higorc
Call me IGOR :)
I thought I might start this thread to share my experience in transitioning from T5's to LEDs.
After a lot of reading and research on this fixtures and LED lights, I decided to take the plunge to and try them out.
About 3 weeks ago I got a good deal on 2 120W Tao Tronic LED panel from another Reefer that switched to the new Dimmable units now available on eBay. Sure it would have been nice to get the dimmer function, but for the price and as my first LED fixtures I couldn't pass it up.
This is my second Reef Tank and it has been up and running for 2 months now. My first tank was a 75G with a Tek T5 - 6 Giesemann bulbs which I had really good success growing LPS, soft corals and some SPS. I thought about getting MH but never did because of the heat issue
Some of the basics about my current tank;
About 90lbs of LR, a few corals (until I am confortable adding more), my beloved matted Pair of black/white and Orange Ocellaris, about 100lbs of LS, Long spine Urchin, snails and hermits.
3 weeks ago I switched from a 216W T5 HO fixtures to the 2 120W LED panels. I have them seating right on top of the tank on some Glass Versa tops canopies. I tried raising them but the light dispersion into the room was too much (specially having a DLP projector in the living room as my TV! The Lights are extremely bright!), so I sat them down on the glass top again. As a precaution I moved all the corals as far down as I could to prevent bleaching.
At the end of the first week, I noticed that my Kriptonite Candy Cane and one of my Zoas was losing color or bleaching out. I ended up taking one of the fixtures out and cutting the whites to only 4-5 hours a day. I ran the one fixture for 1 week with the shorter daylight.
This week (3rd week) I added the second fixture and put some Bug Screen (Home Depot -$7) between the fixtures and the glass (to cut the light intensity) and started running them both. Whites at 7 hours and the Actinics at 12 hours/ day.
The Candy Cane, the Zoas, Tyre Toad, Hammer, Ricordia and Xenia are doing much better now. I will remove layer by layer of the bug screen until I have it all out.
As a summary, I am glad I got these. Of course getting the Dimmables one would be a lot easier, but if you are patient acclimating your tank (especially if you are switching from weaker lights) this work just as good. I love that there is very little heat coming out of them, and the water shimmer looks awesome! I run a small fan on top of the water for cooling just in case but I haven’t had a temp spike yet. The built in fans are not as noise as some people say. I have no problems with it.
In the pictures you will notice that some of the rocks are almost “glowing” white. I added those last, about a couple weeks ago. They were Dry Marco rocks.
If I could find a wood canopy for my tank, I would probably get it and have the lights inside, but it’s very hard to find one and expensive to have one built. So for the time being I am very happy with the way I have them setup.
I have a video I will add later today. The pictures below do no justice to how nice the colors are. Initially I was afraid the lights were gonna look too blue, but they don’t at all. They look just right to me. But that’s personal preference I guess.
After a lot of reading and research on this fixtures and LED lights, I decided to take the plunge to and try them out.
About 3 weeks ago I got a good deal on 2 120W Tao Tronic LED panel from another Reefer that switched to the new Dimmable units now available on eBay. Sure it would have been nice to get the dimmer function, but for the price and as my first LED fixtures I couldn't pass it up.
This is my second Reef Tank and it has been up and running for 2 months now. My first tank was a 75G with a Tek T5 - 6 Giesemann bulbs which I had really good success growing LPS, soft corals and some SPS. I thought about getting MH but never did because of the heat issue
Some of the basics about my current tank;
About 90lbs of LR, a few corals (until I am confortable adding more), my beloved matted Pair of black/white and Orange Ocellaris, about 100lbs of LS, Long spine Urchin, snails and hermits.
3 weeks ago I switched from a 216W T5 HO fixtures to the 2 120W LED panels. I have them seating right on top of the tank on some Glass Versa tops canopies. I tried raising them but the light dispersion into the room was too much (specially having a DLP projector in the living room as my TV! The Lights are extremely bright!), so I sat them down on the glass top again. As a precaution I moved all the corals as far down as I could to prevent bleaching.
At the end of the first week, I noticed that my Kriptonite Candy Cane and one of my Zoas was losing color or bleaching out. I ended up taking one of the fixtures out and cutting the whites to only 4-5 hours a day. I ran the one fixture for 1 week with the shorter daylight.
This week (3rd week) I added the second fixture and put some Bug Screen (Home Depot -$7) between the fixtures and the glass (to cut the light intensity) and started running them both. Whites at 7 hours and the Actinics at 12 hours/ day.
The Candy Cane, the Zoas, Tyre Toad, Hammer, Ricordia and Xenia are doing much better now. I will remove layer by layer of the bug screen until I have it all out.
As a summary, I am glad I got these. Of course getting the Dimmables one would be a lot easier, but if you are patient acclimating your tank (especially if you are switching from weaker lights) this work just as good. I love that there is very little heat coming out of them, and the water shimmer looks awesome! I run a small fan on top of the water for cooling just in case but I haven’t had a temp spike yet. The built in fans are not as noise as some people say. I have no problems with it.
In the pictures you will notice that some of the rocks are almost “glowing” white. I added those last, about a couple weeks ago. They were Dry Marco rocks.
If I could find a wood canopy for my tank, I would probably get it and have the lights inside, but it’s very hard to find one and expensive to have one built. So for the time being I am very happy with the way I have them setup.
I have a video I will add later today. The pictures below do no justice to how nice the colors are. Initially I was afraid the lights were gonna look too blue, but they don’t at all. They look just right to me. But that’s personal preference I guess.
