47G SPS...Revamp
- Thread starter sahin
- Start date
deaclauderdale
Lover of Fishies
Hi Perry. I'll wait at least 3 months before starting on the AquaForest to allow sufficient time to see how the tank does with the Radions.
The tank you saw is my friends tank; its his tank which convinced me to switch over to pure LED's. He's been using Radions for a number of years and so I've come to see what results can be obtained with them.
Yesterday I just bought 5 more Chromis for my tank. I've not had good success with Anthias and I admit to that. So my current fishload is:
5xChromis
1xMale Anthia
1xRed Firefish
1xFairy Wrasse
1xTomini Tang
1xTarget Mandarin
1xMidas Blenny
1xCleaner Wrasse
I like the Kore 5th doser. Its built well and compares to the GHL and other ones I used in the past. I had to take it off some time ago as I explained a page or so back; it doesnt fit in my tank stand and my 1 year old started messing with it as it was kept under a table next to the tank. Hopefully in the next few months we will redecorate our living room and I'll be able to place it well.
With regards to swapping to LED's; I want to try LED's and find out how difficult or impossible it is to obtain acro colours with them.
I've still got my ATI and PacificSun units so I can always switch back; like I said, this is also an experiment to determine the lighting for my next tank.
Yes, car parking in Central London is like a miniwage. :uhoh2: Being in Slough is much cheaper.
Check out Aquatic Design Centre in Central London. Or Advanced Aquarium Consultancy in Harlow, Essex. Both are worth a browse.
Thank you.
So lights are now up. I still havent got my camera or replacement memory card from work. BUT I got a Samsung Galaxy S5 phone so I'll be taking some shots with that.
Is there a link or some pics you can post of your mates tank? I plan on running Radions on my new tank and I'll be adding a third after seeing the setup on your tank. Excellent and highly informative thread Sahin.
bobssecrtsn
New member
I'm going to bump this thread just for Sahin's sake, Poor guy is sick and no one is looking after his thread:fish1:
Fishy 1
The Reefer From Downunder
Good lord!! I leave you lot alone for a few seconds and look what happens!! LED's!!! Never thought I'd see the day that the T5 master made the switch but here it is . The tank is looking killer as usual mate and I'm sure the LED eggsperiment will be a success in you very capable little hands :thumbsup:. I can see from catching up on all the Acro/LED talk that Andrew ( and pretty much everyone else ) has given you a hard time as usual :facepalm:. I myself have also made the switch to the darkside so I'll be watching your progress with much interest. But first tings first I wish you a speedy recovery bud
. The tank is looking killer as usual mate and I'm sure the LED eggsperiment will be a success in you very capable little hands :thumbsup:. I can see from catching up on all the Acro/LED talk that Andrew ( and pretty much everyone else ) has given you a hard time as usual :facepalm:. I myself have also made the switch to the darkside so I'll be watching your progress with much interest. But first tings first I wish you a speedy recovery bud 
SputnikNYC
New member
sahin
Ultimate Reefer
My own tank is boring...hence I've been posting on all my buddies threads... 
Just been busy...and its about to get worse as I will be doing 55+ hours at work.
My tank is doing fine. Corals are growing well and colours are overall, fairly good. I did buy a Gisemann Spectra 400w halide fixture with a view to running Radium 20K, 2xT5's, and 2 strips of LED.
I posted on another thread, so I will post here: In terms of overall SPS; the radions do come close to my T5/LED hybrid units. For a mixed reef, I think LED's are just fine.
In terms of light coverage, you need lots of units to get same coverage as T5.
My tank is practically 95% SPS and 90% of that is acropora. Hence I have noticed subtle changes in some of my acros that I'm not happy about.
What I wasnt happy about was for example, my Red Planet: its no way as red as before. It didnt brown out...rather it looks like a purplely red planet. Maybe its a spectrum thing I dont know. The frag I gave to my buddy turned the same kind of colour in his tank. Its like a kind of purple red rather than the more red tone I had under T5's.
The other coral with significant change is my "rainbow" granulosa...it had a green base, changing to a sky blue towards the tips with a purple tip face. Its turned largely green. Lost the sky blue colour completely. I'd adjust the spectrum and measured the PAR levels but couldnt get the sky blue colour back.
Another acro with pink corallite edges and red polyps lost the red polyps and the pink corallites.
For a mixed reef or a reefkeeper who is going new into the hobby and or newly with SPS isnt probably going to notice these subtle differences...and they will rightly say, yeah sure LEDs/Radions are fine for acros...and they are...but IMO they dont pull that extra bit of colour and some acros dont look as nice. They could be coloured nicely, but for me acros that had more than two or more colours have morphed into single or double colours.
Now I am being very critical here, but keeping a tank full of acros I can notice the changes.
The other thing I didnt like was how dim the Radions look...I couldnt get used to the dimmer look...they look dim, but the PAR is there. If I turned them up to how bright my corals looked under my T5's, the PAR levels went up crazy...
...Which tells me the light is VERY directional and pointing largely down. There isnt as much scatter as there is with T5's or MH in a reflector.
What confirmed my above observation was the top facing tissue have nice colour, but the sides and anything in shadow has turned pale. With my T5's I didnt have this issue.
I think had I went with a couple of Radions and T5 as supplemental, I wouldnt be changing anything right now....
But since I decided to change up again, I came across a used Giesemann 400w in very good condition and decided to snap it up. I didnt even haggle with the price, I just offered the asking price-which wasnt cheap considering how cheap most halide setups go for these days...but being able to run 400w Radium and T5 and possibly LED's if I carry out a mod...I couldnt resist.
Andrew/Biggles predicted that I'd move to Radiums at some point...you were right mate. :beer:
Just been busy...and its about to get worse as I will be doing 55+ hours at work.
My tank is doing fine. Corals are growing well and colours are overall, fairly good. I did buy a Gisemann Spectra 400w halide fixture with a view to running Radium 20K, 2xT5's, and 2 strips of LED.
I posted on another thread, so I will post here: In terms of overall SPS; the radions do come close to my T5/LED hybrid units. For a mixed reef, I think LED's are just fine.
In terms of light coverage, you need lots of units to get same coverage as T5.
My tank is practically 95% SPS and 90% of that is acropora. Hence I have noticed subtle changes in some of my acros that I'm not happy about.
What I wasnt happy about was for example, my Red Planet: its no way as red as before. It didnt brown out...rather it looks like a purplely red planet. Maybe its a spectrum thing I dont know. The frag I gave to my buddy turned the same kind of colour in his tank. Its like a kind of purple red rather than the more red tone I had under T5's.
The other coral with significant change is my "rainbow" granulosa...it had a green base, changing to a sky blue towards the tips with a purple tip face. Its turned largely green. Lost the sky blue colour completely. I'd adjust the spectrum and measured the PAR levels but couldnt get the sky blue colour back.
Another acro with pink corallite edges and red polyps lost the red polyps and the pink corallites.
For a mixed reef or a reefkeeper who is going new into the hobby and or newly with SPS isnt probably going to notice these subtle differences...and they will rightly say, yeah sure LEDs/Radions are fine for acros...and they are...but IMO they dont pull that extra bit of colour and some acros dont look as nice. They could be coloured nicely, but for me acros that had more than two or more colours have morphed into single or double colours.
Now I am being very critical here, but keeping a tank full of acros I can notice the changes.
The other thing I didnt like was how dim the Radions look...I couldnt get used to the dimmer look...they look dim, but the PAR is there. If I turned them up to how bright my corals looked under my T5's, the PAR levels went up crazy...
...Which tells me the light is VERY directional and pointing largely down. There isnt as much scatter as there is with T5's or MH in a reflector.
What confirmed my above observation was the top facing tissue have nice colour, but the sides and anything in shadow has turned pale. With my T5's I didnt have this issue.
I think had I went with a couple of Radions and T5 as supplemental, I wouldnt be changing anything right now....
But since I decided to change up again, I came across a used Giesemann 400w in very good condition and decided to snap it up. I didnt even haggle with the price, I just offered the asking price-which wasnt cheap considering how cheap most halide setups go for these days...but being able to run 400w Radium and T5 and possibly LED's if I carry out a mod...I couldnt resist.
Andrew/Biggles predicted that I'd move to Radiums at some point...you were right mate. :beer:
DiscusHeckel
Acropora Gardener
Thanks for your honest evaluation Sahin.
With the way you are changing light fixtures, you have started to remind me of Rodneyri. I have lost track of different light units he sampled over the years, but you are not quite there yet (this is meant to be a joke )...
Giesemann is a solid unit, but I am not convinced that it has the best reflectors in the market. Nothing can beat Luminarc reflectors even though they are not the prettiest reflectors out there.
Did your unit come with its own ballast? If you intend to run Radiums you will need a M80-type ballast as you know. This thread by Jeremy B. contains useful information on Radium MH bulbs.
Cheers
With the way you are changing light fixtures, you have started to remind me of Rodneyri. I have lost track of different light units he sampled over the years, but you are not quite there yet (this is meant to be a joke )...
Giesemann is a solid unit, but I am not convinced that it has the best reflectors in the market. Nothing can beat Luminarc reflectors even though they are not the prettiest reflectors out there.
Did your unit come with its own ballast? If you intend to run Radiums you will need a M80-type ballast as you know. This thread by Jeremy B. contains useful information on Radium MH bulbs.
Cheers
Last edited:
mhucasey
Acros & wieners, oh my!
My own tank is boring...hence I've been posting on all my buddies threads...
Just been busy...and its about to get worse as I will be doing 55+ hours at work.
My tank is doing fine. Corals are growing well and colours are overall, fairly good. I did buy a Gisemann Spectra 400w halide fixture with a view to running Radium 20K, 2xT5's, and 2 strips of LED.
I posted on another thread, so I will post here: In terms of overall SPS; the radions do come close to my T5/LED hybrid units. For a mixed reef, I think LED's are just fine.
In terms of light coverage, you need lots of units to get same coverage as T5.
My tank is practically 95% SPS and 90% of that is acropora. Hence I have noticed subtle changes in some of my acros that I'm not happy about.
What I wasnt happy about was for example, my Red Planet: its no way as red as before. It didnt brown out...rather it looks like a purplely red planet. Maybe its a spectrum thing I dont know. The frag I gave to my buddy turned the same kind of colour in his tank. Its like a kind of purple red rather than the more red tone I had under T5's.
The other coral with significant change is my "rainbow" granulosa...it had a green base, changing to a sky blue towards the tips with a purple tip face. Its turned largely green. Lost the sky blue colour completely. I'd adjust the spectrum and measured the PAR levels but couldnt get the sky blue colour back.
Another acro with pink corallite edges and red polyps lost the red polyps and the pink corallites.
For a mixed reef or a reefkeeper who is going new into the hobby and or newly with SPS isnt probably going to notice these subtle differences...and they will rightly say, yeah sure LEDs/Radions are fine for acros...and they are...but IMO they dont pull that extra bit of colour and some acros dont look as nice. They could be coloured nicely, but for me acros that had more than two or more colours have morphed into single or double colours.
Now I am being very critical here, but keeping a tank full of acros I can notice the changes.
The other thing I didnt like was how dim the Radions look...I couldnt get used to the dimmer look...they look dim, but the PAR is there. If I turned them up to how bright my corals looked under my T5's, the PAR levels went up crazy...
...Which tells me the light is VERY directional and pointing largely down. There isnt as much scatter as there is with T5's or MH in a reflector.
What confirmed my above observation was the top facing tissue have nice colour, but the sides and anything in shadow has turned pale. With my T5's I didnt have this issue.
I think had I went with a couple of Radions and T5 as supplemental, I wouldnt be changing anything right now....
But since I decided to change up again, I came across a used Giesemann 400w in very good condition and decided to snap it up. I didnt even haggle with the price, I just offered the asking price-which wasnt cheap considering how cheap most halide setups go for these days...but being able to run 400w Radium and T5 and possibly LED's if I carry out a mod...I couldnt resist.
Andrew/Biggles predicted that I'd move to Radiums at some point...you were right mate. :beer:
Yes thanks for the honest and balanced review of your experience. Much of what you say goes to the heart of the debate about LED vs proven technologies- LED will keep and grow coral, including acropora, but some compromises have to be made. If you are someone with less challenging SPS, say green slimers, tricolors, montis - LED may seem to work every bit as well as MH or T5. If you are an Acro nut who wants to get every bit of color out of the corals, it's just not the right solution.
thanks for the info, we still would love to see some pictures as a reference:thumbsup:
DiscusHeckel
Acropora Gardener
I echo Matt's request.
markalot
...
Did you see DTum's excellent writeup for TOTM and how very low PAR led him to be successful?
http://reefkeeping.com/joomla/index.php/current-issue/article/164-tank-of-the-month
Just a thought, in case you missed it.
http://reefkeeping.com/joomla/index.php/current-issue/article/164-tank-of-the-month
Just a thought, in case you missed it.
cFloor
New member
Sahin, I think you're going to absolutely love your new fixture! I can't wait to see what your corals look like a couple months from now.
I've had very similar experience with LEDs. I had 3 AI Primes over my shallow frag tank, which is connected to my display. Most corals looked much better under my t5s in my display. However, one or two seemed to really like the LEDs. I put 4 t5s up over my frag tank along with the LEDs and the colors have now come back. Now I'm playing around with different photoperiods between my primes and t5s.
I've had very similar experience with LEDs. I had 3 AI Primes over my shallow frag tank, which is connected to my display. Most corals looked much better under my t5s in my display. However, one or two seemed to really like the LEDs. I put 4 t5s up over my frag tank along with the LEDs and the colors have now come back. Now I'm playing around with different photoperiods between my primes and t5s.
mhucasey
Acros & wieners, oh my!
If I am reading it correctly, he runs blues all day except one hour with whites to view his corals. No thank you. He grew the reef up until this January under T5s, and now has switched to Radions.
I'm becoming increasingly amazed at the lengths people will go through to "prove" that LEDs work. If LEDs were half the cost of traditional lighting, I'd get it more. Being forced into a lighting schedule that lets me view the corals for one hour with full color wouldn't be worth it to me if the LEDs were free.
markalot
...
Yep, agreed, but I am glad someone is experimenting to help give us some ideas about what the heck might be wrong. While his schedule works it doesn't mean it's the only one that will work.
The other crazy thing, as mentioned recently on his thread, is that he runs UV and Blue at 100% and RB at 0%.
maxxII
Super Housemonkey!
From the article:
I'm understanding this as when he first went to radions he was only running blue channel at 100% for 8 hours, and then another hour with whites and blues.
Now that he has played around and figured things out with his system, he no longer does that and runs a different program.
mhucasey
Acros & wieners, oh my!
Yeah, sorry, no. From his thread:
I've got a custom profile that I've ran on my frag tank for about a year. It works great and now I'm going to use it as a base on the main tank.
The trick is to run all 3 blue channels for about 8 hours with no other channels present. Then for the two hours I know I will be observing the tank I would change the lighting to whatever I prefer aesthetically.
My PAR is at 220-250 range and I find that my acros love it.
and
Yes, those 8 hours of blues include all 3 blues that are in Radion. All three channels are at 100 per cent, but overall intensity is at about 75.
He paid $749 X 6 = $4494 so he can use half the diodes in the Radions and keep his reef in dawn/dusk lighting all but two hours per day(This is double the amount of time he worked out using the frag tank). I'm struggling to understand why. I keep a reef tank to look at the corals and in all their colors and for as many hours as I can. I don't invent reasons to put money in Ecotech's pocket. Ultimately if he is happy then that is what is important, I guess.
