Zoanthid Lighting Requirements

[cburke401]

Alright so I posted a week ago about turning my fluval spec v into a zoa only tank and after some more thinking and researching I have a few more questions about DIY LED lighting. I was wondering if zoas can thrive with a light spectrum containing royal blue, ultraviolet, and deep red? In other words without any whites. I was also wondering how many LED's would be sufficient since the tank is only five gallons, maybe ten or twelve? I will be running multiple dim able drivers for color mixing. In the end I guess I am really asking what colors do all zoas thrive under and what ratio and how many of what colors. If you don't have any suggestions, can you at least give me your experience and perspective on zoas under a LED spectrum.

 

[kevin32]

My LED have RB, UV, and Red. So far they are doing great. My blue hornet is growing pretty well. Same with my other zoas. I run whites in the evening for 5 hours.

Royal Blue make the color pop so I choose to go royal blue for 10 hours.

Check out the "chinese LED fixture" in the Lighting thread.

 

[cburke401]

I am going to go with 5 Royal Blues, 2 Neutral Whites, and 2 Ultra Violet LEDs for this fixture all from rapidled.com, but I don't know what dimmable drivers to get. I obviously need two different drivers because the Ultra Violets run at a 700mA max current and the Neutral Whites have a 3000mA max drive current and the Royal Blues have a 1500mA max drive current. Any suggestions? I don't want to even come close to frying my LEDs.

 

[organism]

The neutral whites would nuke your tank if you ran them at 3000mA, also I'd recommend the cool whites. I run all my LED's at 750mA so it's not like you need to overdrive them... To answer your original question you don't have to have any whites, I know a couple of people farming corals under only blue LED's, but you'd probably get a better range of colors with 2-3 cool whites in there.

 

[cburke401]

Really, cool whites? Iv'e read that neutral whites are better and if I were to use cool whites at all i'd have to use more neutral whites, like a 2:1 or 3:1 neutral white to cool white ratio. This is just what iv'e read, and since I read that, I was just going to go with 2 neutral whites because I am only going to get 9 LEDs and I don't have room for multiple colored whites. But you suggest cool whites over neutral whites? And I can use 1 driver for all 9 LEDs if its max current is 700mA? can you give me your opinion on this driver, "0-10V Dimmable Nano Driver with Potentiometer" from rapidled.com if i'm running 5 royal blues, 2 ultraviolet, and 2 cool whites.

 

[cj_basser]

Really, cool whites? Iv'e read that neutral whites are better and if I were to use cool whites at all i'd have to use more neutral whites, like a 2:1 or 3:1 neutral white to cool white ratio. This is just what iv'e read, and since I read that, I was just going to go with 2 neutral whites because I am only going to get 9 LEDs and I don't have room for multiple colored whites. But you suggest cool whites over neutral whites? And I can use 1 driver for all 9 LEDs if its max current is 700mA? can you give me your opinion on this driver, "0-10V Dimmable Nano Driver with Potentiometer" from rapidled.com if i'm running 5 royal blues, 2 ultraviolet, and 2 cool whites.

I've been running that same driver with 4 royal blues, 2 neutral, 1 red, and 1 UV, for the past couples weeks with no problems. It's over my 4gallon. So far I've been keeping them dimmed about 50 percent. The driver and LEDs run very cool unless they are cranked up all the way

 

[cburke401]

Thanks for the input, but do you think I will need two of these drivers for 9 LEDs? I know the drivers are rated to run from 3-10 LEDs but I've also read that rapidled.com tends to "stretch" the truth a little.

 

[650-IS350]

No whites on this bulb combo... the white looking lights are really 3000Ks or another color that I can't remember.

 

[cj_basser]

Thanks for the input, but do you think I will need two of these drivers for 9 LEDs? I know the drivers are rated to run from 3-10 LEDs but I've also read that rapidled.com tends to "stretch" the truth a little.

I not too sure on that. My driver has been doing fine with the 8leds. All my experiences with Rapid have been nothing short of spectacular. The shipping was very fast and products are really nice. I received a solderless led that did not work, and I had a replacement within two days.

 

[cburke401]

Nice well I think I will just go with 1 driver. Thanks for your input, and do you think you could post a couple pics of your setup so I have an idea?

 

[organism]

The thing is with only one driver you have the option of running either all of the lights, or none of the lights. If you're planning on running the lights for longer than 7ish hours you might want to reconsider another driver for just some of the blues.

 

[kevin32]

I highly recommend u find one that is dimmable. So much easier if you want to adjust the appearance of the light combination.