LEDs for zoas - what do you know?

[dano83]

Stick with t5's in my opinion. I have had 2 LED setups(crees) and was not impressed. The shimmer is cool for about 5 minutes then it just gets extremely annoying. It's like a constant thunderstorm. Plus, nobody knows what the long term effects are of LED's. They say the crees last 10 years but realistically they might last 5. If you buy the manufactured setups I guess you just throw them away at the end of their life? If you have a DIY setup with 60 crees then you have to spend 300 bucks(60x$5) plus tons of time to swap them all out. Seems like a waste of time just to jump on the bandwagon. Pics of my last setup. 60 crees ran by inventronics driver and RK alc.

 

[maxvan1]

24hour photoperiod for corals is not what it should be.
Why do you do that?

Grandis.

Only one coral is under 24 hours (I use a the 52LED spotlight). Just for fun on this one because I like to take pictures at night :lolspin:


Just out of curiousity what SHOULD the photoperoid be? (I mean obviously matching the sun is the easiest answer --- but than again we dont have the sun above our tank...)

 

[TampaSnooker]

5-8 hours is plenty but you can cheat that up with dusk/dawn changes in intensity. Corals, like plants need dark time to burn off the glucose produced by photosynthesis.

The sun doesn't punch a lot of light down to corals until 9 or 10 in the morning and it starts to really taper off around 4ish in the afternoon. Less in the winter; more in the summer.

 

[A. Grandis]

Only one coral is under 24 hours (I use a the 52LED spotlight). Just for fun on this one because I like to take pictures at night :lolspin:


Just out of curiousity what SHOULD the photoperoid be? (I mean obviously matching the sun is the easiest answer --- but than again we dont have the sun above our tank...)

You know.

Grandis.

 

[A. Grandis]

Stick with t5's in my opinion. I have had 2 LED setups(crees) and was not impressed. The shimmer is cool for about 5 minutes then it just gets extremely annoying. It's like a constant thunderstorm. Plus, nobody knows what the long term effects are of LED's. They say the crees last 10 years but realistically they might last 5. If you buy the manufactured setups I guess you just throw them away at the end of their life? If you have a DIY setup with 60 crees then you have to spend 300 bucks(60x$5) plus tons of time to swap them all out. Seems like a waste of time just to jump on the bandwagon. Pics of my last setup. 60 crees ran by inventronics driver and RK alc.

Forgot to answer... sorry.
Thanks very much, dano83!
Good thoughts!!!
:thumbsup:

Grandis.

 

[ejdustin]

I was running MH untill about 6 months ago and then switched to LED. I am using 2 ecorays mounted about 18 inches above my tank about 18 inches apart. My blues are on for 12 hours a day with whites on 4 hours. I get excellent coverage with a nice variety in spectrum for different coral placement. From my experience I couldn't be happier. My zoos have taken off in growth and the colors are amazing. Some of the zoos were almost bland before but now they pop in the tank. The lights will last way longer with no bulb replacement, in addition to saving costs on electric every month. After two yeas or so the LEDs will pay for themselves. Also way less heat, during he summer I was running fans with the MH now I don't have to. Anyway thats my experience and opinion, I would recommend LED to anyone.

 

[rodneyri]

For my systems over the past 3 years, I started with giesemann infinity MH +T5 combo, had that for over two years and loved the look with the phoenix globes, but power was getting to me...so tossed up between ATI and LED, chose ATI because the LED I wanted was kinda expensive. Kept the ATI for 6 weeks and dumped it and got a Vertex Illumina LED which ive had now for 5 months on my tank.

Reason for dumping the ATI, didnt like the flat look of the light produced, it was bright yes but missed the crisp look from single point light source. the LED is great...MH still is brighter to the eye but sticking with the Illumina

 

[Zoomadness]

So I have Dragon's eye Zoa's in 1 tank with M.H and T5's that are doing great, I fragged this colony twice and placed one in another tank with Marineland Reefcapable L.E.D's and left the other colony in the main tank with the M.H and T5's and I have to say, the growth has been less than impressive. I would say the growth is 50% less than the M.H's, I am running XM 10,000k bulbs which are like steroids for your corals. I really want the L.E.D's to work, but I am not sold on the Marineland. I hear in about 5 years there will be stunning L.E.D's on the marked for a fraction of the cost of today's L.E.D's.

 

[A. Grandis]

Thanks!!

Most of the zoa keepers like the LEDs a lot, ejdustin.

Nice aussie zoa shots, rodneyri. :thumbsup:
I'm glad you're happy with your LEDs!

Zoomadness: the Marineland is a weak LEd fixture, I assume.
5 years from now I believe that all of us will have LEDs over our tanks. Or maybe not... Perhaps LEDs will be obsolete? We won't know until then.

There is a new fixture also (Tek Wave) that will change the course of the
way to lit our systems and that is the VHO T5s.
The only bad thing about them is the extra heat IMO. The Tek fixture is great and if/when ATI comes with their own VHO T5 fixture there will be another fever among the reefers!! :bounce3: <- zoa jumping!

Back to LEDs...
I would like to hear more about the differences on the zoas with the spectrum choices with LEDs. Anyone have played with the color channels and have anything to add?

Thanks again for the great info, enriching the thread!!!

Grandis.

 

[Ralimore]

I've never kept any corals before but I recently set up a 29g (6 months ago) and built a LED fixture above it from RapidLED. I love the lights and so do my zoas that I got 3 weeks ago. They are armor of god zoas and they are definitly growing. I have had 1 large polyps grow out since I got it and 3-4 others that are in the process of growing out. Currently they seem to be doing great!

Just what leds did you use. what colors and wattage?

 

[organism]

Dude that post is from 4 years ago.