Slow growth with LED's ?

[JVD BVI]

My tank now is small, 17 gallon, SPS dominant using a Mars Aqua LED 's.

I know this is a very general statement and there are many other factors involved, but I am wondering if my slow growth is due to LED's.

With my 90 gallon tank up north I had phenomenal SPS growth with a crappy old T5 fixture.

I know this has been discussed ad nauseam but just wondering some of the locals thoughts on LED vs T5 ?

 

[Safir]

My results have been mixed. Some things (montipora specifically) I see noticable growth week to week. Others grow gradually slowly. I think one of my scans grew two polyps (four total) in about a year and I have an unknown acro that has grown maybe 1/2" during the same time. Another acro has grown an,inch or more since december

 

[Webmanny]

I'm with Safir,

When I had LEDs only, I would see some SPS corals grow great and some pretty stagnant. However, now that I have a hybrid LED/T5, I see new growth on almost all corals on a weekly basis. I even got an ORA Scripts a few weeks back from Oblio and it has now overgrown the epoxy blob I used to stick it to the rock work.

I guess it depends on the type of coral, but T5s as supplement, do seem to help growth.

 

[paradox_of_reef]

I'm in the process of adding t5s to my led lights. I mostly wanted to eliminate the shadowing from my Leds. So we will see how the hybrid approach works for my tank.

 

[TURKLET0N]

I'm planning on buying two Aqua Illumination Hydra HD 52's. Does anyone have experience with these and how they grow SPS? Can anyone post pictures of their LED/T5 hybrids? How long do you run the T5's per day?

 

[rone_kevin66]

I'm planning on buying two Aqua Illumination Hydra HD 52's. Does anyone have experience with these and how they grow SPS? Can anyone post pictures of their LED/T5 hybrids? How long do you run the T5's per day?

I just made my t5 hybrid about a week ago and I love the light combination and it got rid of some shadows I had. It's to early to see growth but I hope it will help. If you look back like one or two pages you can see mine.

 

[robthorn]

Depends on the led. My led's are growing pretty well right now.

 

[TURKLET0N]

Depends on the led. My led's are growing pretty well right now.

What LED do you have?

 

[robthorn]

Reefgrow x3-90. Crossover between kessil and standard led with optics.

 

[robthorn]

I always welcome people to stop by and see for themselves. I probably had more growth with halides but that is to be expected and I do not have the led's turned up yet. I am getting a new set with wireless control this week so I stopped turning them up at 38% until after the change.

 

[nathan1986]

My sps in the biocube are growing pretty well. Some faster than others. I have the cheap 3w chinese led box off ebay. Im also dosing 10ml of esv 2 part daily.

 

[robthorn]

lol Nathan. I am at 110ml a day and calcium reactor running. My corals are tiny. I hate to see it when things get bigger. Yes I dose and run a reactor. Because I want calcium volume and some easy for the corals to use.

 

[nathan1986]

lol Nathan. I am at 110ml a day and calcium reactor running. My corals are tiny. I hate to see it when things get bigger. Yes I dose and run a reactor. Because I want calcium volume and some easy for the corals to use.

LOL i dont have very many corals in the tank. Well let me re phrase, i have alot of tiny sps frags, and only a couple 4" sps corals. At 29g im also changing 8g a week. Hopefully it wont come to the point to where i have to dose 110ml in the biocube lol

 

[bigzman]

Same as rob grew faster sps with led (d120 custom panel) Colors never looked as nice as 20k mh

 

[robthorn]

luckily I feel I have a good mix of color and growth. So much more than lights plays into that though.

 

[mattsreefadise]

I always welcome people to stop by and see for themselves. I probably had more growth with halides but that is to be expected and I do not have the led's turned up yet. I am getting a new set with wireless control this week so I stopped turning them up at 38% until after the change.

me too!
I love these lights. I have never had leds color up SPS like these do

 

[N-A-S-O]

Reefgrow x3-90. Crossover between kessil and standard led with optics.

Where did you get the reefgrow lights?

 

[robthorn]

Hey Naso you can order them from any Reefgrow dealer.

 

[bigzman]

Rob sent you text about reefgrow.

 

[JVD BVI]

Ironically, after posting this I realized that when I move this tank to my new house next month I will not be able to mount the lights on the wall like I have them now. I will need a light that can mount to the tank.

So it looks like I will be sticking with LED's and just upgrading.

Either the Kessil A360WE or the Radion XR15W