# T5 -> led - wpg



## Yo-han (Oct 15, 2010)

I did measured PAR from a T5 lighting and swapped it with a LED unit with the same PAR values and noticed that to get the same PAR I only needed half the light. I know it's hard to compare because every bulb and LED is different, but did someone else tried something like this?

The reason I ask this is because I want to swap my 6x54W T5HO to LED. I searched local shops and the internet and most LED units look like crap right away. The first unit I found that I feel is good (without testing, just based on specs) is the Maxspect Razor (R420R). But this unit is quite expensive in the Netherlands. I found this chinese unit that looks to have about the same specs, only a different design and passive cooling instead of fans. But that is no problem, I can always add fans, the unit wont be visible anyway, so I don't need the really beautiful Maxspect design.

Here is the link to the Chinese version: here!

Please share your thought about this unit and how many watt the T5 equivalent would be.


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## TropTrea (Jan 10, 2014)

Unless you know exactly what LED they are using in the fixture and the specifications on it you cannot do a direct comparison. Even with DIY unless you get quality LED's from either Philips or Cree you may or may not be getting an increase in efficiency. The range of efficiency of LED's ranges from 30 lumns to 120 lumns per watt. Add to that that the spectrum is really will vary causing some poor spectrum LED's to require 400 lumns to do the same job as another LED at only 150 lumns.

Most of my planted tanks are running with 1/2 watt per gallon using a 50/50 mix between Cree Cool White (6,500K) and Neutral White (4,500K). But I have found that on some shallow tanks even that is excessive, and I can grow medium light demanding plants with as little as 1/3 Watt per gallon.

I had seen some systems with low wattage Chinese LED's where they were running around 2 watts per gallon and not getting the results I get with the 3 and 5 Watt Cree LED's. 

The other difference falls in price. Building your own LED fixture is not complicated and your cost can be held to under $4.00 per Watt unless you want to fancy with dimming or a special build decorative look. In the Netherlands prices may be different though depending on your sources of materials.


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## Yo-han (Oct 15, 2010)

Thanks for your answer Troptrea! The unit I liked most is this one:



I can build my own but I can't make a dimmable unit. This unit uses bridgelux LEDs, which are no cree but still fairly good I've read. They run at 500mA which is about as efficient as possible. All together it does look quite good, so I bought the unit at 220 USD.

This plus my 2x20W LED should run my 250 gallon tank I hope. I will compare PAR with my T5 unit and keep you guys updated!


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## niko (Jan 28, 2004)

I build an amazing PAR LED light with the 100% guidance from TropTrea. Yes, the PAR can not be compared to my T5HO fixtures. PAR30 vs PAR 120 at a depth of 24".

But! ...Two "buts" really:

1. The right side of my tank gets the morning sunlight. The Swords on that side are easily double the size of the swords on the left side. I maybe wrong - look how the tank started - compare the two groups and decide if they were very different from the very beginning.










2. The light from the Giesemann Midday T5HO bulbs is way more beautiful than the mix of Cool White and Neutral White that the LEDs provide. Yes, the LED light is not ugly. But when I add the old T5s the tank really comes to life - the colors are way more natural and way more intense.

One great thing about the LEDs, other than the insane PAR, is that by using 60 degree lenses I am able to pretty much illuminate the bottom only and very little light hits the glass. Algae on the glass is barely growing if at all.

And Yo-han - why don't you look into making your own LED fixture. The work is so simple that literally anyone can do it. I didn't even know how LEDs looked like before TropTrea guided me through the build. What you get at the end is not only cheaper, more powerful, customized size and light color, but also you can add a dimmer for just $10. Or a controller that does crazy things for $80 - emulate the light conditions in your area, make fake lightning strikes, gradually ramp up or down the light in any way you want. That functionality is either missing or very expensive with commercial units. Look at the thread where I document my build:

http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/...atic-plant-club/115178-6-ft-long-diy-led.html


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## Yo-han (Oct 15, 2010)

I already ordered the unit, and thought about building it myself. In fact, I did do all the math and build drivers for my paludarium. The problem is I want a dimmable fixture, and I couldn't make the dimmable drivers myself. Adding a controller isn't all. I don't know whether Troptrea does know how to build that, otherwise I'm interested in case this unit doesn't produce enough light!


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## niko (Jan 28, 2004)

Yo-Han,

Look at this - for $30 you can dim 3 separate LED strips:
http://www.rapidled.com/3-color-manual-dimmer

I use this exact dimmer to dim 3 strips of 5W Cree LEDs. Each strip has 12 LEDs. The wiring is extremely easy to do - it is done with 3.5 mm audio jacks that come with the dimmer.

That's a manual dimmer. Note that the drivers must be dimmable to use a dimmer. Look at the controllers too. Prices are very low for what you get.

2ManyHobbies, a guy here on APC, asked me about a DIY LED and even with my basic help he was able to make an LED fixture using a controller. He said it was super easy to put everything together. He used the solderless LEDs so the assembly is truly very easy.

Give it a go.


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## TropTrea (Jan 10, 2014)

Yes I do know how to build controlers, and drivers either fixed or dim-able. However with the prices for commercial drivers I do not believe the work involved is worth the saving any more. Meanwell makes some fantastic drivers which are not expensive provided your not looking to run 200 watts of LED's on one dim-able driver. 

The manual dimmers are the only think I occasionally use but most of the time I simply used fixed drivers. If you balance your lighting for the tank then the dimmable drivers are not worth it to me. 

However if your one that likes all the bells and whistles you can do some fantastic effects with LED's. Using a programmable controller you can create some sunset and sun rise effects that are unbelievable. And as someone mentioned even thunder and lightening storm effects on the tank. 

But myself I'm more into getting the best possible lighting for my tanks at the most reasonable build and operating costs. I had run over 100 tanks at one time and believe me the electric bills were not cheap. Fortunately now I'm only running about 20 tanks. 

Niko as far as the Geisman midday is concerned the difference is it produces more red light than the daylight or cool white and neutral white LED's I normally use for fresh water plants. If you want a redder look you could replace some of the neutral white LED's with Warm whites. However you need to be cautious here as to much red will give some fantastic algae growth.


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## niko (Jan 28, 2004)

TropTrea,

The placement of individual LEDs in the fixture is indeed a tricky thing. As you may remember I followed your advice perfectly but what I see now is that I should have placed the LEDs mounted on different rails in a checkerboard fashion. 

Like this:
0---0---0---0---0---0---0---0---0---0---0
--0---0---0---0---0---0---0---0---0---0---0
0---0---0---0---0---0---0---0---0---0---0


Instead of this
0---0---0---0---0---0---0---0---0---0---0
0---0---0---0---0---0---0---0---0---0---0
0---0---0---0---0---0---0---0---0---0---0

I changed the placement of the LEDs in the middle rail so there are Neutral White where there are two Cool White on both sides.

C---W---C---W---C---W---C---W---C---W---C
W-- C---W---C---W---C---W---C---W---C---W
C---W---C---W---C---W---C---W---C---W---C

But there is no checkerboard placement - note that all LEDs form "columns" in the above drawing.

I explain all that because if I wanted a warmer look that actually covers the entire tank and not just some areas I'd have to use 3 kinds of LEDs placed and spaced on 4 rails. I don't see another way to do that. If I just replace some Neutral White LEDs with Warm White I will end up with spots where the light is a bit warmer color. I guess that can be alleviated with wider lenses (mine are 60 degrees) but then both the PAR and the illumination of the glass will not be as good as they are now.

It seems that for a perfect LED fixture you have to use a lot of LEDs, different colors, and mix them very evenly. None of that 3-4 Red LEDs on a 5' long fixture. That means that you will end up with way more LEDs than you need but you will dim them so you don't fry everything alive in the tank. Maybe I'm making things too complicated but a single 2" wide strip with 12 leds in line does not give a lot of opportunities to mix different kinds of LED colors. You need more than 2 such strips, at least 4 I think. Or a big heatsink measuring 10" wide and 6' long in my case. Which, either way, does equal to a hellish amount of light if run at 100% intensity so dimming is a must.

At the end, for me personally, the color of LED light is somewhat stark. I guess that is what you get when using light sources (LEDs) with very narrow wavelength.


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## Aquaticz (May 22, 2009)

Wonder how the new E5 bulbs all stack up? iT is an LED replacement bulb for a T5HO fixture. No retrofitting required!


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## BruceF (Aug 5, 2011)

Yes me too. Suddenly the Home Depot is full of LEDs to replace tube lights.


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## niko (Jan 28, 2004)

A 100 times better of course! 

Everything new is at least 100 times better than everything old. Who can deny that?


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## Aquaticz (May 22, 2009)

Lol Niko. Saw the price this AM of the new, improved E5, best bulb ever ... Lol they want 60 bucks for a bulb? 


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