Good corals for LEDs

[mrg02d]

Hello all,
I have been reading a lot lately about corals under led lighting and have begun to conclude that some corals do excelent under leds whereas others do poorly.

I thought that maybe us LED dudes could make a list of corals we have seen do well or know of to do well since no such list seems to exist.

So far I have noticed the following to do well under my leds:
Zoanthids
neon green favia
some palythoas

So far I have seen the following do bad:
Acans
Chalice
Ricordea

This isnt to say that what I have seen is so, just my own observations. Id love to get a lot of responses that confirm and counter observations. Just remember to detail your setup so people can get an idea of what to expect.

My setup:
7.5g rimless 12in cube. 12 3W cree leds (6-xr-e cool white and 6-Royal blue) 2.5in from the water surface. I run my leds: royal blue 70% and cool white 30%

I plan to put my birdsnest frag into the led tank and see how it goes...

Matt

 

[melosu58]

Placement in the tank would make a big difference also. What might not do good at the bottom might do good at the top. Check all your angles.

 

[Zer0]

I agree with Mike. I've seen some of the listed corals that do good under your LED's completely melt away in other peoples LED lit tanks. Mainly due to improperly light acclimating the corals, or having too many LED's on too high of brightness, and also, as Mike mentioned, placing some too low or too high in the tank. Even some of the light needy SPS have melted away under LED's.

I really do believe that it all depends on how the LED's are placed, how strong they are, and definitely other variables come in to play. I've also seen other tanks that have a huge variety of coral flourish under LED's so i really think it all depends. Same could be said about any other lights. Some corals can even melt under T5HO's if they are placed too high up in the tank, or if there is just too much light. The only true way to know what is going to do well in your tank is if you test it all out yourself.. or if you are receiving corals from a tank with the same or very similar light setup.

 

[mrg02d]

Good points guys!

Let me edit my tank observations...

My zoanthids (with the exception of one) do good in my tank anywhere. I never did acclimate them either. I just plopped them where they seemed to fit. Some went just inches away from the leds whereas others went on the bottom.

Both locations have seen great results. The zoanthids look much much better under the leds than the t5s...Once the whites go out, the light show really begins with the zoanthids!

In contrast, the acans turned a dull bland color. They used to be deep red. This is despite placing them on the bottom. This seems to back up the idea that leds have extreme PAR.

Chalice corals also seem to dull a bit, just not as bad as the acans.

A candy cane coral also did bad. I started it off to the side and low. The flesh never expanded much and the colors were drab. I put it into my 20g with t5 lights and its looking 10 times better!

I will update the green birdsnest later. It is in there now. I am now keeping my leds lit as follows:
Blues @ 50% (10hours)
Whites @ 15% (6hours)

Matt

 

[thincat]

Okay everyone, send me all of your frags so that I can run a detailed test on all of them in my tank. This way all will have the same light, water and other parameters. I prefer large size plugs. lol

 

[harmy4993]

Okay everyone, send me all of your frags so that I can run a detailed test on all of them in my tank. This way all will have the same light, water and other parameters. I prefer large size plugs. lol

Everyone should send one attacking acan

 

[Mitchell0605]

Or I'll give some free Aiptasia and GHA with my Acan!

 

[thincat]

Aiptasia!!! only if it's on a good size Acan plug lol
sorry to the OP, now back to the Org. thread....

 

[Jimbo7]

Everyone should send one attacking acan

I'll send orange rainbow AKA Mike Tyson right over.


My current observations and setup:
All coral were slowly light acclimated to a 70w JBJ K-2 Viper MH over a period of 2.5 weeks, to an end height of 2-3 inches under the water with the MH abour ~5in off the water.
All coral was then placed in the bottom of my 12g. Started Whites 15% Blues 20% for 10 hours a day. Been upping 5% every week.

SPS:
ORA Hawkins - Doing Great
ORA JTC - Doing Great, super colored with awesome PE.
ORA Purple Plasma - Doing Great, super colored.
ORA Verde - Doing alright, very slow to get color back, but I hear the is common.
ORA Nana - Same as Verde
ORA Oregon Tort - Doing Great
GARF Bonsai - Not doing very well, very browned with minimal PE. Though i'm not willing to attribute that to the LEDs just yet, i'm still trying to work through the water chemistry, system has a ton of SPS.
Pink Birdsnest - Doing Great, Growing like crazy.
Orange Cap - Doing Great, very new to the system and getting a nice white rim.
Green Milli - Doing well, my first milli, so not sure exactly what to expect. Has good PE, just gotta see how it colors up.
Unknown Yongei? - Doing great, has kept color throughout entire ordeal.
Unknown Mini Acro Conony? - Doing great, super colored with amazing PE.
Unknown Metallic Green Acro? - Doing great.
Unknown Pink/Blue star Acro? - Doing alright, it fell to the back and went unnoticed for awhile, just recently pulled it out of the dark and got it some light. Looking better everyday though.

LPS:
Orange Rainbow Acans - Doing Great, so healthy they tried to eat other coral. Top heads seem slightly duller then shaded side heads, but not by much and still very colorful.
Fruit Loop Acans - Doing Great, no color loss.
Green Balls of Fury Acans - Doing Great, no color loss.
Tabling Duncans - Doing great, very slowly coloring up, 2 new heads in a month.

Softies:
Misc Zoas - Have a couple different types, all doing well, blues bring out the colors quite a bit.
Orange Rhodactis - Doing well, pretty finicky for a mushroom. Some days it loves life some its all closed up.
Blue Rhodactis - Doing Great.
Blue/Green Ricordea - 11 heads, brand new to system, instantly opened. Anticipating quite a bit of a color up.

Other:
1 1/2"-2" Crocea Clam - Doing outstanding, much more open under the LEDs then under the MH. Color is getting better every day, turning into a real stunning piece.




I may have forgotten one. But there is my full report for now. If you have any questions lemme know, hope it helps someone out there.

 

[mrg02d]

So I see you also started the blues really low. Maybe im running my blues too high too soon? Ive backed them down to about 38% with whites at 15% (driver drops out below this). I wonder how well the corals would do under just blue light with no whites?

My acans seem to be improving with reduced lighting. They are opening up a little more now.

Matt

 

[Jimbo7]

Yea i just tint them enough to get a crisp white look.

 

[mrg02d]

Yea i just tint them enough to get a crisp white look.

Ahh, but I love the blue tint look. I guess I will just have to be patient huh?

Its amazing how bright the whites are compared to the blues. 15% for the whites and the whole tank is yellow-white. Ick! With the blues at 40-50%, the yucky yellow is gone and in comes a nice shade of blue!

Matt

 

[Jimbo7]

I don't notice much if any yellow in my whites. Doesn't take much blue at all to get the nice 12K-14K look I like.

 

[mrg02d]

I don't notice much if any yellow in my whites. Doesn't take much blue at all to get the nice 12K-14K look I like.

Hmmm...Thats odd...Maybe its just my eyes then.

I find it interesting that you dont have any corals that seem to react negatively to leds. Maybe that is evidence that all corals can do well when acclimated to the leds. My zoanthids seem to like being hit as hard as I can hit them with light. My other corals didnt like that too much. I will keep the lighting down for a week or two and then bring them up a bit more. Need to get that arduino project going. Make it do all that for me.

Anyone else here have leds?

Matt

 

[Jimbo7]

Im running Cree XP's on mine, aren't you using XR's? Wonder if it makes a difference. Document your arduino project well, im right behind you on that one.

 

[mrg02d]

Im running Cree XP's on mine, aren't you using XR's? Wonder if it makes a difference. Document your arduino project well, im right behind you on that one.

Ahhh XP. Yes I am running XR. That could be the difference! I was afraid that XP could be too yellow since they are listed as being 5000k-8300k. Seemed with my luck, id wind up with all 5000k so I though the XR-E (listed at 6500k) would be a better bet. Looks like I bet wrong. Boo! At least the yellow goes away with the blues on.

Matt