taking a break from LED

[dz6t]

LED itself is not a bad technology, just the current adaptation of LED to marine lighting needs more research done to be a true replacement of metal halide and t-5.
http://blog.captive-aquatics.com/ca...radion-xr30-led-light-a-swing-and-a-miss.html

 

[The River Reef]

Having tinkered with several custom LED builds and several combinations of colors, I truly believe the issue is due to lack of spectrum on smaller lower priced units. I started with cool white/ royal blue combo much like that of most the Chinese fixtures that were first popular. It kept most things happy and had a blue looking tank... When I finally added neutral, warm whites and cyan, green, blue, VIOLET, red combos to my unit... WOW I said right away. Felt like I awoke from a dream. Corals looked vibrant, polyps started showing up in a month or so on my zoa frags, etc..

Remember the UV that is very much in MH keeps the coral fitting it off which makes it colorful, etc.. There is no UV spectrum in most of the past LED fixtures. I have read up on this and agree it is very important in keeping those colorful LPS and such.

The other issue I see is: people take down 250w MH with 110 VHO x2 actnics and throw 120w LED to replace them... Do the math... I have realized you can get more from your LEDs but be realistic! Remember the simple rule of thumb of watts per gallon. I have found 3watts of LED with close to full spectrum as possible is ideal for me. I am just getting into SPS, so my experience is regarding LPS and zoas,etc..

Just my 2 cents...

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[dannyp02908]

Wattage per gallon isn't the way to look at lighting at this juncture as efficiencies have gone way up. I have a 24 inch deep tank. Replaced 800 wats of metal halide with 432 wats of T5 and can grow SPS on my sand bed. If I were to put 800 wats of LED, I honestly believe everything in my tank would die.

 

[dz6t]

I agree that custom built LED is potentially much better way to go for this hobby.

 

[The River Reef]

Wattage per gallon isn't the way to look at lighting at this juncture as efficiencies have gone way up. I have a 24 inch deep tank. Replaced 800 wats of metal halide with 432 wats of T5 and can grow SPS on my sand bed. If I were to put 800 wats of LED, I honestly believe everything in my tank would die.

I completely agree... I guess my point is the extreme downgrade I have seen some try with LED... I think we shouldn't over do how much we cut down our lighting power and coverage in some cases. I feel some expect too much from LED fixtures and do a disservice trying to get too much from them.

 

[dannyp02908]

Having personally seen Dong's tank with the 120 watt LEDs (2 of them/240 watts), I can say the intensity was there. I agree with dong on this being a spectrum issue overall.

 

[The River Reef]

I can agree with that statement having also seen the tank...
I found the same conclusion stated above when building my own lights. Well, with the new releasing of close to full spectrum LEDs we are seeing, it will be fun to see the impact... It will only get better from here!

 

[dannyp02908]

We really aren't seeing full spectrum LEDs. We are seeing multiple spectrums of LEDs in a fixture. That's all well and good until the end user turns down his reds and greens to get a blue look. With say a T5 bulb, ATI aqua blue special for example, that one bulb peaks at 3 different spectrums while still providing a bluish hue.

 

[The River Reef]

What can't be denied in any of these threads is: you'll find each user defending and justifying the technology they own... I personally like the idea of controlling the spectrum as desired throughout the day... And I disagree with where you are going with seeing full spectrum LEDs. Your 3 peaks you use as an example; are no where near full light spectrum either, closer but not full...???

 

[The River Reef]

And I figured you knew I meant having them in a fixture as a diode is one color...

 

[dannyp02908]

Ok, I am not defending t5. MH is the same way. And as you just said, with LED, you are controlling the spectrum throughout the day. You don't really want to change the spectrum, ou want to control the intensity of a full range of spectrums. You want to keep the same spectrum but increase/reduce intensity of it.

As for the spectrum peaks in a T5, since I mentioned it, they happen to be in the range that corals use photosynthetically. MHs are the same way.

 

[dz6t]

This may help:

 

[Kungfukid]

Maybe led is not ready for prime time yet

After reading all the posts here, wonder if I should take my Radion down and tosh it out and put my the t5 light back on. I hate to sell it at 60% below what i paid for

 

[arch85]

Maybe led is not ready for prime time yet

After reading all the posts here, wonder if I should take my Radion down and tosh it out and put my the t5 light back on. I hate to sell it at 60% below what i paid for

Unless you were being sarcastic in my opinion, this hobby is pretty expensive as is -- you don't want to make it more expensive by switching technologies back and forth. Almost all users of Radions swear by them and will never go back to their T5s or MHs.

If you are happy with the results you've had so far, stick with your Radions. If you haven't been having much luck in growth, check your params, if your params and flow are perfect, then I guess it would make sense to switch lights.

 

[Kungfukid]

actually going back to power compact and not the T5

 

[HuuTa]

One thing that i have found is that mose people rev up their led to high noon then run their led for 2-3 hr to replicate the high noon.I did that for 2 weeks and notice that my corals was not happy at all.Now i just rev mine down over a 5 hrs period as soon as it hit the high noon mark,basicly 5 hrs up and 5 hrs down.This is what works best for me

 

[dannyp02908]

What i figure is that LED was available for some time in the plant world before aquarists considered it. I know people who grow tons of plants and refuse to use LED because they state the spectrum just doesnt work for what they need. Plants are photosynthetic just like corals (albeit different usable spectrum). Who knows the husbandry behind the tanks with good and bad results? Maybe they people who are having luck with LEDs are also spot feeding their corals and not relying 100 percent on photosynthesis? I think the blue/white LED combo came from people liking the blue look and thinking that white is what makes things grow. But with a blue/white combo of MH/T5, the bulbs have peaks in more usable spectrums despite the look of the hue.

 

[beelezebubba]

i just made a little 'full spectrum' led for a small frag tank consisting of 2 4.5k whites, 3 royal blues, and one each of deep red, turquoise, cool blue, and true violet. it'll be plumbed into my nano with 10 royal blues and 7 4.5k whites, so i'll be comparing frags under nearly identical conditions except for the light spectrum. i'll try to remember this thread in a few months when i have some growth/color to compare.

 

[acrofragger]

i must say (coming from a t5s guy ) i have had excelent luck with my corals and leds , i dont feed them anything and things are growing fast as i never would imagine .see but i made a mistake ,i bought one fixture at jays ,and then the next here of a fellow reefer,guess what happened when i turned them on .....

they were two different colors( how do i explain this .)
one fixture has that really intense blue color ,while the other has the purple ish look to it
what im trying to get at is the coral thats doing the best in my tank is the one right under neath were both lights meet

 

[beelezebubba]

the whites in the purplish looking fixture are prolly lower kelvin whites, so the added red light combines with the blues and makes purple.

the corals growing best where the two fixtures meet might be more due to increased intensity, since i imagine that's in the middle of the tank. like dan was getting at, it's nearly impossible to separate all the variables.