LEDs, not so great for SPS?

[ktownhero]

It's pretty simple why you are not having the success with the old style kessils. They aren't a full spectrum led and as soon as you add spectrum back in with the t5 lights the corals grow again. The poster above is having great success with his new full spectrum kessil and I know that in our shop once we moved all reefs over to full spectrum led we quit experiencing any problems. We don't have any tanks in our entire store lit with anything but leds anymore and couldn't be happier.

I don't know who told you that the individual Kessils are not fill spectrum, but they were wrong. All of the Kessils are full spectrum and not only that but they maintain full spectrum regardless of what settings you use visually. That's why they are so great.

The big difference with the AP700 is that it's spread and penetration is much better due to the reflectors.

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[Wazzel]

That's conforting to hear. I'll just be patient and slowly build my sps stock, test & tune skimmer usage, and reasses when my tank is 18 months old.

This is my first two year progression shots. Last year around the olympics I upgraded to a 120.

Two year progress
May-14

May-15

May-16

 

[dohc97]

I'm having very good growth with a 360 over an IM 25, problem I'm having is spread. Top down my sps look great but the shaded areas are going brown. My setup is only about 5 months old at this point with sps in it the last 2.5 months. I am adding 2 t5s and making an sps/t5 hybrid. Will give that a shot before giving up on led.

 

[ca1ore]

Any point source light will have shading problems. MH got around this problem by using large reflectors. Kessil got around it with the AP700 in the same way. It is an issue with the Kessil pendants. Only way around it is to either add more pendants or a 'line source' light like T5 or reefbreeders LED.

 

[minus9]

Here's a semi recent pic of my tank. Two 160's and two blue+ T5 (not sure if they're on in this shot?).

This is after a recent fragging of the monti, valida and horrida.

 

[minus9]

Early October last year.

 

[ca1ore]

This is a picture from last week .....



.... and about 2 years ago.

 

[dohc97]

Any point source light will have shading problems. MH got around this problem by using large reflectors. Kessil got around it with the AP700 in the same way. It is an issue with the Kessil pendants. Only way around it is to either add more pendants or a 'line source' light like T5 or reefbreeders LED.

I looked into buying an ap700 but it looks to me like the same problem. 2 pucks is not going to fix my issue. I can see where 4 would work. I'm hoping the 2 t5s help a lot if not I'll add 2 more for a total of 4. I would sell the Jessie but I like the shimmer. Going metal halide might not be an option for me at this time, due to heat

 

[ca1ore]

I've not used the AP700, but understood it to use different lenses/diffuser to get around the point source problem like MH does. Check the AP700 thread.

 

[timnem70]

Top down of my 40b. At about the 1 year mark. Kessil AP700.

All started out as frags, most in the 1" size, some bigger.

Your lights are not the reason you have slow growth. 0 nitrates and 0 phosphates are not good for sps growth and color.

I believe if you run high light, you need more nutrients in the water.

I feed heavy and have 8 fish in the tank. I had to back off on my fuge light schedule , stop my skimmer for periods and not run socks to get my nitrates and phosphates over 0.


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+1. Too many have posted beautiful reefs using all forms of lighting. While your specific reef may seem to do better under different lighting, all lights produce. It's the other select parameters and such that Make your SPS grow. While LPS are mostly photosynthetic, SPS use what we think of as "bad" elelments i.e Phosphate in a hobby environment. The ocean has traceable amounts of a sorts of stuff that stony corals use to build themselves. One being Phosphate. It is hard to do a mixed reef if you have the mindset that having good, super clean water will help the SPS grow and thrive. It's a tight Balance. Too clean... Anemones and others grow really well, SPS survive but don't seem to grow. Too "dirty" LPS recede and SPS have their day.
There may be, and I am
Just guessing, more bacterial growth with MH or T5 because of the light source than LED? But no growth due to just a Lighting source? I don't buy into that.
All 3 sources, especially the time tried favorites will "grow" corals. And, there are far to many testimonials from AP700 and other LEDs, Especially if you supplement with the other 2 that blow me away
I hope you find a balance and find a happy place[emoji3]

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