Show tank - LED lighting

[ReefMP]

Anyone know of a great looking tank where LED is the primary lighting and has been for a while? I'm talking something that's 65g or greater, worthy of Reef2Reef or RC ROTM/TOTM. These days everyone's talking about LEDs, I've been testing them on my small tank for 3 months now and I'm considering building a LED/T5 combo setup, I just don't think LEDs are there yet as primary lighting.

I haven't seen a tank lit by all LEDs yet and went WOW, seen lots of tanks with lots of frags but nothing with the WOW factor.

 

[ReefMP]

I take it you guys haven't seen a mature reef tank worthy of ROTM that is lit primarily by LEDs either?
I've been searching and all I could find are tanks with lots of frags.

 

[VelasCorals]

My tank isn't worthy of TOTM... "yet" ;). However, my tank has been lit by only LEDs for the past 6 months.

 

[BigFeesh]

Is that 14k?

 

[subdrive]

Just start up tank...
All LED from reefkoi, liking it so far.

let see how this goes

 

[VelasCorals]

4 x Panorama Module 8000K/453nm Actinic Blue (8-8000K 1 watt LEDs and 4-453nm 1 watt LEDs)
2 x Panorama LED Module 453nm Actinic Blue (12-453nm 1 watt LEDs)
1 x Stunner 6 watt 453nm Blue LED Strip 12.5"

I'm not sure what that equals out too...

 

[MimicOcto8]

dude forrealb those some of the prettiest colors i've ever seen. that green monti cap looks insane!

 

[BigFeesh]

What's the blue to white ratio ? Not so technical haha

 

[ReefMP]

My tank isn't worthy of TOTM... "yet" ;). However, my tank has been lit by only LEDs for the past 6 months.

Tank looks great. What lighting were you using on it prior to switching to LEDs ? The colors look great, have you seen lots of growth over that timeframe? Do you have a before pic we could use to compare?

I've been testing LEDs for about 3 months now and from my experience some of my corals do well under it but it's either too blue or too white, I'm looking for the color similar to what I have on my main tank. Also, some of my SPS weren't doing so good under LEDs, they weren't growing much. For example, my orange, green and purple monti caps and digitatas do great under T5s but under the LED they kept color but didn't grow much after 2 months. Similar size frags that I kept under T5s almost doubled in size during that timeframe.

 

[VelasCorals]

dude forrealb those some of the prettiest colors i've ever seen. that green monti cap looks insane!

Thanks, I have 3 different shades of green. Not sure how I ended up with only green caps.

What's the blue to white ratio ? Not so technical haha

Oh, an exact 50/50 ration blue to white LEDs (48 blue 1 watt and 48 white 1 watt)

Tank looks great. What lighting were you using on it prior to switching to LEDs ? The colors look great, have you seen lots of growth over that timeframe? Do you have a before pic we could use to compare?

I've been testing LEDs for about 3 months now and from my experience some of my corals do well under it but it's either too blue or too white, I'm looking for the color similar to what I have on my main tank. Also, some of my SPS weren't doing so good under LEDs, they weren't growing much. For example, my orange, green and purple monti caps and digitatas do great under T5s but under the LED they kept color but didn't grow much after 2 months. Similar size frags that I kept under T5s almost doubled in size during that timeframe.

I used a 6 bulb T5 in a 55 gallon before I moved everything over to the cube. My caps, digis are growing great under my LEDS.

Here's an old kinda crappy picture of the cube about 4 months ago.

IMG_0585.jpg picture by forrealb50 - Photobucket

The green cap on the right is encrusting and ran out of room so it started to grow columns updwards. The clam on the top is easily 300% bigger. The digi on the left bottom has trippled in size. The cap in the middle (tan with blue polyps) has trippled in size as well.

 

[sts04c]

LEDs growing corals.......whoda thunkted ;)

Very Nice tank. Stunning color. Great growth for 4 months.

 

[swannyson7]

I'm far from TOTM material, but I'm running my system with 3 of the 150 watt LED fixtures from Reef Filtration. I've seen good growth and the coloration can't be beat!

 

[phi delt reefer]

swannyson - maybe you could share how you took such good pics of your tank under LEDs?

What camera/camera settings did you use?
Any post-processing?

 

[swannyson7]

swannyson - maybe you could share how you took such good pics of your tank under LEDs?

What camera/camera settings did you use?
Any post-processing?

Pics were taken with a Canon XSi with the stock 18-55mm lens and I don't remember for sure, but I don't think there was any post processing on these. I think it was just a custom white balance in aperture priority mode with an f-stop of about 9.

When I take pics with my macro lens, I have to adjust the color temp of the raw image, and I usually adjust exposure, contrast, & black levels to help with any washout.

 

[youngtimothy]

My tank isn't worthy of TOTM... "yet" ;). However, my tank has been lit by only LEDs for the past 6 months.

that is one beautiful tank! I love LED's they bring out so many colors! some day some day!

 

[reefer10]

Swannyson7, is that the latest version of Luke's 150 watt leds, the 14k color?

 

[swannyson7]

Swannyson7, is that the latest version of Luke's 150 watt leds, the 14k color?

No, they're the last generation with 119 3 watt Bridgelux diodes. They have about a 14k look, but I'm supplementing them with ATI Blue+ T5s, so my tank is closer to 20k

 

[Murfman]

No where near TOM but it is hard growing a 1- 1 1/2" frag into a colony that "fills" up area in a 300.

3 Evolution 120 Watt LEDs Around 22K.

 

[ReefMP]

Glad I started this thread. I was on the fense about replacing my current T5 setup with a LED/T5 combo, I like what I've seen so far, some very cool tanks everyone. I'm not sure I would go all LED but I'm thinking of LEDs in the middle with 2x54w T5s on each side (ATI Blue+ and KZ Fiji Purple bulbs).

 

[Fragtastic Reef]

Some great looking tanks in this thread. I just wonder how the LED's will perform over the long haul. I have been temped to put LED's over just 1/3 of my 180gal tank just to see.