LED lighting question

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Breakthecycle2

Aquarium Advice FINatic
Joined
Jan 19, 2013
Messages
900
Location
Hasbrouck Heights, NJ
So I have a Nuvo 38 gallon (24" L x 20"H x 20"W). I currently have this lighting 300 Series

I'm not seeing any dark spots but as another member pointed out, it's only 40w. I've started noticing now, some corals aren't doing so good, specifically my RBTA and acans.
 
your concern isn't at the watts the LED puts out, it would be more of the PAR it gives. From the site, it doesn't really tell me much as it lack of information.
few things missing from the site that is important which you might be able to tell us.
Do you know the PAR reading by any chance?
How many LED diodes are there in total, or what would be the watt per LED?
The answer of these two questions would pretty much tells you if it is enough for your tank.
If you donno about the PAR, then 2nd question is very important. If you have the fixture that made with all <3W LEDs, which means the true output is no where near 40W. The smaller the LEDs it uses, they lower the actual Watt it can provide due to the smaller watts LED usually would use much less current.
For example a 0.5W LED might only be able to sustain about 40% of the max current to give it the proper life span, which makes the 0.5W really only a 0.2W.

There is also couple other reason your coral not reacting well, maybe the light wasn't providing the proper spectrum. Or simply just your corals don't like LED lighting if you had T5 or MH before.

For a 24" tank which is not really a long tank and 20" tall is just the right height for most LED fixtures, I think "40W" is enough as long as it gives out enough PAR.

I had a 72W on my 24x24x24 tank before and everything working well even SPS.
 
I did not have MH before. Always LED with these corals. It has 21 total LED's, which leads me to believe it's less? then 1 watt a piece. If you look at underneath the LED specs, it has the PAR value which is 220. That seems awfully low, no? If you wouldn't mind telling me your thoughts on this? I did end up getting a Kessil 1350 yesterday and let me tell you the difference is incredible. Everything, including the fish "seem" to be responding very, very well.
 
Yeah you pretty much triple your out put. The PAR says 220 is not low depend on where they record that reading. If it is right under the light about 3-10" and yes, it is, but if it is at 24" deep, 220 PAR means enough for SPS. And yes, switching to Kessiel for sure going to make a differences, and that is really why you probly spending more on the fixture.
 
Yeah it was double what I paid for the other one. I originally had it on a 16 gallon that was 24" W, but only 12"? deep and things were good. They did also seem good, when I first put the Acan on, but recently I started to notice things not opening or just looking "small". I just bought a nice new wellsy the other day and from a few hours after I put the Kessil on last night, it's opened so much, it looks as if it tripled in size.
 
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