Tanks with Vertex Illumina

[rodneyri]

Im looking to get a Vertex Illumina 1200 LED light, before forking out the $$$ keen to see tanks that have this light with at least 6 months usage and your opinions on this.

if you have before and after lighting used and photos would be greatly appreciated, the light looks amazing just making sure before spending that kind of cash on a light

 

[Lariviere]

A friend is having a 36" vertex illumina over his 36"x36"x27" tank, and corals are healty.
Note that he's running the blue leds 100%, and white ones only at 60-65% for now. He adjust gradually for the acclimatation.
These lights are just awesome!

 

[Logzor]

Do these lights have any purple/violet leds?

 

[rodneyri]

No they dont have violet or purple.

Seems no one is really using this light could be due to it not being avail I the US

 

[tqpolo]

Plenty of people seem to have it here.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1943140&highlight=illumina

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1873481&highlight=illumina

 

[ryanrid]

dont see one established tank in there, or anything worth looking at actually..

 

[rodneyri]

do you have a pic of your previous light and the LED over the tank, and what are your thoughts on the light

 

[ryanrid]

your pics are nice!

regarding the sceptism, we have seen only a handfull of nice led tanks with many bad experiences (re gas man and several friends in AUs also).

 

[3.99AfterTaxes]

What's the link to Gasman's experience? I wouldn't mind reading it - that dude is EVERYWHERE, lol.

 

[ryanrid]

here you go
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1940932&highlight=gasman+led

 

[3.99AfterTaxes]

here you go
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1940932&highlight=gasman+led

Ah, thank you!

Just read through that. I'm on the fence as to what the issue could have been. I certainly never experienced any of the shortcomings that Gasman's experience would suggest.

I didn't go through a major revamp of the tank though.

 

[rodneyri]

Thanks for the pics they do look very nice. Do you have any pinks in your tank ? Without red or violet spectrum I'm curious how these colors show under the light

 

[rodneyri]

well I did it, ordered a Illumina

 

[3.99AfterTaxes]

Congrats! You'll love it.

Post some pics when its set up for us to ogle over

 

[rodneyri]

got the light and hung it last night so had a little play with it...the blue that makes corals pop is great, ill play over the next few days and see how things go.

some very early feedback..

+ Easy to use and setup, hassle free and the software is very simple to use
+ Color output is great, i can render the color what i was getting in my giesemann with phoenix 14k MH globes
+ Shimmer is fantastic and no disco ball effect
+ Great coverage over the tank even though the LEDs are only 10cm wide in the middle of the unit
+ So many features
+ Corals have a nice color and no washed out or color loss (birsdnest is slightly less pink than having it directly under a purple+ T5 globe)
+ Crisp light like MH that is lost with a full T5 unit

- LED are so bright they hit your eyes when looking at the tank from a few meters back, some sort of cover might help
- Unit looks OK, very sleek but looks like a massive heat sink where the giesemann looked very stylish...this doesnt look ugly but comparing from a baseline of my old giesemann, and would like something other than black for the light
- An extra meter of cable from the light to the splitter box would be nice

So on the whole with the aesthetic look of the light in the tank i give it a thumbs up, how the corals respond...well ill report back over the coming months. but im happy with what my tank now looks like. Hopefully a violet LED pad is made available to bring out the colors a purple+ T5 globe does

PAR results to follow later once my bro gets here

the software is soooo easy to use aswell

 

[sahin]

Rodneyri: good luck with the new lights. I think you will love this light and it will colour your SPS really well. Would love to see some extensive PAR measurements.

 

[Chris Lakies]

very nice! I've been looking at vertex for my next build. do the leds have optics built into the fixture?

 

[rodneyri]

here are some PAR readings

Directly under the LEDs out of water was a PAR of 1980 (60% LED)

RED - ATI 8x54w
WHITE - Vertex Illumina 1200-200 @ 60%

 

[sahin]

Those PAR readings are perfect for SPS corals.

PS, what meter did you use to measure the PAR? If you used the Apogee MQ-200 Quantum meter then you can generally assume the true PAR readings when measuring LED's is about 10-20% higher because the meter reads the blue spectrum slightly less. That is a very rough explanation.

In any event, I'd be very happy with those PAR levels. In my tank with 5x24watt T5 and 24Cree LED's at 700mA, I am getting the following PAR levels:

The tank is 18" tall, 30" long and 20" front to back. The water height is 16" from top of sand to water surface.

Some notes about the various numbers:

1. PAR measurements were made using the Apogee MQ-200 PAR Quantum meter. This meter underreads the PAR from narrow spectrum LED's (mainly in the blue section) by around 10-20%, so my PAR levels are probably a fair bit higher.
2. The T5 tubes, bar the actinic tube, are about 5 months old. When I put in new tubes I expect the PAR levels to increase slightly.
3. The light unit is suspended 7.5" above the waters surface. If I mount it lower, PAR levels get too high causing bleaching due to photoinhibition.
4. Numbers in RED are PAR readings on the SAND. The 175, 265,175 are right against the FRONT glass. 175's are in the extreme corners. The 390-A is the PAR in the centre of the tank on the sand bed.
5. PAR levels 1" below the unit are in excess of 2500!!!
6. PAR numbers just below the surface of the water is around 1100!

I think the PAR levels in my tank is a bit too high as some of my corals have lightened up. So, I think the PAR levels you are getting is just about right.

 

[rodneyri]

yep used the apogee for PAR, your getting some great high readings there!

im waiting for vertex to release the Red LED pads so i can supplement that, my birdsnest doesnt look as nice under LED as under T5 or MH.