Yes!!!!!!!!! SPS Success with Leds! Come in and Share your Story!

[NatureNerd]

Interesting article for anyone using red LEDs

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/blog/red-light-negatively-affects-health-of-stony-coral

I am not sure how applicable this article is for most LED users. No one would ever suggest using all red, or a 50/50 mix of red to blue, for our reefs. Perhaps I misunderstood the point.

A little red wine has been shown to be good for our health, too much leads to all sorts of problems.

 

[troubadour11]

I am not sure how applicable this article is for most LED users. No one would ever suggest using all red, or a 50/50 mix of red to blue, for our reefs. Perhaps I misunderstood the point.

A little red wine has been shown to be good for our health, too much leads to all sorts of problems.

I have a feeling it's "good to know." To much can be detrimental. So there is a cut off limit. But like you mention, I'm definitely not running anywhere close to a 50/50 mix at all. I have 2 deep red total (with no lenses) over my 90 gallon DT. I do have 6 total Neutral White (3 over each 1/2 of the tank) which you can say adds a small additional bump to the red spectrum.

But I'm running twice as many Clear Whites as Neutral Whites. Also a couple other colors on my white/color string (1 cyan and a couple blue). I have an entire string of only RB and UV (really violet, near UV). So I wouldn't even guess that I'm even near anything like 10% or 15% red in my mix.

I did just finish my LED build though, and am just beginning to collect frags for under these new fixtures. I'd be really curious if they tested this with a control. Then a blue set up like they did. And then a blue with only 1 or 2 red (or some very small % of red). I'd be extremely interested to see the more targeted results of how more systems are set up.

But interesting stuff non-the-less. I'm looking forward to updating the thread with some shots as my pieces settle in and start to grow under my LEDs. I've been tagging along on this thread for a long time while I planned and built my lights. Now it's time to start contributing with some results :thumbsup:

2 SPS in my system for a little less then a week now... I can't wait to be able to share some comparison updates once enough time has passed! :bounce3:

 

[saltyair]

take a look :wave:

View attachment 270754

10 weeks

 

[007Bond]

Hey salty,....do you have a pic from 10 weeks ago, in other words what they looked like when you started. And what lights do you have over them?---Rick

 

[fishguy597]

just a few pics

 

[fishguy597]

A couple more. Running radion gen 2 for a year now.

 

[fishguy597]

How do you make these bigger ? Please pm me.

 

[Yeroc9]

Interesting article for anyone using red LEDs

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/blog/red-light-negatively-affects-health-of-stony-coral

That explains why my full spectrum led fixtures only have 2 red out of 55 lights

 

[dilligaf29]

some great pics on here and lots of great advice subscribing =)

 

[saltyair]

Click on the banner :dance:

digita and bird of paradise


][/B]

Hey salty,....do you have a pic from 10 weeks ago, in other words what they looked like when you started. And what lights do you have over them?---Rick

 

[FastUno]

2 month mark on Chinese LED's

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/ffJGOYrWlgg?feature=player_detailpage" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[007Bond]

Fast,...real real nice tank and general lay out!! can't wait to see the 1 year pic. :thumbsup:

 

[Aran]

I have two radions over my 120 and my sps do well under them. I struggle far more with nutrient issues than with the lighting. I will say this though I think with the radions specifically its easy to burn corals at least in my experience.

 

[reefmutt]

I think that here is a correlation between nutrient issues and led lighting.
I really believe that corals have a far more difficult time dealing with an led light source than t5 or mh and I think that nutriens play a more important role in how corals- especially sps react to led lighting.
This is, of course, my own opinion based on my experience with LEDs.
When nutrients are low, I find that corals do not tolerate white LEDs very well and can get burned or bleached very quickly.
I have found that if I run whites higher than around 40% in water that has n below 1-3 ppm and p below .9 ish, sps will have a hard time.
In higher nutrient situations, assuming the corals have been acclimated properly so as not to shock them, they will tolerate higher intensity..
The problem, I find, is that LEDs don't seem to be as bright to our eyes as mh or t5 so we have a habit of making them too bright to satisfy our own preferences and end up stressing the corals.
I think that the trick to keeping coral happy under LEDs is to feed feed feed. This obviously can create nutrient issues which need to be dealt with by the usual means..
I guess this can be said for any type of lighting but I feel that when using LEDs, one has to pay particular attention to nutrient input and export.
Corals are just more forgiving when under traditional light sources, it seems..
I'm also beginning to see a positive effect of dosing aminos when using LEDs.
Again, this is nothing new, really but I guess this long post boils down to the idea that proper nutrition and nutrient management is more critical when using LEDs...
I may have said this before but I believe that I'd merits repeating...Imho..

 

[Arkayology]

I think that here is a correlation between nutrient issues and led lighting.
I really believe that corals have a far more difficult time dealing with an led light source than t5 or mh and I think that nutriens play a more important role in how corals- especially sps react to led lighting.
This is, of course, my own opinion based on my experience with LEDs.
When nutrients are low, I find that corals do not tolerate white LEDs very well and can get burned or bleached very quickly.
I have found that if I run whites higher than around 40% in water that has n below 1-3 ppm and p below .9 ish, sps will have a hard time.
In higher nutrient situations, assuming the corals have been acclimated properly so as not to shock them, they will tolerate higher intensity..
The problem, I find, is that LEDs don't seem to be as bright to our eyes as mh or t5 so we have a habit of making them too bright to satisfy our own preferences and end up stressing the corals.
I think that the trick to keeping coral happy under LEDs is to feed feed feed. This obviously can create nutrient issues which need to be dealt with by the usual means..
I guess this can be said for any type of lighting but I feel that when using LEDs, one has to pay particular attention to nutrient input and export.
Corals are just more forgiving when under traditional light sources, it seems..
I'm also beginning to see a positive effect of dosing aminos when using LEDs.
Again, this is nothing new, really but I guess this long post boils down to the idea that proper nutrition and nutrient management is more critical when using LEDs...
I may have said this before but I believe that I'd merits repeating...Imho..

I think there is some truth to what you are saying. There will always be some exceptions, but I have always done better with SPS and LEDs under higher nutrient conditions (higher SPS nutrient conditions).

 

[FastUno]

I think that here is a correlation between nutrient issues and led lighting.

So I think what we are really getting at is that LED lights are strong. The nutrients & particulates suspended in the water column act as a SPS or sun screen protection for the corals. It allows for better & more even and indirect dispersion of light radiation.

I don't think it is the nutrients themselves, but their presence indirectly.

 

[TheStinkyFish]

Very nice and clean! Looks great.

What t-5 fixture did you add here? I like the simplistic look of your lights/

 

[lynchmob3000]

I think that here is a correlation between nutrient issues and led lighting.
I really believe that corals have a far more difficult time dealing with an led light source than t5 or mh and I think that nutriens play a more important role in how corals- especially sps react to led lighting.
This is, of course, my own opinion based on my experience with LEDs.
When nutrients are low, I find that corals do not tolerate white LEDs very well and can get burned or bleached very quickly.
I have found that if I run whites higher than around 40% in water that has n below 1-3 ppm and p below .9 ish, sps will have a hard time.
In higher nutrient situations, assuming the corals have been acclimated properly so as not to shock them, they will tolerate higher intensity..
The problem, I find, is that LEDs don't seem to be as bright to our eyes as mh or t5 so we have a habit of making them too bright to satisfy our own preferences and end up stressing the corals.
I think that the trick to keeping coral happy under LEDs is to feed feed feed. This obviously can create nutrient issues which need to be dealt with by the usual means..
I guess this can be said for any type of lighting but I feel that when using LEDs, one has to pay particular attention to nutrient input and export.
Corals are just more forgiving when under traditional light sources, it seems..
I'm also beginning to see a positive effect of dosing aminos when using LEDs.
Again, this is nothing new, really but I guess this long post boils down to the idea that proper nutrition and nutrient management is more critical when using LEDs...
I may have said this before but I believe that I'd merits repeating...Imho..

I'm with you 100%. I think of it as the margin or window of error is much smaller with the led lighting. I always laugh when i see a coral thats in my main tank doing some stn and i throw it under the radium led combo in my frag tank and sure as **** it starts to heal and grow back. Also my led tank will bloom algae much faster and the corals grow much slower. if i test my led tank and get alk of a low 7 my corals will stn if i dont catch it in time. my frag tank at only a year old will be a 6 with no problems.... The health seems to be better with sps and halide to where they can overcome stressful situations much easier.

 

[lynchmob3000]

i say this having a bb frag tank with calcium reactor compared to a show tank thats being dosed 2 part also so its not a controlled experiment but ive been around long enough to know whats going

 

[007Bond]

Very interesting conversation!! Real good food for :thumbsup: