LED for SPS

TheGrog

TheGrog

Member
OK, I am beyond confused as to what to get. :headwally:

I have a 120g reef and am going to leave the halide world for LEDs. I have a lot of SPS corals, and want more.

What are a few of the best LED fixtures to get that you have ACTUALLY HAD EXPERIENCE WITH???

FYI I am replacing 2x250w HQI with 4x65w (now only two as one set burnt out.....literally) PC actinics.

Suggestions? I don't want cheap stuff and not enough time for any serious DIY.

Thanks ahead of time.
 
LEDs grow SPS fine. They will burn some as well. They are deceptively powerful.

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I think that if you start out at low intensity and ramp up slowly you won't burn your corals. The lights don't look the same as other types of lighting and people think that they need to turn them up too quickly. But if you go slow you will probably be fine. Dimmable lights are very helpful.
 
Can not comment on The others, But I can tell you I like my AI's Sol Blues.. I will agree with the others Even though you think the light is not as bright it is much brighter Stat off slow. I had a long time reefer do some par readings and the one AI unit produced 600 par at 100% verses his 250watt metal halides at 200. Big difference. to the corals. Currently I use 4 AI's on a 75gl 48" and can only turn the to 45 percent after a month. I know over kill but I have ordered a 180gl and the 4 units should be the right amount light.
 
I have had the first gen Ai's on my tank since i first set up my tank 4-5 years ago. I can tell you that LPS placement can be tricky. I usually try to place LPS under rock overhangs or on the ends or center where the bracing is. The light in these areas is not that strong. I had great growth !
 
I have 4 sols over a 120 and have great growth and color. I started slow with low power, and didn't lose 1 SPS. It takes a while for your eyes to get used to perceived lower light, but now I love it. I do think that the combination of cool whites, blues, and royal blues isn't perfect. My red planet coral is definitely more purple. If the sols offered warm whites, that would be great IMO.
 
2 - 24" Ecoxotic Panorama PRO fixtures would work out nicely for you as well. I've been using Ecoxotic stuff for 10 months now. I've had my struggles with LEDs but things seem to be turning around now.
 
I have Acan Lighting LEDs ( www.acanlighting.com ) on my tank and love them my corals are growing like weeds. My cosmic swirl favia went from 4 heads to over 100 in less then 6 months. Plus my Frogspawn and hammers are growing like crazy.
 
Everyone is saying that the leds grow but how is the color on their sps? I would like to make the switch from 400 watt mh to leds but I'm concerned about loosing color I worked so hard to get.
 
I have seen both AI sols and Ecotech Radions over a couple of different tanks. I have seen both produce good coral growth and great color. I went the way of AI because of price. But as stated above they give a different look, just as a T5 tank looks different than a MH tank. Also from alot of reading I have done Par is not very accurate for LED's so even if you have a par meter and match the reading according to your previous lights you should still start out low and slowly build up intensity.
 
i have a very similar setup to yours, had t5 on it and went to a pair of 60W cree units. the sps was not happy but all the lps and sofies were fine. i was going to have to add 2 more of the units. decided to go with 2 of the radions. things are looking good but i am still increasing the intensity and have not reached the end point yet but all of the sps is coming back to looking good.
 
i did a diy for my 90 gallon, i used uv,cw,rb
the op said no diys, but i can't buy a fixture with this much controllability,
and color
 
replacing 175mh 2 32w actinics with acan 600.have soft and lps in 30 cube.any advise on starting light percentages on new light and ramping up over time to grow sps.what would you consider max percent of white,blue and moon.
 
fishguy597 said:
Everyone is saying that the leds grow but how is the color on their sps? I would like to make the switch from 400 watt mh to leds but I'm concerned about loosing color I worked so hard to get.
Click to expand...

My Acros and Pocs look better than they did under halides, but I also think that it has to do with nutrients and additives in your tank.
 
i switched from AI s to Apollos and the difference is noticeable

before the switch i had the same corals under both and the apollo made them look better
 
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