Exotic sun

[Bpham80]

Hey everyone. I just started a new tank after being out of the hobby since 2011 and now I have found out the new lighting is LED which is great in my mind and wallet. I searched for good lights at a descent price for awhile then a friend sold me two exotic sun 120 LED fixtures. They are super bright and seem great but imam wondering has anyone tried these lights? I have two on a 48" 110 gallon tank. Wondering if there is a limit on corals I can put in now, sps, lps, clams, etc? Any advice and/or experience with these lights would be great. Thanks

 

[Aquanaut]

Without a PAR measurement it is safe to say that SPS, Clams and other high light corals should probably be within 12" of the LEDs. If you get you hands on a light meter you may find that the sandbed gets plenty of PAR. Do you know the wattage per each individual LED?

 

[THE WOOKIE]

I keep sps, clams, lps, and softies with my cheapo Chinese led fixtures so you should be fine. A par meter gives you a little peace of mind knowing you won't starve the coral of light

 

[higorc]

Without a PAR measurement it is safe to say that SPS, Clams and other high light corals should probably be within 12" of the LEDs. If you get you hands on a light meter you may find that the sandbed gets plenty of PAR. Do you know the wattage per each individual LED?

Not to step on anybody's toes here but;



LEDs "PAR" measurent is just not the same as PAR in T5s and MHs. If you try to match LEDs Watts/PAR to other lights you end up burning/bleaching your corals.

I have about 150W of LEDs over my tank that would easily bleach corals easier than a 400 - 500 watts Metal Halides fixture would. My LED fixtures are 10 inches awl (above water level) and I have bleached SPS half way down my tank (24 inches away from my LEDs)



Check out this article, it's a good start;

http://www.vividaquariums.com/aquariumLightExperiment.asp


Especially this part;

http://www.vividaquariums.com/apogee.htm


Sorry to deviate from your question. This was just a FYI...

 

[Moe_K]

LEDs "PAR" measurent is just not the same as PAR in T5s and MHs.

Hmm, that's a puzzler to me. I thought PAR should be the same unit of measurement regardless of the source of the light.
Whether the light comes from PC, MH, VHO, or LED, the PAR reading should be the amount of light available for photosynthesis, right?
Could be I've misunderstood, and feel free to set me straight.

I've heard that the watts consumed don't equate to the amount of light produced, and that's the whole point of LEDs, right? Less energy use for more light output. Correct?
I'm just basking in the glow of my old school 250 watt MH and helping out the local electric company.

 

[higorc]

Hmm, that's a puzzler to me. I thought PAR should be the same unit of measurement regardless of the source of the light.
Whether the light comes from PC, MH, VHO, or LED, the PAR reading should be the amount of light available for photosynthesis, right?
Could be I've misunderstood, and feel free to set me straight.

I've heard that the watts consumed don't equate to the amount of light produced, and that's the whole point of LEDs, right? Less energy use for more light output. Correct?
I'm just basking in the glow of my old school 250 watt MH and helping out the local electric company.

From what I understand PAR meter "miss reads" LED's PAR measurement. In LED lighting, it "miss reads" the lighting output lower. In MHs and T5s, it picks up all the other spectrums giving you a higher PAR reading...

But this is only what I have read...I only said it cause it kind of makes sense since LEDs are so spectrum "dialed" in.

 

[Bpham80]

Hmm, that's a puzzler to me. I thought PAR should be the same unit of measurement regardless of the source of the light.
Whether the light comes from PC, MH, VHO, or LED, the PAR reading should be the amount of light available for photosynthesis, right?
Could be I've misunderstood, and feel free to set me straight.
I've heard that the watts consumed don't equate to the amount of light produced, and that's the whole point of LEDs, right? Less energy use for more light output. Correct?
I'm just basking in the glow of my old school 250 watt MH and helping out the local electric company.

That's the problem I was finding with these lights, like I said I was in the hobby in 2011 I had T5s then MH and now all of a sudden we have LEDs(great in my mind and in savings) unfortunately not a lot of info out there about them, and then you get into par values wattage etc and it starts getting super confusing real fast! My lights are 1watt bulb, I know they now have 3 watt bulbs and Crees out there but I chalk that up to someone coming out with something newer and saying its better, take the hone for example the 4s vs the 5, the headphones jacks on the bottom, lol(by the way I have a 4s no need. To buy a 5 IMO). I just was hoping someone new about exotic suns as. I bought them from a friend who bought them from LFS. I called that store and they t. Old me I would need two for my tank cause its 48 wide, even though they told me that I like to get unbiased opinions from people not selling them and profiting from there sale, hence all you guys/girls!!! I do want to try my hand at LPS and clams this time around but I also don't want to kill them cause of improper lighting. I know that from everything I read about LEDs as confusing as it is, the amount of light my LEDs are currently producing is the equivalent if two 250watt MH running. Besides that not to sure. Hoping someone here can give more detail and answers, would especially like to know if my PAR value will be deep enough to hit the sand bed with these lights. My tank is 29" deep approximately and my lights are 7 1/2" above the tank.

 

[Aquanaut]

LEDs "PAR" measurent is just not the same as PAR in T5s and MHs. If you try to match LEDs Watts/PAR to other lights you end up burning/bleaching your corals.

I have about 150W of LEDs over my tank that would easily bleach corals easier than a 400 - 500 watts Metal Halides fixture would. My LED fixtures are 10 inches awl (above water level) and I have bleached SPS half way down my tank (24 inches away from my LEDs)

Higor, that article is very interesting. I oversimplified, I never meant to suggest that wattage can be compared between the different lights. The article you linked states that the apogee quantum sensor is shaky in measuring short wavelength blue light, which specifically lowballs PAR values for LEDs due to the fact that LEDs emit sharper spectrum light then fluorescent and HID lighting; However, this has nothing to do with the actual PAR rating emitted by the diodes themselves because PAR is a standard unit of measurement. Other light meters configured to combat this can calibrate for accurate results(downplaying the 450nm range would kill an LEDs PAR because LEDs are usually heavily blue compared to other lights.)

OP, if they are 3w LEDs, with 40 per module, x2 modules that makes 80x 3watt cree LEDs that definitely is as strong (and probably stronger) than 2x 250w HIDs. Most LPS could probably thrive on your sandbed in direct light, probably some monti's as well. SPS I would try to keep ≤20" from the surface of the water.

 

[inverted]

From what I understand PAR meter "miss reads" LED's PAR measurement. In LED lighting, it "miss reads" the lighting output lower. In MHs and T5s, it picks up all the other spectrums giving you a higher PAR reading...

But this is only what I have read...I only said it cause it kind of makes sense since LEDs are so spectrum "dialed" in.

This is one of those goofy thing people seem to regurgitate over and over again, without ever actually thinking about it. PAR meters underestimate blue and red light, regardless of what the light source is, LED, T-5, MH etc...

I looked at the actual available data here for a number of MH and LEDs.
http://www.bostonreefers.org/forums/archive/index.php/t-117895.html

 

[Bpham80]

That's good information thank you. I think I'm just going to find a par meter and end any speculation/concerns

 

[inverted]

Sure thing, and I'm not saying higorc is the one not thinking about it, I was referring to the "experts". For example, I contacted Apogee about thins, but all the data they kept providing was comparing a 5500K MH to LEDs. And they weren't really specifying which LEDs exactly. They just didn't seem to understand how "blue" the halides we use in the hobby are. I don't personally know anyone who is using a 5500K halide off the Home Depot shelf LOL. I think though the reality is, as long as you are comparing light sources with reasonably similar spectral output, the meter should be consist between sources. For the most part though worst case, I don't think it's going to be off by much more than 10% in typical real world application.

 

[Bpham80]

Sure thing, and I'm not saying higorc is the one not thinking about it, I was referring to the "experts". For example, I contacted Apogee about thins, but all the data they kept providing was comparing a 5500K MH to LEDs. And they weren't really specifying which LEDs exactly. They just didn't seem to understand how "blue" the halides we use in the hobby are. I don't personally know anyone who is using a 5500K halide off the Home Depot shelf LOL. I think though the reality is, as long as you are comparing light sources with reasonably similar spectral output, the meter should be consist between sources. For the most part though worst case, I don't think it's going to be off by much more than 10% in typical real world application.

Agree 100%

 

[Bpham80]

Here's a good question... Anyone know of any fixtures that you can control from a smart phone like you download an app and control your lights from that? Cause that would be a great feature!(Trademark and copyrights if no such thing exists yet, lol)