power boat jim
Well-known member
Nice pics glad you put them up. I like the coral with the red polyps, what is it?
Anyone Thinking of Dumping LEDS and going back to Halides
- Thread starter Goldcoastreefs
- Start date
JPMagyar
New member
Ron,
I'm afraid I must disagree with this statement. The zooxanthellea of different varieties of coral are sensitive to different wavelengths. If a particular coral lacks zooxanthellea that are responsive to a narrow band of white LED light the coral will die. Try growing Meteor Shower Cyphastrea under an AI Sol with only white LED light.
Tangaroa
New member
I have used a Vertex SR360 for the last 12 months over this tank. The tank is 8 foot x 30 inches wide x 27 inches deep. I have 4 auxiliary red modules and 3 auxiliary uv modules.
Here's a couple of shots that show growth and colouration.
Current FTS as at October 2013
FTS as at 20th March 2013
And a few of individual sps colonies.
And one lps
Here's a couple of shots that show growth and colouration.
Current FTS as at October 2013
FTS as at 20th March 2013
And a few of individual sps colonies.
And one lps
mos90
New member
thats good..:beer:
Tangaroa
New member
:lmao:
Thanks!
I'm no sps expert that's for sure, so anything I suggest is just a guess. That coral has only ever been in my tank under the vertex. My tank is fairly heavily stocked and the fish get a lot of food, so the coral tissue isn't "zeo-thin". I think that contributes to the colour. I bought a separate "light pink" maricultured millie 4 months ago and it's going the same deep raspberry colour. I run my alk a little high at 10dKh via a DaStaCo calcium reactor and don't dose any mag. The UV and red leds do enhance the colours but it's truly that bright under full spectrum.
You can see it in the earlier FTS on top of the rock work on the left hand side, but in the later fts it is mostly obscured by the A. nana. I would move it, but it has fused onto the rockwork and is attached in more than a dozen places and I don't want to break up the colony.
With D120's I've had some coral grow great while others died off. I lost several acans that were growing well under T5's. Currently my D120's have a nice 20k look. I am going to try an experiment with my D120's and metal halide. My tank is 4 feet long and I will sandwich a 20k 150w metal halide in between 2 D120's. What I am hoping is I can have the D120's as the primary light and the halide for only 4 hours a day. That way I keep the heat under control while filling in the spectrum the led's are missing. My current led's are set for a 20k look and will try to match them to the halide bulb so it doesn't look off...
I had a similar experience. Most of my acans died with leds and were growing great under T5.
dppitone
In Memoriam
I'm a MH person, just think the light "looks" better. But I'm in the process of making a sparing setup of LEDs white/blue/red par20s on my tanks to supplement the main MH. I'm going to run the LEDs first thing and through to the end of the cycle, and bring the MHs up for 5 hours mid-day. I think it may be a good compromise.
I never liked tube florescents, IMO they look dead, flooding the tank with light, eliminating shimmers and shadows like the reef actually appears.
IMHO, all the light sources, whether PC, tubes, MH LED, etc, as long as they are configured the same with color, intensity, etc, are going to produce pretty much the same results. Light should be light. Rather, it's the elements that are extraneous to the growing capability of the light itself which folks preferences seem to turn on - wattage, efficiency, heat, program-ability, cost, shimmer, shadow, durability, upgrade-ability, etc.
I never liked tube florescents, IMO they look dead, flooding the tank with light, eliminating shimmers and shadows like the reef actually appears.
IMHO, all the light sources, whether PC, tubes, MH LED, etc, as long as they are configured the same with color, intensity, etc, are going to produce pretty much the same results. Light should be light. Rather, it's the elements that are extraneous to the growing capability of the light itself which folks preferences seem to turn on - wattage, efficiency, heat, program-ability, cost, shimmer, shadow, durability, upgrade-ability, etc.
Don't... I've tried all kinds of leds (well, several) and nothing comes close to T5 for me. Going back to ATI Sunpower.
Don't know about MH, never used it, but I suspect it's the same (or almost the same) as with T5. Never got the right color and polyp extension under leds.
True, leds are much cheaper to run and no bulb changes, but who said this hobby is cheap?
DM1975
New member
I so badly want to go all LEDs. I started out with them but they were the crappy Marineland reef capable LEDs. They did keep the coral alive, and I did get some slow growth, but the colors were all washed out. I ran across a great deal on MH lighting and my growth and color exploded. I recently added four T5's to the mix and it has filled in some of the shadow areas and brightened up other colors like reds and pinks. I still have four small Marineland LEDs over the tank in between my MH's that come on before the rest of the lights and stay on a few hours after the other lights shut off just to get that fluorescent glow.
I know that good LEDs work well for coral, I just can't justify spending the money right now on them. My MH's are digital ballasts and bulbs are dual end and the power draw and heat isn't insane so that doesn't really bother me, but I do think I need to change up my T5's to take more advantage of other color spectrums. The 10k bulbs I have look ok but they are too orange for my liking and the actinics are cheap Coralife bulbs. I plan on changing them out to Blue + and Purple + as soon as I can.
My buddy has LEDs over his tank and I don't remember the brand but it is a higher end brand and his tank looks amazing. I get better growth on some of my sps and lps but his monti caps grow twice as fast as mine and they were fragged from the same colony at the same time. My orange monti cap seems to be getting thicker and his is spreading out.
I know that good LEDs work well for coral, I just can't justify spending the money right now on them. My MH's are digital ballasts and bulbs are dual end and the power draw and heat isn't insane so that doesn't really bother me, but I do think I need to change up my T5's to take more advantage of other color spectrums. The 10k bulbs I have look ok but they are too orange for my liking and the actinics are cheap Coralife bulbs. I plan on changing them out to Blue + and Purple + as soon as I can.
My buddy has LEDs over his tank and I don't remember the brand but it is a higher end brand and his tank looks amazing. I get better growth on some of my sps and lps but his monti caps grow twice as fast as mine and they were fragged from the same colony at the same time. My orange monti cap seems to be getting thicker and his is spreading out.
Brian Crook
New member
Well, this thread has officially brought me back to the drawing board for choosing lights for my new build...
Some people say LED's are great. Others say LED's will kill your corals and take your lunch money.
I have used MH in my last build, and I really liked it (other than the heat and power). I'm not too worried about killing corals and stuff as I understand acclimation and intensity. What I'm more concerned about is how the tank will LOOK under LED lights. I live way out in the country in a small town of 700 people so it's very difficult for me to see any of this gear in real life before making a decision.
I loved the way everything looked under the bright point-source light of MH, but am really concerned about this 'disco-effect' harsh colouration that seems apparent in many (but not all) the photos I see of LED light...
So which is it - is LED the holy grail of aquarium lighting or what?
Some people say LED's are great. Others say LED's will kill your corals and take your lunch money.
I have used MH in my last build, and I really liked it (other than the heat and power). I'm not too worried about killing corals and stuff as I understand acclimation and intensity. What I'm more concerned about is how the tank will LOOK under LED lights. I live way out in the country in a small town of 700 people so it's very difficult for me to see any of this gear in real life before making a decision.
I loved the way everything looked under the bright point-source light of MH, but am really concerned about this 'disco-effect' harsh colouration that seems apparent in many (but not all) the photos I see of LED light...
So which is it - is LED the holy grail of aquarium lighting or what?
DM1975
New member
I think eventually LEDs will be the standard coral lighting, but it's still new enough that things are just starting to get figured out well and the race to LEDs has led to a lot of poorly designed lighting by many companies. Once you wade through the crap that is out there you can get decent LED lighting, but I think it still has some growing to do. I think that's the main reason Radions allow you to change out the light pucks. They know that their is growth and it just makes sense to allow those who buy their product that room to grow as the technology does.
Don't know that that exists yet. Give it a year or two.
I should chime in here and say that a few years ago I switched to DIY LEDs from Radium MH, supplemented by actinic PCs. My initial build of Royal Blue and Cool While looked terrible. So much so, it bears repeating... terrible.
But since then I've modified it to a mix of Blue, Royal Blue, Cool White, Neutral White, Deep Red, and two Violets; 405 nm and 430 nm. And the tank looks awesome. That too bears repeating... awesome.
The coral color is killer. SPS have great PE, and grow well. But some LPS... not so much. My acans have pretty much all died, slowly dwindling to nothing. A few exceptions adapted, though any red in an acan that is still around is now orange. And my blastos also have not fared very well. And of my two frogspawns, one shriveled to nothing. The other slowly adapted, but still is not thriving. Yet some other LPS do fine. My Duncan could not be happier or growing faster. Same with my Button coral and trumpets. So it's a mixed bag for LPS. Some do well, some not.
But if you get the right combination, the color can be spectacular - much better than any MH I have ever seen. And SPS love it.
meshwheel
New member
I think they all have different pros and cons to them. I finally made the switch and went with the Reefbreeders Photon fixture.
So far I have not lost any corals or colors. I have installed 2 sets of them on customers tanks. They are very very pleased with them.
I installed a 32" fixture over my new 65 gallon. With a PAR meter, I am getting 350-400 par 14 inches down in the water. And the fixture is 9 inches above the top of the tank. The blues run at 50% max for 4 hours a day. The whites run at 40% max 4 hours a day. AND THATS WITH 1/2" ACRYLIC COVERS ON THE TOP OF MY TANK!
So I am growing corals with 120-ish watts! My chiller has not kicked on once since setting up the tank. BUT THE HEATER HAS.......................LOL. But still the savings are huge. The heater is I think 120 watts. The chiller is like 1.2 Amps!!!!
The leds are a bit different. First, they may look dim, but they are not. The leds are very directional with the light output. And it's deceiving. Very much so with optics installed!
I may remove my optics just to get more spread from the front of the tank to the back. However, mixing with the 90's is still excellent. No spotting of colors at all with the Reefbreeders. If I could get a better spread front to back, they would be 5" above the tank. Why waste light!???
Removing the optics may be the answer for me, not 100% sure as of yet. But hey, I WAS GOING TO GO WITH 500WATTS OF METAL HALIDE OVER THIS TANK!!!!
Currently I am running 100-120!!!!! Even if I had to crank the fixture all the way up to 240 watts(max) I am still at less then half the wattage!!!! Thats good for 30.00-60.00 savings a month on my juice bill.
Now, If I can get by growing SPS corals at say 150 watts I am saving 40-45 watts a month because of Edisons *** sliding scale/baseline per killowatt.
So thats 480.00 per year less changing bulbs. And thats not counting the chiller not running savings either!!!!! HA!!!!!!!!
Alright, so in one year my fixture paid for itself. But I am thinking more like 6-9 months. And if I can grow SPS with at even the 240 watts max on my led's its all good!!!!
Also, my timer is built in. No more crapola mechanical timers, cords everywhere!!!! 1 plug!!!! THATS IT!!!! HA!!!!!
So far I am HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY!!!!
So far I have not lost any corals or colors. I have installed 2 sets of them on customers tanks. They are very very pleased with them.
I installed a 32" fixture over my new 65 gallon. With a PAR meter, I am getting 350-400 par 14 inches down in the water. And the fixture is 9 inches above the top of the tank. The blues run at 50% max for 4 hours a day. The whites run at 40% max 4 hours a day. AND THATS WITH 1/2" ACRYLIC COVERS ON THE TOP OF MY TANK!
So I am growing corals with 120-ish watts! My chiller has not kicked on once since setting up the tank. BUT THE HEATER HAS.......................LOL. But still the savings are huge. The heater is I think 120 watts. The chiller is like 1.2 Amps!!!!
The leds are a bit different. First, they may look dim, but they are not. The leds are very directional with the light output. And it's deceiving. Very much so with optics installed!
I may remove my optics just to get more spread from the front of the tank to the back. However, mixing with the 90's is still excellent. No spotting of colors at all with the Reefbreeders. If I could get a better spread front to back, they would be 5" above the tank. Why waste light!???
Removing the optics may be the answer for me, not 100% sure as of yet. But hey, I WAS GOING TO GO WITH 500WATTS OF METAL HALIDE OVER THIS TANK!!!!
Currently I am running 100-120!!!!! Even if I had to crank the fixture all the way up to 240 watts(max) I am still at less then half the wattage!!!! Thats good for 30.00-60.00 savings a month on my juice bill.
Now, If I can get by growing SPS corals at say 150 watts I am saving 40-45 watts a month because of Edisons *** sliding scale/baseline per killowatt.
So thats 480.00 per year less changing bulbs. And thats not counting the chiller not running savings either!!!!! HA!!!!!!!!
Alright, so in one year my fixture paid for itself. But I am thinking more like 6-9 months. And if I can grow SPS with at even the 240 watts max on my led's its all good!!!!
Also, my timer is built in. No more crapola mechanical timers, cords everywhere!!!! 1 plug!!!! THATS IT!!!! HA!!!!!
So far I am HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY!!!!
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power boat jim
Well-known member
There is no reason to switch to LED if you like the MH and its not causing any sort of problems for you. If you do make the switch nearly any good full spectrum unit will provide outstanding results. Most units are near infinitely adjustable for providing the look you want. The disco effect is now easily taken care of with the right optics and hanging the unit high enough. My system is 100% LED and it looks better then my old MH set up ever looked. Growth and color are now about equal but it took a long while to dial in everything.
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