Par38 LED's and SPS

[beeker]

the color temp of the Rapidled 7 led bulb is about a 14k, it's hard to tell because it is bright but it does have 4 blue leds in it, imagine a pheonix 14k but not as blue more 13kish

the reason why you dont want cool white in a large number is because it will make corals yellow/brown out, it is great for growth but bad for most sps colors, imo neutral white and warm what will net the same effect but wont brown/yellow coral colors as easily, only time will tell but that is my honest opinion

Reds in my tank are fine, the problems come with purples, greens and blues and whites and to get these colors to shine you need green, blue and royal blue light over them

Rapidled's bulb seems to have the perfect balance with the cool white leds it still offers the spectrum but in a lower amount which allows you to get growth and color without yellowing/browning corals because it is more influenced with blue spectrums

either go with 20k's or rapidled bulbs IMO both are good, the only issue i have with the Rapidled bulb is that 40 degree optics arent offered and that is what most of my bulbs on my tank are

 

[wuster77]

not sure if this is the right place to post... but here is the question

when you first got your par38, did any of you happen to misjudge the intensity of the bulb? if so, what happened to your coral(s)? lighten? bleach?.. etc

so for me, soon after i got my two rapid par 38 bulbs (new type, 60 optics), i went out and got five sps frags, all frags were encrusted, and were under mix of 250 and 400w halides at the store. first day i kept it under supp light only, without the par38, and everything was fine. second day, i turned on one par 38, had it about 12 inches over water surface, with all frags on the sand (10 inches under water), and had the light on for 4 hours. morning of day three, the neon green acro (not sure if thats exactly what its called), was suffering rtn on half of the frag, tried to rescue it, but didnt work out (it was placed approx 3 inches off center from the bulb, under indirect flow, +3inches from other frags). now, it is the end of day five and all other sps are looking great

could too much light, light shock, or more specifically, the led cause rtn? i can't find the answer to that anywhere... but seems an unlikely cause though

 

[beeker]

As an example of intensity

my 12k's and 20k's are 40 optic

my lights are 38 inches away from some sps and i can still keep them growing just fine at the very bottom of my tank, leds are far more intense than people give them credit for, and the only coral i've seen take the intensity negativly would be Acanlords, they are the one coral that hasn't faired so well in my tank and i'd have to say its because of the brightness of leds not the spectrum


i honestly have sps that arent even directly under my bulbs, there getting about 1/10th the light that my other sps are and they are still growing well

my photoperiod is only 8 hours and 30 minutes at the moment

i've never bleached any of my sps corals though only the acanlords

 

[ksolo]

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Hi Beeker,
You you have updated images of your tank with the rapid par38 ?

 

[liz62]

I would like to see some pics. too!

 

[beeker]

These were the last pics i took, i didnt have the Rapidleds over the tank at this time

Give me a week or two and i should have new pics up as well as a video, i stopped doing my Phol's Xtra and have just started dosing Vodka everyday for the last week at 7 drops a day, so far things are starting to look better than ever so i plan on getting some pics up when the Vodka has had 2-3 weeks to take effect so you can see a difference, the Rapidled bulbs have been over my tank for about 2 weeks now, i have 2 of them and they are working great so far, color on them is really well balanced

here's some comparision shots between the Nanocustoms 12k and 20k's with 40 optics and the Rapidled 7 led bulb with 60 optics

the rapidled bulb is on the far right

20k Nanocustoms on the left, Rapidled 7 led on the right

12k nanocustoms on the left, Rapidled 7 led on the right

20k on the left, 12k in the middle, Rapidled 7 led bulb on the right

 

[SPotter]

beeker, whats the dimensions of your tank? I'm getting ready to do a 120 build 48x24x24 and I am trying to decide between building my own led system or use the par bulbs. I have two of the new ones over my frag tank everything looks great. So i am trying to figure out how many bulbs i would need.

 

[beeker]

beeker, whats the dimensions of your tank? I'm getting ready to do a 120 build 48x24x24 and I am trying to decide between building my own led system or use the par bulbs. I have two of the new ones over my frag tank everything looks great. So i am trying to figure out how many bulbs i would need.

my tank is 48x36x27 i have about 23 PAR38's over it, though if i would have just went with 1 color of PAR38 i'd only be using about 10 bulbs per side to light the tank, this would be able to light it fully though

 

[SPotter]

How are you mounting the lights? Did you use track lighting tracks?


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