SPS Growth with "Cheapo" LEDs

[frank180reef]

So recently there has been discussion wrt to LED vs MH vs PC vs T5s and the pros and cons of each

Around 4 months ago I purchased one of the lower end LED set ups..... I believe that I have seen good or excellent growth with my limited SPS.
So I thought it would be interesting to take a hand full of sps, and track thier growth over time, utilizing these lights....

This top down picture isn't great but it is a start. I will try to get good sized side picture of each today or Saturday. Note that each frag plug is marked with a notch...
so here goes:

 

[Platehead]

Hey Frank, I know this is not part of this thread, but what is diagonal of the Birds nest (the green and purple one)?

 

[frank180reef]

Better pics



pretty sure the ones in the close up are the tri color acro and bright blue arcadia sps

 

[newenglandreef]

Hey Frank, you mind posting a link to those LED's? I may try them out.

 

[frank180reef]

I dont really want to advertize them as I am not 100 % sure of the spectrum....................

 

[jayinh]

great idea frank, will you be tracking just the LED frags

 

[frank180reef]

yes they will be marked and place right under the LEDs..................around 6 frags, I hope to get better pics and maybe some can help me with the names

but yes only LED lighting

 

[s_kelley]

Great idea

 

[GeltzJG]

It would be an even better experiment if you could have the same frags on the other side of the tank under yourstandard lighting. Is that possible?

 

[frank180reef]

hmmm both tanks have LED lighting (at least they will when I replace the one I got wet)

 

[frank180reef]

the other line up



from right to left

yellow/green digi
red planet?
yellow slimmer
blue birdsnest
pink birdnest

hope to see how they grow, all are fresh cut , so it will be interesting to see if they encrust in a month or so

 

[Chipgm]

I have been looking into all types of led lights. I see a lot on eBay that are cheaper.lots of them don't show specs so I take it that the are not good enough ,even though they are posted as reef lights. I have read that you can run a lower kalvin rating with led lights Compared to a t5 set up. not sure how true that is but I am looking forward to seeing the outcome with your test.

What are the specs on the led's you are using for the test, and what size is your tank?

 

[frank180reef]

the tank is a 30 g breeder
I will see what I can dig up for the specs

 

[newenglandreef]

I was in Tropic Isle yesterday--they have LED's over their frag tanks. I was really impressed with the colors of the corals despite the LED units being about 2 feet above the tank. The lights didn't seem terribly bright (like halides) but the coral colors were truly exceptional.

 

[frank180reef]

specs:
The rated power of our chip is 3W, but actual using power is 2w to match current cooling system and ensure the longest using life of the chips.

120W



High Efficiency Low energy consumption Low heat Displacement Minimal maintenance cost



Description

Use high efficient 3w LED as the light source, could penetrate deep into the tank bottom, Based on 55x 3W high power LEDs. Blue 30*3w LED; White: 25*3w LED

 

[Chipgm]

Actually that is nice specs for the light. How much did you pay for it?

 

[AnthonyP]

How high off the water do you have the lights? Or how far away are they from corals?

 

[afrankiewicz12]

the price of LED setups are not in the LEDs or their output but in how they are constructed, cheaper LEDs may not be as water/humidity tight as a high end one or may not be assembeled with the care of a expensive led setup. so for right now i think these would do the same as a $3000 fixture. lol i run a $300 MH 48" fixture so i shouldnt really be talking about price

 

[frank180reef]

How high off the water do you have the lights? Or how far away are they from corals?

I have two of them, this one is about 6-10 inches off the water and the corals are 4 inches from the top of the water column...................................

looks like I am at the 1 month point so with the rain I will try to get some pics

 

[dz6t]

It looks like all these chinese LED are made by Taotronic. I got one off eBay but guess what, they wired the fans backward, now I have air blowing on my face when standing next to the tank. I contacted the eBay seller and he is not helping at all.
Otherwise, the light is pretty bright and they drop shipped it from China very very quick (impressive). The construction quality of it is so so when compared to the higher end LED I have. But it does its job so far just don't know how long it will last.
One thing nice of it is it has wide spread.