Last MH pics maybe? Going to LEDS

[Dog boy Dave]

Here is one that is coloring up well. 500 DOllar Efflo. Its about 4 inches off the bottom of the tank. Penetration seems to be adequate without lens.

He is a piece that was still stressed from my atempts to kill them all with calcium overdoses. Even though this piece is sitting a couple inches lower than the efflo this second piece is showing significant fading. I have several pieces of this stressed coral. Not all of it is loosing color. The color loss seems to be limited to the areas that were not robust enough to adapt to the new light.

Here are some more corals sitting near the bottom of the tank. They seem to be developing and holding their color well.

Penetraton was my biggest conern and the light seems to be making it to the bottom of the tank without the lens.

These guys here are off tot he side about half way u the tank. They get just enough light as they are off tot he side. It was about the same withthe halides. They did ok on the sides but the spread was a lil one sided. May be a lil better under the leds...

So heres a few tank shots. Still waiting on some more LEDs going to add aonther fixture in the right rear corner and another string to the left front fixture. So far though, I am loving these things.

 

[Mangodude]

Looking good! do you sell your frags?
Also, what combination of bulbs did you use?

 

[greystreet55]

Your transition looks like it is headed in the right direction! What are the dimensions of your tank?

 

[Dog boy Dave]

Looking good! do you sell your frags?
Also, what combination of bulbs did you use?

Yes i do. If you search my user name and look at all details you can see any for sale threads that I have ever posted.
Before I had 6 each varrious 400 watt lamps ranging from 10 K usio lamps to a couple of 20 K radiums in the middle.
Now I am using on each fixture 24 Kool White Cree 1500 ma lamps and 12 Royal blue 1500 ma crees and a string of 14 ea 1000 ma reef blue crees. I use various drivers and combos to drive them all.

 

[Dog boy Dave]

Your transition looks like it is headed in the right direction! What are the dimensions of your tank?

Tank is 60 inches accross by 27 inches deep and 48 inches front to back.

 

[tbettis]

subscribed

 

[BradR]

Anyone have a clue how many years before what you save in electricity pays for the LED fixtures?

 

[Mangodude]

Anyone have a clue how many years before what you save in electricity pays for the LED fixtures?

Depends on how much you pay for the fixtures. I only payed $360 to do my whole 150g tank and bright enough that i'm getting bleaching. (360w worth). If I was running halides I'd have to do 500w of halides plus say 200-300w of actinics. So considerable savings and less heat at a cheap enough price to compete with halides. I don't know how long it will take to pay them off in savings but between the a/c and the electricity it shouldn't take too long

Paying $2,000 for leds makes no sense to me though.

 

[Dog boy Dave]

I was running 6 times 400 watt halide fixtures. I expect to cut around 200 per month off my electric bill. Just in comfort alone its allready worth it to me. The house is so much kooler with these leds. If I hadnt had so many Halides then it might not have been worth it but I expect to pay these off in less than a year. Honestly in a tank this bg, $2000 up front isnt a big issue. In a smaller tank, the swing isnt so large but in a large tank with thousands of dollars woth of coral, the cost savings is just a bonus. 4 very nice frag packs would pay for the lights. I have over a hundred mounted and grown out frags in this tank right now. In large tanks, unless you have unlimited resourses, LED has some very positive characteristics.

 

[animalkingdom]

Looking good. Just be careful if you use kalk in ato because evap is going to go way down...will need to bump reactor up

 

[BradR]

360, even 2k seems like $ well spent based on the cost savings. I may take the plunge as well then. Careful with the montipora confusa. That stuff has overrun my tank.

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

I was running 6 times 400 watt halide fixtures. I expect to cut around 200 per month off my electric bill. Just in comfort alone its allready worth it to me. The house is so much kooler with these leds. If I hadnt had so many Halides then it might not have been worth it but I expect to pay these off in less than a year. Honestly in a tank this bg, $2000 up front isnt a big issue. In a smaller tank, the swing isnt so large but in a large tank with thousands of dollars woth of coral, the cost savings is just a bonus. 4 very nice frag packs would pay for the lights. I have over a hundred mounted and grown out frags in this tank right now. In large tanks, unless you have unlimited resourses, LED has some very positive characteristics.

^^^^Well said,

anything new to update?

 

[nycreef]

I just got rid of my 8 400 watt MH's, 8 4ft VHO T5's for 8 radions with the TIR lenses. So basically I'm going from 4,000 watts of light not including my 2 1HP chillers and my 2 air conditioning units ( 1 in the sump room, 1 in the display room) 1 dehumidifier in the sump room and the pain of the dealing with all this just to cool a tank and two rooms. My energy bill was through the roof! I'm looking at cutting down power now by 75 percent. I even cut my pump down from 1,300 watts to 350 watts with the same flow rate. Go Green!!!

 

[Dog boy Dave]

They keep getting better and better. Corals are adjusting. The pieces that did fade. hesitate to call it bleaching but they are darkening up nicely. Here is some video. Couldnt get eh hd version from my phone to You tube but its a start.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvTHTT8Rvk0

 

[Dog boy Dave]

Well guys the lights have been over the tank for one month and one week. Here are some images I took today.. I see some fding in places. It seems to be related more to a mtalbalic change caused by the lights. The fading is in the dhaded parts as well as the expiosed parts so I dont consider it "bleaching" I dohowever believe that this is the color loss that many speak of when the add LED lights. The loss is much more intense in the corals and areas that are on the lower en of the "robust" scale. Most of the corals seem to be recovering and changing over nicely. SO far once again .. I love the LEDS,

 

[Dog boy Dave]

 

[Immers1]

Anything to update? Hows is tank looking now?

 

[sahin]

Would love to see updated photos and would be nice to know what are your thoughts in respect of LED lighting? - so many people dismiss LEDs, in your opinion are they as bad as some make them out (in terms of sps colour)?

Many thanks.

 

[TheReefKeeper]

WOW what a tank what's the word since you last post almost 3 months on now right?

 

[Dog boy Dave]

HEy Guys, Been crazy busy and havent been able to snap any images lately. Lotsa changes in the tank and crazy growth. The growth in the brightly lit areas are at least as robust as they were under the halides. Some color loss and fading in places that arent getting enough light. I only have three fixtures finished and mounted so I am using a couple of small comercial LED panels in the rear corner. Actually a good experiment so I havent mounted the fourth panel yet. No bleaching whatso ever on any areas that have gotten sufficient light. I was at a 12 hour period with the lights running at 75 to 85 percent within a week. However this was a very brightly high nutrient tank to start with so it always handled more light than most.
The colors....Hmmm some are amazing, some are a lil less but all are still developing. My electric bill droped $170 per month so I can live with a lil less "pop" . The colors are coming in deeper and richer but some of the electric glow is less pronounced. I can certainly live with it and in the long run i think it will even out. I did loose a lil tissue on a couple of larger pieces where the light isnt reaching but not much. I hope to take and post some images this weekend. I loved my halides but no question in this tank with my environmental and fiscal issues the LEDs are a no brainer.