Lets See SPS LED Tanks!

From a DIY point of view LED's offer the unique ability to customize the look of your tank as it relates to color. Buying something premade from a manufacture you are getting what they build and sell rather than picking and choosing when you build your own. Not to mention you can custom fit surface coverage and by using optics focus areas that may otherwise need more or less lighting.

I think more and more people are starting to see how darn easy it is to build these rigs so we should see more and more sample images coming. I've started with a 6 gallon nano and now planning a 20 gallon for my son and a 150 gallon main display. I wouldn't use anything else moving forward just because of the control I have.

Not to mention the DIY forum has just too much initial positive vib about them its too hard to ignore. They are here and I don't think it is going to go away. But how good they are in the long run is hard to say because there are two fronts to watch. Manufacture vs DIY. I think those who DIY will yield the best results though but that is just one mans opinion.

If nothing else its a expierment and fun :D
 
Ho' Kay!

Ho' Kay!

... So Ive read this thread and many more and it seems like people are missing something here...

I keep reading "LEDs cause browning" and "loss of color" or... "not good color" etc...

it seems like COLOR is the MAIN issue, not growth....

Maybe its JUST ME but In most of the brown SPS LED lit tanks.... Im seeing algal growth.... hair, brown dinos, diatoms.. some sort of algal growth....

which is obviously a nutrient issue....

Unstable water parameters will also cause browning if I remember correctly...

So can we not assume that this is a possible cause of coral browning... that it is a possibility that the Nutrient issues have gotten correlated with LED lighting?

It makes sense to me that if someone upgrades their lighting on their aquarium they are probably going to start paying more attention to it, possible feeding more, whether it be fish or corals... which could cause a nutient load increase...

this is one possibility.

Non-the-less, this is what I keep noticing in brown SPS LED lit tanks... ALGAE!
 
I think the browned out looking corals come from the photographers limitations. I am not a great camera man by any means. I have a DSLR with 6 different senses and I have a hell of a time getting my acro to show its true color. In person they are a nice green with blue tips, however when I take a pic the go brown. Atleast that is my problem...
 
LED VS MH(3x400 20k)-----Yes I took the plunge and to be quite honest I don't think Ill ever go back.
This systems have sooo much capability and yes for my trained eyes the spectrum takes some time to get used to but I do think with minimal T5 supplementation the 20k look can be acomplished and provide corals enuff light for color.
This experiment is way to new only a week, but in 6 months I will have more info for you guys.

First pic 3x400 20k on lumenbrights- galaxy e-ballasts-- powerbrite supps x 10
003copy.jpg
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This pic under 4 aquaillumination modules at 50% white/100%blue
007copy-1.jpg
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Again its very hard to draw conclusions since my tank has been under LEDS for a week only and I still son't have a color combo I like.

Will the acros loose color must likely since its a big change, will they get it back its only a matter of time, patience and some good husbandry.
 
gasman059 said:
Again its very hard to draw conclusions since my tank has been under LEDS for a week only and I still son't have a color combo I like.

Will the acros loose color must likely since its a big change, will they get it back its only a matter of time, patience and some good husbandry.
Click to expand...

Gassman, I think it looks great. I honestly like the whiter look in the LED pic. 20ks have always been a little too blue for my taste. Thanks for sharing your tank looks amazing.
 
I think it looks pretty nice. I just sold my gen 1 ai unit and pre ordered the new tri color which ai unit which will be out next week. I think this will help a ton with getting the color temp I want as well as those sps colors I'm looking for.
 
i've just set up leds in my year old aquarium. this one sps coral was brown under my metal halide, but after a month he turned bright green, and has stayed that way for another month.
 
i had my led's dimmed at 60% and i experienced some bleaching in my biocube. i turned it back to 35% and all my sps colored up. just an observation.
 
I can't wait to hear your conclusions in 6 months or so when you start to have a good idea of what the LEDs do for SPS. I'm using an Aquailluminations fixture over an ELOS mini and I have found that the most pleasing color combo for me has been 30%White and 100% blue. This pretty accurately gives a nice 20K glow similar to radiums. The only trouble with this is that its too dim for a taller tank. Its perfect for the elos, since its so shallow, but I don't think it would be enough for your tank.
The problem with the AI's I have right now is the crappy controller it comes with. I really hate its programming and its all because of that darn Orbitech patent, I know, but is pretty frustrating not being able to use these LEDs to their full extent.

gasman059 said:
Again its very hard to draw conclusions since my tank has been under LEDS for a week only and I still son't have a color combo I like.

Will the acros loose color must likely since its a big change, will they get it back its only a matter of time, patience and some good husbandry.
Click to expand...
 
Oh and I'm guessing since your name is "gasman" and you have the phrase I-CDATE-U that you must be an anesthesiologist by profession?
 
Yup u r right profession wise.
As far as the LEDs in order to provide my tank with the lighting spectrum I want I must likely adding some t5 aquablue or full actinics as sup will allow me to give them corals enuff light.

Btw my chalice frags have never looked so good- side note
 
Btw I agree with the controller issue.
My tank is controlled by aqautronica so no changes planned there, but I'm looking to get a profilux light ii powerbar that will do the light trick w/o changing controllers.


I tell u what therea no chance I will go back to MHs since my room is so much more pleasurable to be in temperature wise.

Plus this systems have so much more upside to them
 
gasman059, looks really nice under those LEDs! In my tank, I have seen some good growth and color in my SPS corals, however, I have noticed that once the corals reach a certain height in my tank, photoinhibition sets in and they grow laterally from that point on. So for me the top 4 inches of my tank give PAR of about 450 and my corals tend to washout, but those in the lower 2/3 of the tank are growing great. I would focus on water quality like mentioned above, supplemental LEDs if the white/blue isn't enough and accurate PAR measurements to quickly identify future placement constraints.
 
While I do think lights play a huge part in growing acros there's wayyyyy much more as we all know.

Everybody is looking for that magic potion or equipment the Bottom line is over 20 years not much has changed in terms of keeping a reef and those things include patience/vigilance and husbandry PERIOD!
 
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