Doing a little 'light' research. If you have LEDs please respond.

[Ricunger]

IMO with AI soon releasing the PowerPuck for the vega the future of LEDs is here. Having the ability to customize every single led color in a puck will be huge... The loss of colors some experience with leds sould be corrected with this feature. Granted I would wait for others to play with the color combinations prior to me buying them.

 

[turtlespd]

Ai got smart! I would be interested now because I have options.

 

[xxxduke62xxx]

All corals grown from 1in to 2in frags under first ACANS then AI sol blue. Started SPS september 2011 till today. Now not all corals in this pick were not added in sept obviously they have been added over months so just because you see a small frag in the second pic that just means it was a new addition

 

[trueblackpercula]

I have the Radion G1 with TIR lens and would never go back to MH.....that's just me

 

[E.intheC]

Yes I'm thinking of going mh until led technology advances more. I don't want my 650$ radion to be obsolete in a year. This being the first time keeping sps for me I feel like mh is more forgiving and a lesser learning curve.

Are you still using the tank listed in your sig? I ask because my tank is similar in size (20 inch cube) and I don't really WANT crazy SPS growth. Some growth is good obviously but I'd rather not have to prune my corals often. Coloration is most important for me, and it's actually better under LEDs than it was under T5s...but they were both very close.

To the general discussion - It's nice to see people giving experience and opinions without letting things get out of hand. :thumbsup:

For my tank, light choice was a struggle. I read a ton, and drew from personal experience with MH and T5... after all the reading, I was considering MH, T5, and LEDs. I bought a Powermodule but ended up selling that and buying a Radion. The Radion is incredible.. The Powermodule was great too but for me and this tank, the Radion is absolutely the best choice.

I've noticed that my acans are keeping their original colors under the Radions, but under other brands of LEDs they would gradually change. Colors were also good under my T5 setup, but they weren't as vibrant.

Different tanks will benefit from different lighting. If there was a large tank build, a couple lumenbrite pendants with T5 or LED supplementation would be a great way to go.

 

[E.intheC]

Yes I'm thinking of going mh until led technology advances more. I don't want my 650$ radion to be obsolete in a year. This being the first time keeping sps for me I feel like mh is more forgiving and a lesser learning curve.

Also, with Radions, they have an upgrade path that allows you to buy the new technology without having to pay full price of a brand new light. My gen 1 Radion works great, but for about $30 I can buy the upgraded lenses which increase PAR and blend the colors better. Or, if I wanted the violet and yellow LEDs (plus some other upgrades) that the Pro version offers, I can send my light to ecotech and they'll upgrade them for me. That's a great feature. This way, my light won't become obsolete.

Some other brands don't offer this, though.

 

[Tetra84]

I just upgraded my gen 1 Radions with Radion pro's.. and that's a night/day difference. The leds produce much more of a warm glow that's hard to describe, but is there. The addition of the yellow and especially 405nm uv leds works wonders. The Radion Pro is truly full spectrum, and looks virtually identical to MH now.

 

[whiteshark]

Well I'm not paying 800$ plus for my fixture so the Radion pro is just out of the question.

Yes I'm still using the 27 gallon cube. I just want to provide the optimal conditions for SPS growth. I feel like using MH eliminates one variable when starting out. Then, when I get my feet wet and get some growth I can move to LED (hopefully when the price comes down a bit). That said, I'm still on the fence. I REALLY don't want to buy a chiller too.

 

[cy93]

Does anybody have any feedback about the Orphek fixtures? Most of you guys have either the AI's or Radions...

 

[SchnitzelReef]

180g tank with 90-3w LEDs with 80* optics and 4-80w t5s

My corals all love this light setup. I was running only LEDs, and I don't think they were enough light for SPS. Plus I was just guessing on the light spectrum. I tried the whole "full spectrum" LEDs and didn't like how it looked.

Sent from my iPhone

 

[rodneyri]

180g tank with 90-3w LEDs with 80* optics and 4-80w t5s

My corals all love this light setup. I was running only LEDs, and I don't think they were enough light for SPS. Plus I was just guessing on the light spectrum. I tried the whole "full spectrum" LEDs and didn't like how it looked.

Sent from my iPhone

what combo are you using for the LED and for the T5 tubes?

 

[muscleflex]

I have a single TMC 1000HD for my nano tank. I don't really look after my tank like I should but the sps I have seems to be ok and growing (albeit slow but that's ok as I have a nano)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GEZjY267u4

 

[trae]

I have to do things in doses in order to be convinced. I moved from t5 which is good light to metal halide, which promoted excellent light and growth to LED companies blue line, AI, and mazzara p. I miss the shimmer and warm look of the halide so I may run about 2 hours a day for study purposes. LED's to me are like T5 and halide with no heat. Some pretty fast growth as well. When I get my par meter in I will weigh in further at a later date.

 

[Henry Colf]

Here are a couple of top downs from my tank. My lights are the cheap 119 watt Chineese fixtures. I have been running them for 2 yrs. now and love em. They are the 20k version. Just blue and white. It took the corals a while to get used to the lights but here is the end result....

 

[SchnitzelReef]

what combo are you using for the LED and for the T5 tubes?

I'm running 80-royal blues and 10 whites

2-ATI Blue +
2-ATI Coral +


Sent from my iPhone

 

[Ricunger]

I think Henry said it right. "It took a while for the corals to get used to the light". After a remodel on my home I started a new tank and opted for the LEDS. If I had an existing tank I'm sure a switch from anything to LEDS would be painful but not impossible. After researching others with similar tanks i opted to transition from my 8x39w t5's to the ai leds.

Any coral can be beautiful under either MH, t5, or LED. I've switched MH bulbs in the past that have made my corals loose color and PE but always bounced back once that adjustment period ends. Once you research and find a fixture with a good spectrum that works for you the tank will always have the capabilities of being spectacular.

My assumption is those who switch to LEDS and move back to a t5 or MH didn't give the corals enough time to adjust. With a LED fixture that can be dimmed it should be significantly easier to make the control to your corals needs.

 

[JPMagyar]

here is the end result....

I'm just wondering how many folks would look at this photo and say "Wow, I want to copy that lighting" when they have examples like this T5 tank to compare with . . .


Still haven't seen one single blue acropora grown from frag to colony under LEDs. Lots of every other color, especially purples and greens and all sorts of millis, but no Cali Torts, Blue Matrixes, or Oregon Torts grown frag to colony and with deep blue solid color under LEDs. (and pale blues don't count) Maybe that's ok for most 'cuz LEDs are so efficient and adjustable, but I'm still watching this thread for folks to show up with blue corals and nice progression shots of 2 years and no T5 supplements.

 

[Frick]

Still haven't seen one single blue acropora grown from frag to colony under LEDs. Lots of every other color, especially purples and greens and all sorts of millis, but no Cali Torts, Blue Matrixes, or Oregon Torts grown frag to colony and with deep blue solid color under LEDs. (and pale blues don't count) Maybe that's ok for most 'cuz LEDs are so efficient and adjustable, but I'm still watching this thread for folks to show up with blue corals and nice progression shots of 2 years and no T5 supplements.

Hmmm i haven't tried a Blue Acro under mine yet. i lost all my torts and gomezis last year under a halide tank (not the lighting fault). I did just get a Stag that is brown but suppose to be blue. We will see what it does.

 

[muscleflex]

Wow! love that tank!

 

[Arkayology]

On my 60g SPS cube, I had a 250w MH with a 14k phoenix bulb over it for a year. Growth and colors were pretty good. I then switched to the Radion gen1 when it was first introduced. I had it set to 14k and acclimated everything well. I had that set up for another year before it had to be taken down. The transition went smoothly and I had absolutely no changes in color or growth rate. Everything remained stable and continued to look great. Just my .2 cents.