Anyone Thinking of Dumping LEDS and going back to Halides

[dkeller_nc]

Looking around it seems that most people that have success with LED started with LED from frags. Those that swap in a mature tank seem to have more issues. I have no clue on what is going on, but it seems to be common.

Yeah, I can't say that I know either, though the observations that the colonies that I've bought come in as maricultured (i.e., sunlight/ocean grown), nearly all universally acclimate to MHs and tank life, have an 80% or so mortality under what I'd call "standard par/photoperiod" LEDs, but frags of the same colonies seem to do very well under T5HO on an interconnected system (so water chemistry is the same, or very close) is very odd indeed.

My plan is to switch out my main DT to an 8-bulb T5HO unit, but continue to use Radions over my smaller frag tanks. It'll be interesting to see if I can somehow acclimate these strains to Radions.

 

[karimwassef]

This aligns with my experience too.

My hypothesis is that fragmented corals have a different biological and chemical response to change. This is how corals reproduce and colonize new regions, so an evolutionary advantage to rapid acclimation makes lots of sense.

They can survive many conditions that would kill the mother colony and even push new growth at a superior rate in worse conditions. It's as if they have much more fight in them and that energy is released to grab hold of any opportunity to make it go.

Like babies that have special immunity and survival qualities...

 

[karimwassef]

That extends to much more than light. They just better fighters and survivors. Something in the fragging process triggers a biological change.

 

[Wazzel]

This aligns with my experience too.

My hypothesis is that fragmented corals have a different biological and chemical response to change. This is how corals reproduce and colonize new regions, so an evolutionary advantage to rapid acclimation makes lots of sense.

They can survive many conditions that would kill the mother colony and even push new growth at a superior rate in worse conditions. It's as if they have much more fight in them and that energy is released to grab hold of any opportunity to make it go.

Like babies that have special immunity and survival qualities...

Interesting thought.

 

[jestronix]

This aligns with my experience too.

My hypothesis is that fragmented corals have a different biological and chemical response to change. This is how corals reproduce and colonize new regions, so an evolutionary advantage to rapid acclimation makes lots of sense.

They can survive many conditions that would kill the mother colony and even push new growth at a superior rate in worse conditions. It's as if they have much more fight in them and that energy is released to grab hold of any opportunity to make it go.

Like babies that have special immunity and survival qualities...

I have had a number SPS corals that have died off, but a small frag taken from them did the opposite, same water parameters and light, it just doesn't make sense how they not only don't die but thrive.

I've often thought on an older coral all the less lit parts are taking energy from the other, leading to the coral being more sensitive than a frag. ?

 

[karimwassef]

We need some scientists to start studying the biochemical response to fragging.

How does a coral know that it was fragged?
Is the part of the coral on the parent also stimulated to grow?
What are the chemical stimuli that make a frag respond differently and can they be artificially induced?
...

Some days I really wish I'd followed my dream and become a marine scientist. I just had too many competing dreams.

 

[jestronix]

This ones gone quiet

I came across the Phillips coralcare LED fixture recently, a light with scientific backing. A light which is tempting me to try LED again

What I can say is it has a lot of LEDs in the 420nm

40x 6500k
32 x RB
16 x 420
8 x PC-Amber
8x cyan

They found growth and color to be the same as T5, which is promising.

The lights give no shimmer and look more like T5 due to their frosted glass cover.

Anyone running these ?

 

[karimwassef]

Share a link?

 

[markalot]

I found the report (PDF) is here:
http://images.consumerproducts.phil..._Preliminary_Field_Test_Report_-_FINAL_v2.pdf

Keep in mind this is a commercial-scientific report but ti does contain acro pictures compared directly with T5s. I haven;t read it yet, this is NOT an endorsement.

 

[jestronix]

http://www.philips.co.uk/c-m-li/coralcare

 

[markalot]

Right now, converting pounds to dollars, this would be a $900 fixture for 30% higher efficiency per unit. For proper coverage I would need 4 of these 190W units compared to my single 60" T5 fixture.

Good grief.

Right now I have ~500W of lighting. At full power these LED's would be 760W. Assuming I would not run them at 100% I would still end up pulling about the same amount of power (blue at 100%, white at 50% assumption).

I do think this is a good test because it will show performance when coverage is similar. This, IMO, is why the Ecotech test did not show any acros, their coverage was wrong.

 

[dcmartinpc]

Where are you seeing you would need 4 fixtures to cover what a 60" T5 fixture does? At most I would venture to say 3 fixtures from everything I have read. What are your tank dimensions?

These are the first LED fixtures other than the Mitras that have really caught my eye. I am anxious for there US availability and for someone to give them a fair shake. From what I am seeing, they are extremely promising!!!

Don


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[markalot]

Where are you seeing you would need 4 fixtures to cover what a 60" T5 fixture does? At most I would venture to say 3 fixtures from everything I have read. What are your tank dimensions?

These are the first LED fixtures other than the Mitras that have really caught my eye. I am anxious for there US availability and for someone to give them a fair shake. From what I am seeing, they are extremely promising!!!

Don


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

A fair point, I have a center brace so I would have to do 4, 2 would not be enough. There's still the cost problem though. I can replace a lot of bulbs and go through a lot of electricity before they will pay for themselves.

 

[Fredfish]

This ones gone quiet

I came across the Phillips coralcare LED fixture recently, a light with scientific backing. A light which is tempting me to try LED again

What I can say is it has a lot of LEDs in the 420nm

40x 6500k
32 x RB
16 x 420
8 x PC-Amber
8x cyan

They found growth and color to be the same as T5, which is promising.

The lights give no shimmer and look more like T5 due to their frosted glass cover.

Anyone running these ?

I did not see the led mix in your link. It's interesting that they have gone with PC-amber as a broad spectrum supplement to the cool white and have eliminated the red. They sure have a lot of non-blue spectrum in there.

I like the white reflector's they've implemented. I wish there were a simple DIY equivalent, but I've not found one yet.

I agree with Mark, they are 'spensive.

 

[jestronix]

I'm going to build up a DIY unit with exactly the same LED counts, for my 50 cube.

What i cant find is what power they are running on each channel to get the right spectrum. I'm thinking for viewing they run the unit with the white and amber channels down, but for the growth and color tests they ran them whiter. Frosting probably plays a big role in coverage, this would effect efficiency to some degree.

Ill be using aluminum channels, that work well with active cooling, id say i wont be running anywhere near the 190 mark over a 50g cube.

i still think lani LED are the best design.

 

[ken1977]

I want T5's on my 20 g Nuvo but can't find a decent looking unit that would fit a 23"x13" tank. I was looking at ATI and the smallest one covers my entire tank and rear sump. Anyone know a decent set up that looks modern please DM me.

 

[karimwassef]

Has anyone created a PAR map of their MH, T5, or LED?

Here's the thread with my MH PAR map (before and after bulb change)

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2583266

 

[Bent]

I thought I'd bump this. I'm also thinking about ditching my reefbreeders.

I've really been eyeing this fixture hard:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/111318726343

 

[sirreal63]

Just know that is an unbranded Odyssea fixture. A lot of Ebay sellers buy them unbranded hoping to sell them in spite of the horrid reputation to people who may not realize what they just bought. If you do buy it, before you plug it in, open it up and inspect the wiring, connections and routing of the wires.

 

[Bent]

Just know that is an unbranded Odyssea fixture. A lot of Ebay sellers buy them unbranded hoping to sell them in spite of the horrid reputation to people who may not realize what they just bought. If you do buy it, before you plug it in, open it up and inspect the wiring, connections and routing of the wires.

Hmmm...

Doesn't seem like much work for such a savings. Even if you just go ahead and buy an entirely new ballast your still way under a name brand price...