softies and leds
- Thread starter jfourn
- Start date
RyanSweatt2004
New member
I'm interested too!
goochesfish
New member
When I switched to led my Kenya tree closed up hasn't opened but the Fiji yellow's been great with the radions
Nicholas41
New member
I'm using a 120watt led fixture on a 56 gallon tank. About 2/3 of the way down it is around 300+par. My yumas, and rics are doing fine up there as well as my zoas (they're growing like weeds). My leather is about halfway down and couldn't be happier. In the last month it attached itself to the rock.
i ran 2 ai sol blue units for over a year on my softy tank and i did not care for the results. I took my time acclimating the lighting and used a light meter to make sure everything was in the right spots and it just seemed like all my softies were on " pause" all year.After 12 years keeping softies i know how fast mine usually grow. I changed over to an ATI 10 bulb t5 unit and within a month everything was open and growing like weeds again. This was just my experience but i was not happy with their performance.
I have a 75 gallon mostly softie tank. I am currently running DIY CREE LEDs and I'm looking for a T5 fixture to replace it. Some corals to absolutely fantastic (xenia, cladiella, kenya tree, yellow polyps) but others grow very slow or not at all (frogspawn, zoas, trumpets). LPS colors tend to fade too.
It can take your corals a while to make the transition to led. It doesn't take weeks or months for them to be 100% comfortable. It takes a lot longer than that. A lot of people don't give there tank enough time to acclimate. they run it for a while and say "oh this sucks, leds don't work." Try to find some amazing tanks that have been under Leds for a while and look at there results. In my case I couldn't be happier with leds. I have 2 par38 bulbs over my frag tank and couldn't be happier with the results. Some people think leds are going to work magic on there tank its just another way of lighting. People that switch over back to mh or t-5 most likely didn't have a good fixture or spectrum was wrong. Especially when it comes to the majority of softies they don't need to be blasted with light. A lot of people don't get that. Good Luck on your decision! In 5 years I bet you, you would have a hard time finding people that are running t-5 or mh. Leds is the future. but they don't work for everyone, yet because a lot of people are very inexperience with them.
Daleo
New member
LEDs are very interesting. I am running LEDs on my 12" cube and my coral love it. Nice colors and opened up nicely.
The one thing about LEDs is, it takes time for your coral to acclimate, and chances are your LEDs are much stronger than you think. My tank looks dimmer than a single PC bulb but the PAR is strong enough to keep acros!
http://youtu.be/mYi20hkrQY8
The one thing about LEDs is, it takes time for your coral to acclimate, and chances are your LEDs are much stronger than you think. My tank looks dimmer than a single PC bulb but the PAR is strong enough to keep acros!
http://youtu.be/mYi20hkrQY8
jgsalwater
In Memoriam
Converted to two 60 Watt Crees
Converted to two 60 Watt Crees
I love the LEDs and they seem to work fine on softies. I converted my tank from 500 watts of HID to 120 watts of Cree LEDs. I agree it does appear to take time for the acclimation for many corals. This 55g 1/2 barrel 30" deep tank is set up now for mainly softies and as you can see the tree corals and green nepthea are thriving after a few months. The nice thing is saving $50 a month on the electric bill and no heat build up in the tank as with HID's.
Another nice thing about the 60 watt Crees is that you can control the blue and white cree individually, both on intensity and on/off; so I can phase in the lighting to act like dusk to dawn with 4 separate mechanical timers. I keep one of the blues on all the time so the fish don't run into the anemone at night and get stung.
Converted to two 60 Watt Crees
I love the LEDs and they seem to work fine on softies. I converted my tank from 500 watts of HID to 120 watts of Cree LEDs. I agree it does appear to take time for the acclimation for many corals. This 55g 1/2 barrel 30" deep tank is set up now for mainly softies and as you can see the tree corals and green nepthea are thriving after a few months. The nice thing is saving $50 a month on the electric bill and no heat build up in the tank as with HID's.
Another nice thing about the 60 watt Crees is that you can control the blue and white cree individually, both on intensity and on/off; so I can phase in the lighting to act like dusk to dawn with 4 separate mechanical timers. I keep one of the blues on all the time so the fish don't run into the anemone at night and get stung.
Last edited:
Thisseemsfishy
Just another Reefer
I have the same lights!
Yours looks nice, I mainly have SPS and LPS, but a few softies...
How long have you been running these lights?
jgsalwater
In Memoriam
I installed them at the end of August. About 4 1/2 months now and the softies are thriving. A few LPS do not seem to be doing quite as well, but they are adjusting.
How do your SPS do under them? I had SPS in my tank before with HIDs. They did fairly well, but with a narrow deep tank, I was always breaking them when woking in the tank.
I think the swaying trees are just a nice and a lot less finicky. Being able to adjust the blue in the 60W Crees brings out a lot of the blue/green tree coral color I couldn't get before.
I have recently added a couple of PAR38 LED bulbs to spot light coral deep in the tank, which give the illusion of rays of sunlight. (High Dimmable PAR38 White + Blue LED Aquarium Reef Corals Grow Light Bulb-{6x 16000K White 1 Watt- 6x 450 Blue (450 nm) 1 Watt-30 Degree Optics-Remote control to dim LED's individually.) You may want to give them a try if you had any dead lighting spots in your tank or have coral that need more PAR .
ddefilippis
New member
I have a dimmable DIY LED over a softie grow out tank with Royal Blue and Cool White CREEs. I upgraded from power compacts which is night and day. I have seen good growth with the leathers, mushrooms and zoas - once I found the right spot in the water column. Other softies, such as the tree corals, have been very slow to grow. I think water parameters are more the issue with folks that are not getting good softie grow. I only dose Lugols iodine and lightly feed with oyster feast.
Thisseemsfishy
Just another Reefer
They look fine, but my LPS seem like its not enough....
I installed them at the end of August. About 4 1/2 months now and the softies are thriving. A few LPS do not seem to be doing quite as well, but they are adjusting.
How do your SPS do under them? I had SPS in my tank before with HIDs. They did fairly well, but with a narrow deep tank, I was always breaking them when woking in the tank.
I think the swaying trees are just a nice and a lot less finicky. Being able to adjust the blue in the 60W Crees brings out a lot of the blue/green tree coral color I couldn't get before.
I have recently added a couple of PAR38 LED bulbs to spot light coral deep in the tank, which give the illusion of rays of sunlight. (High Dimmable PAR38 White + Blue LED Aquarium Reef Corals Grow Light Bulb-{6x 16000K White 1 Watt- 6x 450 Blue (450 nm) 1 Watt-30 Degree Optics-Remote control to dim LED's individually.) You may want to give them a try if you had any dead lighting spots in your tank or have coral that need more PAR .
windyridge
Fish Mother
I have an AI Sol Blue over my 92G corner. It's been almost 3 weeks and I am at 49% intensity. My birdsnests love this light as does my setosa. They are growing every day. My kenya Tree didn't not like it and shriveled up. My softies are doing fine so far...and I love the customization of my light. The colors look better under this light compared to the T5's I had before.
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