My LED sps experience shared!

gasman059 said:
Guys I'm just sharing my experience as well as many others around me all things being equal.
There's a definite place for LED's in this hobby but right now not in my tanks.

I do agree there's plenty of success stories with them, but in my experience and sorroundings 3-5 different tanks we have all seen the same results.
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No mal intentions, just want to put out the other side. I really like leds and also personally know a few others that have had great experiences with them.
 
Chrisv- There is in fact an experiment being performed that you and others may be interested in. Check out Mark Callahan's LED Experiment at http://www.mrsaltwatertank.com/the-great-mr-saltwater-tank-led-experiment/ where he and another setup a Fat Jack cube to a existing 90g system. Then they introduced corals to both systems to compare growth. The LED unit is the all familiar AI. The results are to be determined.

Gasman- Thanks for responding to my PM earlier. My friend tagged this thread for me and I just finished reading it. I am certainly on the fence regarding LEDs. I currently have some LPS and I am considering fabricating my own LED setup to accompany my T5s. Thanks for sharing your experience

Sent from my iPhone
 
NatureNerd said:
Well, it is a data point. I installed AI Sol's a month and a half ago. So far I have been thrilled. SPS health, growth rate, and PE seem better with the change to LED's. When I get to about six months I should be able to judge how they are doing for my tank. I did not throw away my MH's, so I could go back, but, so far, I would not even consider it.

We all must realize that until many people get experience with LED's it will be impossible to draw general conclusions. It is just so hard to seperate all the variables. In Feb, Gasman was thrilled, in May he is dissapointed. Between those two times he did a major change to his tank. It could be that change or it absolutely could be the lighting for his setup.

Thanks Gasman for posting your experience. That is what this site is for.
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I'm still thrilled with the technology just not for now and not in my sps tank.
 
tmgrash said:
I definately believe it had to be some other change in the tank. Looking at your pics you changed the lighting quite a bit during your testing period. At one point you had only the AI, then you had AI+ t5, then you had AI+diy led. IMO that is quite a bit of change during that period. Not sure what happend for you but I have been running the AI's for about 18months, gowing red planet 29" from the fixture colored and growing like nuts, tri color 24" from fixture, actually the closest coral to the light is a stag and is 15" from the fixture. It is kind of an odd statement to say these dont support growth at depths because with optics (40deg in my case) their par far out performs MH. For reference the furthest corner of my 31" deep tank is getting 150 par on the sandbed.

Potential LED users please do not be discouraged by this one thread, you can find many more with great LED success.:headwally:
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Some good points mentioned there. One of the problems with our hobby is that we can come to the wrong conclusions by observing what we think is cause and effect. I think Gasmans observations are valid, but there has been too many changes in his system in too short a period of time to conclude it was caused by the lighting alone.
My AI LEDs have been up for 4 months. I can see both color and growth is much better than what I had with the halide/t5s combo. I can grow sps in areas of the tank (the bottom) I could never before. I don't think color or growth that has improved over the past 4 months is going to oddly reverse itself over time, unless some other factor in my system changes. The LED vrs Halide debate may rage on, but just like Gasman, for me it's over.
I choose the LEDs.
 
Lots of way's to be successful

Lots of way's to be successful

gasman059 said:
Guys I'm just sharing my experience as well as many others around me all things being equal.
There's a definite place for LED's in this hobby but right now not in my tanks.

I do agree there's plenty of success stories with them, but in my experience and sorroundings 3-5 different tanks we have all seen the same results.
Click to expand...

As mentioned above, This in no way was meant to argue your choice of lighting in my case it is just a shock as your tank is so successful either way! And that's the bottom line, Whatever works best for you my Friend:deadhorse:
Still one of the best stick keepers i know!
Have a great weekend.
Bill:)
 
reefkeeper2 said:
Some good points mentioned there. I don't think color or growth that has improved over the past 4 months is going to oddly reverse itself over time, unless some other factor in my system changes. The LED vrs Halide debate may rage on, but just like Gasman, for me it's over.
I choose the LEDs.
Click to expand...

ditto! sorry i had to remove some parts of your post to make my point valid.
 
Just a quick pic of where we stand as of today-- just actinics sorry for the bad pic.

I've been very lazy in picking up most of my corals but soon enuff.
004copy.jpg
[/IMG]
 
Nice tank! I'm sure you will be successful with any lighting system you utilize.

In case I came off as too much of an LED advocate. It might be interesting to note that I still believe that the best system for coral growth is MH's. It is just that, for me, the added heat is a killer. I can't use a chiller, so its a huge deal.

If my LED's are 80% as capable at supporting healthy corals as my old MH and 48" VHO's, I will be thrilled. Far less heat to get rid of, "dial-a-color" controllability, safer, and reduced power all make me happy.

I suspect these things aren't as big of a deal for most folks.
 
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gasman059 said:
Just a quick pic of where we stand as of today-- just actinics sorry for the bad pic.

I've been very lazy in picking up most of my corals but soon enuff.
004copy.jpg
[/IMG]
Click to expand...

Your tank is looking good already Manny. Thank you for posting your experience with led's. I was on the fence for a while but think I will hang on to my t-5's for now and see how the technology progresses. I may supplement with a few led's for the shimmer I miss when I ran halides.
 
I just don't understand why it is that the LED manufacturing companies have not set up a controlled experiment to put this debate to rest. It would be SO easy to plumb two tanks together on a shared filer system-- start with frags in both tanks and let them grow taking a picture every month for 8 months.
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My first inclination on why this hasn't happened is because LEDs will lose in these type of one to one comparisons & they know it.

I think the technology needs more development at this point.
 
Funny thing is I don't miss the shimmer lol.

Anyways I will be restocking my tank with my old corals soon enuff-- about 20 different colonies waiting in vats.
 
Big E said:
My first inclination on why this hasn't happened is because LEDs will lose in these type of one to one comparisons & they know it.

I think the technology needs more development at this point.
Click to expand...

based on what?

have you seen the par ratings? Because I have and it blows my 250w MH in LB out of the water compared to the AI with 40deg optics.

I personally have seen reefkeeper2's tank with the AIs, the color is amazing. No color loss there.
 
I switched from 4-400w mh to 6- 120w led units (reefkoi) almost a year ago. My growth has not stopped (might even be faster) and my color is great. Only difference i noticed...... some colors r better under led, some better under mh, way less heat, less electric.
 
gasman059 said:
Funny thing is I don't miss the shimmer lol.

Anyways I will be restocking my tank with my old corals soon enuff-- about 20 different colonies waiting in vats.
Click to expand...

One of the biggest reasons I stuck with mh so long is I thought I could not live without the shimmer. I recently switched to t5 and I was suprised to find I don't miss it at all. Which power module did you get?
 
Very nice tank!

I've been an advocate of LEDs for about a year now; I'm a fan namely due to the more narrow specturm that they put out, allowing you to tune which spectrums peak by using different spectrums of LEDs - my current array needs a touch more red, probably swap out a couple cool whites for neutral white.

Growth, is something i've found to be absolutely unbelievable, at peak consumption my tank has drained almost .6meq/l in one day of alkalinity and corresponding calcium.

I use a shorter photoperiod though, only about 10h.

Looking forward to your next FTS. Thread is now subscribed.
 
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