Lonx Posted February 6, 2018 Share Posted February 6, 2018 Hi All, I haven't visited here in a long time but have been running life sans fish for some time and enough is enough! Reviving my 5x2x2 for more americans and it has some nasty old T8 fittings which I'm going to replace. I've a few spares housings like the below and thinking of adding some reflective film to back it, then run 3 full spectrum (115cm Philips TL5 4000k spare tubes on hand which are rated at 2650 lumens 28W) and also a pair of ATI AquaBlue Special 12000k's (54W https://www.atinorthamerica.com/…/bulbs_chart_aquablue_larg…). Then throw switches for both sets at the back of the tank. I could go LED but I'd be running a similar wattage and I have 4 of these double fluro housings with tubes lying around so it makes sense to use them. Also plan to replace the T5 ends with waterproof ones of course. Any suggestions or thoughts? I haven't looked for recent LED threads but will also have a search. If I could find a quality kit for $300 or less then I'd consider it (DIY also being no problem). Right now I'm looking at ~$130 to get this setup but it would be a hell of a lot of light and simple too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lonx Posted February 6, 2018 Author Share Posted February 6, 2018 Looking at LEDs, it seems around $400-450 if buying something off the shelf like this https://makemyled.com/1-x-150cm-triple-row-full-spectrum-combo-panel-mml-fwp3b-150/. Still looking around, no huge rush but probably make a decision in the next week on a plan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firthy13 Posted February 7, 2018 Share Posted February 7, 2018 Go have a look at Aquaillumination new freshwater primes. They are amazing. For such a small unit they give off a huge amount of light. 2 would be perfect for a 5x2 Checkout 'king of DIY' channel on youtube. He is using them throughout his new fish gallery. http://www.aquaillumination.com/lighting/prime/freshwater.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ageofaquariums Posted February 7, 2018 Share Posted February 7, 2018 Ai prime HD's a such wicked bits of kit. If they are an option, well worth it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lonx Posted February 7, 2018 Author Share Posted February 7, 2018 Thanks for the responses! LED is definitely the preference if I can find something that'll be better than these T5's within a fair budget. I'd like to say they are an option but right now a pair of those would run me $600+ so I'm inclined to explore DIY further, having put together some other LED boards for various cases in the past, just not aquarium focused. Will look around to see what I can find in terms of controllers as there's no shortage of high output Cree or Samsung suppliers, lenses etc. on the market. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ducksta Posted February 8, 2018 Share Posted February 8, 2018 Is that the hood you are set to use? I got talked out of changing my lighting because of the 'low' hood I have on my 6x2. At the time I was told all the alternatives would require me to modify the hood to hold stuff higher off the glass, as well as put something in there for heat dissipation. As it's in the lounge - I didn't want to stuff around with electronics poking out the top of the hood. Basically I ended up just cleaning up and continuing to use a basic aquarium fluro reflector. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lonx Posted February 8, 2018 Author Share Posted February 8, 2018 Hmmm very valid point and yes, I'd be re-using this for the time being (another year or two). It's no trouble to fit a couple of fans on a thermostat as part of the design but I think at best there will still only be 3" clearance between light and glass, possibly a little less if it's LED due to heatsinks. Lights only used in evenings for me, I'm either not home or don't need/want to light during the day. Also fish only, no live plants. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lonx Posted February 26, 2018 Author Share Posted February 26, 2018 I decided to give this a go but then realised my current ballasts aren't good enough for running 3x28W and 2x54W. They're all 2x35W limited so I could join some together but it's turning into a pain... to do it properly a 2x54W capable ballast appears to go for $100USD. Yeah no thanks. Have sent an enquiry to Makemyled... I like the idea of PC controlled programs, sunrise/set etc. in a 5ft 150W footprint. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.