I take that like joke "it's all about water parameters" lol. let's not mix orange with apple .lol , how many members own 8-19 AI ? that what I said in the first play, to compete against MH , u need lot of GOOD LED light Fix. Same w/Dace light fix. great light but cost more then $ 2500, great tank, but most members can NOT afford that. I feel Happy for you, nice move, can wait to see the next light from AI. Vio
LED's SUCK PROVE ME WRONG!
- Thread starter jackson6745
- Start date
- Location
- astoria,new york
No orange and apples here ,fish and corals here..
And it is all about water parameters !
You don't need expensive LEDs to keep nice sps
And it is all about water parameters !
You don't need expensive LEDs to keep nice sps
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Well when you have to spend $1000-$1500 on the appropriate chiller in addition to the electric costs, it makes a big difference. With my old MH fixture the tank would get to 85 degrees in the summer and I would have to turn the central AC down to 68. With LED's tank is at 78 and I can run the AC at 72. Its a massive month to month savings of electric when you factor in the the AC and chiller. I only run 5 AI's not 18 and they have paid for themselves already in bulb and electric savings, but that is just my experience and situation. Everybody has different setups and needs...
I used to be from the school of SPS need massive amounts of intense light, so I was blasting them with 80% white spectrum for 6 hrs a day. Growth was good, but colors weren't there. After much experimentation, I run the whites for 2.5 hrs a day at 70% and then turn them down to 25%, while keeping the blues in the 80% range. I also reduced my entire photo period from 10 hours to 8 hours.
Secondly and probably the biggest factor was I started running a Natureef Nitrate reactor about a year ago. This is a bacteria based system that removes NO3 and PO4 without removing any of the beneficial components of the water. I have a large fish load of about 35-40 in a 600 gal 3 tank system and this has allowed me to feed heavily while keeping nutrients in check. I have removed carbon and GFO and not done a water change in 6 months. NO3 are 5ppm and PO4 range from 5-10ppm. I Dont believe in running these parameters any lower than this range, my experience has been great with trace NO3 and PO4.
I believe the stability created by not doing water changes has made my corals incredibly happy and healthy, growth and color is like I have never seen with both LPS and SPS. So basically I run a different system then most, but the results have been amazing...
- Location
- astoria,new york
I never say Ai,TMC ,Giesemann or Osram Olson LEDs "sucks" I said "cheap LEDs make more harm then help" I never see 12" colony under cheap LEDs, for me is much easy to run MH & T5, I try also Orphek (NOT cheap) what make stop is they keep change the spectrum Gen 1, Gen 2 , Gen 3 Hydra 52 etc. so , mean they NOT ready.
- Location
- poughquag, ny
Having several models does not mean they arent ready, that is a business ploy to make you think they have a better model now so you go out and but a new one, personally i think mh and vho give best of both worlds. Ive been running leds with good success when i actually paid attention to take and was checking levels, ill try to get pic's
I know some people like me are limited to only led fixtures because of heat. All my tanks are in the basement with limited air flow and oxygen. I tried a 48" on my 120 and tank got to 83 at nite, chiller came on and ran for 2 hours to try to keep it cool with a fan at the window. Not that I haven't tried just I am limited.
If I was to light a 32x32x26 cube (densely grown SPS) what do you guys think would be the best option? If I had to switch from halide right now my first choice would be the ATI LED. I like having the linear source of light to eliminate shadowing. If I were to use kessil or AI I think I might need 4 of them?
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- Location
- Dingmans ferry PA
Jackson I'm using 3 AI to light my 180. I have 3 islands that I'm growing my sps and if I decided to add more rock to connect all 3 islands I would get one more. I have the. Sol blues and have no intention on going with the hydra as of right now. I don't like the reds and greens. Most likely I will add a fourth when my sps grow in but right now I'm very happy
- Location
- poughquag, ny
dont think the ati would give full coverage unless you keep things 8" off each wall. ive owned and tried about 8 different leds, ai white ai sol blue, cheap chinese 120w, custom nano, running a blueline 150w now and had a couple others, in all honestly i got about the same from each, but the keeping parms in check has been biggest factor. and you know ive tried about every type of bacteria and carbon dosing there is, you got to make your way up to see jims, alfie and my tank
This is an interesting thread.
I'm running a Gen 1 Radion over my Elos Midi. The tank consists of softies, and I'm perfectly happy with the light. However, I'm in the process of retooling my reef (equipment, large basement sump, adjusting my husbandry, corals, not being lazy, etc) and would like to finally go SPS dominant. Most of the research I've done agrees with Rich... Well done, colorful, SPS dominant, LED run tanks are the rare exception.
Here are my thoughts (and I'm probably wrong on some if not most points
) --
First, LED rigs with wider optics (or none at all) seem to work better. They blend the individual LED colors better, and create fewer hot spots (that dreaded disco ball effect). I think the hot spots are worse for colonies rather than frags, as there will be more dead and hot spots reaching each coral, effecting each colony negatively. With T5 or MH, the area of light is much more consistent and this doesn't seem to happen as often.
Second, and this one is probably more user-specific, but I think LEDs are much more difficult to dial in correctly for two main reasons; they don't look as bright as conventional lighting, even at higher intensities (and the variation can be difficult to view), and there are so many fixtures, revisions, optic choices, etc, that it's not plug and play. If you want to light your tank with a 400 watt Radium on a Lumenbrite pendant with xyz ballast, it's going to be pretty easy to get reliable recommendations. Try that with LEDs.. it's extremely difficult.
Finally, I do feel that people in general don't give LED's enough time. Their corals are subjected to a huge change, often react poorly, and the user will immediately blame the light rather than the change. We used to see this same thing when T5's hit the scene, and tons of people said they wouldn't grow SPS corals.
I'm running a Gen 1 Radion over my Elos Midi. The tank consists of softies, and I'm perfectly happy with the light. However, I'm in the process of retooling my reef (equipment, large basement sump, adjusting my husbandry, corals, not being lazy, etc) and would like to finally go SPS dominant. Most of the research I've done agrees with Rich... Well done, colorful, SPS dominant, LED run tanks are the rare exception.
Here are my thoughts (and I'm probably wrong on some if not most points
) --First, LED rigs with wider optics (or none at all) seem to work better. They blend the individual LED colors better, and create fewer hot spots (that dreaded disco ball effect). I think the hot spots are worse for colonies rather than frags, as there will be more dead and hot spots reaching each coral, effecting each colony negatively. With T5 or MH, the area of light is much more consistent and this doesn't seem to happen as often.
Second, and this one is probably more user-specific, but I think LEDs are much more difficult to dial in correctly for two main reasons; they don't look as bright as conventional lighting, even at higher intensities (and the variation can be difficult to view), and there are so many fixtures, revisions, optic choices, etc, that it's not plug and play. If you want to light your tank with a 400 watt Radium on a Lumenbrite pendant with xyz ballast, it's going to be pretty easy to get reliable recommendations. Try that with LEDs.. it's extremely difficult.
Finally, I do feel that people in general don't give LED's enough time. Their corals are subjected to a huge change, often react poorly, and the user will immediately blame the light rather than the change. We used to see this same thing when T5's hit the scene, and tons of people said they wouldn't grow SPS corals.
- Location
- queens
why not run leds and halides?
I actually love the look of halide and blue LED, but most guys running LED as a primary light source don't want to deal with heat and electric consumption of halide.
- Location
- Garden city
I'm running 2 250 w mh right now but as soon as I can I will add either 2 kessils or possibly ai or similar just need little extra dough
I would have preferred to just run 400 w mh but I'm maxed on heat
I would have preferred to just run 400 w mh but I'm maxed on heat
- Location
- Garden city
I'm running 2 250 w mh right now but as soon as I can I will add either 2 kessils or possibly ai or similar just need little extra dough
I would have preferred to just run 400 w mh but I'm maxed on heat
I would have preferred to just run 400 w mh but I'm maxed on heat
- Location
- mackay,qld
T5's or halide for preference but then again I haven't seen that many great led tanks out there worthy for me to ditch the t5's on any of my tanks just yet! lighting is one those things that for each tank it will either work or it won't! the led craze is an interesting addition to reefing and maybe one day when t5's are fazed out i'll go buy some leds! till then i'll keep my 8x24w,8x54w,2x 8x39w fixtures running
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