Are you keeping ZOANTHIDS under Chinese LED fixtures?

I just spoke with a guy yesterday who's got a 150 mixed reef. He used to run "first gen" chinese LEDs and then bought equal number AI Hydras to replace them. Tank's not doing so good now and he's thinking about going back to his old chinese LEDs. ha!

T5s are 2 actinic and 2 12k ~ 160watts. they won't compare to the LEDs of same wattage. and LEDs are way cooler. T5 combos I like are ATI blue+ purple+, pink+ and actinics. run two blue+ 2 actinics and one of each and you got a super combo of light.
 
The video posted does nothing good for the argument for LEDs. They both say that they are not happy with them aside from softies, unless I'm missing something.
 
If you want to cover more bases do this. Run your LED units with a bulb or two of full spectrum T5. Thats what im doing. Running chinese LED black boxes flanked by 2 bulbs or coral plus. You get your blue pop from the leds, and alot of the high intensity white light. The 2 T5 bulbs just fill in the missing spectrum the LEDs still seem to lack.
 
April 20th 2013 original frag...


SAT HERE FOR A FEW MONTHS...


CUT OFF SOME FRAGS AND PUT ORIGINAL PLUG ON THIS ROCK A FEW MONTHS AGO.

TODAY...





2:1 / BLUE:WHITE

 
blackthunda77 said:
If you want to cover more bases do this. Run your LED units with a bulb or two of full spectrum T5. Thats what im doing. Running chinese LED black boxes flanked by 2 bulbs or coral plus. You get your blue pop from the leds, and alot of the high intensity white light. The 2 T5 bulbs just fill in the missing spectrum the LEDs still seem to lack.
Click to expand...

I've been thinking about adding 2 54W T5's to my current setup as well - most likely ATI.

About December 20th I changed from a 6 x 54W T5 setup to a pair of 120W Chinese LEDs over my 120G (48x24x24).

I had better full spectrum coloration with my T5s that were all ATI (4) and Geisemann (2) bulbs other than just the actinics - the blue spectrum LEDs really make the corals pop. I also had better coverage in the tank especially front to back as the LEDs are more like spotlights.

I've lost a ruffled ridge coral as well as some zoas - could be a combination of maintenance and acclimating too quickly to the LEDs. Tank is SPS, LPS, softies and zoas.

I am starting to get good growth in all corals so the issues I had may be behind me.

-Eric
 
iDestroya said:
I just spoke with a guy yesterday who's got a 150 mixed reef. He used to run "first gen" chinese LEDs and then bought equal number AI Hydras to replace them. Tank's not doing so good now and he's thinking about going back to his old chinese LEDs. ha!

T5s are 2 actinic and 2 12k ~ 160watts. they won't compare to the LEDs of same wattage. and LEDs are way cooler. T5 combos I like are ATI blue+ purple+, pink+ and actinics. run two blue+ 2 actinics and one of each and you got a super combo of light.
Click to expand...

Agreed. By what I've heard from many that's true about the LEDs!
Chinese types are actually better even for the SPS, they said.
More bulbs and more area covered. Dimmers, separated cords for timers, and fans on the top of the fixture.
That's why I began to search more and more about them.
Thanks for the post!!!

Grandis.
 
Pallobi said:
The video posted does nothing good for the argument for LEDs. They both say that they are not happy with them aside from softies, unless I'm missing something.
Click to expand...

I agree with you.
I believe they have the wrong LED fixtures to start with.

Grandis.
 
blackthunda77 said:
If you want to cover more bases do this. Run your LED units with a bulb or two of full spectrum T5. Thats what im doing. Running chinese LED black boxes flanked by 2 bulbs or coral plus. You get your blue pop from the leds, and alot of the high intensity white light. The 2 T5 bulbs just fill in the missing spectrum the LEDs still seem to lack.
Click to expand...

The main reason I'll run LEDs is because of the growth and healthy aspects of the lights. I think the blue pop would be nice, but I'm not looking for that. My goal is to be able to keep the organisms healthy for long period of time with LEDs only.

That's a good observation though! I like the Coral Plus bulbs very much. I also like the Blue Plus a lot!!! Those are great bulbs!!!
I'll be using only LEDs. That's my goal.
The main reason for that is because if others can do that for more than two years with wonderful results that way, it will have to work with me too!!:dance:

I've had very similar spectrum for many years in the past using older T5 bulbs and had a tremendous growth/colors. With the white/blue LEDs the intensity will be stronger, dimmable and cooler.
That's why I don't think the white/blue Chinese LEDs would lack any spectrum usable by the zoas. If I could do with very similar T5s in the past I'll be able to do again, I hope.

Thanks,
Grandis.
 
llebcire said:
I've been thinking about adding 2 54W T5's to my current setup as well - most likely ATI.

About December 20th I changed from a 6 x 54W T5 setup to a pair of 120W Chinese LEDs over my 120G (48x24x24).

I had better full spectrum coloration with my T5s that were all ATI (4) and Geisemann (2) bulbs other than just the actinics - the blue spectrum LEDs really make the corals pop. I also had better coverage in the tank especially front to back as the LEDs are more like spotlights.

I've lost a ruffled ridge coral as well as some zoas - could be a combination of maintenance and acclimating too quickly to the LEDs. Tank is SPS, LPS, softies and zoas.

I am starting to get good growth in all corals so the issues I had may be behind me.

-Eric
Click to expand...

I think there is nothing wrong with adding some T5s to the setup.
That's all cool.
I do believe that a combo of different types of lights would be great. LEDs and T5s would do a great job side by side.
Good luck with the new combo!
Good growth, happy reefer!!
Thanks for sharing!

Grandis.
 
I have 4 of these panels running, http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Dimmable-full-spectrum-led-aquarium-light-for-240-galon-marine-tank/1311341922.html
The panels themselves come across as well built, I went cheap and got them with manual control as opposed to the box they sell that can do sunrise sunset etc. They've been running now for about a month, until then I had 3 T8s, two white and one blue, and surprisingly they opened beautifully with them.

Here are some pics, I know the colors aren't true on all them but I hope you get an idea. One day I'll get a proper macro lens but until then here goes.






Last one is my favorite, I think the colors are accurate on that one.

Oscar
 
I run a 16" photon from Reefbreeders. Great light! It's programmable for every half and you can change the lighting up just how you like it. Growth has been great. I started with one stalk of frogspawn and now have 5 softball size corals in less than 6 months. Sps doing well as well as some duncans. I just put in a few new zoa frags with the one I had and it's doing well except for one that does not want to seem to open after 3 days. Is this a normal occurance or do I need to alter something.
 
oscarmeir said:
I have 4 of these panels running, http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Dimmable-full-spectrum-led-aquarium-light-for-240-galon-marine-tank/1311341922.html
The panels themselves come across as well built, I went cheap and got them with manual control as opposed to the box they sell that can do sunrise sunset etc. They've been running now for about a month, until then I had 3 T8s, two white and one blue, and surprisingly they opened beautifully with them.

Here are some pics, I know the colors aren't true on all them but I hope you get an idea. One day I'll get a proper macro lens but until then here goes.

...

Last one is my favorite, I think the colors are accurate on that one.

Oscar
Click to expand...

I was originally referring to the black box type of Chinese LEDs for reef systems. I see now that other Chinese fixtures are available with similar configuration of those more expensive ones.
I think what makes me like those black boxes is the amount of LEDs and the coverage with wattage combo. The manual dimmer and hanging kit is a plus!
Bottom line is that if the fixture works well, allowing polyps to grow/reproduce healthy and colorful for a long period of time, there nothing that could prevent us to use them. I guess that's true for any type of fixture.
Thanks for the post!!
I like the last picture better as well.

Grandis.
 
kingpin9995 said:
I run a 16" photon from Reefbreeders. Great light! It's programmable for every half and you can change the lighting up just how you like it. Growth has been great. I started with one stalk of frogspawn and now have 5 softball size corals in less than 6 months. Sps doing well as well as some duncans. I just put in a few new zoa frags with the one I had and it's doing well except for one that does not want to seem to open after 3 days. Is this a normal occurance or do I need to alter something.
Click to expand...

Well, that could be a lot of things, so it's hard to tell.
I would think that if light was the problem the best way to fix would be to move the frag away from direct light, placing the frag on the bottom of the tank first.
The polyps could be damaged and hurt during the shipping. Could be simply adaptation to you system, etc..
I would place it on the bottom and leave for a while. Make sure there is no predators.
I hope you dipped the frags before placing them in the system.
Perhaps would be nice to open a thread and post some pictures if that concerns you too much.

I would like to concentrate this thread more on Chinese fixtures and hear more from people using particularly those black box type Chinese LED fixtures, please.

This is the one I've got:
_3_zps504d72d1.jpg


90° lenses:
_3-1_zps56b30656.jpg


_3-4_zpsd374b4c9.jpg


_3-3_zpsbd668691.jpg


_3-5_zpsee091e49.jpg


Thanks,
Grandis.
 
Last edited:
That is pretty much the one I have but I have the programmable model. I believe it's well worth the exta 130 bucks to have that programmability.
 
A. Grandis said:
:thumbsup:
Is the programable mode into the fixture?

Grandis.
Click to expand...

Yes it's all in one. I was looking for a pic but could not copy and paste it. You can see it at reefbreeders.com. They have many sizes.. It's the photon model. There was a thread about the reefbreeder model and great reviews. It's been the best light ive ever used. Had it two years and zero issues. Program it from dawn to dusk every half hour increments. Very nice.
 
kingpin9995 said:
Yes it's all in one. I was looking for a pic but could not copy and paste it. You can see it at reefbreeders.com. They have many sizes.. It's the photon model. There was a thread about the reefbreeder model and great reviews. It's been the best light ive ever used. Had it two years and zero issues. Program it from dawn to dusk every half hour increments. Very nice.
Click to expand...

Like I've said before, 2 years is good enough for me.
The price is higher and we get for what we pay.
I don't really care much about features other than the manual dimmer and separated cords. I think that is enough. But it's good to know there are such options.
I paid about $160 for each of my fixtures. They were shipped yesterday.
I will be able to set up my 125gal. system only around mid April.
My tank is still empty for now.
I'm really happy that I found a way to save electricity! :D
No heat, no chiller, less electricity.

Thanks for letting us know about the option!

Grandis.
 
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