Cheap LED solution???

[Convict2161]

Nothing makes the corals pop more than blue light.

Totally agree. Was just saying I've seen people go for those widely advertised lights that promise spectacular colors. I won't mention names. But I've never seen those light ever grow colors just make a shimmer of colors that almost hurt your eye.

 

[mr_X]

And back to the flood lights- I haven't seen anyone show pictures of corals doing well and progressing under these. I seriously doubt you are going to be able to replace a 150 watt halide with a 10 watt LED flood, no matter what color it is.

 

[raheelahmed]

mr_x

mr_x i am not replacing the MH to 10w flood light. my MH fixture had 4 actinic light( all actinic light bulb are gone). i am planning to keep my MH and add 2-10watts blue flood light with that.

Mr_x did u do the youtube search i mention in my last post

 

[mr_X]

Oh....well, that should work fine. Do you have them on the tank yet? can you see the blue or does the halide wash it out?

 

[mr_X]

mr_x i am not replacing the MH to 10w flood light. my MH fixture had 4 actinic light( all actinic light bulb are gone). i am planning to keep my MH and add 2-10watts blue flood light with that.

Mr_x did u do the youtube search i mention in my last post

I have no doubt that LEDs can grow corals. I use LEDs over my tanks.
What I am doubting is that Those 10 and 20 watt floods can sustain corals.

 

[raheelahmed]

mr_x

actually there is one guy who is using GU10 spot light led bulb on his tank and he even showed pictures of coral growing under these lights on some other forum

 

[mr_X]

you are not understanding me. I am simply saying that a person can't remove their metal halides and replace them with (the same amount) 10 watt leds and except the same results. I am speaking of the images in this thread...the ones with 3 or 4 ten watters over a large tank. Of course strings of LEDs can keep corals. I am using leds that are running at 2 watts a piece......but quite a few of them.
Go back to the first page. A guy named TomStav posted a reef with 2 led floods over it. This is what I am doubting will work.

 

[CorallineAlgae]

I have no doubt that LEDs can grow corals. I use LEDs over my tanks.
What I am doubting is that Those 10 and 20 watt floods can sustain corals.

I can say from first hand experience that they can. I setup a 10w royal blue and a 10w 6000K daylight in my brother's 30 gallon refugium (my old reef tank is now his sump).

Initially they were just for growing cheato and that's still the primary reason he has these lights over his sump. After fragging some duncans and green toadstool leathers he decided to try to grow a few of them in the sump. He found the frags grew nearly as well under the 10w lights as in his 75 display tank that has 2xT5s a 4 foot LED light with 3w LEDs (I forget the total wattage but I think it's 220w). He's using the sump partially as a frag grow-out tank and it's working out okay, although the corals colors are NOT as nice with the floods. No surprise there.

I probably wouldn't use these floodlights as the primary lights on anything but a small display or frag tank, but for a sump I can't find a real fault with them. They grow plenty of cheato as well as coralline algae and the corals are growing shockingly fine though not vibrant. I can't say (and I honestly doubt) that they would be all that useful for SPSs but that's just conjecture. He was actually only using the royal blue flood for around a month without much difference (good Duncan, toadstool and zoa growth).

I think most moderate to strong lights can grow soft and LPS corals but the floodlights don't seem to make corals look their best. I'm sure if enough effort was put into trying out all of the different emitters a good combination could be found. I have 6000k, 10000k, 20000k, royal blue and power blue 10 watt chips but haven't used them all over the sump for any real amount of time. The main purpose of the daylight unit is cheato and the 6000k light seems like the best option. The blue is being used over base rock to spur on coralline growth.

Putting frags in there is just an experiment. I know this isn't much to go on to address the question of whether or not 10w floodlights can grow corals. Seems they can grow some well enough but for a real mixed reef I'd still go with a nice dimmable fixture made for the task.

 

[mr_X]

Good info. Coralline will grow under a curly-q energy saver bulb, so you really don't need the blue flood.
What do the corals look like exactly? Are they faded a bit or brownish?

 

[Bayinaung]

Can enlighten me and explain the article and what you actually got from it? Also where it says that you need any light other then blue and whites. I really couldn't understand the article and TBO most of it for me wasn't even English.

I know people use other colors to make the corals "pop"

Actually convict, the article is there for you to READ. It is a rather comprehensive study. The article is actually SHORTER than this thread so it is a much shorter reading. The article can explain it much BETTER than I can. It is there for anyone wanting more info on how to get particular types of corals to grow BETTER, than your average blue and white lit tanks. The info is there for you to use, or not to use.

No, you don't NEED other colours. Your corals will grow with just blues. Read the article, and then post educated responses. The magazine and the authors have as much credentials on marine biology and reef aquariums as any of you, I can assume safely.

It's there for you to either use, or not use. Peace, and out.

 

[CorallineAlgae]

Good info. Coralline will grow under a curly-q energy saver bulb, so you really don't need the blue flood.
What do the corals look like exactly? Are they faded a bit or brownish?

They're just a little faded, and it's mainly the duncans. No browning, just less vibrancy. The leathers and zoas don't show much of a visible difference other than what you would expect from the moderately warmer visual color temp given off by the 6000k LED.

The cheato in on one side with the 6000k over it. The blue is more to the right. That's probably not the best scenario to test out these lights specifically for frag grow-out. There is at least one guy on YouTube using floodlights over small reef tanks. So far the videos make these lights look a little below average, but serviceable, for growing corals. I doubt they'll share the same accolades that the TaoTronics units are getting anytime soon.

 

[mr_X]

Well, faded is what a lot of people complain about with the Tao units. Corals lacking vibrant color. What they don't know is that they didn't wait long enough for the coral to acclimate to the light. Even though to the naked eye they may not look as bright as say, a metal halide fixture, they seem to penetrate much better. They still swear you need multicolored units to see good color, which I have found to be nonsense.
That said, I wonder if this is the fade you are seeing. Perhaps these units are strong enough to grow corals once they acclimate to them.
I would assume that if you don't have enough light, you would see browning, not a faded look.

 

[raheelahmed]

yestarday i got my 2 10watts blue flood light. i took them a part and install them both beside metal halide. i dont have a picture currently but if you look at the image below you can see moon light on left & right side of the fixture. i took those metal plate & replace with acrylic sheet and install the flood light on them.ill post the picture of my light by this weekend. they are not as big as i thought but it does make a different in light. FYI i do not have compact light that shows in the picture below. my HO compact light was not working that y i got the flood light

 

[raheelahmed]

i got my 10watts blue flood light i install them yestarday,. i need to post the pictures for you guys but i cannot figure it out how. i tried to copy paste but didnot work. how can i post the picture,

 

[mr_X]

Use a photo storage website, like photobucket or similar.

 

[raheelahmed]

this is my MH fixture

 

[raheelahmed]

i took the metal plate out that slide next to the MH and replaced it with acrylic sheet and still 10watts blue flood light on each side

http://i1366.photobucket.com/albums/r766/raheelahmed/IMG_0816_zpse900628e.jpg

 

[raheelahmed]

this is when both blue flood lights are ON.

 

[raheelahmed]

i really like the result of the light so i order one more since i need one in the middle, between both MH

 

[raheelahmed]

this is my project will look like once its done. without compact light