Giving up on LEDs

[scsdukefan408]

So for the longest time I had T5s had great growth...but wanted that wow factor of LEDs...so I decided to get some reef radiance LEDs,but ever since I've had them(about a year) I've had very little growth on my Zoas and a lot of random Zoas melting....I've had them moved up high and them low all different ranges on blues/white % and I just can't find a happy place to save my lift...multiple corals always seemed ****** off if I raise or lower my light....I have a 20long and it just seems like I should just go back to t5 bc I can't find that sweet spot :squigglemouth:

 

[TJ's Reef]

Which Reef Radiance fixture and what percentages of each channel ??? Did you ever check levels with a PAR or Lux meter ??? Do you have access to a light meter through a Local Club or LFS ???

The LED's are not the issue directly, that I am 100% certain of, though misused can ultimately cause issues as with any light source ie: 175-250w MH up 10-12" = GOOD and 1000w MH 4" up NOT GOOD or 4 T5 HO up 4-8" = GOOD and 8 T5 HO up 4-8" NOT SO GOOD.

I can help you find that 'Sweet Spot' with information requested above.


Cheers, Todd

 

[scsdukefan408]

Which Reef Radiance fixture and what percentages of each channel ??? Did you ever check levels with a PAR or Lux meter ??? Do you have access to a light meter through a Local Club or LFS ???

The LED's are not the issue directly, that I am 100% certain of, though misused can ultimately cause issues as with any light source ie: 175-250w MH up 10-12" = GOOD and 1000w MH 4" up NOT GOOD or 4 T5 HO up 4-8" = GOOD and 8 T5 HO up 4-8" NOT SO GOOD.

I can help you find that 'Sweet Spot' with information requested above.


Cheers, Todd

There the 120W dm-132e...Ive changed the %, but never a huge jump all at once either....for the most part my blues were at 55-60% and the whites 20-25%....dont have the cash for a par reader nor know anyone who does...I checked my water perm. yesterday thinking that maybe it but my reading are Cal-455 Mag-1360 Alk-10.9

 

[TJ's Reef]

OK, thanks for the quick response. Do a shout-out to a Local Club to see if there is a meter you can borrow, maybe a great reason to join said Club. As for percentages on that RR fixture being used on such a shallow tank as a 20L I'd suggest something along the lines of 40-45% Blue Channel and 25% +- on White/Color Channel and guessing this will put you in the 150-200 PAR range with a definite 'Hot Zone' in the middle like any other LED cluster or MH light source.
Do you test for Nitrate or Phosphate and if so what are your average readings ?


Cheers, Todd

 

[scsdukefan408]

Okay thanks for the info...Ill cut down the % of the unit it sits about foot and a half off the top of the tank (for the past 2months its been about 2-2.5 feet off the water)(trying to get a better spread of light)...Ill check my local forms and see if anyone has a par reader...Ill have to check my nitrates and phos in the morning, forgot to do those two....for my tank how high off the water do you believe the light needs to be hung since you mentioned turning it down to 40-45%?....Thanks for your input and help

 

[TJ's Reef]

I'd go somewhere between 8-12" off the water which should be fine to place more light demanding Corals in the center of tank and LPS like Acans and Frogspawn etc... at the ends. This will also help reduce light spill into the room.

Cheers, Todd

 

[hart24601]

It surprises me how many people are ready to toss a lighting system without checking PAR. Meters are not cheap, but cheaper than trashing your lights and buying new ones, plus they are good for all light types and placing coral in shaded areas.

 

[obxchicks]

When you first get your LED set up you are supposed to start out at 10% and go up 10% at a time. Your tank should adjust to this and be happy as long as you have hung your lights correctly and have nice lights.

 

[miamiangler]

I have the same led light DM132 on my 29 gal reef . It`s 17 Inches off the water . my corals are growing . I did change some of the lenses to 120 degrees a month ago. I have the seneye with the Par meter and near the surface I`m getting par of 350 to 400 in a few spots and on the bottom 150 -200 par

 

[hart24601]

When you first get your LED set up you are supposed to start out at 10% and go up 10% at a time. Your tank should adjust to this and be happy as long as you have hung your lights correctly and have nice lights.

That is a good guide but you can still easily slow down or stop growth with over illumination even if the corals are alive and not bleached if your LEDs are strong enough.

 

[TJ's Reef]

I think that he? is on the right track now and should be just fine. All the misinformation about LED's out there makes it very hard for most people to decipher fact from opinion from just plain Bologna Sandwiches. There are certainly better quality or better overall spectral output to some fixtures available and not necessarily the pricey ones yet most all are plenty capable of growing Coral. For all the good or correct info about LED's available online to us it seems that the most viewed threads in forums are those full of ..... well... full of it. I never intend to be mean or condescending to anyone and why I often throw out the GOOD/BAD lighting scenarios to other light sources as well. We all seem to have enough common sense not to put up a 1000w MH over a 28g Biocube and then come online and bash MH's as the culprit/problem that killed all there Corals so why do so many do almost the equivalent with LED fixtures ??? It is not possible to compare LED's to MH or T5 in a Apple-to-Apple way as even PAR/LUX meters are not very accurate with LED's but would say that the typical 120w LED fixture at roughly 50-60% is more than equal to most 250w MH lamps and the 160w fixtures at 60-70% are a fair match for 400w MH lamps as nearly all the light from the LED is in the PUR range compared to a fairly high percentage of 'garbage light' present in all incandescent lamps that still reads on a PAR meter.

Cheers, Todd

 

[joekool]

I think that he? is on the right track now and should be just fine. All the misinformation about LED's out there makes it very hard for most people to decipher fact from opinion from just plain Bologna Sandwiches. There are certainly better quality or better overall spectral output to some fixtures available and not necessarily the pricey ones yet most all are plenty capable of growing Coral. For all the good or correct info about LED's available online to us it seems that the most viewed threads in forums are those full of ..... well... full of it. I never intend to be mean or condescending to anyone and why I often throw out the GOOD/BAD lighting scenarios to other light sources as well. We all seem to have enough common sense not to put up a 1000w MH over a 28g Biocube and then come online and bash MH's as the culprit/problem that killed all there Corals so why do so many do almost the equivalent with LED fixtures ??? It is not possible to compare LED's to MH or T5 in a Apple-to-Apple way as even PAR/LUX meters are not very accurate with LED's but would say that the typical 120w LED fixture at roughly 50-60% is more than equal to most 250w MH lamps and the 160w fixtures at 60-70% are a fair match for 400w MH lamps as nearly all the light from the LED is in the PUR range compared to a fairly high percentage of 'garbage light' present in all incandescent lamps that still reads on a PAR meter.

Cheers, Todd

Well said Todd. You certainly know what your talking about. Your tank is fantastic with your LEDs.

 

[Squamosa]

Hi all

I'll add my opinion here too :)

I joined a reefing society and recently borrowed their quantum PAR meter (they have other equipment too, like suction cups and diamond hole saws) and it was an eye opener to get those results. Some of our sponsor LFS here offer membership to the local chapter of the aquarist society if you purchase AU$500 at one time in the store.

Anyway, I have Radion Gen2 pro's and was astonished at the readings: ~900 PAR at the water surface (10" above water level) and a sharp drop off to ~380 where most of my Acropora are growing (I thought they needed super, white hot light :xd:)

It is a combination, nutrients kept low, light (spectrum and intensity), flow and parameter stability (IMO the most important).

Just a few thoughts.
Cheers,
Tony

 

[NanaReefer]

Now this thread I can understand. Especially being a new LED user myself :) 10wks now and no where near ready to trade them in-lol. My corals are all doing great! NO bleaching nor color loss.
I started on the low end 20/30% and have slowly raised % to 20/40. However my whites are run for 5hrs only, blues for 10hrs. All ramping.
Don't give up! Take Todd's advice and watch your corals thrive :)

 

[scsdukefan408]

Yeah i took todds advice sticking with em...jacked down the %.. itll take a week or two to notice a difference for the most part.....and sorry im not spending $300+ on a par reader thats just not happening LOL..ill check my local forums for hopefully a borrow

 

[ChuckFu]

I've been running LED's on my 7gallon SPS for a year and a half now, as an experiment. I didn't get color on the bottom of the corals before this setup. So with this tank, I went bare bottom, and crinkled aluminum foil under the tank. Worked fine. With this tank, I focused more on water quality, and stability, before really tweeking light. Anywho, I am running the AI Nano on this tank, and started with whites at 10%, and blues at 20%. My lights are on total of 8 hours, with whites running 4 hours, blue at 6 hours,mand royal blues at 8, each ramping up and down. After 6 months of dialing the lights in for intensity, all of the blues are at 100% and the whites are 35%. With the whites above 35%,mand blues maxed, I've found way better growth and color, especially underneath and between branches. I've dialed in the whites last, as growth was an issue, and found the corals explode with the intensities above 35%. The coloring in the tank looked a bit blah at 40%, so I backed it back down to 35%. Looks are subjective to one's personal preferences, I like blue tanks.

As for tank parameters, quality is relatively consistent. DKH is 8-8.4, CA 410-420ppm, Mag 1360-1400, PO4 .03-.08 (vodka), and Nitrate at .25-10. Color is best with params at DKH 8.1, CA 420, Mag 1380, PO4 .08, Nitrate 10. With the tank being so small, things are going to swing like crazy, and I'm happy to be keeping it within these params.

As for the use of a PAR meter, IME they are not the best tool to use on LED's as you won't ever get a true reading with each bulb being what it is, making consistency an issue. A spectrometer would be best, but you want to talk about expensive, considering a PAR meter isn't cheap.

As of right now, I would seriously go back to T5, as it's just easier to deal with, unfortunately, there aren't any T5 fixtures small enough. Next tank is an 18"cube, and a Hydra26...build in progress...

 

[[WDT]Kyuss]

I have had a lot of issues with my LED's I have a 70*30*30 with 4 Radion Pros Gen 2 suspended about 10 inches over the tank. I was having no luck with anything even my softies were closed up. all SPS bleached, I had ran the lights at about 75% intensity. I acclimated too although I may have screwed that up as I just figured out that if I set the acclimation and then clicked program it overwrites the acclimation setting. I don't remember if I had done that or not (over a year ago). So after trying all kinds of changes and boosting the intensity even more since I thought for sure with a 30" deep tank I would need more light, I dropped the intensity down to 20%. Softies are now opened up and zoas crept out of the rock. I am still having issues with the digitata and green monticap colonies that I have, bleaching and pale. My 2 foot Maxxima, 1 foot Maxxima, and 8 inch Squamosa clams are all doing fantastic.

My phosphates, ammonia, nitrites, are all o Calcium is 470, Alk is 8, Magnesium 1250, PH 8.1, temp 78, SG 1.024 Nitrates are 40-50

I had a foxface who was on timeout in my sump get past the screen and swim into the return pump. so a lot of nutrients :( thus the high Nitrates. I am currently carbon dosing and performing 60 gallon waterchanges almost weekly trying to bring down the nitrates.

I may have to invest in a par meter, I do have the Seneye reef but I do not know how accurate that thing is, anyone know?