Swapping T5 to LED

[LightingBamboozled]

I've noticed the beginnings of light reduction from my latest T5 bulbs (Although it may have been my perspex being dirty...) and so I want to start looking at switching to LED lights. Last time I looked at this I got thoroughly confused and it inspired my username. The current set up is an iQuatics Aqualumi 2x80W controller with two 1449mm bulbs from Giesemann (One whiteish "Tropic", one pinkish "Superflora") attached to the inside of the hood lid with reflectors.


The tank is with 1500x432mm internally with 9-10mm glass. There are three 62mm braces running front to back (not perfectly straight, it's a bugbear, about 20- 25mm from each end and one roughly in the middle. There are also 45mm braces running below those on both front and back fo the tank. The top of the tank glass is about 95mm below the hood, front to back braces a further 15mm and the side to side andother 10mm below that. There are two 4mm perspex/plastic lids over the top of the tank. Water is about 360mm deep and comes up to C. 4mm below the lower, left to right braces.

Problems I'm trying to solve, approximately in order of importance to me.

• Reduce energy costs. I'm spending 160W for lighting I could be getting for less
• Reduce heat. During the summer these lights keep the tank above my desired temperature and we're getting to that season again.
• Lights not mounted on the hood. With the lights on the hood lid I struggle to see what I'm doing when working in the tank, opening the lid illuminates the whole room and somewhat freaks out the fish as the tank plunges into darkness.
• Significantly less important
  • Control over light colour (I'm not sure I'm 100% happy with the current colour from two distinct bulbs)
  • Sunrise/sunset mode would be nice (The lights snapping off at night is a very sudden change to the mood of the room).
  • Slightly brighter lighting, I think I might not have quite enough light for my carpet plants, but it's not a major thing.
  • Potentially adaptable to a 6' x 2' tank in the future.

I've seen LED bulb t5's that run 25 - 37 W. I'm not clear whether these are powered from the T5 socket or individual power cables. They all seem to be very wide angle and don't look that bright in images. And of course it doesn't solve the not mounted on the hood problem.

I've found that lots of LED fixtures aren't long enough for the tank, 1450mm seems a standard length at full extension, so they'd have to rest on the outer braces, not even clip on the outside of them. And I'm not sure I'd get as much coverage as needed from a light that's only over the middle of the tank, because they look pretty short once the legs are fully extended. They also often look tall.

So Should I get two long lights to run half the length of the tank? This will get in the way of the sliding lids so I'd need to retrofit a new answer for covering the tank

So maybe I should get 3 or 4 short lights and run them back to front. 38-40cm seems a common length for a light but I'd be worried about light and dark bands along the tank. overlapping zones being too light and also that could get pretty pricey. These lights tend to be around 60% the cost of their 140cm equivalents so 3 of them would be nearly double the cost.

So please, de-bamboozle me. Options, brands, items, ideas. I'm open for input.

 

[fredi]

I was in a similar situation a while ago
I went with Fluval 3.0, I am happy with them

 

[oreo57]

Yea finding 60" bar lights us probably your biggest problem.
Second replacement tubes using LEDs are available in plug and play using your existing electronic ballasts. Not sure if you have old magnetic types.
Or as rewire replacements using an ac/dc switching power supply.

Third as to savings...generally speaking one can replace tube wattage at a 1/2 to one ratio but suggest shooting for 3/4 to 1.
Depending on electrical costs this gets interesting.

You may be better off using a few " puck style" lights.
Unfortunately the $ cost will pretty much eat up any energy savings.

I'll get back to you on this but an example...

2PCS LED Aquarium Grow Light for 72" Full Spectrum Freshwater Plants Fish Tank | eBay

2PCS LED Aquarium Grow Light for 72" Full Spectrum Freshwater Plants Fish Tank | Pet Supplies, Fish & Aquariums, Lighting & Bulbs | eBay!

www.ebay.com.sg

Pretty sure you can get leg kits for these though not listed there. Spectrums are a bit unorthodox but easily adjustable. No fan are lower wattage models. Turing controller is a bit old school.

 

[LightingBamboozled]

I went with Fluval 3.0, I am happy with them

Did you go for a single 59W? or several 22W?

Yea finding 60" bar lights us probably your biggest problem.

I know right? This used to be a pretty common size of tank when I first started fishkeeping. I wonder why it's not so popular now.

Second replacement tubes using LEDs are available in plug and play using your existing electronic ballasts.
Or as rewire replacements using an ac/dc switching power supply.

Any brands to go with/avoid or are the all much of a muchness?

[/quote]Third as to savings...generally speaking one can replace tube wattage at a 1/2 to one ratio but suggest shooting for 3/4 to 1.[/quote]
Is that just as tubes or for bars as well because that would suggest I need two Fluval Plant 3.0's as equivalent to my current lighting. That seems a lot.

 

[oreo57]

Did you go for a single 59W? or several 22W?



I know right? This used to be a pretty common size of tank when I first started fishkeeping. I wonder why it's not so popular now.


Any brands to go with/avoid or are the all much of a muchness?

Unless you get a light with 90 degree lenses I'd not waver from 80 plus well distributed led watts.
3 ai primes is sort of the go to light for your tank. That's about $700US..
Micmol Thor's are another option.
You can go a lot cheaper using led floods but I can almost guarantee you won't like the color rendering.
Maybe some RGB floods but as you may have guessed, lots of diy mounting.

ATM there are no recommended 60" t5 led tubes that " I" know of.

 

[oreo57]

57" AI Blade.

57" Blade Freshwater Smart Strip LED Light - AquaIllumination

Shop The Best Saltwater Aquarium Equipment & Supplies at Saltwater Aquarium. We Carry Everything you will Need for your Fish Tank.

www.saltwateraquarium.com

 

[anewbie]

I was in a similar situation a while ago
I went with Fluval 3.0, I am happy with them

I used the fluval 3.0 for about 4 years; but have started to shift away; the biggest issue is a slight yellow tint in the spectrum. I can't comment authority with regards to plant uptake on this spectrum as there are a lot of details involved; but i started testing a blade (see @oreo57 ) posting above and can make the following comments:

The spectrum is much more pleasing visually and photographically (and extremely more pleasing than the wrgb2 (non pro which lack white led); it is quite a bit stronger than the plant 3.0 per same length and has some nice options like the ability to turn off the on/off button which glows quite brightly as well as auto clock adjustment (daylight change).

The negatives are more expensive (but not bad per watt); water proofing is quite weak compared to the plant 3.0 and of course the warranty is fairly short 1 yr vs 3 yr. I've only had my blade around 3 months (it is a new product) so i don't have the same sort of long term data as the plant 3.0 - i have not noticed adverse impact on plant life (it is a low tech aquarium attached - the picture attached). I'm not 100% sure but i think the penetration is not quite as good through the floating mess - see picture - i did take some par readings and the light was fairly strong - i run it around 70% - at the very top it was over 400 - but i don't remember the bottom reading:


====

Hanging the blade is pretty easily - esp the longer models. They have a different type of clip on them than the shorter ones. The clip on them have a screw facing upward and can easily be attached to a strong or wire that is hung from the ceiling. There is also a screw hole on the ends that can be used - both the short and long models.

Here is an older picture with the fluval - if you look at the substrate you can see the difference in tone - naturally both lights can be adjusted so these are not authoritative as adjustments will change the tint - the fluval does have a yellow white led which is why you tend to see the yellow tint - as i said i'm not sure of the overall impact on the spectrum on plant growth and that is something that should probably be explored:


---
The 17 inch width (front to back) of your tank is probably the limit for a single light - as there is a bit of drop off at the edges - ai claims 2 feet coverage but i would question that - as for flood light they can be fairly pleasing - i have played with a few and there is a wide range of cheap strong flood lights on amazon with various temp point and spectrum - the biggest negative for me is sunrise/sunset features - but there are a few that can be dimmed and put on a timer - as well as some rgb models that can be fully programmed - i've not gone so far as to play with those - the one i've been using on a pail to grow some plants have been a mix results - with floaters doing fantastic but now things have sort of broken down (perhaps not enough minerals).

 

[fredi]

Did you go for a single 59W? or several 22W?

I went with 59w, i am happy with them

 

[LightingBamboozled]

So the options are C. £600 for a trio of AI Prime freshwaters at 165W, about £500 for an AI Blade, possibly with extra for mounts to raise it somewhat over the covers at 140W. £270 or £540 for one or two Plant 3.0s at 59-118W. Or spend that £270 on 5 spare sets of t5 bulbs and bodge a mount to take them off the hood and stand them on something. All for minimal energy savings from my current 160W.

Yeah, I think I'm not switching to LED's any time soon.

 

[oreo57]

Well 4 75-90 Nicrews is only $170-ish pounds.
80 watts total
Amazon product ASIN B08CXDWLGJOr 4 of these $200
Amazon product ASIN B07X5JY247The previous expensive ones ( and not the most expensive ones) were just the easiest way to do it.

 

[anewbie]

So the options are C. £600 for a trio of AI Prime freshwaters at 165W, about £500 for an AI Blade, possibly with extra for mounts to raise it somewhat over the covers at 140W. £270 or £540 for one or two Plant 3.0s at 59-118W. Or spend that £270 on 5 spare sets of t5 bulbs and bodge a mount to take them off the hood and stand them on something. All for minimal energy savings from my current 160W.

Yeah, I think I'm not switching to LED's any time soon.

Some things to consider: First the led life time per tube replacement period. The other thing is that the led are easily configurable and dimmed so wattage will likely be quite a bit lower than the max. A lot depends on your aquarium height. Then as mentioned by @oreo57 there are less expensive units by nicrew, beamswork and hygger. Particularly the hygger models are newer and have good feedback though all three are similar. Ultimately the choice is yours.

 

[oreo57]

Since I believe you assembled your own hood/ light a diy led could be built for the cost of your replacement bulbs.
Wouldn't solve the blinding issue with the hood though and a glass topper or some sort of shield would be necessary. Also some vents in the hood would help. Unlike the tubes most light will be projected down..
Assuming you have a few tools at hand.
Using high quality high cri cobs and some
"full spectrum" 3w emitters you can get a fair approx. of your current spectrum.
Keep in mind the tubes are really a RGB type light.

 

[LightingBamboozled]

Well I'm slightly confused by the recomendation of those Nicrew models. The current set up gets about 83 lumen per watt. Those Nicrews seem to only get about 65 (1300Lum/20W) so I'd need more power for the same amount of light.

the led are easily configurable and dimmed so wattage will likely be quite a bit lower than the max.

Except looking into a lot of these recommendations they seem to not be giving significantly improved, if improved at all lumen per W. I was expecting something like 220 lumen per watt for modern LED's.

 

[oreo57]

Lumens/watt breaks down with lights that have a large amount of monochromatic red and blue diodes.

Convert Lux to PPFD - Online Calculator | Waveform Lighting

Online calculator to convert illuminance (lux) to PPFD (micromoles per second per meter squared).

www.waveformlighting.com

Lux is lumens/area
1000 lux of red is 77 par ( ppfd)
1000 lux of a 6500k white led is 17 par

High quality white LEDs push 150l/watt.
Current average led is around 100l/ w.

New XLamp® CMB LEDs Deliver High Lumen Density & More Lumens Per Watt - Cree LED

Cree LED has launched the new XLamp® CMB LED family of products. No-compromise COB platform delivers both high lumen density and high LPW XLamp® CMB Family COB LEDs: Upgrade Guide More Details here: XLamp CMB Family Page

www.cree-led.com

Mix in blues and reds and average drops.
Also " delivery"at 120 degrees is significantly better. Less lumens doesn't mean less light at the target. Probably 1/4 of the gain is just less "wasted" lumens.

 

[nnnal]

You could also try to retrofit with T5 led tubes. Can be found at "medicinal" plant growing websites, 6500k, 3000k, 48" - 42w, 35$. It will not solve too many of your issues but for sure a cheaper option. SunBlaster T5LED Conversion Lamps would be one option, I am sure there are others out there.

Sent from my Pixel 6 using Tapatalk

 

[fredi]

You could also try to retrofit with T5 led tubes. Can be found at "medicinal" plant growing websites, 6500k, 3000k, 48" - 42w, 35$. It will not solve too many of your issues but for sure a cheaper option. SunBlaster T5LED Conversion Lamps would be one option, I am sure there are others out there.

Sent from my Pixel 6 using Tapatalk

It’s the ballasts which consume the majority of the power
As far as I know (whenever I have tried), led t5 replacements won’t work on electronic ballasts
I do believe that there are ways round this (Google is your friend), but mains electricity is involved

 

[ian_m]

Retro fit LED tubes are designed for magnetic ballasted fluorescent tube fixtures, rather than electronic ballasts. If you have electronic ballasts you will have to rewire the tube connections.

Using BICPenCad, above are "tube" wiring diagrams.

1. Is conventional magnetic ballast (B) with starter (S). Upon mains being applied, the starter is a short and current flows through the ballast. No current goes through the tube (FL) as it hasn't fired yet. Current flows and causes the filaments at ends of the fluorescent tube to heat up (emitting electrons) as well as the starter heating up. In the starter a bimetallic strip opens contacts, the current stops flowing, the magnetic field in the ballast collapses producing 1000's Volts across the tube causing it to fire. Current then flows through the tube, the current being limited by the ballast. The starter stays open circuit due to gas in the starter being ionised and keeping the bimetallic contacts warm.
2. Is replacement LED in magnetic ballast circuit. The starter stays closed allowing current to pass through and light the LED's, which are connected at one end of the tube. Usually not enough current passes through the starter to cause it to heat up, and open circuit, thus LED's stay on. With higher power LED's sometimes the starter "does work" and LED's will flicker on and off, in which case you replace the starter with a "shorting" starter and all is well.
3. Is wiring for an electronic ballast. It applies 2000V odd across the ends of the tube to "ignite" it, then the correct voltage across the ends of the tube to keep it lit (200V ???). Replacing with LED tube would not work, as the ballast would keep applying 2000V pulse to light the tube and never succeed in igniting and thus never apply power.
4. Is how you rewire for an LED tube.

Note the clever bit of one end of LED tubes is a short. This is to prevent you electrocuting yourself if you half remove a tube from a powered on fixture and you touch the exposed pins. Some early cheap Chinese LED tubes had the power connections at either end of the tube and these are dangerous as you will get a shock if you half remove the tube and touch the contacts.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

Can be found at "medicinal" plant growing websites, 6500k, 3000k, 48" - 42w, 35$. It will not solve too many of your issues but for sure a cheaper option.

Agreed, <"Tomato" growing web sites"> always know where you get the most cost effective solution.

So the options are C. £600 for a trio of AI Prime freshwaters at 165W, about £500 for an AI Blade, possibly with extra for mounts to raise it somewhat over the covers at 140W. £270 or £540 for one or two Plant 3.0s at 59-118W. Or spend that £270 on 5 spare sets of t5 bulbs and bodge a mount to take them off the hood and stand them on something. All for minimal energy savings from my current 160W......Yeah, I think I'm not switching to LED's any time soon.

There should be some commercial lighting that is suitable. For fluorescent tubes 5' (150 cm) length was a common size unit for warehouse lighting etc. Have a search for High (and Low) Bay lighting.

This one was pretty much the first one that came up on a Google search - 5000K, IP65, dimmable and 200W for £125. <"Elegance 200W Cool White 5000K LED Dimmable Linear High Bay Light - Black">.

cheers Darrel