Cheap LED solution???

[Bayinaung]

early part of the article articulates the reasons why 400-500 is important to most corals.

Note that royal blue and blue LEDs are in the 450nm range, so will NOT cover the 400-425/435nm range. Thus the need for violets.

now the LEDs they measured were properties for the SPECIFIC LEDS they measured, NOT for all LEDs. so you have to read the fine details on LEDs you want to buy. the spectral spread from the peak spectrum assume it to be 10nm from center either side, and not more as LEDs have very narrow spectrum output. That's where care needs to be I think.

Red spectrum article is from the same magazine, feb. 2013 edition feature article. long article, it wasn't the central part of the experiment they were doing, but a by-product, and very educational. Again, you have to read carefully.

 

[mr_X]

Well, how do you explain the growth and coloration I am getting? Supposedly, I don't have any of the light necessary to do so.
I have a fixture with violet LEDs in it and saw no difference in growth or color. I removed it and run all straight blues and whites. Either these Bridgelux LEDs are full spectrum, or the extra colors are completely unnecessary. Since red is most likely filtered out by the time light reaches 25 feet below the water surface, I am leaning towards the latter.

As for halides being more intense than LEDs, I find this also hard to believe since You can bleach corals with 100 watts of LED, but you will brown out coral with 100 watts of halide.

 

[Bayinaung]

you can get the growth with just blue. I never said nor did these articles say you can't. It may not be the best growth, depending on the specific type of corals. the articles are specific on what corals does best with what. I have coloration on my corals. It is that they are not as good as the under the other lights.

It is quite ok to be happy with just blues. I am glad you are Mr. X. Just stating here 1) the thoroughly researched findings, and 2) my personal preference and experience with my zoas under different sets of lights. Because I know they can look better than what I already have, I want to improve on it, at some point in time when I get to building my DIY LED light.

It's about knowing the choices available, and personal preferences. It's a good philosophy to be happy with what you have! This is not sarcasm. Get the corals and lights that work best for you.

 

[mr_X]

Well, my ongoing research clearly shows that you can get just as good coloration without violet and red LEDs. According to your article, blue is what most influences corals.
I'm just stating this so people know that they do not need the other colors.

From your article-
Surely, coral fluorescence is one of the main factors to provide a reef tank's beauty, but the light in the 400-500nm range also has other importance: it is the most optimal light to promote marine photosynthesis. Therefore this part of the spectrum is of utmost importance for a reef tank.


and-
This conclusion matches well with the experimental research in this field [16]. Fragments of Acropora millepora colony were maintained for six weeks under comparable amounts of red, green, and blue light. The conclusion of the article is that "the enhancement of coral pigmentation is primarily dependent on the blue component of the spectrum and regulated at the transcriptional level," and "light-driven accumulation of GFP-like proteins observed upon green light exposure is likely due to residual blue light passing the green filter." The experiments also revealed that radiation in the 430nm range is most efficient in promoting the protective bright coloration of the corals:

And from the article, about intensity-
LEDs are about twice more efficient than conventional fluorescent tubes or Metal Halide bulbs in converting the electric energy into light.

 

[mr_X]

Here's that article I mentioned earlier-
Ultraviolet Light, Marine Aquariums and Coral Reef Aquarium Tank, Stand, Canopy, and Aquarium Filter System

 

[Bayinaung]

Mr X, I think you've done a wonderful job giving thousands of advice to people on this forum on LED lights and lighting in general although I do not know the source of your knowledge.

Now I keep saying LOOK AT THE SPECTRUM of your blue lights. The articles I indicated and in countless scientific articles on corals say, corals like 400-500nm most.

Now take a look at the lights you have, taotronics: their blue, and royal blues as per the manufacturer, states: 450-470nm or 460-470nm, meaning the PEAK nm is 460 or 465nm. It is MISSING the entire lower HALF of the range corals like. Due to the narrow spectrum bandwidth of LEDs, the light fall-off from peak spectrum of 460-470 would be DRASTIC. i.e. those Tao blues would NOT emit anything below 450 or 440. ANYTHING below 440nm.

Here's a link to the TaoTronics 120w listing in amazon, and searching for the same in ebay will give you the specs on the blue LEDs, and what their spectrum output is.
Amazon.com: TaoTronics TT-AL09 Dimmable Aquarium Coral Reef LED Grow Light (120W Output, Blue/White Ratio- 28:27; Two-Year Warranty): Pet Supplies.

And again, I am NOT prescribing UV lights. NO, so why do you keep talking about UV lights. I am speaking of violet spectrum. Here's NASA's definition of Violet spectrum: "The visible violet light has a wavelength of about 400 nm."
Ultra-Violet, or UV has a spectrum below 400nm to 10nm. NASA's definition of BLUE light is 475nm.

What Wavelength Goes With a Color?

Here is Wikipedia's definition of Violet (and the link below)
380-450nm.
Visible spectrum - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. In an article on UV, it shows UV as being 400nm-10nm, same as NASA definition (Ultraviolet - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


I'm not making any effort to put you down, nor your advice. I'm just trying to add to the knowledge base here. Blues are quite fine for corals, as Mr X and others will attest to. BLUE spectrum by definition is 475nm. What corals like is 400-500nm range. The math is fairly simple and clear. I would think corals are fine with 475. Would they be happier if they got 400-440nm as well? I would think so!

If you want to give your corals the full bandwidth of spectrum they like, add VIOLET, NOT UV.

It's pretty cut and clear here. I'm speaking of VIOLET, NOT UV. I hope that's clear.

 

[mr_X]

I think if you got MH then most of your spectrum needs are covered including UV because MH IS full spectrum.

This post led me to believe you are speaking as if UV is necessary.

 

[Bayinaung]

You have taken me out of context, and you would have seen that it was in DIRECT RESPONSE to the specific lights Raheel was talking about, the popular nomenclature for violets:

i am trying to copy rapidled.com for 75gallon tank kit.
rapidled pecs are
18 Cool White
20 Royal Blue
6 Violet UV LEDs
2 Red
2 Green

rapidled kit cost $450, & my project should be completed in under $200 (GU10 led project)

To which I responded as this immediagely:

Hey raheel, the flood project looks great. give us an update once you got it all together.

On the other project - who's the manufacturer and can you PM me the details? I'm thinking of doing a DIY myself and this might fit the bill.

Raheel just one more thought on this - one thing about LEDs is the narrow spectrum range they have (unlike other lights) so you might want to supplement your blues with a few of the reds, cyan, green, pink, UV and IR. I found the white LEDs to be quite intense vs blues and can tend to wash out the colors that florescent corals give out, from what I've seen visiting other people's tanks. Tanks with lesser white LEDs and supplemented by other non-blue LEDs tend to bring out more colors in their corals. This makes sense since well, colors we see are what the object does not absorb....

So, it was pretty clear! I was responding to THIS "UV LEDs" that Raheel is looking at, which the commercial supplier has called it "UV" though they are only Violet, as I had been stating earlier, and in other posts in the forum. I was saying have some of THAT "Violet UV Led", not "UV" in general.

And if you had been READING how I began on the light spectrum, a few posts earlier, I had always stated the spectrum requirements, and how the commercial popular LEDs always talk about violet LEDs as UV. Which is what Raheel is refering to.

There's always a context of direct response to a particular piece of conversation, and that is not to be taken out of context. Just as your simple insistence on blue as all that corals need that does not mean that you're ignorant on the full spectrum needs or corals, or does it Mr X?

Taking snippets out of context is easy way of misleading others and misusing someone else's statements. Which does not constitute as being "nice" nor correct.

 

[mr_X]

You can definitely grow colorful stony corals with just the blue LEDs that are installed in the Taotronics fixtures. It's a fact. I'm doing it. You definitely do not need any other colors. It's a fact. I'm doing it.
That's all I've been trying to say all along, and you are disagreeing with me. It doesn't matter to me that you disagree, only that people know they don't need to spend the money on extra colors.

 

[Bayinaung]

At times, ignore is most useful when discussions become fruitless. My thoughts, research findings, and opinions are here. Use it if you find it useful. Ignore if you don't. And thanks for your inputs.

 

[Bayinaung]

Woa,
check out this flood light. This will grow corals. 144 watts! I like the ratio of blues to whites too. 32-16. Looks like it's got nice lens too. at $129 including shipping this can't be beat! Trying to find something smaller for my nano.

Star 48X3W LED Aquarium Light Lamp for Coral Reef Fishes and Aquatic Animals | eBay

 

[Madcrazyroyboy]

That mr x guy is actually correct. I have t5hos at home but at work I take care of a pretty nice tank with white and blues but 90 percent of the time its just the blues on. I have aussie buttons, open brains, acans, even sps, acros and birdsnest under these and they are growing at a very rapid rate. I've had corals from my marine biologist he brang in for example green spongodes that were brown from MH and actually brightened up with a beautiful vivid color in 2 months just from blue leds. That's no white, just straight blue from chinese lights we were trying out. Also mr x talked about it filtering out before it reaches 25 feet. 100% true. Actually red or violet, get filtered out within just a few feet. Blue is the color that travels the furthest and gets most penetration, except for white of course.

 

[Madcrazyroyboy]

Woa,
check out this flood light. This will grow corals. 144 watts! I like the ratio of blues to whites too. 32-16. Looks like it's got nice lens too. at $129 including shipping this can't be beat! Trying to find something smaller for my nano.

Star 48X3W LED Aquarium Light Lamp for Coral Reef Fishes and Aquatic Animals | eBay

Bad @ss. I hope there's a dial on that to dim it

 

[raheelahmed]

so finally i got my 3rd blue led flood light. so now i have 1st-10w blue led,2nd 175w MH, 3rd 10w blue led, 4th 175watts Mh and 5th 10w blue led. and wow i love the growth and colors of my corals but i am seeing some red algae

 

[raheelahmed]

guys i got a hold of some quater inch used acrylic sheet. size are 32x32 & 36x36. i am planning to do a DIY project to build some nano reef tank.. but i need help since i cannot do alone and is always good to have 2 minds on a project. let me know if any one is interested & if you are from GTA .. Bayinaung.. i see that you are from toronto so let me know as well.

 

[IchthyChris]

So Tom (guy that started the thread) hasn't updated since last summer and his last statement was that his 72g was "in the trash". He didn't elaborate, that I could see. Did the tank crack? Was there a catastrophe? Or did the lights fail? It's a great idea, but there is not enough followup to say it works. ...and not enough to say that it doesn't. I still might try it. I like the idea of the 30w RGBs. You could dial in the spectrum you want, or have a light show! If you could find a programmable control that is compatible, you could program sunrise orangeyness and sunset pinkness.

 

[Bayinaung]

guys i got a hold of some quater inch used acrylic sheet. size are 32x32 & 36x36. i am planning to do a DIY project to build some nano reef tank.. but i need help since i cannot do alone and is always good to have 2 minds on a project. let me know if any one is interested & if you are from GTA .. Bayinaung.. i see that you are from toronto so let me know as well.

Dude! you're my GTA??? frick! LOL awesome! Hey join the GTA aquaria group. lots of guys there. they actually have a BBQ today but I can't go. its mother's day weekend and gotta spend time with family.

 

[Bayinaung]

So Tom (guy that started the thread) hasn't updated since last summer and his last statement was that his 72g was "in the trash". He didn't elaborate, that I could see. Did the tank crack? Was there a catastrophe? Or did the lights fail? It's a great idea, but there is not enough followup to say it works. ...and not enough to say that it doesn't. I still might try it. I like the idea of the 30w RGBs. You could dial in the spectrum you want, or have a light show! If you could find a programmable control that is compatible, you could program sunrise orangeyness and sunset pinkness.

Hey Chris yeah we don't know what happened to his tank. I think the MH and LED flood lights is a great combo like raheel is doing. I like your idea of RGBs. If you have them all on, then you get the full spectrum white right. Add a second blue only flood and I think you have the basic requirements of corals. I personally would like to do the MH and LED combo but don't have budget for it so I'm going to go DIY for my requirements for my nano.

 

[IchthyChris]

Just scored a 60g hex on Craigslist! It's 29 inches tall so it will be an ultimate test for lighting. I plan to do the 50w RGB for starters. This should hopefully reach to the bottom. I may add some blues later. I'll start a build thread and add it here later for anyone that is interested. May take a month or two... you know how it is.

 

[thecatisontheloose]

Wrong current

Hello!
I am hoping to get some help in resolving a problem regarding LED floodlights. I know many in this thread have worked with these lights with success. I posted my issue in a thread with a link below. In short, has anybody been able to switch their floodlight from a 12V input to a 110V input current? Please help.

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f20/diy-for-a-broken-led-floodlight-263912.html


Thanks,
Kat.