Testing the Philips Coral Care LED's claims - Are they realistic?

GoVols

Cobb / Webb - 1989
View Badges
Joined
Nov 29, 2016
Messages
13,078
Reaction score
37,560
Location
In-The-Boro, TN
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
@Terence

Thanks for your clarification.

Don't call it "User Error". Your simply on a "Learning Curve" :)

Drooling for the MH look too.
 

gus6464

Well-Known Member
View Badges
Joined
Jun 8, 2015
Messages
753
Reaction score
386
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I only have 5 SPS frags so far in my tank so not much to report.

Red Planet
Jedi Mind Trick
Bali Green Slimer
Pink Lemonade
Unknown (was told it's a red robin but it's more on the orange side)

Red planet had a lot of white in the base when I got it with not much zooxanthellae and white body but it turned around quickly and it's got a lot more zoox and body is getting greener and greener by the day. The pink lemonade was cut from a section that was under a good bit of shade so half of the frag was brown with no polyps. Color is filling up entire frag now. The rest are all doing good.

I did an order for some no name maricultured mini colonies from unique corals during their anniversary sale to put the light a little more to the test.

Right now all my acros are getting ~350 PAR except for the red planet which is under ~270 as I like the green body which prefers less PAR. I will say the light is plenty strong. My tank is 16" high with light 12" above the tank. Acros are ~18" from the light and my preferred color is white channel at half of whatever the blue channel is. So basically blue channel is at 60% power and white at 30% during peak. This means I am pushing ~80W give or take to get that much PAR. PAR on the sandbed is basically 200 all over.

Ohh and also adding an oregon tort from a buddy who has a piece but been told it's an easy acro to keep with color.
 

GoVols

Cobb / Webb - 1989
View Badges
Joined
Nov 29, 2016
Messages
13,078
Reaction score
37,560
Location
In-The-Boro, TN
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Thanks for the feed back.

Looks like your taking it slow (That's a good thing) yet satisfied enough to begin to try it on more demanding SPS at this point. :)
 

gus6464

Well-Known Member
View Badges
Joined
Jun 8, 2015
Messages
753
Reaction score
386
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Roughly 3 months in since tank was setup. All the following SPS were put in around the month mark or so. Also they were all removed from the plugs and put into new ones so all the encrust growth has been within the last 2 months. These pics were straight off my nexus 6P without any type of manipulation or me having to reduce the blue light and all that stuff that usually has to be done with LEDs. Pretty much what you see is what I see in front of my desk.

Red Planet
d5f88231bc8b6f20fa1697cf3c2dc62c.jpg


ASD Rainbow Milli
6cd1318a0b420a299694f2dc3026a015.jpg


Jedi Mind Trick
4b80b528707e311b1bb0e854f96b5516.jpg


Unkown wild mini colony from UC
41bd2bc95230db9b2c13d34a935d4a99.jpg


Random from UC as well that when I got it had no color
019ae413bd451c8c3ec80b13d07d37f0.jpg
 

swk

Well-Known Member
View Badges
Joined
Jan 24, 2014
Messages
783
Reaction score
392
Location
Wine Country CA
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Roughly 3 months in since tank was setup. All the following SPS were put in around the month mark or so. Also they were all removed from the plugs and put into new ones so all the encrust growth has been within the last 2 months. These pics were straight off my nexus 6P without any type of manipulation or me having to reduce the blue light and all that stuff that usually has to be done with LEDs. Pretty much what you see is what I see in front of my desk.

Red Planet
IMG_20170319_153111.jpg


ASD Rainbow Milli
IMG_20170319_153214.jpg


Jedi Mind Trick
IMG_20170319_153336.jpg


Unkown wild mini colony from UC
IMG_20170319_153407.jpg


Random from UC as well that when I got it had no color
IMG_20170319_153330.jpg[img]
Not seeing any pics on Tapatalk or safari on my iphone7
 

GoVols

Cobb / Webb - 1989
View Badges
Joined
Nov 29, 2016
Messages
13,078
Reaction score
37,560
Location
In-The-Boro, TN
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Roughly 3 months in since tank was setup. All the following SPS were put in around the month mark or so. Also they were all removed from the plugs and put into new ones so all the encrust growth has been within the last 2 months. These pics were straight off my nexus 6P without any type of manipulation or me having to reduce the blue light and all that stuff that usually has to be done with LEDs. Pretty much what you see is what I see in front of my desk.

Red Planet
d5f88231bc8b6f20fa1697cf3c2dc62c.jpg


ASD Rainbow Milli
6cd1318a0b420a299694f2dc3026a015.jpg


Jedi Mind Trick
4b80b528707e311b1bb0e854f96b5516.jpg


Unkown wild mini colony from UC
41bd2bc95230db9b2c13d34a935d4a99.jpg


Random from UC as well that when I got it had no color
019ae413bd451c8c3ec80b13d07d37f0.jpg
Thanks for taking the time to update us.
They all look great and can clearly see the encrusting. :D
 

gus6464

Well-Known Member
View Badges
Joined
Jun 8, 2015
Messages
753
Reaction score
386
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Another red acro I got from lfs that had no name. Was told it's a red Robin but don't know.
b063c9cfbfb5c55860533799e05d65a5.jpg


Pink lemonade
95992ad5dc8354a3b1f1d00a276fa0e1.jpg
 

gus6464

Well-Known Member
View Badges
Joined
Jun 8, 2015
Messages
753
Reaction score
386
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Ohh and please excuse the gha. About a month ago the DI in my RODI ran out and since the process is fully automated I don't know how long I was topping off with >0 TDS water. I have started to get the GHA under control as it was a lot crazier than what you see in the pics. My oregon tort is surrounded by a thick brown hair algae that looks like a beard which is not dying as quickly as the GHA.

As for the lights they have been set and forget pretty much. I just basically found a color I liked visually, set it to PAR I wanted on the Seneye and that's it. Two control channels makes things super simple and it has just reiterated the thoughts I've had all along that LEDs with a zillion channels are just a gimmick and makes it trickier for people to dial down their lights. I haven't tweaked a setting in months and as you can see all my SPS have no issues.

My plan is to move up to a 4ft tank in a year or so and even if CoralCare hasn't hit the US yet I will still import a second one. This light was worth the hassle of adding a 220v receptacle and then some.
 

Terence

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
Mar 14, 2010
Messages
1,838
Reaction score
3,482
Location
Gilroy, CA
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
@Terence
Do you have any updates on your Coral Care?

Yes. They are working like champs. Tiny coral frags are encrusting and sprouting like crazy.

I have had a hard time with getting intensity dialed in where are the corals at all levels are happy. It that is much more about coral placement. It is also harder for me as the lights sit just six inches off the water.

At this point I am so satisfied that I have decided to put them on the other side of the tank as well.

The only thing that I am going to change is to put a single ReefBrite Actinic XHO strip along side the Coral Cares. I think these lights are the closest thing you can get to metal halides - but for some reason, at least to me, just like MH, I sometimes want a bit more of that pop - and the ReefBrites can deliver that independent of my Coral Care settings.
 

GoVols

Cobb / Webb - 1989
View Badges
Joined
Nov 29, 2016
Messages
13,078
Reaction score
37,560
Location
In-The-Boro, TN
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Yes. They are working like champs. Tiny coral frags are encrusting and sprouting like crazy.

I have had a hard time with getting intensity dialed in where are the corals at all levels are happy. It that is much more about coral placement. It is also harder for me as the lights sit just six inches off the water.

At this point I am so satisfied that I have decided to put them on the other side of the tank as well.

The only thing that I am going to change is to put a single ReefBrite Actinic XHO strip along side the Coral Cares. I think these lights are the closest thing you can get to metal halides - but for some reason, at least to me, just like MH, I sometimes want a bit more of that pop - and the ReefBrites can deliver that independent of my Coral Care settings.

Thank You! :)
 

Aliasger

Community Member
View Badges
Joined
May 17, 2017
Messages
67
Reaction score
90
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Hi guys,

Is philips coral care good enough for an 8m long , 1.2m deep reef tank?
 

Aquatic acrobat in your aquarium: Have you ever kept an eel?

  • I currently keep an eel in my tank.

    Votes: 29 14.8%
  • I have kept an eel in my tank in the past.

    Votes: 33 16.8%
  • I have not kept an eel in my tank, but I hope to in the future.

    Votes: 35 17.9%
  • I have no plans to keep an eel.

    Votes: 96 49.0%
  • Other.

    Votes: 3 1.5%
Back
Top