T5 vs Kessil LED

[Arcsenic]

I have been interested in doing a retro fit kit on my 55 gal tank I have one kessil a360we atm which I know is not enough but I have all my coral temporarily on one side of the tank till I get more light. What I was wondering is..how do you go about making a retro fit fixture was wanting to try my hardest to not have to buy another kessil and just have like a 4 bulb t5 and one kessil but I'm just kinda not wanting to spend a million dollars buying another fixture

 

[Lynn52]

I bought an inexpensive 2 bulb t5 fixture on eBay for $38. I replaced the bulbs with ATI actinic bulbs. The fixture has mounting legs so easy install.

 

[Highgrade]

I love my Kessils and I have had good growth/color with both the 360we and the 160W. Mainly SPS dominated tanks. Only problem I've experienced is shadowing so I've supplemented with ATI T5. Since adding the T5 shadowing no longer seems to be an issue and my SPS and Acans/Zoas growth seems to have improved. Not much change with the color.

 

[Pfisherman]

I have been interested in doing a retro fit kit on my 55 gal tank I have one kessil a360we atm which I know is not enough but I have all my coral temporarily on one side of the tank till I get more light. What I was wondering is..how do you go about making a retro fit fixture was wanting to try my hardest to not have to buy another kessil and just have like a 4 bulb t5 and one kessil but I'm just kinda not wanting to spend a million dollars buying another fixture

Basicly you will be doing what i said a few posts back. The only difference is that you would be centering your kessil. An a360we will probably grow anything for 30" of your tank so if you mount it about 10" above the water with a 54w t5 in front and one behind you will get great light in the middle 3/4 of your tank. Maybe you could trade that one a360we for two a160 lights and then do the retro and you would be very happy. 55g tanks are hard because they are only 12.5 front to back. You shoud get a 75, better for lighting and aquascaping and fish selection.

 

[Arcsenic]

Lol yea I'm learning now that I should have just went for a 75 but that's a good idea to trade the a360 for the a160s I think I may try to do that

 

[Tank2379]

Regardless of how far LED's have come T-5 are always going to be the best for growth and color.

 

[Arcsenic]

And say I did get two a160s and the t5 fixture I was thinking about running a ati purple plus and a ati true actinic I want a little of that purple look I think. I just have no idea what I'm doing when it comes to t5 cause Ive always had led and I'm ready to start growing some sps

 

[Pfisherman]

You just turn them on lol

 

[Arcsenic]

Well I mean about what bulbs to use..like are some better for growing and some better for color or is it just a what you like type of thing

 

[Lynn52]

And say I did get two a160s and the t5 fixture I was thinking about running a ati purple plus and a ati true actinic I want a little of that purple look I think. I just have no idea what I'm doing when it comes to t5 cause Ive always had led and I'm ready to start growing some sps

In my anemone tank that is what I have with my 360we, 1 true actinic and one purple plus. It looks nice. Eventually I will replace one of the actinics in each of my other fixtures with a purple plus currently they are both actinic.

 

[Arcsenic]

Awesome that's what I wanted to here thank you everyone for the help

 

[Pfisherman]

Well I mean about what bulbs to use..like are some better for growing and some better for color or is it just a what you like type of thing

There are threads that go on for hundreds of pages about this subject, if you are running the leds though and the tubes you can really choose whatever bulbs you want and then adjust the color temperature to your liking.

 

[Lynn52]

Here are a couple videos that compare the color of the bulbs.

 

[nanoman28g]

My

How do you combo kessil with T5s. Pics please

My crazy set up. Very unorthodox, but I'm running a cube and have no choice:

 

[nbagnardi]

i have a set of 3 kessils (360-we, goosenecks, adapters, link cables) if you're interested in buying them, hit me up.

 

[Arcsenic]

Very nice nanoman what bulbs you running in your t5 fixture

 

[JMMJ13902]

Here is my t5s tank. I've had kessils before and end up back to t5s.

 

[nanoman28g]

Very nice nanoman what bulbs you running in your t5 fixture

Thanks, the light came with 2 Blue+, 1 Coral + and one Purple +, but I'm not too crazy about the look, but my Kessil helps a lot. I just need a 24 inch long tank so that it can look better.

 

[ScottMyers123]

I have 2 kessil A350w's over a 90 long and was wanting to add a dual t5 fixture with them. The problem I am having is finding a 48" t5 fixture that will fit under my canopy. Any suggestions???

 

[Lynn52]

Look on eBay. There are a lot of them there. They come with crappy bulbs but otherwise they are great.