I built a 14" x 14" LED fixture for my 24" x 24" x 24" cube. I demoed it at the January meeting for my reef club. It had 18 Cree XR-E cool whites, 18 Cree XR-E royal blues with 70° optics. It was driven by Mean Well ELN 60-48 drivers. The blues were driven at 700ma and the whites were driven at 500ma. It had a nice 15-16,000k look. I was really gung-ho about it and very optimistic.
The corals immediately reacted positively to the LEDS. The SPS grew like weeds. But over the course of six months my LPS corals were in decline and eventually died. During this time I had zero issues with water parameters.
I eventually sold the fixture and put a Hamilton fixture with a 14,000k 150 watt metal halide with two T5 ATI Blue Plus 420/460 bulbs on the aquarium. I got some LPS frags that are growing now and doing well. The SPS continue to grow but not as fast as with LEDs. I found that SPS corals really liked the mutli-focal point intensity of LEDs but some of my other corals did not.
In my opinion LEDs for aquarium use have not come of age yet. The LEDs we are using were never meant for aquarium use. Do people know that there is no such thing as a white LED, only a blue LED with a yellow film over it and being over-driven to get to 6,500k? There are no such thing as 10,000k LEDs no matter what Current or Marineland says. You have to over-drive them to get the crisp white color then there's the heat issue not to mention the lifespan issue. Go to your LFS and grab a hold of one of the Current-USA TrueLumen Pro Strips. You won't be holding on to it for very long, they are hot with no cooling fans and only aluminum fins. How long will these last with this heat not to mention the over $100 each price plus the cost of the transformer?
Are people having success? Yes. Are people having failure? Yes. There is no standard for doing DIY fixtures in respect to color ratios, optics, cooling. Everyone is guessing in a sea of conflicting information. I followed the instructions to the "T" on the http://reefledlights.com website and had mixed results while others had great results? Why? The same is true for manufactured units too. People are having varied results. Everyone's design is all over the board. At least with PC, T5 and metal halide there is accepted industry standards so you know what you are getting. You can work within those standards to your own personal preferences according to livestock, size of tank, intensity and color choice and have great results.
LEDs do not have a bell shaped full spectrum with a single spike like PC, T5 and metal halide. They spike in only one area and are relatively flat in the rest. Is there something that the SPS corals love about LEDs that LPS does not? What's missing for the LPS? I don't know. They are very different type of lighting source and there's a lot that we don't know about longevity, sustained coral growth after 2-3 years and what types of corals do best under what types of LED's. We already have this information for PC, T5 and metal halide.
I love LEDs for moon lights but from my experience I am going to wait a few years until the technology evolves a little more before jumping in with both feet again.
The corals immediately reacted positively to the LEDS. The SPS grew like weeds. But over the course of six months my LPS corals were in decline and eventually died. During this time I had zero issues with water parameters.
I eventually sold the fixture and put a Hamilton fixture with a 14,000k 150 watt metal halide with two T5 ATI Blue Plus 420/460 bulbs on the aquarium. I got some LPS frags that are growing now and doing well. The SPS continue to grow but not as fast as with LEDs. I found that SPS corals really liked the mutli-focal point intensity of LEDs but some of my other corals did not.
In my opinion LEDs for aquarium use have not come of age yet. The LEDs we are using were never meant for aquarium use. Do people know that there is no such thing as a white LED, only a blue LED with a yellow film over it and being over-driven to get to 6,500k? There are no such thing as 10,000k LEDs no matter what Current or Marineland says. You have to over-drive them to get the crisp white color then there's the heat issue not to mention the lifespan issue. Go to your LFS and grab a hold of one of the Current-USA TrueLumen Pro Strips. You won't be holding on to it for very long, they are hot with no cooling fans and only aluminum fins. How long will these last with this heat not to mention the over $100 each price plus the cost of the transformer?
Are people having success? Yes. Are people having failure? Yes. There is no standard for doing DIY fixtures in respect to color ratios, optics, cooling. Everyone is guessing in a sea of conflicting information. I followed the instructions to the "T" on the http://reefledlights.com website and had mixed results while others had great results? Why? The same is true for manufactured units too. People are having varied results. Everyone's design is all over the board. At least with PC, T5 and metal halide there is accepted industry standards so you know what you are getting. You can work within those standards to your own personal preferences according to livestock, size of tank, intensity and color choice and have great results.
LEDs do not have a bell shaped full spectrum with a single spike like PC, T5 and metal halide. They spike in only one area and are relatively flat in the rest. Is there something that the SPS corals love about LEDs that LPS does not? What's missing for the LPS? I don't know. They are very different type of lighting source and there's a lot that we don't know about longevity, sustained coral growth after 2-3 years and what types of corals do best under what types of LED's. We already have this information for PC, T5 and metal halide.
I love LEDs for moon lights but from my experience I am going to wait a few years until the technology evolves a little more before jumping in with both feet again.
