Are you keeping ZOANTHIDS under Chinese LED fixtures?

[semi_butterfly]

Thanks for the info semi_butterfly!
The use of LEDs is so diverse!

Grandis.

most people told me the warm white is pointless but i was reading a book today on led lighting and zoas and found out the warm white is actually a profit for stronger growth, have you heard anything on this? :reading:

 

[A. Grandis]

most people told me the warm white is pointless but i was reading a book today on led lighting and zoas and found out the warm white is actually a profit for stronger growth, have you heard anything on this? :reading:

Well, please take a look at the thread below:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2372965

The thread is about flow, but the subject about light spectrum and growth came up. It is also related to the health of the organisms (corals/zoas).
I tried to explain my point of view and past experiences in regards to spectrum using 6500K Ushios, and I also found a video with Dr. Sanjay and Mr. Paletta in what I agree with their explanations.

It is good to point out that I've heard many people having success with 20000K, Radiums MHs, showing great growth/reproduction rates also. I do not know if those people ever tried 6500K bulbs to compare the growth. I do believe they could have a great tank with those bulbs!!!! The 6500K Ushios are still winners for growth though.

It is important to say that I think the bottom line here would be a balance of white/blue light and intensity/photoperiod deal. I do not believe that the MORE warm white, the MORE would be the growth. There is a balance and it needs to be reached. BUT there is aways a tendency of greater growth with the presence of a 6.500K bulb, no doubt! The excess is what wouldn't be good. Blue needs to be present. Just my own experience!!

I also believe that with a good pleasant viewing of any artificial light, close to the natural spectrum seen in shallow waters, would be aways my goal. The balance of blue and "white" bulbs is what the ideal would be IMO/E. Not a fast growth, but a balanced environment without accelerate the metabolism and at the same time keeping the pigments vivid.

!0000K is what I like most! Now… there are 10000K bulbs that would NEVER be what I would suggest. I call the reef crest light (10000K) a crispy white to our eyes. many people see that differently because there are so many 10000K bulbs with totally different colors (pinkish, whitish,…).

You know what? One or two warm LEDs in a fixture isn't bad at all!!
It's up to you, really. I think it's a personal taste too.
You need fast growth? Go ahead and put some warm bulbs in a balance spectrum and you'll get it! Watch the video! It's very nice...
:thumbsup:

>Please tell me what's the name of the book!<

Cheers,
Grandis.

 

[E fishn C]

Great thread Grandis. Thanks for sharing the past threads
Learning something new everyday.

Now that LED lights are equipped with dimmers, everyone seems to be getting different results. Take in consideration flow and placement of our Zoas I was wondering what dimmer percentages with the blues and whites are working best for everyone? There must be some baseline that we can work off of. I figure the PAR and depth of tank is a consideration. Must be a lot of parameters or am I over thinking the simplicity.

 

[llebcire]

Thanks for sharing!
Those look nice too.
All those black boxes are very similar, but yet they have their own signature.
How your zoas reacted to it?
Thanks for sharing!

Grandis.

Zoas looked pale for a few weeks - now are coloring back up and starting to grow quite rapidly.

I'll try for some pics but the camera I have don't react well to LEDs.

-Eric

 

[A. Grandis]

Great thread Grandis. Thanks for sharing the past threads
Learning something new everyday.

Now that LED lights are equipped with dimmers, everyone seems to be getting different results. Take in consideration flow and placement of our Zoas I was wondering what dimmer percentages with the blues and whites are working best for everyone? There must be some baseline that we can work off of. I figure the PAR and depth of tank is a consideration. Must be a lot of parameters or am I over thinking the simplicity.

I agree with you! As I've said before many times, light isn't all. But when light is on the right spot and the rest is well done with stability, the system takes off. One of the advantages with the dimmer is to be able to bring that sweet spot of spectrum.

I would say that the depth of the tank has a lot to do with the intensity, and that's where the dimers also come on hand.

The white and blue combo is normally 50/50%. Everyone has different preferences and the more white or more blue could go 10 to 20% off the 50% either way. That's IMO. I would imagine that I would like it very close to the 50/50%. We'll see.

Perhaps too much white will give you lot's of algae and the system will take longer to come to a balance (algae), too much blue just isn't the way to keep the zoas at it's best health in the long run and will decrease growth/reproduction in a "low nutrient system".
I'm thinking specifically about spectrum.

All the other params are basics for zoa keeping and other subjects like feeding, maintenance, water params, flow, etc"¦

Yes, good thread! :thumbsup:

I wish others would bring their experiences with the white/blue balance as well"¦

Grandis.

 

[A. Grandis]

Zoas looked pale for a few weeks - now are coloring back up and starting to grow quite rapidly.

I'll try for some pics but the camera I have don't react well to LEDs.

-Eric

Nice!
Pics are welcome!

Grandis.

 

[A. Grandis]

Got the fixtures today!
Looking for ideas to see how am I going to hang them over the tank.
I don't want to have them on a canopy, but I'll be probably hanging from the ceiling.
The hanging wires that comes with the fixture will make them too loose.
I want to connect them somehow, looking like the ATI T5 fixture I've got.
Perhaps using an electrical conduit, like in this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdwB3UnDSKY

Any other ideas?

Grandis.

 

[mtiknoles]

I'm doing my last tank upgrade to a 240g cube and only intend to keep zoas and palys. I ordered 3 Malibu S300's, from here http://www.ledzeal.com/p43.html

 

[mussel and hate]

I picked up a frag plug with 4 zoanthids from a local reefer about eight weeks ago to test out under my DIY LEDs, they are a small variety with orange disk, blue mouth and green tentacles I don't know what the FOTM name for them is but I digress. Today there are 12 polyps on the disk that I can see and one stepping off onto the adjacent rock. The frag plug is located at the bottom of the tank about 24" from the lights.

The array is six each Cree XTE neutral white, XPE blue, XTE RB, 6ea Phillips cyan, RB 6ea True violet and Hyper violet(from an E-tailer that RC won't allow us to name) and 6ea violet from RapidLED both first and second gen of the same diode star. That's a total of 54 LEDs w/o optics running at 450ma drawing about 80W at the outlet.

My DIY array replaces a 175W Iwasaki 14k MH and has similar color with more fluorescent pigment excitement. I may tweak it a bit but I can't see going back to HID. I'm getting similar performance for less than half the electricity, my MH drew 212W at the outlet.

I'm inclined to purchase some more zoas now that my test subject has demonstrated growth and color.

I'd post pictures but for some reason I can't upload...

 

[A. Grandis]

I picked up a frag plug with 4 zoanthids from a local reefer about eight weeks ago to test out under my DIY LEDs, they are a small variety with orange disk, blue mouth and green tentacles I don't know what the FOTM name for them is but I digress. Today there are 12 polyps on the disk that I can see and one stepping off onto the adjacent rock. The frag plug is located at the bottom of the tank about 24" from the lights.

The array is six each Cree XTE neutral white, XPE blue, XTE RB, 6ea Phillips cyan, RB 6ea True violet and Hyper violet(from an E-tailer that RC won't allow us to name) and 6ea violet from RapidLED both first and second gen of the same diode star. That's a total of 54 LEDs w/o optics running at 450ma drawing about 80W at the outlet.

My DIY array replaces a 175W Iwasaki 14k MH and has similar color with more fluorescent pigment excitement. I may tweak it a bit but I can't see going back to HID. I'm getting similar performance for less than half the electricity, my MH drew 212W at the outlet.

I'm inclined to purchase some more zoas now that my test subject has demonstrated growth and color.

I'd post pictures but for some reason I can't upload...

You need to upload the pics to photo bucket or some other site first, then upload here on RC.

Thanks for sharing your experiences!
I've heard nice things like that and that's why I'll be trying LEDs soon!

I went to a friend's house today to give him some frags and he has the same type I've bought. His Chinese LEDs are just great!!! Looks so clean and sharp. Tanks is looking nice!!

Very interesting!
Does anyone know actually how much those black boxes labeled 120W pull from the outlet?

Grandis.

 

[A. Grandis]

I'm doing my last tank upgrade to a 240g cube and only intend to keep zoas and palys. I ordered 3 Malibu S300's, from here http://www.ledzeal.com/p43.html

Please keep us posted"¦

Grandis.

 

[mussel and hate]

You're too kind AG. It was only after posting that the Chinese origin aspect of this post sunk in.

Regarding picture posting, I tried to upload to my album and could not. If RC won't host then I'm afraid I won't post It's not much to expect.

 

[A. Grandis]

No problem. Let us see your pics if in the future it works out.
:thumbsup:

Grandis.

 

[zoafarm]

I've been running LEDs for about 2 yrs now. My LEDs are DIY (3 RB : 1 CW) CREE 3 watt 48 total bulbs. The light is approximately 10" above the water, Sunrise Fade (1hr) starts at 9am and Sunset starts at 8pm (1 hr). The CW are CREE XM-L running at approximately 40%. The RB are CREE XP-G running at 60% to 70%.

I've gone back and forward on my decision about the lights. I have two other tanks one with MH (14K) and the other has T5s. My experience is all three lights provide good growth when all other conditions (flow and stability) are met. However, the LED system did have problems with zoas/palys for a long time. I tend to think it was my fault. I think a longer period of lower light would have helped. With that said, the SPS exploded with growth and color. Months later the zoas/palys I have in the tank are doing great.

March 2012 - Day 1 with the LEDs:

August 2013

Sorry, I didn't talk to the Chinese LEDs. Although I love the MH tank, I started adding LEDs for Blue Supplement. Over the next few months, I will start introducing more LED and hope to completely replace the MHs by the end of summer. This tank is 90% zoas/palys.

 

[A. Grandis]

Hi zoafarm!
Good having you here!!
Very nice growth! I can't believe how nice your Euphyllia grew!!!
I really like the colors on the first picture!!
What happened? The second image is pinkish.

Yeah, as far as I've learned by now the very important point with LEDs is the adaptation period from MHs and/or T5s to the LEDs. I'm not sure if corals or zoas collected from the wild will have a hard time with LEDs at first though.
I agree with longer period with lower light (intensity).
The opposite would also work: shorter period with more intensity, as I've done with MHs in the past.
The balance of time exposure and intensity is the bottom line of light for their metabolism. That happens in nature. That's the way it is. No secrets.

You pointed a very important observation that I've been emphasizing here: the params and stability need to provide that comfort for the zoas while they are adapting to the new lights. Perhaps that is more important with LEDs.

Thanks! please keep us posted!
Grandis.

 

[AlexRSM130]

I did my experiments with cheap led emitters.With a good quantity I had no problem growing clams or even high end acros.
Some of the LEDs over 2 year period of use have melted...others work just fine.
I think they could be just defective...
Most of my corals did 3-4 months to start growing again when I changed to full led lighting.Some zoo`s did start multiplying again after 5-6 months,although they started popping up immediately.
Now I got more trusted emitters,to upgrade.More colors+6 channel+anduino based controller.But I will run all of them at 700mah,same as before.I think IMO the power of the leds is vital and the acclimatization period should last longer then just 2-3 months.
Corals adapt finally.

We will see how this will turn out.
Pics...

fts.

 

[fishjelly]

Newbie here, we bought a 180g tank off Craigslist and it came with 2 of the GreenElement EVO leds. I'd like to switch to something that is full spectrum and dimmable. Was looking at the 165watt chinese leds on eBay and I wanted to know how many units I'll need to purchase to cover a 6ft tank?

 

[A. Grandis]

Newbie here, we bought a 180g tank off Craigslist and it came with 2 of the GreenElement EVO leds. I'd like to switch to something that is full spectrum and dimmable. Was looking at the 165watt chinese leds on eBay and I wanted to know how many units I'll need to purchase to cover a 6ft tank?

3 units.
Basically 1 unit per every 24".

Grandis.

 

[A. Grandis]

I did my experiments with cheap led emitters.With a good quantity I had no problem growing clams or even high end acros.
Some of the LEDs over 2 year period of use have melted...others work just fine.
I think they could be just defective...
Most of my corals did 3-4 months to start growing again when I changed to full led lighting.Some zoo`s did start multiplying again after 5-6 months,although they started popping up immediately.
Now I got more trusted emitters,to upgrade.More colors+6 channel+anduino based controller.But I will run all of them at 700mah,same as before.I think IMO the power of the leds is vital and the acclimatization period should last longer then just 2-3 months.
Corals adapt finally.

We will see how this will turn out.
Pics...

Thanks very much for the info, AlexRSM130!

Yep, I believe that's the main thing: adaptation period!!

I'm so glad to be able to pay less for electricity.
I've been waiting long for that.

Grandis.

 

[Mikefromaz]

Grandis... I fell I love with Maxspect Razors. As I always do I spent months in forums like this one trying get the best value. I was about to buy their offering when I found out Maxspect is made in CHINA. I haven't been able to find any led fix fixtures that aren't made offshore. That being said I recently bought a bunch of frags from a local h obbiest who powers his two forty gal. tanks with "blackbox" full spectrum chinese lights. We werent discussing lights at first until he told me that he keeps running out of room for his frags because I his words he had a "growth explosion" with his Reef Breeder LED units. He was obviously very excited to pass along his find to a fellow h obbiest. Maxspect....great unit. Equivalent fully programmable "black box" ALSO Chinese unit for $120 less with excellent customer support such as I can attest to......LED. yes. Reef Breeder...absolutely!