Successful SPS Tanks Using LED Only

[Scotty1772]

I know you have to slowly ramp up your LED's and acclimate the corals within ...that being said, and given the high demand for SPS corals and light, do you "LED only" users ramp your lights all the way up to 100% on both the whites and blues? I max out midday right now with blue around 70% and white at 50% but curious if I should keep going...Runnign the Reefbreeder Photon 24 over a 65g mixed reef and constantly adding more and more sps...thanks for the response in advance

 

[Hooked4life]

I know you have to slowly ramp up your LED's and acclimate the corals within ...that being said, and given the high demand for SPS corals and light, do you "LED only" users ramp your lights all the way up to 100% on both the whites and blues? I max out midday right now with blue around 70% and white at 50% but curious if I should keep going...Runnign the Reefbreeder Photon 24 over a 65g mixed reef and constantly adding more and more sps...thanks for the response in advance

I max the blues on my Vegas out at 75% and the white, red & green at 50%, but my tank is only 16" deep. I think I would go higher if I had a 24" or 30" deep tank.

 

[Tinpanva]

I max the blues on my Vegas out at 75% and the white, red & green at 50%, but my tank is only 16" deep. I think I would go higher if I had a 24" or 30" deep tank.

But what values did you start with and for how long? What was your ramping schedule?

When I first set up my Vegas, I started down around 35% and left them there for a month then went up 5% every 4 or 5 days until I got to around 65%. But I never got my SPS to color up, if anything it bleached. Only when I went back down to my current setting I listed above, did things recover, and go from bleached back to brown and now starting to get colors. I suppose at some point I'll start ramping them back up, but I don't see that happening anytime soon.

 

[cugly]

I dont run whites higher than 30% ived had better results with higher blues..the whites would cause bleaching if I run higher than 50% and thats 12 inches from waterline. .

 

[Hooked4life]

But what values did you start with and for how long? What was your ramping schedule?

When I first set up my Vegas, I started down around 35% and left them there for a month then went up 5% every 4 or 5 days until I got to around 65%. But I never got my SPS to color up, if anything it bleached. Only when I went back down to my current setting I listed above, did things recover, and go from bleached back to brown and now starting to get colors. I suppose at some point I'll start ramping them back up, but I don't see that happening anytime soon.

I started about where you did then ramped up 5% about every 10 days. I was too high at 80% blue/60% white and had to back them down. I did have a few bleach and a couple of brown outs, but also have some that have done fine.

In addition to the intensity you have to consider the tank depth and the distance AWL. I'm about 12" AWL

 

[Tinpanva]

Tank depth is 19" and my LEDs are 9" AWL

 

[Polyp Envy]

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2287628

nicest biocube style tank ive ever seen :beer:

 

[ridetheducati]

Why almost all of you touch up the pictures so much? Every time I see this colorful pictures... With so much Photoshop any led acuarium has pretty colors...

For the record, my pictures have not been through post processing.

 

[ridetheducati]

 

[Bruce Leroy]

$100 LED fixtures.

Which Fixtures are you using? Have a Link?

 

[Bezz]

$100 LED fixtures.

The greens look pretty intense and great, but like my experience with LED, the blues and red seem pale and dull.

 

[ridetheducati]

Which Fixtures are you using? Have a Link?

Evergrow D120.

 

[ridetheducati]

The greens look pretty intense and great, but like my experience with LED, the blues and red seem pale and dull.

My blues are deep and rich, however the reds are dull. Now that I think about it, reds were challenging under Metal Halide (400w Radium or XM10) as well.

 

[Leonardo_]

That is an excellent idea. I will definitely try that!!

Old trick, I use a dinner plate

Great thread, post on!

Leonardo

 

[Nanighan]

Here's my tanks latest video. Using only par 38's since inception, skimmerless, and sumpless. Colors are fine by my standards. Watch in HD
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTdNB_98Dpw

 

[fishguy597]

What dkh are people keeping their tanks at under LEDs? I've been keeping mine at 8. I have been a little busy and over the last two weeks it crept up to 9.1. Now my corals have faded a bit. and I'm gonna drop it to 8 again. weird thing is every time my alk drops my corals look better and at 7.2 they look their best. its just that's to low for my liking. This never happened when I was running mh . Has anyone else noticed this?

 

[topshotta]

Mine are consistently over 9. 9.7 as of last night. I never thought dkh at the 9 levels was much of an issue for burning acros, but maybe I'm off, and maybe that's why I'm still not seeing the color I'd expect to see?

 

[evolutionZ]

my kh used to be fluctuating at 9 - 10. because i was dosing manually once a day. i've gotten my dosing pump for a month or 2 now, its been stable at 7.6 - 8.2 and colors are getting better!