Who has really colorful acros under leds?

[fishguy597]

thats a nice argument, pics under leds are horrible.
I believe theres another aspect should be considered, I don't known if I'll say this right but please make an effort to understand, leds can create a false color, in ex. while they are on they reflect on coral in a way that makes look more colorful than it really is, I've seen coral cultivated under mh and t5 that when you take out of water are truly colorful and led corals that in tank had color and when took out of the led light looked faded

I have LEDs and understand what you mean when they don't look the same. when there is more blue then white this will happen.
On the other hand I had mh /t5. the same could be said when people take pics with just the actinics on. they just don't look the same when the main lights are on.

 

[Dapg8gt]

Whoa above sounds like some personal beef LOL..

My experience with LED (frag tank)was an OK one but I did have issues. I had some color morphs in a few acros.. LPS (Acans) was even worse. Trying to put maricultured pieces under it was a pain also, Although I didn't have issues like frying corals or anything I didn't have the speed of growth that I do with MH..

Also on the coral looking better than it really is was my experience also. I thought my corals were looking good untill I actually redid my frag rack so I took all the coral out and noticed it looked very dull. To me it seemed that the LEDs made the coral look better/healthier than It actually was.

Once I switched back to MH for what I thought was gonna be a temporary experiment to rule out maybe hidden water quality issues once back to my 14k Phoenix within a month I had substantial growth and my colors were mostly back to that of the DT (MH/T5).. So it's obvious LEDS work I think it just works better for some than others and there is a different method involved. So in short after almost a year I'm back to MH and loving it again. I don't have to worry about the heat issue so that's one drawback I don't have to worry about.

Your tank looks awesome and it's great to see that especially that they are the cheaper ones. But to me it seems like you are pretty aggressive with anybody who has an opinion other than yours FWIW..

 

[CUNAReefer]

I have LEDs and understand what you mean when they don't look the same. when there is more blue then white this will happen.
On the other hand I had mh /t5. the same could be said when people take pics with just the actinics on. they just don't look the same when the main lights are on.

I couldn't agree more fishguy. I am borrowing a Avast Marine Works porthole to take some top down pics of my tank with all of the lights on. I cant take pics now due to the glare off the water surface. I can remember what my bulb combo was in the pic above, but I use a grey card to adjust the white balance. That was it. If you have some tips, I can post some pics in my SPS thread. I think a really good comparison between different forms of lighting, would be to use a "whites" only pic. I'm a T5 user, so I am limited to spectrums that are produced by the bulbs I buy. I am willing to take part in a T5 vs LED test. Tom can set his LEDs to whites on only, and I can use a bulb with a spectrum similar to his LEDs. This way, no blues or pinks can compromise the photos. I am a complete novice when it comes to taking pics, so you will need to let me know how I can set my camera. James

 

[markalot]

Can I ask this question another way (the original question).

If I can build a cluster of LED's that reproduce the spectrum of couple of T5 bulbs or an MH bulb, is there anyone that thinks the coral will color differently given the same PAR and being situated under this cluster?

So isn't the real question one of coverage and missing parts of the spectrum?

It seems to me like a big guessing game right now if an LED fixture covers the spectrum of light required for a coral to color well.

What coral? What part of the spectrum is important for that coral?

If Light #1 has a smooth spectral distribution then most corals might do well while another light source with a more jagged spectral resolution might suit some corals just fine while others never do well. ???

Very hard to quantify, IMO. Someone with numerous LED fixtures running might be "accidentally" producing a spectral distribution that works for most corals. Someone else might just happen to be growing corals A, B, and C which all do well under light 1, so someone else buys light 1 and tries corals E, F, and G and they don't do so well.

I think this would apply for any light source.

Note what I said above is as much a question as a theory because I really don't know.

 

[DarkStalker]

it's really sad when you turn only the whites and look at your corals, specially the green ones haha

 

[JPMagyar]

Tom,

Can you get a few shots taken in raw with no photoshop using white LED only. In most of your pictures the colors of the fish are not showing accurately as they have extreme pastels so I was wondering if you have any unadjusted photos?

 

[CHSUB]

i think we should be careful not to criticize this tank...yes the colors are off, example: "yellow" tang, "purple" sohal, but clearly it is a beautiful tank and the reefer himself has stated "colors are better with HM"...so i think the debate is over.

 

[DarkStalker]

Really loved the pink duncan lol

 

[mess7777]

I think we can all agree that the photos are not the correct white balance or whatever....however you can't fake the fact that the corals look healthy. Here is a quick attempt to correct the color, and although things are less vivid...in fact surely in person it looks better......the fact remains that this tank looks great no matter how it gets photoshopped.

 

[Dapg8gt]

Agreed his tank is one of the few led grown tanks I HAVE seen so far that looks all out healthy and thriving. Not saying they aren't around but I have only seen converted to LED and so on. It's a awesome tank for sure.

 

[Moser]

 

[tdb320reef]

Tom,

Can you get a few shots taken in raw with no photoshop using white LED only. In most of your pictures the colors of the fish are not showing accurately as they have extreme pastels so I was wondering if you have any unadjusted photos?

Lets be honest! The only two things that I do to my photos is through the software adjust white-balance and increase saturation. I use a white piece of PVC to do this If that is what you consider Photoshop well I guess every photo posted included your previous three are Photoshop.

Now if you want a photo skills thread set it up and I will contribute in how ever way you want to see them. I can do it with my cell phone, Black and white, Heck I can even adjust them if you are color blind. If we do this lets make sure everyone procures 65K T5s and metal hadlide bulbs for the photos as this is the LED white spectrum in my fixtures.

The below photo in not saturated no gray card no white balance adjustment with 65k Led light only.

One more since I know Blue is your Favorite Color

Someone was complaining about Green under 65k whites?

 

[trueblackpercula]

Awesome tank people are just hating on your tank. LEDs are the future and in a couple more years they will be outstanding and MH will b a thing of the past watch and see. Two more years is all that will be needed. No heat no electric bills no bulb replacement and the flexibility to adjust using software is all going to change reef keeping.
Thanks for posting your spectacular tank.

Moser

Once again your tank is simply jaw dropping when did you add LEDs as the last time I checked your build thread you were using halides?
Thanks for giving use the little people the inspiration we all needed.

 

[tdb320reef]

Awesome tank people are just hating on your tank. LEDs are the future and in a couple more years they will be outstanding and MH will b a thing of the past watch and see. Two more years is all that will be needed. No heat no electric bills no bulb replacement and the flexibility to adjust using software is all going to change reef keeping.
Thanks for posting your spectacular tank.

Moser

Once again your tank is simply jaw dropping when did you add LEDs as the last time I checked your build thread you were using halides?
Thanks for giving use the little people the inspiration we all needed.

I know Thanks! Apparently on many fourms I have become the spokesperson for LEDS. At some point the excuses will run out:fun2:

Below Are Raw photos of the previous under normal light conditions. Which is Blue at 75% or 450NM spectrum and Whites 65K at 50%. Please end the potoshop theory furthermore I think this is how I will post my pics moving forward to mitigate any misunderstanding (cough excuses).:deadhorse::deadhorse:

 

[tdb320reef]

Few More

Few More

Continued.

 

[biggles]

Lol - i think that's checkmate tdb320reef ! I'm a radium guy through and through and even i have to say - absolutely stunning

 

[ksicard]

A little bit off topic, but what controller do you use to control your lighting?

 

[tdb320reef]

A little bit off topic, but what controller do you use to control your lighting?

I use the Apex VDM module. I found that I can run 6 fixtures with both colors independent off of one port. I have the full unit that provides 2 ports and added a VDM for an additional 2 ports. I also use one port for my Tunze 6105's and one for the two Tunze 6215 Waveboxes.

The Cheap Chinese leds have a knob on them for dimming. I disconnected the knob and ran the wires into a Female Cat5(RJ45) Connector and control these fixtures also with the Apex.

 

[ksicard]

Ahh okay thanks, just curious but do you know of any other controllers that aren't as heavy on the wallet? I just fried my last controller due to a wiring error and now have 5 color channels compared to 4 before and I'm looking for a controller that I can use for all 5 channels. Sorry for going off the topic but I find it impossible to get the correct spectrum of light using dimmer knobs that increase in larger increments than 1% etc....

Absolutely stunning tank btw, tanks like yours made the jump to LED's far to easy for myself. Especially after learning how to build them. Keep up the great work and ignore the haters.

 

[tdb320reef]

Lol - i think that's checkmate tdb320reef ! I'm a radium guy through and through and even i have to say - absolutely stunning

Thanks, I don't think it will ever be over. There will always be someone that will have to pick it apart. I have found it just never stops. The fact is that everyone resists change and people seem to hate others that have success. Even James (CUNA) whom I personally don't like, has an amazing frag tank and I love the colors and growth he is getting. However I know that came at the expensive of the Zeovit process. Me being a homeowner with children I wouldn't even consider utilizing that expensive product on a huge reef. Because I don't use it I cannot comment. I will say that Zeo frags in my system do not do well for some reason.

I wish people would visualize the effort and time that it takes to contribute, and post pictures on top of maintaining a huge reef. In the end we should ask yourself "what can I contribute" instead of whom or what topic am I going to pick apart next.

The purpose of my contribution is to put this misunderstanding of newer technology to bed and demonstrate that it could be leveraged for success while taking advantages of all of the efficiencies and cost savings.