SPS and LEDs?

[chefmur]

Chad P,
I switched from the Halides at the first of this year, I got 1 Gen 2 from a friend who bought it and changed his mind before even using it, then I purchased 2 of the Pros. To be honest if I had to do it over I dont think I would spend the extra $$ on the pros. Running side by side its hard to tell the difference between the pros and gen 2. I have them at 70% at the peak of the day from noon until around 4.00pm and then ramp down every couple of hours until 11.00pm. Like I said I have run everything in the last ten years from VHO. T5, Halides and now LED and my tank has never looked better. I guess the only question is long term sucess.

 

[Adrnalnrsh]

In the early days of LED's and SPS there was a lot of trial and error. So its expected that people who had long term success with lighting that had already been proven would obviously experience failure from a tech that wasn't.

Fast forward to today (or within the last year or so) - LED's are definitely capable of growing SPS and even enhancing colors in SPS. Florescence being the most notable enhancement when running LED's, specifically 455nm (Royal Blue).

Other potential LED issues can stem from over or underestimating the power of LED's or running a spectrum that's not ideal. e.g. Royal Blue/Cool White.

Full spectrum is the only way to go with LED's IMHO. Combination of RB, NW, TV or HV, DR, Cool Blue, Turquoise in the proper ratios can't be beat.

 

[Grandlotus]

LOL, the led debate again......

I have seen hundreds of tanks lit by LED's that have beautiful sps colonies. IMO LED's or T5's are almost a must for smaller tanks because of heat issues.

I have a Radion Pro over my 34 gal and have excellent color on my sps corals. Not that it matters but it was TOTM on an other forum....

Kessils are cool looking but have only one source and one sprectrum.

+1

I have radions on my 29g and am keeping acro's/tort's colored up with no issues.

LED's DO WORK and I would never go back to anything else.

 

[tdb320reef]

.

.

You won't find too many long term SPS keepers who have aspirations of a really nice SPS tank that are happy with LED... and the smart ones never tried them. There are a few. Most of the people who are happy with LED and their SPS are newer to the hobby and don't generally have the breadth and depth of experience to know what they are looking at, so they likely would have been happy with whatever they bought.

Most of your TOTM winners are SPS people. You can also reach out to SPS farmers and fraggers. Unfortunately, not too many post here, so you have to do the work.

Didn't that say that about T5. There is a lot more to it other than lighting. Depth or experience cannot be quantified by time but rather effectiveness. I have had more success with leds in 1 year than most of the tanks on this site including many of the TOTM. Maybe it is those that choose to post here choose not to run a TOTM. BTW I am a fragger too.

 

[chad p]

Maybe there's some truth to the "full spectrum is key" angle?

My only experience with LED was a Kessil 350 and Sol Blue and it was enough for me to try out MH over my tank. Not that I hated the LEDs. I didn't hate them at all but I was less than impressed with my color on some, not all of my SPS frags/mini colonies.

I want to give the MH another 6 months or so to see how I like things and then I may try a gen 2 Radion. So far though in only 10 days or so I'm seeing stuff start to color up again.

 

[ssdawood]

LOL, the led debate again......

I have seen hundreds of tanks lit by LED's that have beautiful sps colonies. IMO LED's or T5's are almost a must for smaller tanks because of heat issues.

I have a Radion Pro over my 34 gal and have excellent color on my sps corals. Not that it matters but it was TOTM on an other forum....

Kessils are cool looking but have only one source and one sprectrum.

The more I read about radion pro the more I am inclined to buy one. The only downside is connecting the computer to adjust settings.

 

[dixiedog]

LOL, the led debate again......

It used to be the T5 debate, not that long ago. I got in at the tail end of that one, when the last of the luddites were clinging to the mistaken belief that T5's would never be able to compete with halides.

Give it another 18 months and you'll never hear this subject debated again. LED's are just now starting to hit their stride. Our good friends, the Chinese, have finally begun flooding the market with decent quality LED fixtures at affordable prices for the reefkeeping masses. With every passing month the LED success stories will continue to multiply, until there is no longer any reasonable debate to be had.

 

[Touring]

MD Started carrying this pendent... it claims to be as stong as a 400mh. at 100 watts, i think it might be. i still think for the price and wattage the kessil 350 is a better L.E.D.



http://www.marinedepot.com/Orphek_D...ndant_Lights-Orphek-UG1731-FILTFILDLP-vi.html

 

[Spirofucci]

It used to be the T5 debate, not that long ago. I got in at the tail end of that one, when the last of the luddites were clinging to the mistaken belief that T5's would never be able to compete with halides.

Give it another 18 months and you'll never hear this subject debated again. LED's are just now starting to hit their stride. Our good friends, the Chinese, have finally begun flooding the market with decent quality LED fixtures at affordable prices for the reefkeeping masses. With every passing month the LED success stories will continue to multiply, until there is no longer any reasonable debate to be had.

Very true.

Also, we always forget to mention that when we speak of LED's we tend to lump the discussion to all types of LED set ups. It's like saying T5's are bunched together with all types flourescent bulbs.

 

[Psionicdragon]

MD Started carrying this pendent... it claims to be as stong as a 400mh. at 100 watts, i think it might be. i still think for the price and wattage the kessil 350 is a better L.E.D.



http://www.marinedepot.com/Orphek_D...ndant_Lights-Orphek-UG1731-FILTFILDLP-vi.html

I would pass on the 100watts. The par is pretty horrible and unless it included a directional lense, you are basically giving a wide spread light. Those lights are used in warehouses over Asia.

 

[dixiedog]

MD Started carrying this pendent... it claims to be as stong as a 400mh. at 100 watts, i think it might be. i still think for the price and wattage the kessil 350 is a better L.E.D.



http://www.marinedepot.com/Orphek_D...ndant_Lights-Orphek-UG1731-FILTFILDLP-vi.html

I would pass on the 100watts. The par is pretty horrible and unless it included a directional lense, you are basically giving a wide spread light. Those lights are used in warehouses over Asia.

It comes with 60 and 120 degree lenses.

And I don't see any PAR data, where is your info coming from?

 

[Touring]

It comes with 60 and 120 degree lenses.

And I don't see any PAR data, where is your info coming from?

Kessil has wide lens also and they work great. i guess you can light warehouses in china lol

 

[Epicreefer]

I've been useing ecoxitic 100w cannons and the biggest issue I see is there is just too much light. Most of them I have dimmed to 50-60% and I get about 80 par on the sand bed(5-6 feet down) which is plenty for lps. Up higher you get around 600 at the waters surface. The 80 par may not sound like much but I found 80-120 gets you the best coloration and above 150 things look pale, over 200 things look like they are dead from above but still grow well. I think it has to do with a very narrow spectrum of led light.

 

[nature boy]

It appears to me after many hours of research, LED can work with sps corals. But it requires just as many watts. What happened to the energy savings??? Gone.

Only advantage. Don't have to replace bulbs as often.

 

[FlyPenFly]

Energy savings come from heat savings and in 1:1 tests per watt, you'll get more growth from LEDs than MH/T5. Although T5 gets you more even polyp growth.

Light though, is only one small factor of SPS growth.

 

[rogerwilco357]

with all the led's for sale on the classifieds section , I think I may try them out even though I will keep my ATI Powermodules over my big sps tanks in place . The Led unit will be on my 28gallon nano hope to see results in a positive way with the lps and sps..

 

[gmneil]

so far it seems that alot of people start off their led's to intense and are unhappy with the results. i recently got a radion pro, i started it at 25% and mu corals couldnt seem happier, i switched from a 250 mh. and i am working on getting the funds to get another radion pro. each month i plan on rasing the intensity 5% we will see what happens.

 

[epicurus84]

Most led manufacturers went all out with the white leds. Most are/where too powerfull for almost any coral.

Pacific sun (see forum below) even advises to put the white channels on max 25%. The latest models don't have white leds, just coloured leds (together thats also white).

I do think leds can al will keep corals happy. ESP when comparing to MH only. However i also see that adding some T5 to the leds can make the corals colour and grow better.

 

[acroholicreefer]

All SPS are not created equal. Pocillopora, Seriatopora, Montipora, and Acropora all have much different lighting and chemistry requirements. I sold off all of my acros about 1 year ago after my twins were born. In March, I decided to set up a 40b with a maxspect razor and have been keeping a monti with good growth and color. I know that this doesn't mean much. With that being said, I'll let you know in 6 months how well this LED fixture does with acroporas.

And......pics or it didn't happen.

 

[Dog boy Dave]

I am a long term SPS guy. Ran my halides for years and loved them. 6 times 400 watts over my main tank. Switched to some homemade LEds about a year ago. Corals did Ok but the color was not near as intense or deep as with halides. I was not happy with the results I was getting. I loved the 200 dollar cheaper electric bill though. About 6 months ago I had a couple of the homemade fixtures fail so I picked up a couple of the Chinese 9 band lights off of EBay for 179 each. With the extra bands of color beyond the standard whites and blues that i used on my homemade units I am getting much better color, at least as good as I got under halides and better for some corals. I have one coral that is about three feet in diameter. It is large enough so it is under both my DIY and in other places it only sees the chinese lights. Not only is the color better under the multispec lights, they also have better growth and a lot more branches. My system has four boxes with water, all have corals. The main SPS /fish section is aprox 425 gallons and has a mix of 4 DIY fixtures and 4 Chinese all LED. One of my 75 gallon sumps has a 250 watt halide. Another 50 gallon sump has a small older commercial LED fixture. My large LPS section is currently lit by a single 400 watt Halide. I see the same corals under all these lights all in the same water. Search my name and I have several threads showing the corals under halides and LEds as well as the Chinese LEDs.
There is no doubt that you can grow good healthy corals with great colors using multi spectrum LEDS. The corals are more sensitive and harder to keep under the LEDS but they will do well if you are diligent. They did not so as well for me under the blue/white LEDS. The Halides are awesome . They are also very hot and very expensive. I will eventually go to 100 percent LEDS.

As I said earlier, I have lotsa of pics of the system on this site but here is one I took the other night. Sorry its hand held and the color balance is a little off as I had it set for my old halides. However, I think its clear, the corals are thriving under the LEDS.

In the pic you see above the left side of the big stag is directly under one of the Chinese Lights. You can see the extra branches forming on the branch that is getting blasted by the multi spectrum LED. I love these lights. I plan on buying more as soon as I can.