Are there any LED setups that work as well as T5's?

[deputydog95]

Upgrading the tank next week. Going to a Red Sea Reefer 425xl.

Struggling with lighting choices....

I have a lot of SPS now and I love it. I wan to switch to LED's though.

Is there anything LED that will give me comparable growth and color? I don't mind spending a few bucks if it works....

 

[w3bbo]

The problem you're always going to get with LEDs is shading. LEDs have come a long way and are very capable at growing SPS and it can be easily argued that SPS 'pop' more under LEDs. Where this is because of the colouration or the contrast in shade is debatable.

Radions and Hydra 52s are perhaps the best LEDs available currently but cheaper LEDs also work well. I use Evergrow IT2120 PRo Reef II and don't have issues with SPS but I do with shading:

I'm giving T5s another go soon although if money allowed I'd go for a hybrid unit which gives the best of both worlds.

 

[hobbzz]

Radions and anything ai is lacking. The store I work at has stopped using them. We now only use t5 and maxspect. But if you wanted the best led only fixture, it would either be diy or Pacific Sun. But as was already stated, you will still have issues with shading.

 

[Cyberdude]

Are there any LED setups that work as well as T5's?

LEDs are just fine. Radions and hydras. Even China boxes. The only secret is to have enough for full coverage. That's all. No big deal.

 

[pdiehm]

Highly recommend the Photon 48

 

[Wazzel]

LEDs are just fine. Radions and hydras. Even China boxes. The only secret is to have enough for full coverage. That's all. No big deal.

1.5 to 2 times what the manufacturer recommends, depending on your tank. Keeping your fingers off the buttons helps a lot.

 

[Finland]

I run leds over my sps tank and the corals love it. Good growth and color. I did have the shading issue so I added a couple t5 to help out.

 

[jestronix]

I'd say Lani led or similar. cover the entire top of the tank, no lenses, run LEDs a 1w, like Lani do for extra efficiency. Also check out Phillips coral care fixtures.

 

[deputydog95]

The tank we're setting up is 47x24x24.

I'm considering the Kessil A360. 3 of them specifically at about 16" apart. Haven't decided between narrow or wide beam. The tank is fairly shallow.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the Kessil. Are they not liked here?

 

[SkullV]

The tank we're setting up is 47x24x24.

I'm considering the Kessil A360. 3 of them specifically at about 16" apart. Haven't decided between narrow or wide beam. The tank is fairly shallow.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the Kessil. Are they not liked here?

Of the LEDs out there Kessil is the least suited for SPS (in my opinion). They use a dense matrix chip under a single lens which causes immense amounts of shading. I would double, or even triple the number of kessil fixtures you are looking at if you want an SPS tank. This way you could position them at several different angles to help with the shading.

 

[happyhourhero]

SB Reef lights is a good option for a black box with a 2 year USA warranty and a greatly improved spectrum. I have had mine for about 7 months and love them.

 

[burton14e7]

Do any of these disco or how do you make it so they don't disco?

 

[basser1]

Do any of these disco or how do you make it so they don't disco?

Not sure what you mean by "disco". If you mean shimmer, yes I get it with my LED set-up. But it looks like the shimmer I got with my old MH lights.

 

[deputydog95]

Do any of these disco or how do you make it so they don't disco?

Kessil's don't because the LED's are packed closely together. The other ones have the led's/colors spread apart so you get that disco ball effect where you can see the different colors on the back of the tank. Not much you can do about it from the way I understand it.

Doesn't seem like there is a perfect LED setup... Although if you add enough Kessil's seems like you could get close. It's only money LOL.

I'm going to try two of the newer A360WE wide lens tuna blue versions first. They have a 24" spread. I figure I generally don't use the 6" to either side of the tank anyway to make maintenance easier, so I'll figure I'll try them 12" left and right of center and see how it works.

I can always add a 3rd if it's not cutting it. I really like how their fixtures look and that you can just keep adding them as you need more light. Harder to do that with some of the bigger rectangle boxes.

 

[Mortie31]

Orphek atlantiks 2.1b all the way I have 3 over a 66 x 30 x 24, I get minimal shading, these are my second set I had Orphek 156's for 5 years before these, the improvement in spectrum colour and spread is outstanding imo.

 

[blasterman789]

Was recently at a guys house with a 400+ gallon in the middle of his living room over grown with table acros the size of small children. Flipping open his canopy showed a collection of AI units and black boxes, but all positioned at the edges of the tank so shadowing was non existent. Basic geometry here folks. More, lower powered units spread out, especially front to back and the problem is solved.

I love the color uniformity of Kessils, but they need a more distributed platform because they can produce lots of shadowing problems.

Also note a lot of surface agitation (shimmer) helps break up point light sources to an extent.

 

[burton14e7]

Not sure what you mean by "disco". If you mean shimmer, yes I get it with my LED set-up. But it looks like the shimmer I got with my old MH lights.

When I see LED tanks at the LFS the sand bed looks like a 70s night club with a disco ball throwing reds blues and greens all over the sand bed because there are a 50-100 sources of different colored lights. Here is a random youtube video showing it.

https://youtu.be/pqrg6Kfrz1c

 

[delamfe]

I can read leds are cheaper than T5 because IMO nobody has tested how long they last and how often they should be replaced. I didn't think leds keep the same output one year later.