SPS finally showing decent rates of growth!

OceanL0ver

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I have been running LEDs since I started my tank which is for a year now. I mostly have SPS. All nutrients have been under control. Stable alkalinity, calcium and magnesium but unimpressed with the growth until I added two T5 bulbs retrofit and have had them on for about two months and have already noticed significant growth as compared to LEDs alone. I finally feel like I can have a thriving SPS tank after a few years with this growth rate. Just thought I would share, I thought I was doing something wrong.
 

nautical_nathaniel

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I have been running LEDs since I started my tank which is for a year now. I mostly have SPS. All nutrients have been under control. Stable alkalinity, calcium and magnesium but unimpressed with the growth until I added two T5 bulbs retrofit and have had them on for about two months and have already noticed significant growth as compared to LEDs alone. I finally feel like I can have a thriving SPS tank after a few years with this growth rate. Just thought I would share, I thought I was doing something wrong.
That's great! Congrats!
 

BoomCorals

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You can get incredible growth with LEDs, but it requires you to have an "sps" thumb, to understand what changes your corals need in intensity/placement. But either way, nice to see you've got the growth you wanted. :) What LEDs are you using?
 

Tautog

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I too have recently switched from LEDs to T-5's, and the growth is visible within the first month, happy corals, and my 2- part doubled, happy reefer
 

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From another post recently on the topic - Just wanted to throw this out there, grew this colony from about a 2" colony to the size you see pictured here in only 5 months under LED. It is currently almost as big as a basketball. You can get this growth from almost any LED to be honest. I have not used metal halide or T5 in over 8 years.

Boom-4226.jpg


This was grown from a 1.5" small colony to this size in the same time frame.
Boom-4230.jpg


Grew this from a 1.5" small colony to current size as well in the same time frame.
Boom-4239.jpg



Just don't want people thinking that LED can't grow corals. :p
 
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OceanL0ver

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You can get incredible growth with LEDs, but it requires you to have an "sps" thumb, to understand what changes your corals need in intensity/placement. But either way, nice to see you've got the growth you wanted. :) What LEDs are you using?

Black box [emoji847]
 
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OceanL0ver

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To clarify, I'm running both LED and T5 as a hybrid setup
 
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OceanL0ver

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My LEDs are crap is why I couldn't grow with them. I'm not doubting LEDs. Just sharing my story
 
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OceanL0ver

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fb19d1b3754528539577f1c9fbb212ef.jpg
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fb1c591ec8ed9eeedea14a5e50fc9d1e.jpg
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I understand that some of these SPS pictured are some of the easier to grow and they're not that impressive compared to others but for me with in the last two months with the T5 hybrid LED setup they have started to grow some and I am just ecstatic
 

BoomCorals

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fb19d1b3754528539577f1c9fbb212ef.jpg
369a2388fab74e73cb32ed99746f98e0.jpg
fb1c591ec8ed9eeedea14a5e50fc9d1e.jpg
46fbfdd0dc02f4e9d8d96b2bd93bc5d5.jpg




I understand that some of these SPS pictured are some of the easier to grow and they're not that impressive compared to others but for me with in the last two months with the T5 hybrid LED setup they have started to grow some and I am just ecstatic
I think it looks great!
 
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OceanL0ver

OceanL0ver

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From another post recently on the topic - Just wanted to throw this out there, grew this colony from about a 2" colony to the size you see pictured here in only 5 months under LED. It is currently almost as big as a basketball. You can get this growth from almost any LED to be honest. I have not used metal halide or T5 in over 8 years.

Boom-4226.jpg


This was grown from a 1.5" small colony to this size in the same time frame.
Boom-4230.jpg


Grew this from a 1.5" small colony to current size as well in the same time frame.
Boom-4239.jpg



Just don't want people thinking that LED can't grow corals. :p

These look really nice!
 
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OceanL0ver

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I will say black box performed poorly for me. I've used SBreef lights, radions, kessils, and AI all with great success. But black box never performed well.

I agree they aren't that good. I should've just invested in higher-quality lights from the get-go.
 

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LEDs obviously can grow corals otherwise many of the aquaculture facilities wouldn't use them. Growth of their lineage pieces is important. LEDs are just harder to use correctly. If you've been in the sps game for a while, understand spectrum, placement, use a par meter, ect your chances of success are better. If you're learning sps, it's just so much easier to throw some t5ho up and forget about lighting.
 
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OceanL0ver

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After watching the BRS investigates video on Chinese black boxes I do not think the spread is good enough for SPS do you have optimal growth. I agree with what you're saying if you have kessil, AI, Ecotech, and other non black box leds
 

bif24701

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I have been running LEDs since I started my tank which is for a year now. I mostly have SPS. All nutrients have been under control. Stable alkalinity, calcium and magnesium but unimpressed with the growth until I added two T5 bulbs retrofit and have had them on for about two months and have already noticed significant growth as compared to LEDs alone. I finally feel like I can have a thriving SPS tank after a few years with this growth rate. Just thought I would share, I thought I was doing something wrong.

Believe it or not it can take a whole year for an SPS system to fully mature and LEDs have a steep learning curve. People are to uncertain about their settings and always changing them thinking it will improve growth. It's actually completely opposite. Each time a change is made you are basically hitting the reset button. T5s are on off, hard to mess it up.

All LED owners should know, set them up and forget it. Don't touch them, EVER! Lol.
 

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