T5/LED Combo Advise-Please Help

[omar jawad]

I have been running 3 Kessil A360WE Tuna Blue led's for over two and a half years. About a year ago, I purchased two 48" t5 retro kits. I've been sitting on these kits, trying to get motivated to install them. I am very particular about the wiring and anything I build for this tank so something that should take a few hours will take me a few days. Either way, I'm looking for any advise on this transition related to acclimation times and smooth transitions. Should I turn down the led's during the initial T5 acclimation period? How many minutes/hours should I begin with. I will be running two ATI Coral Plus, one ATI Purple Plus and one ATI Blue Plus bulb. This was recommend to me by someone in this group.
Please chime in with any advise. After the damage caused by the loss of power during hurricane Irma, I can't afford the stress and financial hit of another catastrophe.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

If you are adding for more par, just slowly increase the time the t5 are on.

If you are adding to keep the par the same and only reduce shadowing , then turn the leds down. I would use the same acclimation to Light method as above. Slowly increase time.

 

[omar jawad]

My main goal is to increase coloration with the SPS corals. Reducing the shadowing is not something I've though about but will be nice.

 

[Daniel Waters]

What color % are you running on your kessils? My question is not really related to your question on how to deal with intensity and acclimation. I just think 2 coral plus, one purple plus, and one blue plus is going to be a very strong white look visually and is not a typical t5 setup for a 4 bulb set up. The t5 bulbs will dominate the way the tank looks visually. Once again, I'm talking about aesthetics. Coral plus and blue plus are great bulbs for SPS. Purple plus is fine also if you want an additional accent for those reds, pinks, and purples. I always found it a bit much.

As far as acclimation, I think saltyfilmfolks advice is sound. However, I think you should calibrate your lighting with a par meter. My best guess is that 4 bulbs of t5 will generate similar par levels that your 3 kessils are, depending on how you are running your kessils intensity % and mounting height.

 

[omar jawad]

What color % are you running on your kessils? My question is not really related to your question on how to deal with intensity and acclimation. I just think 2 coral plus, one purple plus, and one blue plus is going to be a very strong white look visually and is not a typical t5 setup for a 4 bulb set up. The t5 bulbs will dominate the way the tank looks visually. Once again, I'm talking about aesthetics. Coral plus and blue plus are great bulbs for SPS. Purple plus is fine also if you want an additional accent for those reds, pinks, and purples. I always found it a bit much

.
I chose the combo based on anothers suggestion. You may be right. I certainly don't want to much white. What do you suggest. I'm looking to get the best look out of my sps. Mostly get disappointed when I place my frags in the tank and they don't match the look I expected.

 

[Finhead]

I would ditch the Purple + and go with a second Blue +, I tried a Purple + on my 4 bulbs with 2 Hydra 26's and it washed the colors a fair amount.
I have my T5's runing the bulk of the main peak time of 8 ish hours and only peak the hydras for 3 hrs (80% blues 35% whites)) and use them to do the dusk and dawn effect.

 

[Daniel Waters]

.
I chose the combo based on anothers suggestion. You may be right. I certainly don't want to much white. What do you suggest. I'm looking to get the best look out of my sps. Mostly get disappointed when I place my frags in the tank and they don't match the look I expected.

If you tell me what color % you prefer your kessils at, I can probably give you a similar 4 bulb T5 combination that will blend best to your preference. However, when some people talk about bringing out colors on their corals, often what they mean is they like the deep blue and the "pop". I think with acros you get to see the true colors better with a little more white. I'd recommend at least 2 blue plus bulbs, one coral plus, and either an actinic if you want more pop and deeper blue color, another blue plus for slightly blue, or another coral plus which would give you a pretty crisp white tank look in my opinion. I run 4 blue plus bulbs with my leds and just increase my white channel, so there's lots of ways you can do this. However, what you can't do is turn your blues way up on your leds and expect it to make the tank look deep blue if you are running two t5 bulbs with a lot of white in it...the white T5 bulb will dominate the tank color. Coral plus has quite a bit of red and green spectrum in it, so it gives a tank a crisp white with a slight blue color..