DIY HYBRID LIGHT FIXTURE

[jtone_philthy_aquatics]

I wanted to install a hybrid t5ho led light fixture above one of my smaller grow out tanks just to see how it affects growth patterns and the growth rate of the corals in this system. Nothing fancy by any means but I’m happy with the look.

Two 24” t5ho light fixtures running ati coral plus bulbs

ai prime hd16 puck in the center

t5 lighting is off in these pics because I’m not running it all day yet I’m slowly acclimating my corals to the additional lighting I don’t want to fry anything right off the bat lol. Just feeling it out right now. It’s more so for down the road once some of these frags really begin to grow out and things become shaded. I just wanted to be ready because I’m seeing more growth lately in this tank so I figured I’d have it ready to go for when the time really comes.
The other photos just show the two kessil lights I just mounted over a small frag tank. It’s that innovative marine nano frag tank that they used to make. I just hold new corals in that tank until I decide what I’m going to do with the frags. Mostly lps corals and some bounce shrooms.
a few montipora coral as well rr tropic thunder colony I got off of Jason fox and some of my rare chalice coral frags. Frammers hammers frogspawns and Christata mini torch corals ( grape coral)

lmk what you guys think of the new hybrid lighting

 

[Zach B]

Very nice! I really want to install a couple t5’s to compliment my leds as well. Looking good!

 

[jtone_philthy_aquatics]

Very nice! I really want to install a couple t5’s to compliment my leds as well. Looking good!

Thank you I appreciate the compliment! You should do it. I know it will pay off down the road when the corals really begin to shadow some of the others. I bought these t5ho fixtures off of Amazon for like 25 bucks a piece. They get the job done and they came with some supplies to make hanging them a little easier. They also came with daisy chain cords so you can have both running off one plug.

 

[Foxchase]

Thank you I appreciate the compliment! You should do it. I know it will pay off down the road when the corals really begin to shadow some of the others. I bought these t5ho fixtures off of Amazon for like 25 bucks a piece. They get the job done and they came with some supplies to make hanging them a little easier. They also came with daisy chain cords so you can have both running off one plug.

Do you have a link for the lights? And did you have to do change anything about them? Or just plug and play?

 

[Billdogg]

That looks very nice, but I'd be concerned that at that height the T5's will lose a great deal of intensity - 2x distance = 1/4 intensity (Inverse Square Law)

Can you lower it any?

 

[jtone_philthy_aquatics]

That looks very nice, but I'd be concerned that at that height the T5's will lose a great deal of intensity - 2x distance = 1/4 intensity (Inverse Square Law)

Can you lower it any?

i appreciate that. It started out low above the tank I’ve raised it about 3 times now because my corals were getting burned. It’s about 12 inches above the tank now and I’m seeing way better color and growth. I see a lot of people run just ai primehd lights by them self at 12 inches above there systems. I find that the corals do much better with it being less intense. I have the aiprime running on low power as well. Running my lights this way allows me to maintain higher nutrient levels in the system without bleaching all of my sps. Now If this was only acros I’d do things a little different. Even with this setup my acros do very well though.

 

[jtone_philthy_aquatics]

Do you have a link for the lights? And did you have to do change anything about them? Or just plug and play?

Yup the lights link up together so I only had to use one extra outlet so that worked out nice! The lights were all good to go! I bought a few ATI bulbs for the 24 inch fixtures and that was it! Plug and play Besides making my own hanging kit it was all good to go outta the box. For being cheap fixtures I’m really impressed with them. I’ve been running them for a little while now and I have nothing but good things to say about the setup. The tank has responded very well to the adjustments. I’m seeing great growth from the sps and all of the lps. Im running heavy violet/ uva violet/ royal blue on the prime hd and the two ati bulbs are coral plus the corals are loving it. I’m dosing b ionic a+b and acro power along with mag +nitrates from brightwell aquatics.

 

[Foxchase]

Yup the lights link up together so I only had to use one extra outlet so that worked out nice! The lights were all good to go! I bought a few ATI bulbs for the 24 inch fixtures and that was it! Plug and play Besides making my own hanging kit it was all good to go outta the box. For being cheap fixtures I’m really impressed with them. I’ve been running them for a little while now and I have nothing but good things to say about the setup. The tank has responded very well to the adjustments. I’m seeing great growth from the sps and all of the lps. Im running heavy violet/ uva violet/ royal blue on the prime hd and the two ati bulbs are coral plus the corals are loving it. I’m dosing b ionic a+b and acro power along with mag +nitrates from brightwell aquatics.

Do you have a link to the ones you got?

 

[jtone_philthy_aquatics]

Do you have a link to the ones you got?

Yes sir Let me get the link for you real quick

 

[Foxchase]

Yes sir Let me get the link for you real quick

I appreciate that. It looks like exactly what I've been looking for forever

 

[jtone_philthy_aquatics]

I appreciate that. It looks like exactly what I've been looking for forever

Any time! I just sent you a pm with the link and everything included with these fixtures

 

[mexi757]

Looks great and would like to try with my 32hd’s. Can you send link please?

 

[jtone_philthy_aquatics]

Looks great and would like to try with my 32hd’s. Can you send link please?

Yea no problem bro! Thank you for the compliment I appreciate that

 

[jtone_philthy_aquatics]

Looks great and would like to try with my 32hd’s. Can you send link please?

Just shot ya a pm with the link brotha

 

[jtone_philthy_aquatics]

That looks very nice, but I'd be concerned that at that height the T5's will lose a great deal of intensity - 2x distance = 1/4 intensity (Inverse Square Law)

Can you lower it any?

The ai prime alone is capable of growing all of my corals out. I only added the t5ho fixtures to prevent shadowing for my sps corals. I thought the same thing at first. That all sounds good on paper but that doesn’t mean the corals will agree. That will bleach even some acros depending on how much nutrients you have in your system. But if you were referring to my frag tank with the two kessil lights hung really high I run that system with really high nutrient levels as well. Plus that’s a chalice dominant system and they don’t require intense lighting either. (Low nutrient systems =higher lighting) (high nutrient systems= lower lighting) that’s the rule I follow and have been following for a very long time. I’m having a lot of success with this method. It’s really easy to fry corals. Not so easy to grow them into colony’s.

 

[Sshannon]

Can you send me that link, my brother?