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

[tdb320reef]

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By sloped forward are you saying slightly tipped toward the front glass?

I slope them forward toward the front corner of the tank as that is where my sps frags are and the objective it to make sure they are getting 200-300 par. Plus this allows me to get my arms in there easier as I do frag the corals often..

 

[tdb320reef]

I recently made the transition from halides to led a few months ago and could not be happier. I was running 3 250 watt 20K Radiums over a standard 150 gal tank. I prefer a bluer look so still had a few blue leds to make the corals colors pop. Growth was good and corals looked good but heat was awful, living in the south the tank heated up the back room of my house and although no chiller I had 4 fans running most of the year to keep the tank below 82.
It was time to renew the bulbs $300 so I decided to take the plunge, I bought 1 Radion gen2 and pulled out the center MH light just to see how it went, I noticed an immediate drop in temp and believe it or not saw better growth on my red planet which sits in the middle of my tank. I fell in love with the controllability as well using the Radion to slowly ramp up in the morning with high growth during the day and the blues kicking in late afternoon and evening letting me enjoy my coral corals when I come home from work.
I was so pleased I replaced the two end halides with the Radion Pros, yes they are pricy but I am very pleased so far. Awesome growth, better colors and a much cooler tank
I have had friends use cheaper led's and DIY units with mixed results, I am glad I went with the Radions and looking forward to being able to control them wirelessly hopefully soon.

That is great! Id love to see a picture of the tank with the leds. I also like the 20k look and think SPS look best under this spectrum.

 

[tdb320reef]

your tank is inspirational!

Thanks I appreciate that.

 

[tdb320reef]

good stuff and on point!!! however, some of the opinions and conclusions are incorrect with respect to my timeline and recent success.

lowering no3 is of great concern, however in 8 months it has gone between .2 and 10-25 ppm(closer to 10ppm). during one point no3 was .2 ppm while dosing vinegar and running my leds at 65%, corals where still showing poor color and pe. it was only very early that i ran my lights at 100%, quickly learning that was too much power.


3. You don't acclimate your corals properly and if you are running your leds at 100% and moving your corals from the sand to the top in a couple of weeks you're going to have problems.

you might be right on here, all my corals are from local frag farmers or DD who both use MH.

6. You are purchasing Mari cultured corals which people have success but the two colonies I purchased RTN'd in a week for no reason.

i'm having great success with maricultured coral now!

9. Lower nutrients, More flow, and less intense lighting is what is giving you your current success but if you decide to swap out your MH and lower your intensity and properly acclimate your corals you will be successful.

nutrients are as high now as ever, no3@ 5-10 ppm, po4@ <.04. yes, flow is stronger but only slightly. i'm not sure if leds run at 65% are more intense than 400w 10k MH?

my problems could have been something specific to the brand of lamp i was using? leds spaced to far apart and to much red spectrum? imo, without question it was the leds.

one thing is for sure, with nearly 40 sps' corals in my tank now; i'm not going back to leds....

Okay thanks for sharing and again you have an amazing tank. Look forward to seeing the pics.

 

[tdb320reef]

your current tank has my old tank beat, no question...but i will post some newer pics and we will see.....also remember that pic is from 2001!!!! what did your tank look like that long ago?

fyi, this tank used 175 w Mh and PC, wet/dry filter, air stone skimmer...

Here are a couple of old ones. In both cases I had to shut them down due to the over growth of Xenia LOL. Both tanks had T5 fixtures. While I loved the growth and color, I hated the costs of replacing bulbs and the chiller to cool the tanks.

125 Gallon

180 Gallon

 

[trueblackpercula]

Very nice step ups everyone

 

[tdb320reef]

Colors Up Close

Colors Up Close

I did some frag packs tonight for a few locals interested. Here is an example of how beautiful Acros grow under LED lights.

 

[Prochef176]

View attachment 230350View attachment 230352

 

[R@ck78]

Very nice! Quick question, do you think the same results can be achieved via two part dosing as with a calrx?

 

[tdb320reef]

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Very nice! Quick question, do you think the same results can be achieved via two part dosing as with a calrx?

Personally I think CARX is superior.

 

[clowndude]

Can u send those frags my way Tom? I got a big tank to fill lol

 

[Editour2]

subscribed....will post my experiences and pics when time permits.
Frank

 

[mess7777]

I have CHSUB's old lights. They have been running about a month now, and I can't say anything has changed much. I can say with certainty these are very powerful. I ramped up to 60% and have now scaled back as I was seeing some adverse effects.

I was experiencing issues with zoas and PE prior to the light exchange, but am slowly trying to work my way out of them.

I have nitrates of 0 and phosphates of .02 so I can't blame the water, at least not those particular parameters. If I kill off all my SPS as well then we'll have a pretty good reason to believe that the Pacific Sun lights are not doing the job they are supposed to.

Of note, my birdsnest coral has sprouted more new branches in a month than it has in 1 year under my old lights. If only the others would react the same!

 

[tdb320reef]

I have CHSUB's old lights. They have been running about a month now, and I can't say anything has changed much. I can say with certainty these are very powerful. I ramped up to 60% and have now scaled back as I was seeing some adverse effects.

I was experiencing issues with zoas and PE prior to the light exchange, but am slowly trying to work my way out of them.

I have nitrates of 0 and phosphates of .02 so I can't blame the water, at least not those particular parameters. If I kill off all my SPS as well then we'll have a pretty good reason to believe that the Pacific Sun lights are not doing the job they are supposed to.

Of note, my birdsnest coral has sprouted more new branches in a month than it has in 1 year under my old lights. If only the others would react the same!

Thanks for the update. I did experience that some of the Zoa's, especially high end ones of course, would shrink do to the high light. Positioning them under my center brace, at the bottom, in a cave seems to be the solution. I have my ORA hot pink in a 1000 par and cant believe how good it is looking. Keep us posted. Please post a pic of the tank also. There was a CA reefer from Toronto that picked up a frag pack from me while he came down for a Red Wings game and he had those lights and said really good things about them and his SpS in his tank.

 

[mess7777]

Thanks for the update. I did experience that some of the Zoa's, especially high end ones of course, would shrink do to the high light. Positioning them under my center brace, at the bottom, in a cave seems to be the solution. I have my ORA hot pink in a 1000 par and cant believe how good it is looking. Keep us posted. Please post a pic of the tank also. There was a CA reefer from Toronto that picked up a frag pack from me while he came down for a Red Wings game and he had those lights and said really good things about them and his SpS in his tank.

My zoas look bad enough at the moment that I won't be posting any picks. Several of my SPS have zero PE during the day and am not happy with them either. As I mentioned this all happened prior to switching lights. I had LEDs before, but there were very old and only put out about 200 par at the top of the water on a 24" tank. Before I started having issues, I had great PE and my zoas looked great. It isn't lighting that is causing my issues....but something else which I haven't gotten over yet. Once things turn for the better, I will be less ashamed to post pics here!

 

[Editour2]

My zoas look bad enough at the moment that I won't be posting any picks. Several of my SPS have zero PE during the day and am not happy with them either. As I mentioned this all happened prior to switching lights. I had LEDs before, but there were very old and only put out about 200 par at the top of the water on a 24" tank. Before I started having issues, I had great PE and my zoas looked great. It isn't lighting that is causing my issues....but something else which I haven't gotten over yet. Once things turn for the better, I will be less ashamed to post pics here!

Nothing to be ashamed about....this is a leaning process and by posting here perhaps we can all learn while helping each other and the hobby.

 

[eyesolator]

There was a CA reefer from Toronto that picked up a frag pack from me while he came down for a Red Wings game

You sold frags to a TORONTO fan, shame on you.............

 

[Prochef176]

Some growth between Feb, April and today.
Radion Gen 1 with TIR lenses

 

[Peter Eichler]

You sold frags to a TORONTO fan, shame on you.............

Better than selling them to a Red Wings fan! :rollface: Go Hawks!

 

[Big E]

Colors Up Close

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I did some frag packs tonight for a few locals interested. Here is an example of how beautiful Acros grow under LED lights.

Are these frags your Red planet?

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