coral capable led lighting

[Dary421]

T5s are very good lights. I would use them before going back to MH. But if you want SPS corals, you may want to use something other than LED for now. I have had spectacular growth with softies and LPS, but still working on the SPS. But it could be a million things that are slowing my SPS growth, other than the lighting. I truly believe that many of my issues have been from underestimating how much light I have now. I am considering mixing LED with T5. might be the best of both worlds. I have put my Kalkwasser reactor back on line to see if that doesn't jazz up the SPS growth as it has in the past.

Greg,....I honestly do not have the desire to try and grow sps corals at this point in time,...pristine water quality, triggerfish and ME are not in my overall profile,....as my buddy mike says,..lighting is only one part of the overall picture,...water quality predicts a lot of what you can do or not do,....all the corals I have in my tank right now seem to grow very well and I'm happy,...
.....update....the heck with it !!!! ...... I just ordered my led's !!!!!!!!!'

 

[Gregcoyote]

What kind are you going to try? Please document any before and after photos as there are a lot of folks on the fence here. Start out with them pulled way back, or shadow part of the tank with translucent plastic to cut the light back, then over a few days, let them have it. I don't think you will be disappointed.

 

[Maya]

Dary! Woohoo. How exciting is that!?!!? Keep is posted and let us all know how it goes.

 

[Dary421]

What kind are you going to try? Please document any before and after photos as there are a lot of folks on the fence here. Start out with them pulled way back, or shadow part of the tank with translucent plastic to cut the light back, then over a few days, let them have it. I don't think you will be disappointed.

The ones I liked at the shop were "Starks"....20 bulbs 3 watt per builb,,...two light fixtures,.. Not cheap but,.....what is? Yep ,..I'll take pics before and after,....they are cable mounted from the ceiling which like my tek fixture is the only way to go,....IMO ....so I can either " hang 'em high"... Or tune them down in intensity,....can't wait to try'em out !!!

 

[Dary421]

Dary! Woohoo. How exciting is that!?!!? Keep is posted and let us all know how it goes.

I'm about to wet my pants in anticipation!!! Lol

 

[Gregcoyote]

While Solaris is out of business, this is a good article;

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2006/8/review2#h5

It covers the basics of PUR and does some direct comparisons to MH. They use to use the Phillips 3 watt emitters, rerated to just over 2 watts output.

I went with lots and lots of 1 watt emitters, over 400 of them so far. Each panel is 130 watts. White ones are rated at 10k, while the blue ones are about 450nm blue. The mistake most people make is buying the really cheap units that are really just amped up Christmas tree lights.

 

[deepseadan]

T5s are very good lights. I would use them before going back to MH. But if you want SPS corals, you may want to use something other than LED for now. I have had spectacular growth with softies and LPS, but still working on the SPS. But it could be a million things that are slowing my SPS growth, other than the lighting. I truly believe that many of my issues have been from underestimating how much light I have now. I am considering mixing LED with T5. might be the best of both worlds. I have put my Kalkwasser reactor back on line to see if that doesn't jazz up the SPS growth as it has in the past.

Greg, don't give up on the SPS. Like I said before, I have the ecoxotic panoramas 1 watt LEDs by 12 per module. My tank is 24" deep. I had two SPS before switching from 48" t5 ho X4 bulbs to LED and I was nervous at first too. I had a green tipped colony of Pocillopora damicornis that was doing great under t5, then under the LED started loosing some of it's green. It was still growing like crazy, then slowly I started noticing the green coming back and now it's thriving. My purple acropora turtuosa growth slowed a bit, but it's still getting bigger, and my brown acropora millepora is still about the same. I know these are not the most light demanding sps, but that's where I wanted to start with t5's. On another note, I've noticed even faster growth with my Montipora tuberculosa and other Monti's. The only coral so far which hasn't seemed to like the LED's or maybe had some other issue, was my new addition of green star polyps. It never opened and finally fell apart.

I do agree though, that after all the years of MH, T5, pc, led, and even regular t12 fluorescents, the best overall were the t5's. But my biggest complaint was from the t5's too, they were to bright on the eye and had no natural shimmer look. I'm want to add a couple more sps eventually, but the wife is complaining about how much I'm spending. Even if higher light SPS would thrive it'll be a while before I'm allowed to try...........?

 

[Gregcoyote]

That is great info. Thanks! My green star polyps have been doing fine, so I don't think you can blame your LEDs on that one. But again, thanks, as the info encourages me to move forwards with more SPS, carefully selected.