Lets See SPS LED Tanks!

[seminolecpa]

Exactly no LONG-TERM pics I had some high end zoos in the tank as well they seemed to do fine with the LED's but SPS definitely not long term. Using the blue Cree LED as supplemental lighting works fine I just don't feel that they can replace VHO actinic either though. Like I said I am open to anyone who can prove me wrong.

I am going to beg to differ. I recently went with 2 4' Reefbrite LED strips for actinic supplement and would have to say that they are equal to VHO's in color (if not better IMHO) and significantly more compact. Several old schoolers who have been married to VHO's for a long time out here in the Bay Area are making the switch.

Personally, I would only use them for supplements at this point. Though I am hopeful that things will improve as the technology improves, I still don't think the arrays have been completely worked out for SPS yet. I salute the people that are pioneering the path with them in SPS tanks. Gonna be game changing once they do for sure.

 

[Rodrigo_BG]

still looking for a led sps tank with real colours..

 

[huskysglare1]

JCO, that's an amazing growth rate and your Corals look pretty darn nice.

 

[OceansWonders]

Few comments to add about my posts,
Everyone has there own opinion of what they think looks best and works best.
These are from personal experience with MH and LED lighting systems and personal opinions on the lighting systems. I never said that SPS were not growing under the LED's they grew quite well but not with nearly the color that I had with MH. I hate when people take your words add a few to it like suddenly as if the corals and rock tuned gray in a few days vrs a few months. Please refrain from quoting my words unless the are exactly what I said.
The pictures of the LED tanks posted here still do not have color like I have seen with MH and VHO's.

 

[jayl65]

I also really want leds to work. I have been researching for a little over a month now and I believe they will work fine with sps tank. I am in the process of upgrading to a larger 150 gallon tank from a 70 gallon I started with power compacts and t5's. When I started my tank a few years ago vho and metal halides were the thing to get and everyone was leary of the t5's and even today many people don't trust them for sps tanks. I also don't have alot of money and need to consider my led purchase carfully. I have been emailing a led manufacturing company in China about their lights. They are the supplier for many of the lights I see on the market here in the US today. They can build the light the way you want and even with shiping it is considerably less. I can do my new 150 gallon tank for about $750 shipped. That's 3 120 watt leds fixtures with a controller to dim and simulate dusk dawn effect, indepent control of the blue and white leds plus moonlight. It seems that people here are concerned about the quality of chinese made leds and would rather build their own or retro an exhisting fixture to death. Check out the Maxspect thread. The LFS store here in Albuquerque sells a locally made led unit from SMGS. They have them on their tanks in the store for over a year now and the tanks look great. But these lights would cost me 2 grand on a 150 gallon tank. I am going to be pioneer and take a chance on the chinese made lights. They are the same ones used by Clamsondemand,ledwholesalers and a few other companies here and abroad. I have been talking with them for a while now and feel comfortable that it is a good product and that they will stand behide it. They have a three year warranty. Below is part of an email reguarding their light compared to Maxspect.

To be frankly, i know about more about the Maxspect , my advice as the following,

Yeah, the Maxspect looks nice. we know that, too.

But here i would like to show you the advantages and disadvantages of both two lights:



Beautiful shape, more functions, 3w led as the light source. All aspect shows that is upmarket light.

Our lights,



simple shape, not so beautiful, 1w led as the light source.

So our light has the advantages is the LED light. According to the test, the luminous efficiency of 3pcs 1w LED is 1.4times of 1pcs 3w LED. so for the same 160w led, our lights 1w/per unit will price 1.4 times of luments than the Maxspect 3w/per unit light. And the high power led light source will have a big light decay, you are insure it.

The led Chip, because for the heat dissipation , so the 3LED is cannot iusse more light than 3pcs 1w.

so totally, just like two winter coats, the Maxspect is gorgeousm but the effect of anti-cool is no tso good, our light , just not so beautifu, but it is benefits and working.

of course, if you are rich man, you change your fixture easily, the Maxspect is good choice. if you want o get the really good light, our light will save much more money for you.

 

[menthol]

LED's as a main lighting DO work. at least IME on my tank. It's a 135 and it's been running for more than a year under CREE's.

my tank thread here in RC - http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?p=17045338#post17045338

if you do not mind visiting "reefphilippines", then you'll see a very detailed progression thread of my tank in there under my username in the members tank section.

However, i cannot attest too much on coloration under LED's because all my LS are wild caught. They all brown out by the first 2 weeks in captivity then "some" turn into really nice colors as "months" passes by.

Also, there is no UV on LED's unlike MH's, i'ved had smaller sps tanks before under MHs and i have to say that UV have some play when it comes to sps coloration.

My tank was doing very well and just keeps getting better until March '09, then i had to leave for Europe for a month. the maid was in-charge of everything and of course, you can all guess what happened then, hehe.

anyway, here is my tank before Europe:

my frag pack 20in below on the sand:

I lost a lot after Europe because of Alk imbalance and 25ppm NO3, plus high summer temps here (30-31C water temp). Here's her most recent shot:

To finish, i'll say again that LED's DO WORK for SPS! whether it's color, growth or whatever lighting concerns it may be. If something odd or bad is happening to your LS under LEDs, then most likely.... IT IS NOT THE LIGHTS.:wavehand:

 

[Haksar]

Pics speak a thousand words.
Well said menthol.You have a nice looking tank.

 

[lucidheights]

i've seen a tank that has been lit by leds for about 2 years, belongs to a dude named emmanuel. Seeing it in person is amazing, it almost sparkles

 

[NaClCrocodile]

I think a lot of the arguments FOR LEDs at this point are based on good growth. This isn't in debate IMO. LEDs will put out the same PAR as a MH system if built well. The problem is color. I haven't seen truly colorful SPS in any of the posted LED tanks. I really wanted to go with an AI system, but can't justify it yet.

 

[boodlefish]

I think a lot of the arguments FOR LEDs at this point are based on good growth. This isn't in debate IMO. LEDs will put out the same PAR as a MH system if built well. The problem is color. I haven't seen truly colorful SPS in any of the posted LED tanks. I really wanted to go with an AI system, but can't justify it yet.

+1

led's can be tricky too, my brother in law had a 12g nano going great under a viper 70W hqi he was growing mainly lps zoas and a couple sps (frags form me) but as all started to go down hill onece he did a diy led.

he had some param issues too but the LED really cooked all his stuff and even when he adjusted the lights nothing really seemed to work for him, he is an electric engineer so i'm sure the craftsmanship was fine... its just still to new of a technology thats all. i will be in line when they are proven but until then.... t5's for me!

 

[neoyhng]

20 years ago: "MH produces so much UV that will burn your coral"

Now: "LED produces no UV and your coral losing colour"

If very bodies wait for "long term" result, there will be no advance in technology. The MH (and T5HO also) we used today is not the same thing as we used when it introduced.
Only with pioneers that our skills can be improved

Keeping a fish 3 months is long term, using LED for 3 months is short term....we all try to justify our own believe.

 

[finksmart]

Based on what I read UV has nothing to do with coral coloration:

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2006/9/aafeature

"coloration was wrongly attributed to natural sunscreens that absorb and mitigate the effects of damaging UV radiation. By extension, the idea was formed within the hobby that ultraviolet energy is necessary for colorful corals (we know now that these sunscreens "“ MAAs for mycosporine-like amino acids "“ are colorless and do not lend color."

http://www.athiel.com/lib4/par1.htm

"Based on the studies done here, it does not appear that coral coloration is related to UV radiation. Thus, if you are using metal halide bulbs, and you're not shielding them in hopes that your corals will color up, you may actually be harming the corals with UV radiation."

Seems to make sense since everyone using MH uses glass shield to filter out UV. In this sense the absence of UV in LED should have nothing to do with coloration. I think the very nature of change from MH to LED may attribute to coral stress if not properly acclimated to the new lighting, which causes browning.

 

[nlandgraf]

Had never knew about the SPS brown out issue with LEDs. Hopefully the technology improves so that this won't be an issue in the future, because I like the energy saving feature they promote for the lights.

 

[boodlefish]

20 years ago: "MH produces so much UV that will burn your coral"

Now: "LED produces no UV and your coral losing colour"

If very bodies wait for "long term" result, there will be no advance in technology. The MH (and T5HO also) we used today is not the same thing as we used when it introduced.
Only with pioneers that our skills can be improved

Keeping a fish 3 months is long term, using LED for 3 months is short term....we all try to justify our own believe.

i also applaud the pioneers in this field for me the most important part is color... which has to do with a lot more then light some param readings on these tanks would be nice, any ultra low nutrient systems out there running LED's and adding AA's to help keep the colors up???

i understand that LED's have proven to grow corals fast... so has 10K MH but the result is not the best colors IMHO. i would take slow growth and bright deep beautiful colors because i dont really like to frag and am patient...

oh 3 months is long term for fish??? i have had all of my fish for well over 10 months some for up to 2 years... am i missing something?

 

[neoyhng]

i also applaud the pioneers in this field for me the most important part is color... which has to do with a lot more then light some param readings on these tanks would be nice, any ultra low nutrient systems out there running LED's and adding AA's to help keep the colors up???

i understand that LED's have proven to grow corals fast... so has 10K MH but the result is not the best colors IMHO. i would take slow growth and bright deep beautiful colors because i dont really like to frag and am patient...

oh 3 months is long term for fish??? i have had all of my fish for well over 10 months some for up to 2 years... am i missing something?

I am running an ULNS (Z.....), and colour is already fine before the switch to LED. I didn't notice any deterioration in colour...almost 5 months now.

For colour, it would appear different to different people, so you have to try it yourself to see if a particular lighting fit you. The good thing to LED is that you can change a few "bulbs" to different colour (say a few blues to reds or purples) to match what you like. This can never be achieved by MH unless you change the whole bulb.

Well, this is just for argument. For example, 2 years for a fish can be short term for me. All except 2 of my fishes are over 5 years...the hippo already heading for 13....and I have the carpet anemone for almost 8 years...keep my fingers crossed.

 

[wfournier]

Can anyone show me pics illustrating the brownout that occurred? I keep reading that no one has seen an LED tank with good color, but I have not seen anything illustrating that they don't work. I have been running LEDs on a 20g cube for a few months now and threw a few SPS in a few months back (it's mostly a softy tank). They are not anything overly crazy as far as SPS, a birdsnest and green digi but over the past month and a half they have grown and the color has improved. I'd say the color on these two is as good as anything I have seen for these corals.

 

[huskysglare1]

Anymore pics anyone?

 

[boodlefish]

I am running an ULNS (Z.....), and colour is already fine before the switch to LED. I didn't notice any deterioration in colour...almost 5 months now.

For colour, it would appear different to different people, so you have to try it yourself to see if a particular lighting fit you. The good thing to LED is that you can change a few "bulbs" to different colour (say a few blues to reds or purples) to match what you like. This can never be achieved by MH unless you change the whole bulb.

Well, this is just for argument. For example, 2 years for a fish can be short term for me. All except 2 of my fishes are over 5 years...the hippo already heading for 13....and I have the carpet anemone for almost 8 years...keep my fingers crossed.

im sorry i must have been confused by your previous post, it seemed to me you were suggesting "3 months long term for fish" thats all, and i thought that was a little odd. i understand if you were being sarcastic its just hard to read intonation and sarcasm and i didnt want to read it the wrong way, thanks for clarifying.

as a visual learner i would love to see some pics of your ULNS-LED set up.

as for the ability to change color with MH you are 100% correct but i use T5's and have a plethora of color combos to chose from. and i have heard of individuals supplementing MH with LED to get the colors (deep blues and violets) that their current bulb lacks.

 

[neoyhng]

im sorry i must have been confused by your previous post, it seemed to me you were suggesting "3 months long term for fish" thats all, and i thought that was a little odd. i understand if you were being sarcastic its just hard to read intonation and sarcasm and i didnt want to read it the wrong way, thanks for clarifying.

as a visual learner i would love to see some pics of your ULNS-LED set up.

as for the ability to change color with MH you are 100% correct but i use T5's and have a plethora of color combos to chose from. and i have heard of individuals supplementing MH with LED to get the colors (deep blues and violets) that their current bulb lacks.

never mind. But there really exist some people keeping aquarium like having flowers as decor:mad2::furious::uzi:......they are the favorites of LFS.

I am a lousy photographer:thumbdown.....may try to see if I can take some "OK" pictures this weekend and post here.

 

[finksmart]

Search is your friend.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1783517&page=3

Anymore pics anyone?