LED vd T5 addition

I can do both of them for about the same price, for what I want to add. Right now it is four retrofitted t-5s on my 75. Because of the way I made the canopy I can only fit 4. However I can sperate them a little bit and put 12 cree LEDS in te middle, or I could add 2 X 36" t5s. So it would be 4 48 and 2 36". I have some SPS now up higher and just want a little more light. What would be helping more?

 

probably t5's....im assuming ur talkin about the new LEDs scott has in at High Tide?...they are really nice too tho...i've actually thought about gettin some on my tank..lol

 

Who made the retrofit and do you have a fan running to cool the label end of the bulbs?

 

just not completely sold on LEDs yet...but i believe they ARE the future of this hobby....just dont know if anyone is making an affordable high output LED system for a bigger tank yet....key word being affordable

 

I was looking at those that scott had but also I was looking at the 12 crees that are on rapidled. I would put fans on the end of the leds. I would use a workhorse ballest for the 36" ones and just put it together my self. The lights are about 9" off the water.

 

So your comparing around 72w of T5ho to around 36w of led? I know the leds put out a good bit more lumens per watt, but it's not 2x a t5ho. I know cree has made a led that puts out 208 lpw (about 2x a t5ho as far as I know), but it is still being tested and is not in production as far as I know. I would go for the cree 20 led nano build, but if it was just 12 I would go for the t5s

 

So I have decided on adding the 2 36" t5s to it and now I need to order the parts. Could I order a new 4X54w ballest for the 48" ones I have now and then use one of the ballast I had before that only ran 2 t5s for the 36" ones?

Here is a picture of the label and I just want to make sure I'm reading it right.


hopefully that will work that way I have less ballast to deal with and plus one of the 54w ones is kinda going out now anyways.

 

A 54W T5HO ballast will damage 39W T5HO bulbs. You will need a ballast made for 24W/39W T5HO bulbs.

 

well I know that but if you look at the second from the bottom line it says 2 39W so that is what I wasn't sure about.