Lighting your reef... Best bang for your buck.

[Gti_Leo]

When you dive on the real thing and do a lot of photography, as I did, you realize quickly that almost everything but blue light penetrates much deeper than 30'. But some corals, like zoas are in tidal zones and can be under very little or no water for short periods of time. Those get hit by a lot of UV and it would have some effect on protective pigments. And UV penetrates water pretty well.

But growth comes from primarily blue frequencies because that's what they evolved to absorb in the wild. Not that they can't grow under other colors.

blue green yeah whoch is why we use royal blue or actinic supplement lamps. some SPS may benefit from a bit of full spectrum as they are higher up in the reefs and more full spectrum gets to them but to stimulate zooxanthellae algae growth its in the wavelength of 420-480nm

 

[gpd605x]

I bought these off eBay. So far they are pretty awesome. No problems
Quad T5 48" Light w/ Timer and LED moonlights

 

[AquaRick]

I bought these off eBay. So far they are pretty awesome. No problems
Quad T5 48" Light w/ Timer and LED moonlights

Watch those oddyseas closely. I've seen their ballasts break down quickly. One I saw caught on fire.

 

[CorallineAlgae]

Watch those oddyseas closely. I've seen their ballasts break down quickly. One I saw caught on fire.

That's very outdated info. It was their early generation MH ballasts that were the fire hazard. Their T5 ballasts are as cheap as they come but aren't dangerous. Now their LED ballasts get scary hot! I don't recommend using their LED fixtures. My brother uses an Odyssea LED system and he had to put a fan on both the fixture and the ballast. They're terrible.

 

[AquaRick]

That's very outdated info. It was their early generation MH ballasts that were the fire hazard. Their T5 ballasts are as cheap as they come but aren't dangerous. Now their LED ballasts get scary hot! I don't recommend using their LED fixtures. My brother uses an Odyssea LED system and he had to put a fan on both the fixture and the ballast. They're terrible.

Were their T5 ballasts updated in the last year? I have scorch marks on a canopy that says otherwise... the ballast never really hot which surprised me when it caught fire.

 

[CorallineAlgae]

Were their T5 ballasts updated in the last year? I have scorch marks on a canopy that says otherwise... the ballast never really hot which surprised me when it caught fire.

Woah! No, not that I'm aware of. The ones that are considered safe from Odyssea are the remote ballast units that come separate from the fixture. The internal ballast fixtures that have the built in timers are relatively new.

Honestly, I don't think any of their T5 fixtures are good enough for reef use outside of soft and LPS corals. The bulbs are just to close (restrike) and they all have lousy reflectors. They work beautifully for planted tanks where having to much light from T5s is the normal problem. I still only recommend their remote (in-line) ballast models.

 

[AquaRick]

Yup definitely agree with you about the T5s. I just don't trust their electronics. Having your 4 year old run in and say "Daddy, your tank is on fire"...is not good. Just glad I was home to deal with it.

 

[Gregcoyote]

I lost an entire pet store from fire that started with faulty fluorescent ballasts over the fish tanks. I hate those ballasts, didn't like the MH ones much better. LED ballasts are a pain, but much less susceptible to bursting into flames.

 

[FlopNewsom]

I've been following this thread for a while and just bought 3 of the dimmable Taos. I was about to have to spend $350 on new ballasts. I'm going to cut the top of my wooden canopy and let them sit so that nothing's blocked. When you are talking about optics, what does that mean? Can you adjust the LEDs so that there is more spread of the light?

 

[Gregcoyote]

I've been following this thread for a while and just bought 3 of the dimmable Taos. I was about to have to spend $350 on new ballasts. I'm going to cut the top of my wooden canopy and let them sit so that nothing's blocked. When you are talking about optics, what does that mean? Can you adjust the LEDs so that there is more spread of the light?

Some fixtures can be ordered with different lenses glued (usually) to the front of the LED. It is common to see lenses that give from 120-60 degrees of spread. In a deep tank you want to narrow the spread to concentrate more light to the sand bed. Opposite is true in a shallow tank.

Start with the LEDs cranked way back and intensify a little each month (yes, month).

 

[FlopNewsom]

Ah, thank you for the information.

 

[Magma]

Watch those oddyseas closely. I've seen their ballasts break down quickly. One I saw caught on fire.

I have to agree with this, those oddysea ballasts break down fast, I used them for about a year before I lost both ballasts, I lost one with in 5 months of use and was down to 2 bulbs till the other ballast went.



As for the Taos, I started at about 25% with them and just now (about 2.5 months later) im running around 60% on each and even now I find some of the corals have grumpy days and wont open.

 

[Jmkb02]

I have to agree with this, those oddysea ballasts break down fast, I used them for about a year before I lost both ballasts, I lost one with in 5 months of use and was down to 2 bulbs till the other ballast went.

As for the Taos, I started at about 25% with them and just now (about 2.5 months later) im running around 60% on each and even now I find some of the corals have grumpy days and wont open.

How deep is your tank? I'm running three units above a 6 foot tank, 26" deep with 90* optics on them. I have them down still below 20% blue and 5% white. I'm still having to move around corals! You will bleach if you are not careful! My clams love it tho!

 

[mr_X]

You don't even need optics on these. They are fine in a 30" deep tank without them.

 

[Magma]

How deep is your tank? I'm running three units above a 6 foot tank, 26" deep with 90* optics on them. I have them down still below 20% blue and 5% white. I'm still having to move around corals! You will bleach if you are not careful! My clams love it tho!

tank is only 20" deep and I have the lights about 12" above the water level.

Edit: No Optics on the LED's

 

[czwicky]

What did you think of the maxspects for sps? I was thinking about doing those over my upcoming 75g sps tank build

 

[JonathanG]

What did you think of the maxspects for sps? I was thinking about doing those over my upcoming 75g sps tank build

I had the maxspect Razor 27" 16k over my 150 and I really liked them. Had good growth and they are easy to program. I don't use them anymore but only because they weren't long enough to give me the coverage across the tank.

 

[JJ-MIK]

My tao's will be at my door today or tomorrow . Right now I'm running 3.. Well 1 - 50w led flood light over my 150. 2 burnt out already... But from low to mid. Nothing seamed happy. I have all my corals. Mainly softies right now all stacked under the one light 6" or less from the surface and they are growing much faster than the last 6 months.. Waiving hand Xenia less than 3 inches from surface and love it!! Par readings are 280-300. And kelvin was around 20-25000k... Are Taos more powerful? Nothing seams happy right now unless there at the surface..

 

[mr_X]

I can't keep many softies that high, so I would say yes.

 

[JJ-MIK]

Other thing I heard is LEDs do not go by par.. They go by PUR.. How do you convert that off of using a par meter? Par is supposedly inaccurate under LEDs..