Are LED's all you need?

[Sk8r]

I'm quite happy with lps and a Radion pro at 50%

 

[gcarroll]

I agree with the portion of your post about most not having enough LED fixtures to account for the non diffused nature of LED fixtures completly. Too many people do not buy enough fixtures or angle them properly.

I totally disagree with you on the coloring though. Too many are posting loss of color in switching to LED which is my concern. I have seen it first hand in my tank and enough threads on here have shown it in others.

That all said this thread is turning into what many other threads already are in a discussion on which light type. Are the LEDs all you need supposing you buy enough for complete coverage? Yes. Are they all you want? Doubtful since they are showing to not color like older tech in too many threads and tanks.

I have and can further explain why their tanks lack color! There are way too many 100% LED success stories around here is Southern California to ignore.

Those failing with LED are due to user error. If the problem was the lights, then no one would not be able to succeed. that is simply not the case. In another thread a guy was complaining about his Maxspect Razor LEDs not coloring up his corals. He wanted to know what was best for coloration. I then showed an all LED lit tank with great SPS color. He wanted to know what lighting my friend was using and he was surprised to know that it was lit with Maxspect Razors. Although my friend ran his near 100% while the OP of that thread was running his around 50%.

 

[d2mini]

Very nice. I wish something like this would be used as a sticky. The shadowing created by LED's is just too much to bear by SPS. Even after shadowing has been eliminated, the success stories are much less as compared to other light sources.

Yep, shadowing is a huge problem with LED, requiring a lot more leds than originally touted. The only led lit sps tanks I've seen that I would consider amazing had a high number of fixtures.

Here's an example I've posted many times before...
Notice the increased PE and color underneath, as well as the tighter growth pattern. No other changes were made other than going from pure led, to a mh/t5 combo setup. This was about a 3 months difference if memory serves.

 

[Scorpius]

∆ Hence why I said that there are too many variables with most LED fixtures allowing spectrum and intensity adjustments. People don't know what the corals need in light. Guessing is leading to failure.

 

[Wazzel]

I agree with the portion of your post about most not having enough LED fixtures to account for the non diffused nature of LED fixtures completly. Too many people do not buy enough fixtures or angle them properly.

I totally disagree with you on the coloring though. Too many are posting loss of color in switching to LED which is my concern. I have seen it first hand in my tank and enough threads on here have shown it in others.

That all said this thread is turning into what many other threads already are in a discussion on which light type. Are the LEDs all you need supposing you buy enough for complete coverage? Yes. Are they all you want? Doubtful since they are showing to not color like older tech in too many threads and tanks.

I have seen enough nice tanks only lit with LED only that have good color and good growth to say it is not a technical issue with the lights.

When you change lighting systems the corals will change an adapt. I have corals in my tank that were in Mh or T-5 that went through a transition before finally settling in. It is totally normal. Some of them took months. This is not a hobby for people seeking instant gratification.

No two lighting systems will give you the same colors in corals, stop expecting them to do just that. Radium lamps do not produce the same colors as seen in nature. Some how it became a hobby standard that is totally arbitrary.

 

[ClownsRCoo]

Not trying to start a fight but how many of the tanks you have seen were run with LEDs from the very beginning? I can't tell you how many threads i see where there is a very nice tank running all LEDs but when the OP is asked if those were his lights all along they come back with " no switched to LEDs 2 months ago" or something like that. So none of the growth and color were coming from that light source. It just maintained what was accomplished under MH or T5. The only tanks I have seen that were successful from the very beginning on LEDs were packed with them. Then your lighting set up is so outrageously expensive the whole argument for LEDs in the first place goes right out the window.

 

[Wazzel]

I have been LED on my current tank for almost 2 years. I started with the manufactures recommended number, but needed additional after a year. All my corals are from frags. This is the first and most recent full tank shots I have.

May 14

Nov 15

 

[ClownsRCoo]

Looks very nice no doubt but is that a 60g cube? What lights are over it?

You proved my point when you said you had to add a second fixture.

 

[Wazzel]

Yes A 60 cube, 2 AI hydra52's. Needing more than the manufactures recommendation is not a secret and honest LED users will agree you need 1.5 to 2 times what the manufactures claim, depending on you set up. I could not add half a fixture so I am at 2x's.

To the OP's question, yes LED is all you need. More than the manufactures recommendation will be needed and your corals will look different than they would under MH or T-5.

They also need to be run higher than what most people do. If you ever hear about a crazy guy that runs AI hydra52's at almost full power, chances are they are talking about me.

 

[ClownsRCoo]

I can agree with what you said. Just wanted to point out that depending on the OPs tank size he's going to need a lot of them.

 

[Wazzel]

I can agree with what you said. Just wanted to point out that depending on the OPs tank size he's going to need a lot of them.

Since people give up on them there are lots on the used market. I got the extra unit and the ones that will go on my 120 for way under list with very few hours on them. There are ways to get what you need without breaking the bank.

 

[robert s b.]

With my experience, I started with 3 Kessil a360 and 4x60w Powermodules over my 300. And growth was great! I decided to sell the powermodules and get 3 more 360's and it went down hill from there. I realized the T5's was not supplementing the Kessils, it was the kessils supplementing the T5's. So I bought the ATI Led Powermodules 8x80w and my corals took off, along with my tank maturing. You cant go wrong with T5's with led supps

 

[gus6464]

Go T5, supplement with royal blue, cool blue, and violet LEDs.

 

[shifty51008]

I have been LED on my current tank for almost 2 years. I started with the manufactures recommended number, but needed additional after a year. All my corals are from frags. This is the first and most recent full tank shots I have.

May 14

Nov 15

Beautiful tank btw but you can still see the shadowing that all led's produce.

 

[Wazzel]

Beautiful tank btw but you can still see the shadowing that all led's produce.

Nice sized corals will have shading under any light. It is a little worse under LED, but not near as bad as others like to claim. I had shading under Mh/VHO and VHO only lit tanks. It happens.

 

[mussel and hate]

Go T5, supplement with royal blue, cool blue, and violet LEDs.

This is probably the most economical way to light a tank that isn't too deep for t5s to penetrate effectively assuming the fluorescent tubes are some kind of whiteish triphosphor.

In response to the OP. LEDs are all you need if you have enough of them of the right color at the right intensity distributed evenly above the target corals.

Most people don't do it that way, they just buy a commercial fixture and set it so that the corals glow.

 

[travis136]

Anyone have pics of there t5/ kessil setup? I just picked up 2 kessils for a tank I'm building and probably going to go with a t5 fixture as well. Seems like the easiest way to not mess up lol.