Which lighting.

[matty0206]

I am at that time again where I need to replace my T5's. I love the look of T5's but I am starting to not like the cost of bulbs, it's not a huge deal, this hobby is expensive and I know that. I have been considering trying Led's again, I tried them once with the Maxspect Razor and hated the color plus for whatever reason my corals didn't respond well, I do realize it might have had to do with something I did. I have also considered MH again as I love the look and shimmer.
My questions are this, what light source does everyone use for their anemone dominated tanks? What light source do you feel is best for the keeping of anemone's? Any long term success with Led's and anemone's, if so which one's? My tank is open top so a fixture would be ideal.
With my tank becoming almost all anemone's and softies I want the best light for anemone's specifically since I don't plan on having other coral any time soon and the softies don't seem to care. My tank is all BTA's and 2 maxi mini's with leathers, zoa's, and ricordea's.

Thanks

 

[worm5406]

Dec 13, 2013

Apr 30, 2013

Jan 7 2014


As I know you are talking about anemones. I have a Ritteri, LTA, and a BTA under LED. The LTA has been under it since I purchased it in 2012. (wow... really that long....) It now looks great!!!

Sep 2012

Dec 2013

 

[MKReefTank]

To be honest, I think you would do great with LEDs. Many people don't realize how intense LEDs are and end up blasting their corals with light. I have two radion pros, now running at about 50%, but I started at 20-25%. I have four anemones and they love it. One is at the bottom of the tank, two are in the middle, and one is right underneath one of the lights. Softies seem to do well with the light, even my acros are growing.

 

[matty0206]

Nice! It looks like you are both running Radion's. That is actually the fixture I am leaning towards as I have an Mp40wes and battery backup already, I would want the gen 1 or 2 so I could utilize the battery.

Which generation are you running Worm5406?

 

[worm5406]

I am running mp40's, gen2, and batteries. not plugged into the radion though. I figured I would keep the flow and ignore the light for the few hours that the power was out umtil I could get home and turn on the generator.

 

[flakey]

IMO LED's are fine, you would have know about it from forums otherwise. I have a vertex 260 illumina, not sure if you guys get it out in the US (i'm from England) but I'm very happy with it.
I think all the main branded LEDs are good, it just depends on the look you want. i chose the vertex is becasue I liked to look of it as I also have a open top and wanted minimum cable/etc all over the place.
Heres a thread I started a few months back of my tank with a video/pics.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2351590

You can see my tank is also nem dominated. I now have 2 magnificas and about 12 BTA's

 

[D-Nak]

I'm running a pair of Radions with a pair of T5s and my purple gigantea loves it (photo to the left). I also have a second tank I just set up with another gigantea and a Kessil, and it's doing well too. Though some SPS folks don't like LEDs, they're working for me... well, along with T5 supplementation, but for nems and softies I think LEDs are more than adequate.

 

[D-Nak]

BTW -- my Radions are the G1 versions without UV which is why I decided to add the T5s. If you go with the Pros, you won't need the T5s.

 

[matty0206]

A Radion fixture is looking better and better, the tank is a 40breeder so I think I can get away with one.

 

[kingpin9995]

I have the Photon 16 from Reefbreeders.com. Paid 300, it's programmable and you can put as much light as you want in the tank and change the color dramatically for what you want. I grow SPS no problem. I have a birdsnest that I have fragged twice and now have three specimens that are all about 5 inches high. Also monti's that have quadrupled in size from a small frag to now covering an entire rock about five inches across. Softies are doing great too. Check out this light.. It's half the cost and mine has been running for a year with zero issues. You can get fixtures up to 48 inches long.

 

[flakey]

I forgot to say I did have a bta which was almost see through but had loads of blue specks all over it. I don't actually know the variety of it. I bought some additional multi colour led modules and I switched on the uv and red LEDs at under 5%. The following morning it had turned to mush. All my other news were fine. I don't mean to put you off but this is what happened to me. Maybe it was that one variety of bta? I guess you need to consider acclimatisation as well whichever fixture you go for.