by the sounds of it you are only using them like a supplemental light anyways just for a little more "pop" I believe you said, so won't matter how long there on as long as they make the color how you want it for the main part of the lighting cycle.

did you think about adding different LEDs to your set up to give you the extra "pop" your looking for?

Steve

So far I've got RB, CW, WW, Red, Green, UV, and Ocean Coral Whites. I'm adding the T5's to fill in the blue spectrum a bit and try and get some of the colors out of the corals that only T5's can get.

what about TV and normal blue? there is no color that only T5's can get its a matter of finding the right LEDs and putting them in the right concentration, or just go MH :mrgreen: but ya it might be cheeper to add T5's.

I myself find florescent type bulbs have a flat pastel look I have never liked aside from actinic, but I haven't seen a good actinic bulb sense the URI Super actinic VHO.

Steve

+1 to what Steve suggests. Now that you're into LED, better off tweaking the ratio of colours on them for more blue spectrum rather than adding T5 fluorescent lamps, especially if you're wanting to control dimming. Flourescent lighting by it's inherent design was never a good candidate for dimming. Pretty sure there's a spectrum shift if they're not run at the designed voltage/current. Then there's the fact that the spectrum on them changes in a relatively short time regardless, requiring the periodic lamp changes associated with the special T5s made for our hobby. They'll be increasingly more difficult to source as well, since the technology shift to LED is making many manufacturers shift gears away from flourescents.