Show me your DIY LED/T5 Hybrids

[Grimreaperz]

Really interested in seeing your T5/LED DIY Hybrids with controllability.....hopefully under the 400 range lol.....(I know I'm kidding myself...*nervous shameful LOL*)

But have been really interested in supplementing my LEDS with a couple T5s or getting a decent T5 4 bulb ballast and fashioning some LED strips to it somehow.....

Keep in mind I have never done anything like this but feel I could pull it off with the patience of the right person...I do have an IT background just do not have any programming knowledge.....

 

[Daniel@R2R Verified Admin]

Bumping this for some input! Anybody in the #reefsquad running hybrids?

Here's one @SchnitzelReef had posted a while back:

And another from @ReefLEDLights:

 

[Grimreaperz]

These are amazing would love to pick at some brain tissue lol!!! @ReefLEDLights and @SchnitzelReef

 

[Grimreaperz]

Bumping this for some input! Anybody in the #reefsquad running hybrids?

Here's one

And another

Thanks so much!
This may be like a 6 month project but really interests me and tickles my techie side!

 

[don_chuwish]

I just added 2 x 39W T5s to supplement the 2 x R420R 120W LEDs I have over my 120G. They added a LOT more light than I expected.

 

[Nem4]

Did it yesterday afternoon! I have a Gen3 XR30 with 120 lenses and now a 24"4 bulb T5. LFS couldn't sell it because everyone wants led. Got a good deal. I wanted to try this setup for mainly 2 reasons. Anemones and I wanted a bright tank. I felt that you could achieve that with the radion, but you gotta crank it way up. It always had a dull look. My obsession is anemones, so I'm hoping this will be a huge benefit to them. That picture makes it look like daylight. Its not that white. But it is bright! The tank is a 65g 2 months old. Hence the algae. But majority of rocks came from my other tank that was running for a year. It was only on for a few hours yesterday afternoon. Looking forward to see how everything does today. Adjust the radion as required...

 

[SJ-reefer]

 

[Fin]

This was 5 years ago when I first switched to LED / T5 combo on my 140. Currently, all of the SOLs have been converted to Hydra 52s, but the layout is the same.

 

[Orly20]

 

[lion king]

My new system has issues but I thought I'd share to give you some perspective. It's on a 90g lps dominant, I replaced 2 x 70w maxspect razors; I hate full spectrum leds and led primary just has not worked for me. It's a reef brite supra 2 x 54w t5 with a 21ledusa 50/50 reef pro led strip. T5s are ATI, a true actinic and a blue plus. Leds are 24 x 3w 12k and 24 x 3w 445-445 nm royal blue. It's been about 5-6 weeks and my corals are responding positively, but I am getting more algae on the glass.

The t5s are connected to a timer, there is no dimmer, I wouldn't need one anyway and you could connect them them to a dimmer controller if you wished. The leds have individual dimmers for white and blue, and each channel is connected to a timer. There is an issue with the wiring controlling the separate channels for timers, and it seems 21ledusa customer service has blown my off.

The reef brite fixture is flimsy and industrial looking. Overall I'm happy with the direction of the t5s and a controllable blue/white led hybrid. The total system including timers, bulbs, dimmers, everything was about $3oo.

 

[lilchris_357]

I just added 2 x 39W T5s to supplement the 2 x R420R 120W LEDs I have over my 120G. They added a LOT more light than I expected.

What hanging kit did you use? I'm building a hybrid canopy (similar to yours) and I'm trying to figure that piece out.

 

[don_chuwish]

What hanging kit did you use? I'm building a hybrid canopy (similar to yours) and I'm trying to figure that piece out.

I just used the kit that came with the R420Rs - using a small head 2" finish screw to hold the little "drum" female connectors to the wood frame.
Some things I don't like about this setup (after a week or so with it):

1. I can't easily lift it up and out of the way. It can be done, but then each time will have to re-adjust the height at each end to get back to level.
2. One big mistake: shoulda put the ballast at the front to offset the weight of the cords hanging off the back. Now I need counterbalance weight in front so it doesn't try to lean back.
3. Lastly, I didn't make it 'deep' enough. At only 3.5" wide, the rim board allows shorter people, or people sitting in chairs, a direct view of the naked back bulb. Harsh on the eyes.

 

[cginter]

I dunno if it falls under the 400 range but....

 

[Kyle Sicard]

Here are a few pictures of my hybrids that I built. The 4 bulb sunpower is over my frag tank, I gutted 2 bulbs and installed LED's in place of them. The bigger light system is on my 120g DT.

 

[don_chuwish]

Dang, lotta work in that!

 

[Kyle Sicard]

I have fun doing it. When I was 18 and getting back into the hobby I really wanted gen 1 radions but couldn't afford them, so I taught myself how to build LED fixtures. I'm now 23 and have gotten pretty handy at it. Both fixtures are controllable from my phone. I could have cleaned up the sunpower retrofit by not mounting the power supply on top of the fixture but I got lazy and didn't want to make the extension cords that would be needed to run it elsewhere and out of sight. I personally don't really care that its mounted on top but I'm sure some people would.

My display tank is the one with the 4 bulb t5 hybrid and I built that LED fixture 3.5 years ago and its still running strong. Building it is nice because I don't have to deal with warranties and crap. I just fix it myself and usually runs me $20-$30 to fix it. The only issue I had was when I switched to screen tops and took my glass tops off. I have 8 wrasses so sometimes they splash and one little droplet of saltwater managed to somehow reach one of my drivers on my display tanks lights, but it was a $25 fix so no biggie. I try to build them to last and so far its doing very well. I'm tempted to re build my DT lights just because my inner nerd wants to test out all the new LEDs that have come out since I built it.

I'm not finished with the sunpower hybrid yet, I plan to add 2 more color channels into the mix. Its not needed but I want to try out some new LED's that I may incorporate into my future builds if I like the results. I have a par meter and the sunpower put 125-150 par on the sandbed of my frag tank when using 4 t5 bulbs, after the retrofit I did it puts just a little over 500 par on the sand bed (I of course have it tuned back). My display tank lights I need to check again because I forgot the par numbers.

The specs for the sunpower is pretty simple, 28 royal blues and 14 neutral whites. I plan to add 6 cree deep blues and 6 luxeon lime leds just to test them out. The LED fixture over my DT has 28 royal blues, 14 neutral whites, 20 hyper violets/uv, 8 reds, 8 greens, 8 cyan's, and 8 true blue cools. Its not to shabby for being built almost 4 years ago.

 

[fscbishop]

I just added 2 x 39W T5s to supplement the 2 x R420R 120W LEDs I have over my 120G. They added a LOT more light than I expected.

Where did you get the hanging kit? Also you use wall anchors to hang or screw into rafters?

 

[don_chuwish]

Where did you get the hanging kit? Also you use wall anchors to hang or screw into rafters?

The hanging kit is the one that came with the R420R lights. I was lucky enough to have a solid wood staircase above the tank, so easy to screw in the anchors.

 

[MikeCizzle]

 

[Jdeleon]

how happy are you guys with the hybrids, going to start building one for my 525XL all I have now is Hydras but want to add T5 just don't know how many bulbs yet.