wich led for acro tank

[gonewild34]

Hi I have been out of the hobby for five years and it time to get back in but I see they are using led now as main lighting I have a 75 rr tank I'll have a couple of chalice at the bottom but tank is goin to be mostly sps wich led fixture should I use to get the best color and growth
Thankx

 

[ReefLEDLights]

For SPS I like to see PAR levels above photohinibition. The SPS develop favorable pigments to reflect this excessive light.

To ensure you have enough light on the sand bed for clams I would go with a minimum of a 250 Watt MH equivalent and preferred 400 watt MH equivalent . Most popular fixtures offer only 1000 PAR at 12" this is at best a 250 watt MH equivalent.

You can never judge the intensity of an LED fixture by watts. Check their performance charts and be careful of some of the less expensive imports.

 

[gonewild34]

Ok thank u do u have any recommendations of light fixtures to but I'm new to led and know nothin about them

 

[ReefLEDLights]

Pm Sent

 

[ifarmer]

T5 and or MH are still the best light for sps.
you could try a fixture that has both T5 and LED maybe? the reasons because I have seen a lot of sps folks going back to T5 or MH after trying out LED for over 10 months or more. However there are a few that do have good success with using LED on acro but a few though.
For a light to be considered successfully, it needs to give us both good growth and nice color .
A lot of folks in here sometimes they tell you that their led have no problems with acro but they dont realize that they have not been using it long enough to know.
A lot of folks will recommend their LED light as the best or good light, some even say they could not live without it or will never look back...when that is the only LED light that they have ever used/tried or could afford.
I am somewhat considered myself as an acro sps person. I have tried Ecotech Radion and Rapid DIY led for over a year but eventually gone back to older technology light in T5.

and one thing I know very sure. because LED looks sleek on any tank. 99.9% of the people will look for LED first (regardless LED light work or not for sps)

For sps and acro lovers like us, the annual bulb replacement cost is nothing.

 

[Joeganja]

T5 6-8 Ati bulb fixture are amazing for sps dominate tank!

 

[jared graves]

T5 and or MH are still the best light for sps.
you could try a fixture that has both T5 and LED maybe? the reasons because I have seen a lot of sps folks going back to T5 or MH after trying out LED for over 10 months. However there are a few that do have good success with using LED on acro but a few though.
For a light to be considered successfully, it needs to give us both good growth and nice color .
A lot of folks in here sometimes they tell you that their led have no problems with acro but they dont realize that they have not been using it long enough to know.
A lot of folks will recommend their LED light as the best or good light, some even say they could not live without it or will never look back...when that is the only LED light that they have ever used/tried or could afford.
I am somewhat considered myself as an acro sps person. I have tried Ecotech Radion and Rapid DIY led for over a year but eventually gone back to older technology light in T5.

This is true a lot of people try led and go back this is particularly do to the fact leds are concentrated lights that don't tend to give the same full tank coverage as T5. Imo the only way to have leds get the same kind of coverage is to spend big $$$ and get 2x as many lights as the led light claims you need for your tank and then just dial the I intensity back so you don't cook your corals. Probably the cheapest yet most effective way to get good growth and color with led is to combine those 165w Chinese box units with the kessil A150we tuna blue lights. In my tank which is a standard 90gal I run 2 Chinese units coming in from above and then a kessil coming in from each front corner.

 

[ReefLEDLights]

There is no substitute for quality LEDs. Cheaper ones simply do not have the spectrum nor intensity. Here are some pics of a tank lit 100% by Cree 3 and 5 watt LEDs

Bill

 

[gonewild34]

Thank u for the Info I really wanted to stay with t5 but I was told it's getting harder to get bulbs and talking. To bill (reefledlighting) gave me alot of good info on LEDs and it makes sense that u need alot of LEDs to get the coverage like mh or t5s

 

[twilliard]

There is no substitute for quality LEDs. Cheaper ones simply do not have the spectrum nor intensity. Here are some pics of a tank lit 100% by Cree 3 and 5 watt LEDs

Bill

Nice photo !
I run the Orphek atlantik 2.1 compact.
Any opinions on this?
I switched to led about 2 years ago and I have found its a fine balance as we can not "see" truly what the output of Led's are.

 

[TrPPnN]

Hey Twilliard! I personally know Scott Rich at Orphek and he's a great guy...

 

[twilliard]

Hey!
Ya I have known him for some time now.
I am a firm supporter of all that Ofir has on the line.
One day I hope to meet Scott maybe at MACNA 2016! A little closer to home

 

[Harold Green]

I wouldn't take it at face value that few people are running black box lights. The problem is that most new hobbyists try them first because of price and not every hobbyist has success with their first attemp at reef keeping. I'm sure there are many like myself who have been running the black boxes for several years now with decent results. I do admit though to having almost complete coverage of the tank with fixtures. That's seven over a six foot long tank. Almost no shading and I can adjust the color and intensity a great deal which is to my liking. If one light fails I can replace it cheaply and survive on the remaining ones while waiting for a replacement. I can grow acro's on the sand bed and caps and birdsnest at the top of the rockwork. I originally went to led's as a way to avoid having a chiller. I was running vho's before the led's and the heat was tremendous.

 

[TrPPnN]

Hey!
Ya I have known him for some time now.
I am a firm supporter of all that Ofir has on the line.
One day I hope to meet Scott maybe at MACNA 2016! A little closer to home

I'll see you at San Diego!