thoughts on led lights for deep reef tank?

[acrohead500ppm]

Same here, I don't have more than 2' even 2' is close.

Its close, but I have used mylar ac ducts on sunlight supply fixtures for cooling many times on tanks that I maintained, however most those tanks were acrylic and needed a chiller anyways.

If your display is glass, I bet you could get away with fans on rancos

 

[smb2415]

I'm interested in other tall-tanks opinion too. I have 96x42x36 high tank, and have 4x GHL MItras 6200, didn't do research enough before bought them, only statement on their web.
I think the biggest problem for us with GHL is to find right combination of colors, which they don't provide. If I run their original program (yellow, ugly colors) on 100% - I burn corals, If I start playing with colors, corals not doing good - not enough light!
There is a lot people around that will tell you go with Orphek or Kessil etc, but not many people have them on tall tanks.
I'm thinking to go back to HQI ,but still looking for more answers

I too fell for the "sale" Im a bit taller than you and I also had 0 experience prior to this tank. For a long while I didn't know if it was me or the lights.... heck, Im still not totally convinced its not me..ie water params or something else.

The GHL Mitras 6200 are great lights and look wonderful on my tank however they just don't support good SPS results. FWIW I am running the Great Barrier Reef program.

I don't have a PAR meter to get true readings and even if I did Im not sure Im confident enough to know how to accurately interrupt my readings and equate that to identify the best light.

 

[cshore]

halides

halides

I have 3 400w halides to sell. 1 for $100 electronic ballast with a high end reflector and 2 nice Hamilton cayman de. I only run the 2 Hamilton the other is a back up i never used. I also have new tombstones for the Hamilton. $200 each for the Hamiltons, $500 shipped for everything. My tank is 30" tall and I can grow sps 4 " from the bottom and keep sps alive at the bottom.

 

[mm949]

i run 6x160w razors of my tank...have them 12" above the water and tank is 48" deep.
no problems growing a 12" clam at the bottom.
started with 6x400w MH then reduced to 250w and noew the LED's.
mixed reef never looked better!

 

[Osteoclast]

My tank is an AGE hybrid with a PVC bottom and is 46.5 inches from the water line to the bottom. The sand depth is 1 inch, so I have 45 inches approximately to penetrate. AI sol blues were used initially three years ago when I set up the tank and had good penetration. In fact, like many LED users I was bleaching corals from using the lights at too high a setting.

I switched over to Radion pros last year (gen 3) and did this primarily for the color spectrum and after reviewing others experiences. Currently the lights are mounted under a platform which is at 16 inches above the water line. I have my platform suspended under a chandler lift which allows further height adjustments as needed. My lights penetrate to the bottom with Par at around 100-125 at a 50% intensity. I have 6 radions lighting the tank. I think my lights on the radiant growth program at 55% to maybe 60% will be my ultimate set point. The greatest challenge with LED is the intensity and all the myriad of possible adjustment options. Ecotech has been helpful to me but you do have quite a few good lighting products available as others have stated above. Good luck with your system.

 

[adamPL]

What about Kessils A360N (narrow one), anyone know tanks with them?

 

[Cfabia1]

I have 2 Radion Gen 2s over my 32 inch deep 80 gallon. I have Sps all the way at the bottom and an anemone. If I turn them up past 75 % my anemone moves under rocks for shade and a birdsnest and an encrusting monti started to bleach three days later, I'm sure LEDs have plenty of power for a deep tank

 

[adamPL]

Any updates, news here?

 

[smb2415]

Any updates, news here?

not even 2yrs in and the GHLs all died. Sent in for repairs and was told they couldnt be repaired. A waste of over $3k. Each one had various issues...some bulbs not working, lost control panels, etc.... Over the course of about 4months all three were down. They offered a discount on a new set :headwalls: OK yeah let me spend another $3k...MH? may be the way to go.....

I still haven't figured out what Im going to do. Ive been surviving on a cheap LED..... lost pretty much all the softies and corals when the GHLs died.

 

[JZinCO]

You should trial out SB Reef's light. https://sbreeflights.com/36-photon-torpedo
Don't think any reviews have come out yet so you can experiment for RC

 

[smb2415]

You should trial out SB Reef's light. https://sbreeflights.com/36-photon-torpedo
Don't think any reviews have come out yet so you can experiment for RC

Looks like a monster... Not sure I have enough space over tank... I have at most 2'. There also no specs on page.. I'll have to give them a call.

 

[LittleBigReef]

I have a 48x31x31" tank and I run 2 ocean revives 9" above tank on 100 percent blues and 45 percent whites. I grow sps and have leptos and chalices encrusting on the bottom. These lights are cheap *** hell but also do a great job! Def recommend. Save ur money, you could also supplement with some brs retro kit t5's to cut down on shadowing too.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[JZinCO]

Looks like a monster... Not sure I have enough space over tank... I have at most 2'. There also no specs on page.. I'll have to give them a call.

Gotchya. At least $/sq ft of coverage, it appears to be a good fixture.
I wonder if a fixture with 5w leds and 40 degree optics would get down 42"..

 

[VanJuKy]

48" deep and thriving with LED's. Yes he has a lot, but look at the size of the layout. A heck of lot of money in lighting though! Love the schools of Cardinals.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/n-GUWcJBbv0" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[ravi197699]

I am in process for 800 gallon reef with 36" high and I am having 50w chips 15-20k built overseas and I will use optics on those chips to push the light down deep on the sandbed, regular fixtures won't cut it unless I have narrow lenses and have multiple of those,

 

[saf1]

Could you just go the DIY route using any of the multi channel / chip layout? Or at least build one out and see how it goes from there? I have a 30" T x 30" D x 54" wide 240 gallon and going this route. As of now I'm finishing up 4 mult-channel chips from Blue Acro - using their AcroStar Mega4Z 20k Pro Blues which are 48W I believe. I also will be migrating a similar product using Rapid LED's Boreleas multi-channel although they no longer are being made (probably due to the number of lime LED's they used).

If I need more I'll just add another pair. Probably easier for me though I guess because it is a new tank which I'll be migrating my 40 breeder into later. That is mostly soft with a few LPS corals. Not a SPS type tank.

 

[tlandrum]

Now this is not info for a working tank... but is what my current plan is. It is not cheap, and is a lot of work... but we didn't get 800g tanks because they are cheap and easy!!!

MakersLED
will need:
2 1/2 6 foot of rail (about 14' total, 30/ft)
about 425LED's (9 diffrent types)
20 degree lenses (for all LEDs)

This will work out to about 9A (1100W) of power.

I am planning on a mixture, but plenty of SPS corals. I hope it will work. I am really questioning how much of a chiller I am going to need.

Well, good luck. I need to go ahead and order all mine so I can start putting them together. But if you go this route I would love to hear how it works.