Lighting upgrade

[JLH-l3ioCub3]

So, Christmas is here and I'm looking at upgrading the stock lights on my 29 biocube to a Rapid LED retro kit. I don't know much about lighting so I wanted to reach out for some insight on this kit. It's really the only way I can upgrade and keep my hood so here's my question...
Will this light kit provide enough light for SPS and anemones?
http://www.rapidled.com/servlet/the-241/Biocube-29-Dimmable-Retrofit/Detail

 

[JLH-l3ioCub3]

There are 24 LEDs(12 blue & 12 white) which are 3 watts a piece giving me a total of 72 watts. I can also buy the LEDs with lenses to give me a better Par for a little extra.

Like I said, I don't know very much about lighting so I don't know if this is going to be a good thing or if it's even worth the upgrade.
I believe my current lights are 36 watts per bulb blue and white giving me a total of 72 watts, so I'm not increasing my wattage but I don't know if the par effect makes it better or not or even anything in general.

Please, any help would be awesome! Thanks!

 

[Greenturtle]

As far as I know, LED light is double the watts as pc lights. So really you are getting 144 watts from the LEDs.

Anemones and SPS need really good water quality too. You can get montipora and birdsnests SPS corals with stock lights. And lots of LPS corals, such as torch and frogspawn, look like anemones.

 

[JLH-l3ioCub3]

So you're saying 3 watts = 6 watts? If that's right then it would definitely be worth it!
Also probably very important to get the kit with the dimmer in case it's too much light for some of the LPS I have. I'm not planning on getting an anemone. I just learned my lesson with them especially in such a small tank. My water quality is always great, I have good filtration and keep up on my weekly water changes. All water tests always show 0 trites, trates, and phosphates with steady levels of calcium around 500. Keeping ph at 8.2-3 is never a problem as im constantly monitoring params. Tank is pretty well established (8 months old)and existing LPS are growing like weeds.

The stock lighting is just sooo bland and every time I buy a new coral when it's under LEDs at the LFS they look so vibrant until I get them in my tank and I'm pretty disappointed at how dull they look.

 

[mr_X]

i don't think it works that way. i think that's plenty of light. i would make sure you get the dimmable drivers so you can turn them down and adjust color as needed. you will end up killing most of your coral if you swap these lights without some sort of acclimation- i would suggest keeping them turned down to about 25% and slowly ramping them up over a period of weeks.
i'm sure you are using API for your calcium kit, and i doubt your calcium is 500. API's calcium kit is not accurate.

 

[JLH-l3ioCub3]

i don't think it works that way. i think that's plenty of light. i would make sure you get the dimmable drivers so you can turn them down and adjust color as needed. you will end up killing most of your coral if you swap these lights without some sort of acclimation- i would suggest keeping them turned down to about 25% and slowly ramping them up over a period of weeks.
i'm sure you are using API for your calcium kit, and i doubt your calcium is 500. API's calcium kit is not accurate.

Are you agreeing with greenturtle that LEDs are double wattage giving me a total of 144 watts? Also, would it be beneficial to get the bulbs with lenses?

I didn't think about acclimating them to the light. Thanks for the info!

I'm using sea chem test kits for my params.
However, I used to use API until I realized how crappy and hard to use they were compared to the sea chem

 

[Greenturtle]

Oh, I made a thread about this a while ago and that is what someone said about this exact LED kit. I just assumed that they were right :/

 

[mr_X]

i'm disagreeing with the idea that led light is measured as double pc light. there are many more variables in play to assume this. some of them are less than PC.
it depends on a lot of things.

 

[JLH-l3ioCub3]

i'm disagreeing with the idea that led light is measured as double pc light. there are many more variables in play to assume this. some of them are less than PC.
it depends on a lot of things.

I cant find anywhere that tells how many lumens/watt these bulbs put out. However, I did find this:
-Min. Lumens 139 @ 350mA
-1500mA max. Drive current
- 5000-8,300k color temperature

I dont understand this stuff at all so i have no idea as to how much better they are compared to the pc's.

One question I have is what exactly is par and would it be beneficial to buy lenses to increase par and if so, which ones? They have 40, 55, 65, and 80 degree lenses.

 

[mr_X]

PAR is photosynthetically active radiation. It's the light that photosynthetic corals and plants use.
I think you are going to want a lot of blues to offset those yellow LEDs (5000-8300k) You might want to look for ones that are 10,000k or maybe even a bit bluer.

 

[JLH-l3ioCub3]

PAR is photosynthetically active radiation. It's the light that photosynthetic corals and plants use.
I think you are going to want a lot of blues to offset those yellow LEDs (5000-8300k) You might want to look for ones that are 10,000k or maybe even a bit bluer.

Youre right, I definitely don't want that yellow hue.
The pc's I have give off too much yellow and they are 10,000k. Is that the same as the LED's as far as color? Will I want to go more than 10,000k?

The 5000 - 8,300k were the whites and there are 12 of them.

The blues are a royal blue Cree xp-e led and there are also 12 of those. Should I keep it 50/50 or should I just get less white and more blue to offset the yellow...
Way too many variables for me to discern the best way to go.
If I get less whites and more blues am I decreasing par?

Here's a pic of the description of the blues...

 

[JLH-l3ioCub3]

Here is a list of colors for the xp-g line on the Cree website.... I don't see anything higher than 8,300. My only option may be to get less whites and more blues to get the desired color.

 

[melosu58]

Moved to General Hardware and equipment discussion.

 

[mr_X]

Then it's going to have to be the 8000k lamps and use the blues to offset the yellow. I would look at other fixtures and see what they do.

 

[JLH-l3ioCub3]

Oh, I made a thread about this a while ago and that is what someone said about this exact LED kit. I just assumed that they were right :/

I just read on another thread your post about you upgrading your biocube to LEDs. How did that go?

 

[Greenturtle]

I just read on another thread your post about you upgrading your biocube to LEDs. How did that go?

I have not decided yet whether I will or not. I will decide when the stock lighting needs to be replaced after dic months. I like the idea that you don't have to replace the LEDs every six months, but they are so darn expensive :/ all I would get anyways because of the increase of lighting from the LEDs would be a BTA. It's not like I can get all of these new types of coral because of the new lights.