Retrofitting LEDs to T5 fixture

[kirkwood]

Has anyone added strip LED lighting to their existing T5 fixture with success? Just wondering as I see the strips as being an easy way to add additional wattage to your existing setup w/o having to sell your existing fixture and then buy a new one... maybe there are old threads on this issue that I am unaware of...

 

[thanh386]

Ecoxotic makes nice led add ones. I have them on my DIY t5 set up. The stunners will stick onto anything

 

[kirkwood]

Thanh386;738661 wrote: Ecoxotic makes nice led add ones. I have them on my DIY t5 set up. The stunners will stick onto anything

how do they stick? Have you noticed a difference on growth before/after?

 

[thanh386]

They are mainly used to add a lite color and or night time lights. Not meant for growth

 

[kirkwood]

Thanh386;738690 wrote: They are mainly used to add a lite color and or night time lights. Not meant for growth

even the 8K and 12K varieties? I would think that a 24W 48" 8K or 12K strip would have some degree of benefit to SPS growth...

I've currently got a 4x54 T5 HO fixture on a 55 gallon and although I have growth from my SPS, I feel like I little extra light could maybe improve the growth rates... I don't feel like getting an entirely new fixure, so was exploring what could be done by adding some LED...

 

[crewdawg1981]

Depends... definitely wont get any growth from a stunner strip. You'd probably need to get a strip of 3w LEDs. White if you wanted to support growth.

 

[kirkwood]

Crewdawg1981;738703 wrote: Depends... definitely wont get any growth from a stunner strip. You'd probably need to get a strip of 3w LEDs. White if you wanted to support growth.

So basically the LEDs are all about the shimmer effect and color pop? In that case I assume most people go for the blue stunner strips to make their corals pop when they're running their actinic light cycle??

 

[crewdawg1981]

Not necessarily true. LEDs can grow corals too. At a 2:1 ratio of Blue to White you can get some incredible pop... and growth. Check out all the DIY threads here and on RC. There is a member that sells LED units many have sworn by and I'm going to be buying from Eshinesystems here in the next month.. I've seen a tank with crazy awesome growth under their units.

Incidentally... they have a 48" LED unit with 20 3w LEDs arranged in a straight line (aquawasher).