Greg, I love your build thread. It is a very good thread for seeing what it takes to do a DIY LED light setup. You get all the credit for the thread!
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Read most of the thread here and I just have a few coments...
1. Adding a few LEDs in red or purple or green to a fixture with 20+ LEDs is only going to give you a small area of coverage in those spectrums. If your corals are large enough you will notice that they do not have a consistent color...only a portion will reflect the red or purple or whatever other color you are using.
2. Ask someone who has used red LEDs for an extended period of time and they will tell you that they have algae problems as a result. Why? Because red light enhances plant growth. If you need proof, just look at any plant fixture in flourescent or LED and you will see that they use red instead of actinic or blue. So if you would like to do more maintenance on your tank, then add some red. Personally, I would rather devote the bulb space to something that the corals utilize and not only make my light more efficient but also reduce the amount of algae and have a consistent spectrum throughout the tank.
3. No one here seems to mention that corals change color over time to adapt to the light they are exposed to. So just because you put a coral under a red or green or purple LED and it appears to "pop" does not mean it will stay that way. If you need proof of this, just ask anyone who has taken a brown acropora and watched itr turn pink, green or blue or any combination of. You can also ask anyone who has taken a pink, green or blue acro and watched it turn brown.
4. Let me here some feedback from someone who has a large tank (not a nano with 6 LEDs on it) or multiple tanks on the same system with the same corals fragged from the same colony that has had a combination of LEDs other than blue and white running for a year or more and we can have a meaningful discussion. Anyone?
Spectral graph of a 6500k led
Spectral graph of an ati purple plus
Take what u want from it.
People keep using that term. I do not think it means what you think it means.White leds are full spectrum
People keep using that term. I do not think it means what you think it means.
Have you ever been to any of Sanjay's lectures? You know what he keeps saying? Use warmer whites.Then please enlighten us Jedimaster. If you think you have more knowledge about lighting than someone such as Sanjay teach us all.
Also here some spectral graphs of MH lamps.
Feature Article: Spectral Analysis Of 400w Lamps: XM, Radium, Osram And Sunmaster, PFO ? Advanced Aquarist | Aquarist Magazine and Blog
Then please enlighten us Jedimaster. If you think you have more knowledge about lighting than someone such as Sanjay teach us all.
Also here some spectral graphs of MH lamps.
Feature Article: Spectral Analysis Of 400w Lamps: XM, Radium, Osram And Sunmaster, PFO ? Advanced Aquarist | Aquarist Magazine and Blog
Must be a pretty exciting Saturday night out that you are posting on reef2reef and I guess it makes you a physicist because you refer to purple light as violet. I could care less what the manufacturers call it, it's purple. If you think you are getting algae because of your nutrient problem, I would suggest addressing that first, but the red LEDs are certainly making it worse. If you want to have a meaningful discussion and not just try to insult people why don't you give some background on your experience with coral growth under LEDs as I mentioned in the comment:
"Let me here some feedback from someone who has a large tank (not a nano with 6 LEDs on it) or multiple tanks on the same system with the same corals fragged from the same colony that has had a combination of LEDs other than blue and white running for a year or more and we can have a meaningful discussion. Anyone?"
I am happy to overlook your sneid remarks and engage with you if you can provide the details I was looking for. For your reference, I have five tanks connected to one system with four different types of LED. The LEDs have been in place for over two years and I have fifth generation corals that I have personally fragged growing under each. The LEDs I am using are AI Sol, Kessil Tuna Blue, Coralbrite 2352Ds & some old school SWC Xtreme's. None use red or any color other than white or blue because I believe it is a marketing gimmick and the science behind it doesn't make any sense. Further reinforcing that perspective is the fact that two of the five LFS that I supply coral to have turned the intensity down on the red LEDs to almost nothing because they were developing algae problems and did not like the inconsistent spread in their display tanks. So please enlighten me without trying to insult or discredit me.
People keep using that term. I do not think it means what you think it means.
so i guess one could hope to increase flourescent coloration by adding some 410nm LEDs instead of the standard 450nm but some argue that these flourescent pigments are a form of protection against such light. so although it may prove to be aesthetically pleasent it may not be healthy for the corals
what am i missing here?
This is a very interesting discussion
What about this:
I bought a full spectrum par 38 from coral compultion (I have 6 par 38's that I use to supplement and spotlight my DIY array - you can check out my thread for details if you like).
Anyway I replaced a standard 3 -2 20k spot that was on my sps section with the full spectrum and it had very negative effects (recession from the base, almost lost my M. undata and another monti, and little to no growth for the whole month) I changed it back and within a week I had better polyp extension and even some noticeable tip coloration and growth.
For the past week the full spectrum has been on a zoa section of my tank and I haven't noticed any change ??
In a week or two i will try it over the lps section
i don't know what this means as the varibles were not completely controled and there could have been other factors but obviously i will not be using that bulb to spot my sps anymore - they definitely prefer the rb and cw combo better in MY tank
btw the full spectrum bulb has 1 green, 1 red, 2 violet, 6 rb and 2 cw but has about the same par even though it has a higher wattage (measured with an apogee) because of the wider optics and in the deeper zoa section i am getting slightly lower par readings