Who has really colorful acros under leds?

[tdb320reef]

Alright T, get your macro out let's see deep purple and blue pictures taken with a macro I know it's so hard to compare using online photos, but at least we can get a general sense of each others expectations. As I said earlier your tank is fantastic iand s the first to make me reconsider LEDs in general, but I'd love to see macro shots of what you are calling deep purples and blues, not that you are wrong or your corals aren't spectacular. Just call me the "Doubting Thomas" of LEDs and SPS.

Your reefin' buddy,
Joe

Hey Joe - I wish I had more time to take better pics. But here in MI it is the first nice day of the year and the kids are challenging me to a game of Baseball. These pics are with a Canon T4i with the 100 Macro lens. I use a White Piece of PVC to adjust the WB and compress to JPG. Many of the corals are 20" down. I just picked up an OT that IS 26" down in about 250 Of LED par and looks great. Note the top down pic. I know the pics could have been brighter but I believe they are convenience enough.

Thanks

 

[tdb320reef]

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A few more:

 

[sucker_fish]

Ok first let me say i know nothing about light waves, electronics or anything pertaining to designing lights, but i do have a question. If the issue with led seems to be the focus of light versus the spread of light, why not just design a led light with the lights pointing up at a refletor and then it would be reflected back into the tank, mixing and spreading the light. It would work like a MH but the source of light would just simply be LED.

 

[karsseboom]

JP, didnt know you were totm. Congratulation on a job well done!

He has one of the most beautiful systems on this forum. JP is the man

 

[tdb320reef]

Ok first let me say i know nothing about light waves, electronics or anything pertaining to designing lights, but i do have a question. If the issue with led seems to be the focus of light versus the spread of light, why not just design a led light with the lights pointing up at a refletor and then it would be reflected back into the tank, mixing and spreading the light. It would work like a MH but the source of light would just simply be LED.

Good Point - That is how the reefbite works on my sump.

 

[jerpa]

It removes one of the big reasons LEDs can be more efficient at getting the light in the tank than traditional lighting, the lack of a reflector. You would still get the controllability and dimming that people like but then you couldn't market the energy savings, which is a big factor with the price of commercial LED fixtures. It would absolutely help aesthetically IMO.

 

[dotcommer]

I am in the process of building out my 300 gallon reef tank and was trying to decide which way to go MH or LED. It wasn't until my visit to Vivid Aquariums in California that I made my decision.

They have a 14' long tank that is half lit by MH and the other by Radion LED.

When standing in front of tank, it was a huge difference for me. The MH side of the tank looked amazing, the color on the SPS was incredible everything looked more vibrant. The LED side of the tank looked good, but IMO it was dull looking.


The best way to describe it is if you ever go to an electronics store and see a bunch of flat screen TV's hanging on the wall, you can really tell the difference between the expensive high end TV's and the lower end TV's since they are side by side. You see the whites are more vibrant, the blacks are a deeper black etc... however, if you take the lower end TV home and place it in your room. It looks great by its self.

That is exactly what happened to me standing in front of the Vivid Aquarium DT. Even my wife who doesn't pay much attention to the hobby, noticed a difference in the tank and she asked me why the left side (MH) looked brighter and more vibrant then the right side of the tank (LED).

What's even more interesting, is that when I got home and put the photos on my computer, I couldn't tell the difference in the vibrancy between the MH and the LED photos. These photos were taken with my Iphone 5, but the color and look of pictures pretty much look the same on both sides of the tank. SEE BELOW:

This is the left side of the tank that is lit by MH

This is the right side under LED

IMO, I don't think that photos truly represent a difference between MH and LED lit tanks. Each camera has its own way of representing colors etc.. However, when you stand if front of a tank that is lit by LED and the other half MH, you really can tell the difference.

I spoke with one of the employees and asked him what he thought of the difference in their DT and he shook his head and said, yep there is a big difference and then pointed over to their SPS frag tanks and said "that is why we only use MH over our frag tanks".

Below are pics of the canopy open on the Vivid DT, so you can see their configuration. He said the MH were 400watts but I can't remember if they were 20K or 14K bulbs.

So, my decision was made for me. I am picking up 4 - 400 WATT MH lights, from a local reefer who just switched to LED on his 10' tank.

He made the switch for a few different reasons. One, he wanted to go green throughout his house. He has solar panels on his roof and is very conscious of how he uses energy. Another reason was, since his tank is an in wall system and he couldn't raise his light rack that high when working in his tank, it got very hot and a few times got burned. The LED's give him much more room to work in his tank. He notices the difference in the look of his thank since he put the LED's in, but was willing to give up the MH for the reasons above. I just hope he doesn't ask for the MH back in a few months

 

[brad65ford]

I am in the process of building out my 300 gallon reef tank and was trying to decide which way to go MH or LED. It wasn't until my visit to Vivid Aquariums in California that I made my decision.

They have a 14' long tank that is half lit by MH and the other by Radion LED.
[/IMG]


When standing in front of tank, it was a huge difference for me. The MH side of the tank looked amazing, the color on the SPS was incredible everything looked more vibrant. The LED side of the tank looked good, but IMO it was dull looking.


The best way to describe it is if you ever go to an electronics store and see a bunch of flat screen TV's hanging on the wall, you can really tell the difference between the expensive high end TV's and the lower end TV's since they are side by side. You see the whites are more vibrant, the blacks are a deeper black etc... however, if you take the lower end TV home and place it in your room. It looks great by its self.

That is exactly what happened to me standing in front of the Vivid Aquarium DT. Even my wife who doesn't pay much attention to the hobby, noticed a difference in the tank and she asked me why the left side (MH) looked brighter and more vibrant then the right side of the tank (LED).

What's even more interesting, is that when I got home and put the photos on my computer, I couldn't tell the difference in the vibrancy between the MH and the LED photos. These photos were taken with my Iphone 5, but the color and look of pictures pretty much look the same on both sides of the tank. SEE BELOW:


IMO, I don't think that photos truly represent a difference between MH and LED lit tanks. Each camera has its own way of representing colors etc.. However, when you stand if front of a tank that is lit by LED and the other half MH, you really can tell the difference.

I spoke with one of the employees and asked him what he thought of the difference in their DT and he shook his head and said, yep there is a big difference and then pointed over to their SPS frag tanks and said "that is why we only use MH over our frag tanks".

Below are pics of the canopy open on the Vivid DT, so you can see their configuration. He said the MH were 400watts but I can't remember if they were 20K or 14K bulbs.

So, my decision was made for me. I am picking up 4 - 400 WATT MH lights, from a local reefer who just switched to LED on his 10' tank.

He made the switch for a few different reasons. One, he wanted to go green throughout his house. He has solar panels on his roof and is very conscious of how he uses energy. Another reason was, since his tank is an in wall system and he couldn't raise his light rack that high when working in his tank, it got very hot and a few times got burned. The LED's give him much more room to work in his tank. He notices the difference in the look of his thank since he put the LED's in, but was willing to give up the MH for the reasons above. I just hope he doesn't ask for the MH back in a few months

+1 one would wonder why they haven't switch completely over to all led. From my experience some corals do fine with LED's while other types do not. MH owns still imo. One thing is for sure you don't see much money going into advertising for MH compared to LED fixtures theses days. LED are so much more techie and it seems easier to market sell. If it wasn't for heat / energy consummation we all would have MH running are sps tanks.

On a side note, pretty cool to see they are BB

 

[tdb320reef]

+1 one would wonder why they haven't switch completely over to all led. From my experience some corals do fine with LED's while other types do not. MH owns still imo. One thing is for sure you don't see much money going into advertising for MH compared to LED fixtures theses days. LED are so much more techie and it seems easier to market sell. If it wasn't for heat / energy consummation we all would have MH running are sps tanks.

On a side note, pretty cool to see they are BB

That tank crashed. Btw he concluded leds were better for his application because of the efficiency.

Sent from my HTC Glacier using Tapatalk 2

 

[karsseboom]

That tank crashed. Btw he concluded leds were better for his application because of the efficiency.

Sent from my HTC Glacier using Tapatalk 2

Vivid is a vendor for ecotech. It would be in his best interest to have the radions success be known. I wouldn't take his word at 100% when there profit to be made. I have talked to many people who have visit the shop and spoke with there employees and there seems to be some truth to the MH side looking better to colors more rich and define.

 

[dotcommer]

Personally, I would love to have LED's on my tanks. I love that you can gradually have sun rise, sunets and storms etc... I love that they are smaller, last longer, less power, less heat, and cost less in the long run. And I was hoping to not see much of a difference when I visited Vivid, but that wasn't the case.

Tony Vargas who wrote the book "the coral reef aquarium" was in Phoenix, two months ago speaking at the local club meeting. He said that LED's are getting better but still have some way to go. In order to light your tank propertly with LED's you need to have alot of them, and when you do, your power consumption is about the same as MH. He did say there are going to be some good changes in LED's over the next year, but he feels MH is still better all the way around.

TDB320reef has an amazing tank. But there is more to his tank then just the LED lighting. I have read through his thread, and he knows his stuff. Proper nutrition, dosing flow and adjusting the color spectrum on his LED's etc.. goes a long way as well for good color and growth on your corals.

 

[trueblackpercula]

This is a great thread but why are people comparing LEDs to mh? That's not what the title of the tread is about.....lets get back on topic and let people post there sps under leds

 

[DarkStalker]

This is a great thread but why are people comparing LEDs to mh? That's not what the title of the tread is about.....lets get back on topic and let people post there sps under leds

that's the point a lot of people readed the thread, but only a couple could say and prove that led got their acros colorful...
so I believe the thread reached to the conclusion that leds still miss somenthing when it comes to get sps really beatiful

 

[trueblackpercula]

that's the point a lot of people readed the thread, but only a couple could say and prove that led got their acros colorful...
so I believe the thread reached to the conclusion that leds still miss somenthing when it comes to get sps really beatiful

I would have o say that it all depends on what LEDs fixture you buy. All the high end ones work very well and I am not in a postion to post pictures yet but will say my radion is working to perfection. I am getting good growth and good colors. There is nothing wrong with LEDs it just take time for the sps to adjust and start absorbing the colors that we all so desperately are looking for. My freind has a 450 galling light by LEDs and his tank is insane.
View picture

 

[tdb320reef]

that's the point a lot of people readed the thread, but only a couple could say and prove that led got their acros colorful...
so I believe the thread reached to the conclusion that leds still miss somenthing when it comes to get sps really beatiful

Huh? Not the point I was making.

Sent from my HTC Glacier using Tapatalk 2

 

[DarkStalker]

sure your tank is amazing, but almost 5.000 people readed the thread and less then a handfull could show something...

 

[power boat jim]

sure your tank is amazing, but almost 5.000 people readed the thread and less then a handfull could show something...

That proves nothing, I have no pics to post since I dont have the equipment to do it and capture the colors that are really present. Many people dont post pics on this board and have a beautiful tank, many run under LED. I know of at least two near me. Also how many tanks is enough to support the point LEDs work?

 

[DarkStalker]

Jim don't take me wrong, but unfortunatelly many people say a lot of things when comes to reef, I known a lot of guys who says others tanks are amazing and the truth isn't like that...

You ask me how many tanks to prove it works, thats not the issue, the question is, why does it seems to work only in a few cases and in others the tank with MH have good colors and with leds don't?

 

[power boat jim]

Jim don't take me wrong, but unfortunatelly many people say a lot of things when comes to reef, I known a lot of guys who says others tanks are amazing and the truth isn't like that...

You ask me how many tanks to prove it works, thats not the issue, the question is, why does it seems to work only in a few cases and in others the tank with MH have good colors and with leds don't?

This I can agree with. Thanks for the clarification. As to the 2nd part, there seems to be many schools of thought. Mine is there are simply LED combinations that dont work well. Some folks dont acclimate properly. It seems some sps take a very long time to acclimate to LEDs and a few never do. I must say though I had sps that never looked good under MH either.LEDS dont apper to be a plug and play deal as MH are. This may be leading to some of the problems. This is just one guys opinion though.

 

[tdb320reef]

Jim don't take me wrong, but unfortunatelly many people say a lot of things when comes to reef, I known a lot of guys who says others tanks are amazing and the truth isn't like that...

You ask me how many tanks to prove it works, thats not the issue, the question is, why does it seems to work only in a few cases and in others the tank with MH have good colors and with leds don't?

With all due respect I do not support your unit of measure especially using that data to conclude this post and will chalk it up as an unsubstantiated opinion. I appreciate you sharing your opinion so with that said I will present mine.

The OP wanted to see colorful Acros under LED Technology and those pics were posted. I got into the bending of light and some people thought they corrected me, however, we are still faced with gravity and one thing is for sure the light from LEDS does not provide fully saturated coverage like T5 and MH watt per watt. Then Others and some of the older well respected members kind of moved the post into a color issue especially blues and purples. I think that was addressed. Finally we got into costs and efficiency and well that is industry knowledge.

Therefore my substantiated conclusion is that with the appropriate coverage and intensity one can have colorful Acros that grow eye-popping fast under commodity led fixtures, having an amazing tank with all colors while taking advantage of all of the LED efficiencies reducing the total cost of ownership of your expensive glass box.

Final Point is that if I can do it than anyone can.....Okay I have to get back to work...:lolspin: