Last MH pics maybe? Going to LEDS

[Dog boy Dave]

Well I am working on some LED lights to replace my six 400 watt halides. Here are some recent images, hope the LEDs can give me this kind of saturation. We will see.

I dont frag this mother colony anymore. I have a couple of frags that have grown into small colonies and they make a few small frags for me now every couple of months...
I cut this one less than two weeks ago...

This one as well. They heal fast

And they make lots of Babies...

The big piece in the middle is over three feet wide in several places....

Thanks for looking...

 

[Zoonutt]

dont do it!!!!!!

 

[Dog boy Dave]

I hate it as i love my halides, However the cost to kool this house in Florida is high anyway. 3000 watts of lights and eight ballasts are too much. I have sen the lights over SPS long term and they work. The electric savings will be substanial.

 

[NVfishman]

waiting to see how leds do for u on a nice sps acro tank. I have 5 250 watt mh lumerarc large using only 4 and want to go LEds but cant pull the trigger

 

[Daimyo68]

That is an impressive colony in the center. How about a top down shot???

 

[samuelkl]

Do you have a par meter for the adjustment?

 

[Big E]

Whatever setup you decide on make sure you don't skimp in reference to coverage & make sure the LEDs create full spectrum like your bulbs.

The Vivid 800g tank is one of the few LED setups I've seen that are getting similar quality results to halides.

 

[Chris Lakies]

Thats a bummer. The biggest thing is adjusting the intensity of the leds to match the halide par. Can u borrow a par meter? And then there is which leds to go with.... U will probably need six of what ever. The new AI vega looks sweet to me. Ive seen the SOL blues in action and like the a lot. Or what about going to 250 watt radiums driven by lumatek ballasts? That should cut some heat and electricity.

 

[BigAl2007]

Dave you have a STUNNING tank! I'm a HUGE fan of LED and have been LED for over 3 years now on one tank. I think you'll see a huge cost savings when you switch over but you will need to acclimate your tank to LED slowly. Not just with PAR but with LED in general because LED is so much more "Narrow" in spectrum.

I don't know how close you are to switching but I'd suggest taking some time to look into the soon to be shipping GHL Mitras. It's the same size as the Radions but almost 2x as many LED with NINE channels of control built into the unit. I know that right now they are running a special 15% discount if you preorder. Maybe get one and see how your tank reacts to some high-end LED. You can find the specs for the Mitras several places but here's a direct link to one
http://reefbytes.com/mitras.html

I'll book mark this thread because I'm anxious to watch the transition to LED on such an inspiring tank.

 

[sps_guy]

Damn....amazing!

Dave is that tyree PM?

Im old school and getting back in the hobby! I loved the iwasakis and radiums okn hqi's. May I ask what kind of bulbs you are running?

 

[jroovers]

Incredible tank and pics. I recently swapped out 2 x 250w MH's for 2 x 24 DIY royal blue cree led's, and kept my 4 x 54w T5's over my 120 gallon tank. The look is even better now in terms of lighting, and my temperature is remaining much more stable this summer at 78 degrees. I thought I would miss the MH's, but I don't. In terms of growth and colour, the colours haven't changed and I'm still seeing growth, but it is too short a time period to be certain.

 

[BigAl2007]

jroovers be sure to take lots of before/now/after (well too late for before LOL) pics and some detailed "macro" shots so you can document growth and colors.

When I converted my current tank over to LED I wish I had done a better job of documenting it. After several months I thought "I should have taken pics 1x from the same angle and same spot so I can "SEE" the progression."

Oh well hind-sight is always 20/20 LOL

 

[Dog boy Dave]

Damn....amazing!

Dave is that tyree PM?

Im old school and getting back in the hobby! I loved the iwasakis and radiums okn hqi's. May I ask what kind of bulbs you are running?

Yes its is the Tyree PM.

From the front of the tank the lamps are as follows starting at he left side. 14 K (forget the brand) 20 K radium 10 K unkown brand. Acrross the back side from left to right I have on far left removed an old XM so K and replaced with a small comercial LED. Another Radium 20 K is in the middle and an old 10 K lamp is on the far right.
I like the look of the lamps when i mix them. To be honest, in the long run, I find the corals show almost the same colors no matter what lamp they are under after they get used to the lamp. Water chemistry and temp/akalinity stability are much more important to color than the lamp the corals are under in my experience.

 

[Dog boy Dave]

I am building my LED fixtures. I have 4 each 20 x 6 inch heat sinks and i am going with a mix of cree 3 watt white leds and cree royal blue 3 watts and some older cree smaller blues. I have one fixture with leds mounted and wired. I am going to pick up some drivers this afternoon. Right now I have four strings of 12 EA leds on the first fixture. I have plenty of room for another string on that fixture but i dont think i will need it. I am going to play with this and replace the halides piece meal and monitor the effect as i go along. I will try to document. I have many of the same corals spread about so i will be able to monitor some corals under the old light while the same types are exposed to the new light.

 

[Chris Lakies]

Are u gonna use optics? What Milliamps u gonna run the leds at? I was thinking of diying my own also.

 

[BigAl2007]

Doc I think you make 2 points that so many people over-look. More often than not we tend to focus on one aspect and not look at the BIG picture.

#1

To be honest, in the long run, I find the corals show almost the same colors no matter what lamp they are under after they get used to the lamp.

Regardless of the light ACCLIMATION when changing is uber important. I burned up several coral back in the day going from PC to HO T5's and they are fairly similar technology (sort of).

#2

Water chemistry and temp/akalinity stability are much more important to color than the lamp the corals are under in my experience.

BINGO! Especially newer reefers. They see the seasoned coral keepers worrying about THIS light.. THAT light...yadda yadda and they get the impression that it's ONLY about the lighting. If your water chemistry is off everything else really doesn't matter.... Get the WATER right and then you can work on the light....

Very well said Doc

 

[rogerwilco357]

I am doing the same thing but may wait to see what your efforts yield ..your sps look happy hopefully you will retain the color and health and growth..good luck

 

[REEF SMAC]

To be honest, in the long run, I find the corals show almost the same colors no matter what lamp they are under after they get used to the lamp. Water chemistry and temp/akalinity stability are much more important to color than the lamp the corals are under in my experience.

I absolutely agree.
Been my experience also.

Man I sure wish you the best of luck with this conversion.
It's gotta be tough messing with such sucess.

I'm surprised you are not just changing maybe half of the lighting for now, so you can try it out for a while and see if it's going to work for you, before you go all the way in.

 

[Dog boy Dave]

Are u gonna use optics? What Milliamps u gonna run the leds at? I was thinking of diying my own also.

I have some optics, I expec to put them on the white lites but I plan on leetingthe blues be more diffused. I will experiment with it. Most of my leds are cree three watts. They are rated at 1500 ma. I have some brite well drivers that max out at 130 ma that i will use to drive these strings. They will be. I have some others that are rated at 1000 ma. They will be on drivers that will give me aproximately 800 ma.

I am building and replacing the fixtures one at a time so i will experiment as I go along. The next unit i put togther will use a different set of drivers that i bought from china off ebay and I have one vho driver that i plan on using to run three strings parrallel at 1500 ma. I have fused, circuits ready for that one but wanted to start out wih the easier drivers first.

As anyone who has looked into LED lighting there are a lot of options and sources. Most of my stuff has come from rapid led as I have seen a lot of their components used by one of my LPS. I plan on experimenting a lil as I go along and see where this goes.

 

[Santoki]

The Vivid 800g tank is one of the few LED setups I've seen that are getting similar quality results to halides.

just curious, can you point us to this tank of which you speak?
I want to get an idea of what people mean when they say "similar quality results to halides"...
thanks,
-Robert