sps with led's

[BPro32]

I'm setting up a 90g and I'm kind of leaning towards led's... Does anyone have sps tanks lit by led's? I'd love to hear any experience or see some pictures.

Thanks in advance

 

[BPro32]

bump... I love mh don't get me wrong, but I don't want to deal with double the electricity and probably quadruple the heat.

 

[BPro32]

found the thread


http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1852268

 

[sedor]

LED's are proving themselves in this industry more as each day passes. Right now most people say that LED's are best used in shallower tanks. Keep in mind they used to say the same thing about T5's until people started using them on larger tanks as well and they do just fine. Actually in my local reef club, most people are using T5's on tanks 150G+. I say go for the LED's! Worst case scenario you have to keep the SPS towards the top of the tank or supplement with a little T5 lighting.

 

[reef_doug]

Actually LED's are most useful in deeper tanks. Many public aquariums are switching because of electricity cost and the light actually shines all the way to the bottom of a 5ft deep tank, better than 400w or 1000w MH. The Ecoxotic Par38 is nice for deep tanks.

 

[tmgrash]

Led's ,3 watts, with optics penetrate the water much better than mh or t5. The concern has been with the spread, and whether or not they can produce vibrant colors in sps. The spread is easily fixed with more led's and placement. I think the color issue has been proven as well. My current tank has only had led since it was setup in Nov. and the colors are great on my sps.

 

[blasterman789]

Actually LED's are most useful in deeper tanks

+10

You can't put optics on a metal halide or T5.

 

[BPro32]

I'm planning to use 119w led pendants with all 1w led's on a 24" tall tank. An aquaintance of mine measured the par and said it was on par with a 250w mh.

I saw another pendant at almost half the price that is pretty much the same thing but only 112 watts, should I worry about the 7 less watts as far as light output?

 

[Mmckibben]

My local aquarium store runs all of their aquariums, even the reptiles, on LEDs. Their live stock always look real healthy.

 

[Mmckibben]

I use 21 cree xpgs on my 36 gallon corner.

 

[noobtothereef]

My local aquarium store runs all of their aquariums, even the reptiles, on LEDs. Their live stock always look real healthy.

you have to remember 99% of corals from wholesalers in reef stores tanks are all grown under metal halides and arent in the store long enough to tell a difference, and on a side note, a local reefer with a 500g tank switched from 6-400w radiums to diy leds (got his info from this site and built right) and has since switched back to mh's and has sold off the led stuff on here, his tank went from beautifull to brown in about 4 months and has since colored back up with no changes but lighting

 

[sjs nz]

hi i am in new zealand and have 2 units of 120w led running in my sps tank,working great really love them.

 

[sjfishguy]

can we see some pics of your LED tanks guys?

 

[BPro32]

can we see some pics of your LED tanks guys?

+1, really curious...

 

[mrrogers]

Im leary of led lights, it seems that the color rendering is always slightly off compared to MH and t5's

 

[tmgrash]

Here are a few, all taken with a phone camera.

Birdsnest about 9 months old from a frag.

ORA Plum crazy, 6 months old from small frag
<a href="http://s628.photobucket.com/albums/uu8/tmgrash/?action=view&current=betterplumcrazy.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i628.photobucket.com/albums/uu8/tmgrash/betterplumcrazy.jpg" border="0" alt="11"></a>


ORA green tipped orange birdsnest, 3 months old from a single stalk. Pic is blurry cant get a clear one where it is located.
<a href="http://s628.photobucket.com/albums/uu8/tmgrash/?action=view&current=orangebirdsnest.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i628.photobucket.com/albums/uu8/tmgrash/orangebirdsnest.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>


Polynesian maxima clam, can also see the tip of a pearlberry frag here.
<a href="http://s628.photobucket.com/albums/uu8/tmgrash/?action=view&current=polynesianclam.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i628.photobucket.com/albums/uu8/tmgrash/polynesianclam.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

 

[gasman059]

4 weeks in s/p 400 MH's

4 weeks in s/p 400 MH's

A couple of pics-- 100 blue/50% white--- aquailumination x 4

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[BPro32]

Well, I'm convinced. Anyone on board with me?

 

[Fungia]

Well, I'm convinced. Anyone on board with me?

Yes, I am running 2 x 20w white led and 1 x 20w blue with 8x54w T5HO

this type

 

[mike_cmu04]

I have been running them on my nano since may and i think growth and color is great.