Any serious SPS collectors use LED?

[SPS_Addiction]

I notice no mention of the Kessil 350/360 here. To be honest having worked with MH, T5, and Various LED (Radion, AI Hydra/Vega Color, Reef breeders, and Kessil) the wide angle version is the closest thing to MH w/good reflector I've seen. Even with shadowing at the price point of $299/$399 a pop it is more reasonable than others (AI/Radion) to have 3-4 on tank. These really do cover about a 2' cube for full sps growth. They're full spectrum, controllable and the optics built in are great. I look forward to the new AP700 (basically 2 Kessil 360's one panel) for adequate coverage. More than a few examples out there of extraordinary growth and color. I know this won't persuade diehards or "non-biased" people like MisterP but it's just my experiences.

actually the biggest flaw of Kessil in regards to SPS is the spread. it fans out really well, but still coming from a single tiny point. Meaning only the top of the coral is getting light. When you look at other side of coral, color looks crappy because it's not really getting light. So you would really need a bunch of kessils to really light up a tank. you can't use a good/wide reflector like in metal halides with the kessils.

 

[ZON]

The major problem of led that here many people notice is over big colony.. All fixtures don't irradiate well corals..and after some weeks you can notice that top are grown and colored but bottom and base is brown or die.. T5 and mh spread is very very wide and can keep colony ( not frags ) all good ..some frags also that i give to a friend to keep me ( under radion 2 pros) until my tank was ready ,come back bi colored.. White or pale on top braches and black on bottom.. After some weeks in my tank back all same colors..

 

[ZON]

See blue stag..

and this..

 

[Jim Z.]

I built an LED system for my 50 gallon SPS tank. Most of the light is from 24 royal blue and 12 warm white leds. The whites are run at around 30% intensity with royal blues at 70%. I also have 6 LEDs of 2 different types of violet (=UV), 4 OCW, and 8 blues. I use a Coralux StormX controller and am happy with the results. The violets produce a lot of color pop. I used to run 4 39 watt T5's over the tank and the cost of this lighting system for bulb replacement was too high. Overall, the color is better now than when I was running T5's and this is directly related to improved water quality and the lights........................Jim

 

[MisterP]

I notice no mention of the Kessil 350/360 here. To be honest having worked with MH, T5, and Various LED (Radion, AI Hydra/Vega Color, Reef breeders, and Kessil) the wide angle version is the closest thing to MH w/good reflector I've seen. Even with shadowing at the price point of $299/$399 a pop it is more reasonable than others (AI/Radion) to have 3-4 on tank. These really do cover about a 2' cube for full sps growth. They're full spectrum, controllable and the optics built in are great. I look forward to the new AP700 (basically 2 Kessil 360's one panel) for adequate coverage. More than a few examples out there of extraordinary growth and color. I know this won't persuade diehards or "non-biased" people like MisterP but it's just my experiences.

You obviously didn't read many of my posts to call me biased.


I am using a Hydra52 LED for the past 5 months and do not like it for shadowing reasons.

So am I still biased being that I use LED? And do you still think I'm a diehard...whatever that means? Most people can't face reality when it comes to defending their purchase of such high end items. I am being honest in all my responses and couldn't care less what lights people use. I just hate mis-representations and people calling me biased when I have used multiple light setups and have not been pleased with LED. So, I would not use them on a tank larger than 24"x24" due to startup cost. When getting into multiple units the startup cost far exceeds energy savings for several years. I alos won't go back into color saturation or growth of corals because I have noticed a big difference coming from MH.

Finally, I have used MH and LED and am simply giving my experience and some hard numbers on the energy usage startup cost of LED. I think the only drawback of MH is heat. MH is almost a perfect light source IMO.

Good luck to you all on whatever light works for you.

 

[ZON]

I agree !!!

 

[trueblackpercula]

I lover my leds
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2440445

 

[Bpb]

Honestly compared to halides I would call this minamal growth for a year.

Agreed. I really don't want to be a hater, and the corals look nice and happy, but that's the growth I would expect in 3-4 months under MH

 

[blutang007]

My first leds were Radions Gen 1. Nice, but slow growth. 2yrs later upgraded to GHL Mitras, i think my Radions were better :lmao: Now i have the ATI Hybrid and will never look back. ATI rocks :dance:

 

[Dugless]

I may be a bit off topic here and this might sound a bit haughty, but I saw the thread title asking for serious SPS collectors. By my interpretation that means rare/unique corals and translates to pieces that are slow of growth and difficult to keep color. Most likely Acroporids.

I don't think the original intent of this inquiry was to see if users are growing monti caps, softies and similar. We all know LEDs are capable of growing coral. But rather, are LEDs dependable enough to risk a collection of higher end pieces? Has someone gone this route and had success? Is there anyone out there with photographic evidence?

 

[ajcanale]

I may be a bit off topic here and this might sound a bit haughty, but I saw the thread title asking for serious SPS collectors. By my interpretation that means rare/unique corals and translates to pieces that are slow of growth and difficult to keep color. Most likely Acroporids.

I don't think the original intent of this inquiry was to see if users are growing monti caps, softies and similar. We all know LEDs are capable of growing coral. But rather, are LEDs dependable enough to risk a collection of higher end pieces? Has someone gone this route and had success? Is there anyone out there with photographic evidence?

There is a well established thread regarding success keeping SPS with LEDs here:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2290355

This is my tank, all 100% grown out under Radion Pro's. Most were originally frags, a few came from a local reefer as small colonies which he grew under Radion G1's.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/fXvl46SlJdw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[firemountain]

I may be a bit off topic here and this might sound a bit haughty, but I saw the thread title asking for serious SPS collectors. By my interpretation that means rare/unique corals and translates to pieces that are slow of growth and difficult to keep color. Most likely Acroporids.

I don't think the original intent of this inquiry was to see if users are growing monti caps, softies and similar. We all know LEDs are capable of growing coral. But rather, are LEDs dependable enough to risk a collection of higher end pieces? Has someone gone this route and had success? Is there anyone out there with photographic evidence?

I just bought a small colony of an Original GARF Bonsai from a local member, which was originally under a LED/T5 combo.

I run 2 Kessil 360we on my 65 g tank. The GARF has been in my tank for about a month now, and sofar is doing fine. Do I consider this success.....not yet. Too early, plus this is my fist SPS, so I am still working on finding the sweet spot with my lights. No tissue recession, and the coloration has remained the same. If you are looking for photo evidence, I cannot provide that yet, but I will revisit this after a few months. Here is a tank pic for now...unfortunately it's not good pic.....sorry.
My Avatar is a pic of the GARF in the original tank

 

[zangmann]

I may be a bit off topic here and this might sound a bit haughty, but I saw the thread title asking for serious SPS collectors. By my interpretation that means rare/unique corals and translates to pieces that are slow of growth and difficult to keep color. Most likely Acroporids.

I don't think the original intent of this inquiry was to see if users are growing monti caps, softies and similar. We all know LEDs are capable of growing coral. But rather, are LEDs dependable enough to risk a collection of higher end pieces? Has someone gone this route and had success? Is there anyone out there with photographic evidence?

I know Adam from Battlecorals has made the switch on his frag tanks, he even offers 'LED Ready' frag packs ...

 

[SPS_Addiction]

I may be a bit off topic here and this might sound a bit haughty, but I saw the thread title asking for serious SPS collectors. By my interpretation that means rare/unique corals and translates to pieces that are slow of growth and difficult to keep color. Most likely Acroporids.

I don't think the original intent of this inquiry was to see if users are growing monti caps, softies and similar. We all know LEDs are capable of growing coral. But rather, are LEDs dependable enough to risk a collection of higher end pieces? Has someone gone this route and had success? Is there anyone out there with photographic evidence?

You hit the spot! thank you. I want super high end coral SPS collectors to chime in. I know most of them prefer halide/t5 because they are tried and true. Just checkin to see if people who spend a lot of money are trusting LED's enough with their small fortune SPS.

 

[SPS_Addiction]

I know Adam from Battlecorals has made the switch on his frag tanks, he even offers 'LED Ready' frag packs ...

He has a small frag tank lit by reef breeders. however most his tanks still lit by Hallides. He is in the process of trying LED's.
I have seen some nice LED lit tanks. I will just have to spend a ton of money to light my tank with LED's to cover the same area that my T5 covers. I will have to buy enough fixtures that the "saving money" argument won't really matter anymore. And honestly, most LED lit tanks don't impress me because they don't have enough light to cover the whole tank. As already mentioned in previous post, the problem rises with parts of coral not getting enough light and looking like crap, while the top of the coral looks nice. We don't normally look at our tanks from the top down is the problem.

 

[Wazzel]

I run LEDs on my tank and I am very happy. The only complaint I have on my AI hydra 52's is they do not cover 24x24 as well as I would like. It is more like 24 in the axis of the pucks and 18 in the other. I do not believe it will take 2x more fixtures. If I was setting up a long tank that was 24" wide I would only add one more fixture. So 3 fixtures on a 120, not 6. That is just silly from what I have seen.

I am not seeing any more self shading that when I ran MH/VHO or VHO only. Colors are similar as far as I can tell/recall.

Growth has been good in the first 6 months even with having had red bugs. About on par with the MH/VHO system I ran on the last tank.

Where are you guys getting those crazy cost comparisons? When I looked at LED vs MH/T-5 for my 60 it was more like a two or three year pay back just considering hardware and lamps. Are you using quality ballast and reflectors or e-bay stuff? I never even looked at operating cost.

 

[twon8]

I've got LEDs over my 300 with several large sps colonies. It's a mixed reef and most of the acros are newer but I have an A. soli ive had for four years that looks great. Switched to LEDs from 3x400w mh almost two years ago. I still have two five foot t5s in front and am putting another two in the back. Am currently running generic a-8'a but have bought a hydra 52 and will likely be switching them in for the a-8's. I like the a8s and if I had more canopy room to run them higher I might not be looking to change them.

 

[Editour2]

I have had LED's over my DT since my current tank-build, late 2011.....I 've never had MH lighting so I can't personally comment or share my experience about them. What I can say is that I purchased my LED lighting in late 2010 and they are currently antiquated as far as color spectrum. When I purchased my fixtures they had all the bells and whistles (some of which I quickly grew tired of...IE: thunderstorms and moving clouds to a lesser amount), however I still love the control regarding color and intensity. The real issue with my antiquated fixtures is that they only have 3 colors: cool white, blue and royal blue. I have 3x180 watt fixtures with the whites running @ 35%, and the blue/royal blue running @ 85%. I could sustain SPS corals but the growth rate was tremendously slow. In the advent of all these other colors being added (deep red 660nm, cyan 500nm, violets 400 to 420nm, different arrays of white etc), I felt that my lights were deficient regarding total broad spectrum. Rather than sell my lights (I originally paid $2500 for them) for a huge loss, (I was offered $600 for all 3 LOL)....I chose to supplement them with 2 sets of 2 x 80 watt T-5 retrofit kits. I added a midday sun, aquablue plus, true actinic 03 and purple plus.....I added them about 4 months ago and there has been a trenmendous difference in growth, (but not coloration which was good to begin with). NOW....I am not attributing this growth to simply the addition/use of T5's but rather to increasing the color spectrum....however ....of course I can be wrong, (it wouldn't be the first or last time). My 3 fixtures alone...never gave off a spot light or shadowing effect...at least not that I noticed....THESE FIXTURES HAVE NO optics so maybe that's the reason. Alot of the comments I have read in this thread may be attributable to the use of 60/80/90 degree optics...couple that with the height/placement above the water and YES there may indeed be shadowing or possibly attributable to a deficiency related to the number of fixtures utilized. Regarding electric usage I AGREE 100% that there may not be the advantage that was once thought regarding using LEDs....In my case ....3 LED fixtures x 180watts = 540 watts plus 4 x 80watt T5's = 320 watts for a total of 860watts....(althought technically I am NOT running the LEDs at full intensity) versus 3 x 250 watt halides = 750 watts. However, I do not need or use a chiller which I definitely would need with the halides...so I guess you save that electricity cost. There are a ton of LED manufacturers out there today and the prices have come down a bit, (significantly on some fixtures, {ocean revive, IT2040's Evergrow D120's etc}...while others still would put you in the $2000 to $3000 range for startup costs). That being said I still think the technology is evolving....and the color spectrum needs to be ironed out. Pacific Sun has fixtures where NO white LEDs are utilized yet they claim to cover the entire needed color spectrum. Did anybody ever take a look at some of Sanjay Joshi's articles on LED's and comparisons with MH/T5 lighting? See here:
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2010/2/aafeature2
Keep in mind this article is old, (2010), there are many subsequent articles.
I do agree that perhaps more LED fixtures may be warranted for proper spread than prescribed by the manufacturers, (dependent upon the fixture/height/optics utilized), however not a preposterous amount that would virtually cover the entire top surface of the tank.
Many factors dictate success in this hobby inclusive of water quality, flow and PERSONAL PREFERENCE ......I belive LED technology will keep getting better...unfortunately the prices of the higher end fixtures have not reflected that just yet......for now I will stick with my 3 antiquated fixtures and supplemental T5's.........of course these are just my opinions.

 

[jda]

I may be a bit off topic here and this might sound a bit haughty, but I saw the thread title asking for serious SPS collectors. By my interpretation that means rare/unique corals and translates to pieces that are slow of growth and difficult to keep color. Most likely Acroporids.

I don't think the original intent of this inquiry was to see if users are growing monti caps, softies and similar. We all know LEDs are capable of growing coral. But rather, are LEDs dependable enough to risk a collection of higher end pieces? Has someone gone this route and had success? Is there anyone out there with photographic evidence?

Most of the hard core SPS collectors that I know have tended to move towards high end MH as they have gotten more and more experience in the hobby and have taken their tanks to the next level. Their tastes tend to move from windex and black light to crisp white with awesome fluoresce.

I think that you know the answer to your question.

Honestly, I wish that more people were switching to LED like in 2010-2012 - there are not as many good deals on used MH stuff nowadays.

 

[zangmann]

He has a small frag tank lit by reef breeders. however most his tanks still lit by Hallides.

Pretty sure he's running Radions, and on more than just a small frag tank:

10-12-2014:

So at this point its no longer an experiment. The jury is in here at Battlecorals and I need no more convincing...... LEDS WORK! I am having excellent results with different types of LED's exclusively and as my acros continue to thrive, so will I continue to frag them!

09-09-2014:

I have had Radions running over my display since last october now. started with gen twos an upgraded the pucks to pro threes about four months ago.