LED lighting for large tank?

[joefitz]

Is anyone running a large tank on just LED lighting?

I'm considering swapping my 400w MH for LED fixtures, more for the energy efficiency than anything else. But I need to hear some success stories before I take the plunge. Can anyone out there reassure me that deep (30") sps tank can flourish under LED?

Does anyone have good or bad stories about any of the LED manufacturers/products? There ia lot of talk about chinese manufacturers on RC...has anyone in the club bought anything from EverGrow or the like?

 

[firstimer]

something like a radion would be plenty. my only complaints about LEDs is the color in your acans. they turn orange!

 

[Flame Angel]

Joe, let me know what you decide to do. I am looking at lighting a 180g with LED's. I am considering just the $180.00 dimmables. I figure for the price I an always put two per section w/90 degree optics.

 

[LoveTheReef]

something like a radion would be plenty. my only complaints about LEDs is the color in your acans. they turn orange!

Depending on the depth, if he wants to keep SPS at the bottom of the tank, a regular Radion might not be strong enough.

If you'd like to be faithful to the Ecotech brand, I'd look at Radion Pro; otherwise PacificSun would be the choice for such a deep tank. GHL Mitras are also good lights but having had a really bad experience with their north american distributor, I can not recommend those to my customers -- if you can find a dealer who is willing to provide you support (in-case something goes wrong), you should take a look at them as well.

As far as acans turning from red to orange, I'm not sure why you had that issue with the Radions :-/ ... Acans in our personal tank turned from red to orange under the regular blue and white leds (CurrentUSA TruLumen Pro), but once I moved them down to our grow-out tanks (being lit by PacificSun), in just a week and a half I can see the reds coming back. Possibly due to the UV spectrum ...

 

[yukyuklee]

it's because there isn't a supplement of UV that's why reds turn to orange. It doesn't matter what brand or type of LEDs you run ALL leds will turn red color softies to orange. LED's aren't there yet and haven't been proven to last over 10yrs.

 

[LoveTheReef]

it's because there isn't a supplement of UV that's why reds turn to orange. It doesn't matter what brand or type of LEDs you run ALL leds will turn red color softies to orange. LED's aren't there yet and haven't been proven to last over 10yrs.

Newer leds fixtures *Radion pro, PacificSun Triton, etc) do have uv spectrum to a certain degree which, is what I believe, helped bring the red back.

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[yukyuklee]

Newer leds fixtures *Radion pro, PacificSun Triton, etc) do have uv spectrum to a certain degree which, is what I believe, helped bring the red back.

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save one red acan and light it up for a couple months, maybe the news ones but i'm talking about the current LED's as of right now lol

 

[LoveTheReef]

save one red acan and light it up for a couple months, maybe the news ones but i'm talking about the current LED's as of right now lol

PacificSun Tritons are current my friend! I'll give you a demo next time you are over.

But yeah, I'll probably save all those acans and grow them out. I can't justify asking even close to what I paid for them. I wouldn't want to pay $70-100 for those tiny frags lol

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[yukyuklee]

PacificSun Tritons are current my friend! I'll give you a demo next time you are over.

But yeah, I'll probably save all those acans and grow them out. I can't justify asking even close to what I paid for them. I wouldn't want to pay $70-100 for those tiny frags lol

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lol yeah i know! don't worry we will talk soon. I currently have the flu and getting over it but once i feel 100% i'll come over again

 

[newenglandreef]

what size tank do you have? LED's are extremely powerful, I would have no worry about reaching the bottom with some higher end LED's.

All, nobody knows the reason why some see fading with LED's--not everyone is experiencing fading. There are some tanks up on RC that have colors like I've never seen before, all running years off LED's. There are many theories, but UV is not likely the issue. UV is in the bottom of the spectrum and is not visible light. It is also not a part of the spectrum known to be used by coral--and, in the ocean, does not penetrate to an atmosphere of depth. UV's not likely the issue.

Many of us using LED's now are supplementing with actinics to cover the spectrum that we know that corals use at the highest rate--around 420nm wavelength, which is in the purple/actinic spectrum. We do know that most LED's do not peak at 420nm, but slightly higher, around 450nm. Many are now supplementing with T5's, which seem to make a difference.

So, really, if you take the plunge as many have, you may have a prolonged period of acclimation (as when many changed from MH to T5), and you may see some fading. If you're okay with that, LED's are an incredible light source. Ice cold, with many very cool features.

 

[vinny]

I've read that some people are going back to halides and t-5's just not happy with even the best led's.

 

[s_kelley]

Cant beat a 20K radium Halide, just my opinion though. And with the price tag on the newer fixtures, id have to take out a loan or something LOL
Ill wait till the price comes way down and they have been tested and proven

 

[dz6t]

Newer leds fixtures *Radion pro, PacificSun Triton, etc) do have uv spectrum to a certain degree which, is what I believe, helped bring the red back.

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I will like to see if that is true or not. May be an experiment is needed?
There is no scientific data to support "how much" UV is needed for coral health and everything is a guessing game at this moment.
IMHO, I will sleep better to use a proven technology to light a large tank (=large investment of corals).

 

[LoveTheReef]

Yeah, I'll run the experiment with my acans.

I'm more of a risk taker than not -- so I don't mind a few corals losing some color here and there.

I really don't want this thread (or any other thread) to turn into another led vs mh war, so I'll refrain from posting more about the topic and just publish my studies when I have sizeable data.

I'll close with this though -- what is best and what is not best all depends on the user. Some people won't mind the color shifts in lieu of saving so much in running costs. Also what is normal now, might not be normal later. Think about it -- if everyone is using leds (which most new comers are), all coral colors will be based on growth and color shifts under leds. Then one day, one guy who is running mh will buy the coral, color will shift, and he'll say mh sucks.

So it's all about perception, and which boat you want to be on.

The end! (And I hate typing om the phone!! Lol)

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[P-Nut]

How are LED for clams? - are they there yet or are T5 and MH still the best choices? (for squamaosa, and deresea clams, not maximas)

 

[newenglandreef]

Here's a good graphic that shows what corals use for light:

 

[dz6t]

I don't think color shift form red acan to orange acan is an issue, it looks nice too. But as SaltwaterB said before, the acan died after color shift. That is what worrying me.

As for another point, all major aqua culture farms in US, such as, ORA and Liveaquaria, are lighting their corals with metal halide and/or t-5. So for years to come, most aquacultured corals on the market are grown under these lighting conditions.

I was told that Liveaquaria experimented using LED but it doesn't look like they are still using LED these days.

 

[yukyuklee]

I don't think color shift form red acan to orange acan is an issue, it looks nice too. But as SaltwaterB said before, the acan died after color shift. That is what worrying me.

As for another point, all major aqua culture farms in US, such as, ORA and Liveaquaria, are lighting their corals with metal halide and/or t-5. So for years to come, most aquacultured corals on the market are grown under these lighting conditions.

I was told that Liveaquaria experimented using LED but it doesn't look like they are still using LED these days.

I have yet to see a acan die of color shift... I will let you know because all my rainbow acans turned orange and green, But none of them look like there dying

 

[Phinfan]

I am installing some Leds on a 60" long 30" deep tank right now. They are actually a modified AIsol we are calling a FrankenSol. I will post pictures later. I took an Ai heat sink and installed Cree 3w leds, in a combo of neutral white,cool white, UV,green and 1 Red,royal blue. I also have one home built that is able to be controlled with the AI controller. I will let you know how this works out. My son runs a home built led with 2 T5's for suplemental lighting. Will post pictures when I get a chance,and will keep everyone updated.
Joe

 

[ChangNoi]

There are a number of large tank build threads that have used LED only. The link below is will lead you to one of them. This guy used only AI Sol's for lighting (20 of them!) and based on his photographs, the tank is doing good (both softies and SPS).

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2083104&page=21

I prefer the AI Vega's as I had the Sol Super Blues before. Seemed like some corals didn't like the lights and while they did not die, the colors changed significantly. Specifically, my Red Planet changed to a dark burgundy color, both polyps and hard structure. It looked like an all black coral. Some may think that this is cool, but I didn't. I wanted the pink, green and burgundy of a normal Red Planet. I now have a Pac Sun fixture with both LED and T5's and all my corals are doing very good.....including a small Red Planet. I have been thinking about changing to the AI Vega's as they provide the spectrum that the AI Sol's lack (specifically greens and reds).

Good luck and it will be nice to see pics as you go.