If you want whiter than the coral plus bulb, you can add in a whiter bulb like a 10k bulb, aquablue special, or even a 6500k bulb. Those can be very white looking so most people will usually only need one in a 4 bulb setup and will have blue plus bulbs in combination with them (or purple plus or coral plus also added in). There are a lot of combinations you can try.

As far as your radion color channels, I usually recommend people run their blues, violets, deep blue, and UV at 100%. Then adjust your white, green, and red channels to where you like it visually. Please note, this has nothing to do with intensity. You need to set that based on your coral needs and par readings based on the color setting you like. Also, I don't think you need to worry about adjusting your color channels throughout the day as long as your intensity setting is appropriate.

SDboatguy · Mar 21, 2018

Lots of options with the T5 to "brighten up" the tank . Like Daniel Waters said adding C+, AB special, P+ or a 6500K or a combo of these will be a start. As far as the LEDs go ,I'm a Hydra guy , and I run my white 70%, green, red around 90% and my "blues" at 100%. From what I've read a lot of people use their LED blue channels to get the blue where they like and the T5 for contrast or to whiten up the tank. If you can get your blend of T5 and LED where you like it you could leave the T5s on longer if need be. I'm not familiar with the Radions and how hard it is to reprogram them ,so I don't know if you can tweak your levels( build your own profile) FWIW - I run ATI 2x B+ and 2x C+ with my Hydras . The B+ are on for 10hr and the C+for 6hr overlapping the LED peak. LEDs are on a 5hr ramp with a 4hr peak.

cincyfishguy · Mar 21, 2018

Those are both great responses. So I guess I'll start with picking up a couple different T5 bulbs. I'd still like to hear from someone running the same set up and what they have things set to.

Finhead · Mar 21, 2018

I ran 2 Hydra 26's with 4 T5's (now run 5 T5's), and with 3 Blue+ and 1 Super Actinic it was too blue and dull for my taste. Swapped a Blue+ for a Purple+ , made a huge difference with coloring. I run the LED's at a 4hr ramp up and down with a 4hrpeak and T5's at 6.5 hrs.