Changing over to T5 leds??

[Ryan1980]

I've got a jewel 190 trigon tank. I want to change my lighting over to led bulbs. How would I go about it,can I just buy a bulb that's led and screw it into the existing t5 or t8 fitting,or do I need to buy a new light unit? Has anyone got any experience with dealing with changing t5's over to Led? I've not got clue??


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[LHARTWICK]

I'm interested in the same thing as well.

 

[Ryan1980]

It's looking like getting a lcd lighting strip and sticking it in place,where the old bulbs are at the moment. But surely there's an easier way around it?? Has anyone else got a trigon 190???? On here


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[candymancan]

what does a trigon tank look like ? never heard of that shape and i love odd shaped tanks.


I dont like LEDS personally, led lights can be good for very very tall tanks, but the problem is LEDS are super directional.. Meaning the light points straight down or whatever direction you have them.. I have many LED Fixtures and i dont like them.. they cause too much algae. and i prefer my T5s or power compact bulbs.


Ever wonder why LED headlights are banned in certain states ? Too directional

 

[Ryan1980]

Ok thanks for the advice candy man .I didn't realise led was so directional. I'm from the UK,I was just wanting to change over for the energy consumption benifits really. The Jewel trigon is a corner unit. Looking at the options available it looks like a retro-fit led bulb at the moment, I suppose you can still get the algae build up with a conventional t5 any so it's just the initial outlay for the led bulbs,that will hurt. What is a power compact bulb?


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[candymancan]

Oh trigone i guess is the "offical" name for a corner bowfront then.. So i suppose my 92g would be called a trigone.. heh didnt know that.


It isnt 190 gallons right ? Its 190 Liters or 50g , my 92g 350L corner bowfront is extremely massive so i could only imagine a 190g... .. Liters and gallons, i sometimes hate how the United states is litterally one of the only countries that doesnt use Metrics lol.




I use power compacts on my 92g tank, they are like T5's sorta except alot more efficient. They are one "bulb" but split into two, so you can buy one bulb that is say 10k and 6700k, or all kinds of combinations.. Like this pic you can see i have 2 65w power compacts in this fixture but it looks like 4 bulbs right ? One is a 6700k/10k combo you can tell by one being more blue then the other, and the other one is a duel pink plantgrow bulb.


Problem is power compacts never really took off like T5's did, so most fixtures had poor reflectors and a poor reflector on a PC bulb, vs a T5HO with a good reflector made the T5 a brighter light.. Sadly T8, T5's and PC are all being phased out.. I cant go into any store and buy new fish tank bulbs.. I have to order online and the ones online are basically leftovers.. So that kinda pisses me off..

 

[Ryan1980]

I think trigon suggests it's corner unit tbh,it's 190 litres not gallons lol,it does seem stupid the way the rest of Europe are using metrics and the U.S. are still on imperial I'm not sure but I'd say bow fronted is another thing again. Yea it looks like 4 bulbs,so how are they attached to light fitments,is it just like you would fit any other standard bulb? From asking in my lfs today,there saying jewel don't do any standard fitment led bulbs that would fit my tank. So it could be case of sticking with the standard t5's or buying an led light strip and somehow attaching it to lid of my tank,probably more hassle then it's worth. T5's are still available in most aquarium stores in the UK. Where about sin the states are you from? What fish are you keeping in 92 gallon?



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[jarrod0987]

There used to be "bulbs" with led's on them that you could plug into your T5 Fixture. I never could get a hold of them. I would just get a new LED fixture. Or strip lights if you have a canopy. If you have plants or corals you need an LED fixture that is made for them. If it is just fish then you can use any of them.

 

[Ryan1980]

Ok Thanks,it's a canopy,so looks like strip leds then,it's not planted and no corals.


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[candymancan]

Power compacts obviously need their own specific power compact ballast so you cant plug them into a T5 fixture. They have 2 different pin configs. One is 4 straight pin the other is 4 square pin.. The lights only plug in one side.. Here is a picture.. Notice the bottom bulb doesnt have a plug ? Thats because the plug is on the otherside and looks like the one on top.

(note the one on top i cut the 4 square ping plug off and wired the 4 wires into the 4 straight pin pink bulb.. Because they dont have pink plant bulbs in the square pin config so i had to mod the plug a little.)


I've actually converted a 55's 24 inch T8 hood into power compact hoods.. I had a spare duel 65w power compact ballast (seperate from the fixture in the pics above) I just took the t8 bulb out.. Unscrewd the white reflector and i snipped the wires removing the T8 ballast and T8 plugs where you twist the light into you know ? And i wired the 65W duel PC ballast into the Hoods button to turn the lights on and off.. And i used an old computer monitors 3 pin power cable and connected the ballast wires and screwd the white flector back on with the ballast inside.. Then I got zip ties to hold the PC light inside the hood, and i did this to both of my T8 hoods so now my 92G tank has 4X 65W power compact lights. And since each bulb is split in two that means I would have the equiv of 8 T5HO bulbs.


The reason why power compacts are more efficient is because they put out more light for the length of the bulb.. For example the 65W bulbs im using.. are only 21 inches long... To get a T5HO light to put out that much light.. You need one that is 48 inches long and still that is only 54w.. The 36 inch long power compacts.. ARE 96 watts.. So to get the equivalent lighting that i have on my 92g tank with my 4x 65W lights.. I would need 5x 48 INCH long T5 lights... And 4X 48 inch long T5's wouldnt fit on my 92G tank, they would be hanging off the side or the front and the back of the tank would be dark and so forth..


And if you want to light a 48 inch long 55/75/90g tank, You would use either the 96W PC thats 33 inches or the 130W Power compact thats 44 inches.. So 1 single Power compact light you would need 3x 48 inch T5HO's... So anyway they are more efficient because they put out more light for equivalent sized T5's.


So to light my tall 27g hexagon, i would need 4x 18 inch T5 HO lights, to equal 1 single 65W 21 inch Power compact. Make sense now ? I used a single 65W power compact over my 27g hexagon and my plants were exploding in color.. Something i couldnt acheive using the duel T5 fixture i had and the T5 wasnt nearly as bright to the eyes either

Here are pics of how i did that

 

[Ryan1980]

Ok,thanks there's some really good info there. I've now found retro fit LEDs I can use,there expensive but in the long run,over a 5 year life of the bulb it will be worth it. There by Arcadia, Aqua Ray led's then I just need to buy some adapters,the should then fit in the same position as existing t5's.


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