New Reef Setup Help

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
LEDS are fine. I run my tank on 2x 180w LED fixtures and they are doing well. My tank is 2.7" deep, still a fairly new tank in the scheme of things (been set up a couple of months) Others in my area have been running LED lighting for a couple of years and find they are better than halides for most things and do well for the majority of corals (too bright for some, but smart placement sorts that out)

My 180w lights are about the equivalent of a 450w (or more) MH light, use less power and the bulbs don't need changing every 6 months or so. They also don't generate anywhere near as much heat.

These are the lights I use - they were customized to my specifications - 300w is WAY overkill unless your tank is around 5 foot deep!
http://bsled.en.alibaba.com/product..._coral_growing.html?tracelog=cgsotherproduct1
 
LPS corals are photosynthetic and will survive and grow with no feeding, but many seem to do better with occasional feedings. Most LPS corals, such as a bubble corals, open brain corals, elegance corals, etc. will take small chunks of shrimp or other meaty foods that are feed to the fish such as Formula One. Feeding once a week seems to be about the optimum frequency. There are a few corals, such as the bright orange sun coral, that are non-photosynthetic and require targeted feeding to stay healthy. All LPS have mouths & many can open wide enough to eat quite large (1/4") sized foods.
Acan eating: http://tylermerrick.com/images/corals/acan_feeding.jpg
Chalice eating: http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c45/Stoneyscoral/miamieating.jpg
Plate coral (Fungia): http://i375.photobucket.com/albums/oo192/aquasandiego/YellowMustardPlate-99.jpg
 
Pufferpunk;4748230; said:
LPS corals are photosynthetic and will survive and grow with no feeding, but many seem to do better with occasional feedings. Most LPS corals, such as a bubble corals, open brain corals, elegance corals, etc. will take small chunks of shrimp or other meaty foods that are feed to the fish such as Formula One. Feeding once a week seems to be about the optimum frequency. There are a few corals, such as the bright orange sun coral, that are non-photosynthetic and require targeted feeding to stay healthy. All LPS have mouths & many can open wide enough to eat quite large (1/4") sized foods.
Acan eating: http://tylermerrick.com/images/corals/acan_feeding.jpg
Chalice eating: http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c45/Stoneyscoral/miamieating.jpg
Plate coral (Fungia): http://i375.photobucket.com/albums/oo192/aquasandiego/YellowMustardPlate-99.jpg
Click to expand...

Good explanation.

Those are some sweet pics as well. :grinno:
 
Kitiara;4747962; said:
LEDS are fine. I run my tank on 2x 180w LED fixtures and they are doing well. My tank is 2.7" deep, still a fairly new tank in the scheme of things (been set up a couple of months) Others in my area have been running LED lighting for a couple of years and find they are better than halides for most things and do well for the majority of corals (too bright for some, but smart placement sorts that out)

My 180w lights are about the equivalent of a 450w (or more) MH light, use less power and the bulbs don't need changing every 6 months or so. They also don't generate anywhere near as much heat.
Click to expand...

How deep is your tank? I am assuming 2.7"?

Are you growing any corals?

Do you have any PAR readings?

What makes you say that they are better than halides?

I would like to know this, as I have been on the edge of MH/LED for the past half a year, deciding if I want to spend the money on a technology that is changing, growing, and getting better everyday.
 
I have done LED on my 36 bowfront reef tank. I have 36 3w on star boards and my corals love it. They do great and when the blues only are on, talk about glow in the dark. I did them myself and it was quite simple. For a reef that size you would need quite a bit with lenses attached to acheive proper par readings at the bottom.
I did alot of research before I jumped in and Im glad I did. Many advantages, less electricity, bulbs burn for 50,000 hrs,no need for chiller and many more. Here is a great link where I got alot of info http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1587273 Lots of reading but well worth it if you are serious about LED
Hope this helps. Josh
 
my tank is 2.7 deep. I do have some corals (an acro frag, blasto, acans, leathers, hammer, elegance, scoly's, xenia, fungia, sun coral, zoas and morphs) and am in the process of getting more (I hate it when budget gets in the way!!!) There are a few pics of my tank in my gallery but there are guys who have been running LEDS a heck of a lot longer than I have with some fantastic coral growth for most coral types, particularly SPS (acros etc) Low light corals need to be put in a shaded location as they don't like the intensity.

I don't have access to a par meter myself, but I do have some par readings someone else did for a 120w version of my light (depth measurements in cm)

The light was situated approx 2cm from the water in this test.

Depth.... Reading
0.1.......... 570
10 ...........365
20 ...........225
30 ...........142
40 ...........125

My 180w lights I had oxygen bubbles coming off the diatoms on the substrate


I did not say they are better than halide - I have not run halide lights myself (previous tank had compact fluros, and the LEDS are FAR superior to those. From reading others opinions the majority would not go back to halides.

A disadvantage with LEDS is that because the bulbs are fixed you cannot just change the color bulb to change the look of the tank, you need to use alternate fixtures to change the color (but many run halides in conjunction with t5's for color tweaking anyway, so nothing hugely different there) I am happy with the color of mine with the mix of blue and white LEDS, others have gone either too white or too blue for their tastes when they customized their lights. There are brands of lights which you can adjust the color of the lighting with special controllers - these cost a lot more. I have gone for budget LED lighting myself - it comes down to how much you want to spend.
 
I have looked into LED a lot.

It simply isnt worth it in my mind to make the switch when I am paying more to bleed myself PAR wise.

I know in the long run it makes sense, but short term on my budget I cant do it, even with the nice units I have been seeing on some reefing forums.

No one keeps their lights at 2cm above the surface, and MH at the surface is usually over 1000.

I have found units that do what I want in LED, I am just sketched about not being able to replace diodes, the initial cost, and the ever changing technology.

We will see, maybe in a couple years when they have it all nailed down I will make the jump. As of right now I think they definitely are the future, and a good option if you have the cash, and the guts.
 
I'm positive, like everything else in this hobby, the price will go down in a few years.
 
1000 par at the surface for MH????, what type/wattage are they?

Some info I have seen on MH is as follows (remember the stats I gave before were for a 120W LED, which is less wattage than these MH lights tested )

par_values_0321_old_bulbs.jpg
 
Light in the real world hits the surface of the h2o at about 2500 PAR.

A lot of people that are growing SPS corals have PAR at 1000.

Its not a single bulb, its the effect of several bulbs.

Some Iwasaki's by themselves can get to over 900 PAR by themselves.

Heres a thread of mine on another website that trys, and fails for the most part to answer some of my PAR questions.

http://www.reef2reef.com/forums/lighting-hardware-diy-discussion/49699-par-what-does-mean.html
 
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