Our Lighting comparison ATI t5 sunPower/Hydra 26 HD's

[theMerchant]

Nice
I do like how the T5s have a nice softness too it.

 

[john.m.cole3]

Sweet tank. How high is you fixture and what is your bulb combo?

 

[Jonathan blackwood]

Sweet tank. How high is you fixture and what is your bulb combo?

8" above water lvl. And I am running purple plus, blue special, coral plus, and 3 super actinic

 

[john.m.cole3]

8" above water lvl. And I am running purple plus, blue special, coral plus, and 3 super actinic

Heavy actinic very cool.

 

[Jonathan blackwood]

And here is a quick video of my tank just now. I recently set it up about 2 months ago please enjoy and see my t5 /led combo

 

[john.m.cole3]

Wow!

 

[Jonathan blackwood]

Wow!

That a good wow?

 

[john.m.cole3]

Yes it is! Nice system

 

[jsker]

Here is my recent new lighting set up! I changed my canopy from being too high above the water to just right I am now running 6 ATI bulbs 48" and 2 galaxyhydro leds for my secondary lighting at top water lvl is 43,000 lux ! My tank couldn't be happier! 72 bowfront BTW

Thank you for posting. Feel free to post your progress

 

[jsker]

That a good wow?

Yes it is! Nice system

It is a bowfront of course

 

[jsker]

And here is a quick video of my tank just now. I recently set it up about 2 months ago please enjoy and see my t5 /led combo

Very nice, great scraping.

 

[Broadfield]

This is a nice thread since I actually just made a switch away from 100% LEDs.

Here is the tank right before I took the AI Primes off of it.



Here is my graph:

Broadfield AI Prime Settings
https://flic.kr/p/DbUgn4

Broadfield AI Prime Peak %

Here is my dropbox file if anyone wants to try it out... it's roughly a 14k-15k spectrum:
https://flic.kr/p/DbUgnK
https://www.dropbox.com/s/14tqn9s6ibw793x/Broadfied AI Prime 14.5k - 11 Hour?dl=0
https://flic.kr/p/DbUgnK
So, I just replaced the Primes with a Giesemann Aurora T5/LED hybrid fixture. I was actually REALLY pleased with the Primes. Those little guys did really well on a mixed reef that is 60" x 22" x 20". However, I have never owned T5's and wanted to try them out. But I didn't want to give up the positives of LEDs... so I figured why not have them both. I'm still getting the Giesemann dialed in. For you LED guys, you'll probably back me up when I say it seemed like I was always messing with Prime colors and %'s to get just the right spectrum. Well, now add in 4 T5 bulbs to the mix, that are 100% dimmable and all of the bulb choice combos that you can do. You can see why I'm still dialing it in lol. I think I have it where I'm pretty darn happy though. I have yet to take a new video with the Giesemann on there, but very soon. I'll be sure to post it in here once I do. In the meantime, here are some macro shots I took under the Giesemann. Keep in mind, this was my first time using a macro lens, ever... so I have no idea what I'm doing in these shots
https://flic.kr/p/DbUgnK

https://flic.kr/p/DbUgnK

https://flic.kr/p/DbUgnK

https://flic.kr/p/DbUgnK

https://flic.kr/p/DbUgnK

https://flic.kr/p/DbUgnK

https://flic.kr/p/DbUgnK

https://flic.kr/p/DbUgnK

 

[Salt Creep]

I used to run LED over my 40, but switched to T5. Having mostly sps I thought the LEDs were great and the coral looked awesome from above, but there were definitely shadowing issues where the bases of colonies would lose color. T5 lighting hasn't given me that problem and my coral look colored up from the side too, but with T5 there is extra heat to deal with.

I have my lights set up about 6" off the water line front to back:

Blue +
Coral +
Blue +
Purple +
Coral +
Blue +

I run mine 12 hours a day

2 blue + 11am - 11pm
Blue + and purple + 12:30pm - 9:30pm
2 coral + 2pm - 8pm

I also have a tank in another room with a razor over it that I can document later (don't have any recent pics of that tank right now) and don't remember my set points from memory.

 

[jsker]

@Broadfield great post. I am see more post of people going with both LED&T5's of over all coverage. Your video theme song is killing me, I can not recall the TV show it was used on, and I am not going to look it up either. That would be cheating. I am also trying to teach myself how to put together videos/ edit. What did you use to edit your video? and I would say @john.m.cole3 and would like to know the lens you shot the still with? Oh yes keep us posted of using the best of both worlds LED/T'5 combo. Thank you for the setting post also.

@Salt Creep what kind of LED's were you running? @john.m.cole3 and I were running current orbit marine before the upgrade. When I was running my old light, the light just were not enough to get down to the bottom of the tank and I was having all kind of browning issues. When I switch everything started coloring up. Please keep us posted.

 

[john.m.cole3]

Regarding ther lens and photos. I went to Manual mode, had the flash on, shutter speed 1/60", f-stop around 7 ish, then I tinkered with the other settings and didn;t write down the best ones out of around 200 photos or so. I have some tinkering time today and will also post my LUX reading. I hope you all have a nice, relaxing weekend!

 

[Salt Creep]

@jsker I had 2 of the Chinese black box full-spectrum LEDs. 240 watts total with 90 degree optics dialed down to around 40% white channel and 50% blue.

 

[jsker]

Regarding ther lens and photos. I went to Manual mode, had the flash on, shutter speed 1/60", f-stop around 7 ish, then I tinkered with the other settings and didn;t write down the best ones out of around 200 photos or so. I have some tinkering time today and will also post my LUX reading. I hope you all have a nice, relaxing weekend!

I ordered the LUX meter today and it will be here this afternoon. you have to love amazon prime

 

[jsker]

@jsker I had 2 of the Chinese black box full-spectrum LEDs. 240 watts total with 90 degree optics dialed down to around 40% white channel and 50% blue.

We are breaking out the LUX meters today for reading at the water line.
I had my Orbits at 100%blue and 50% white. Running the Hydra's I have so much more color with out having to run all the blue to pop the color of the corals

 

[Broadfield]

@Broadfield great post. I am see more post of people going with both LED&T5's of over all coverage. Your video them song is killing me, I can not recall the TV show it was used on and I am not going to look it up either. That would be cheating. I am also trying to teach myself how to put together videos/ edit. What did you use to edit your video? and I would say @john.m.cole3 and would like to know the lens you shot the still with? Oh yes keep us posted of using the best of both worlds LED/T'5 combo. Thank you for the setting post also.

LOL, did you figure out that TV show yet? For video editing, I use iMovies on my Mac. Youtube actually has a decent editor in their advanced editor, but if you add things like "credits" and whatnot with their editor, it will not do the video in anything higher than 1080P. You are also forced to use their music... if you want music for your video. I shoot in 4k, so I prefer to have the 1440P and 4k viewing options on my videos. For the pictures, I used my Canon 50d and a Canon 60 mm f/2.8 macro lens.

 

[jsker]

I have to teach myself Adobe Premiere this weekend. I have the CC suite. That or I would have to break down and use my better half's Mac, that my friend is not happening. Give me a hint on the song in a day if I do get it, I know it, I know it. At first I though is was the odd couple, I am gong to watch the video another time and figure this out for sure.
The 60mm lens is my next lens. Several member use that lens for close shots.
I have a Canon 70d, and not being a professional or even a hobbyist in photography I am constantly lost with that piece of equipment.