LED's on Larger Reef Tanks?

[stradlover]

Anyone doing this successfully, replacing Halides with LED's, and keeping SPS's, etc in tanks 30" deep or more?

[DerekFF]

Lots of people do. Leds are really powerful. I know people getting 200par (yes stuff was getting burned before they par tested) to the sandbed usimg leds. They are powerful. Most people using radions cant use more than 60%

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[geaux xman]

Then why most people dont suggest radions with 30"tall tanks? I could be wrong, just what I commonly read on here.

I dont know much about LED's....

[stradlover]

Wish I still had my sub-lux meter to see what I'm getting at sandbed direclty below my 96watt PC's at 30inches. I know my halides are fine (across middle of the tank), but I wonder about replacing my PC's with LED's along front and back of tank canopy. Hmmm...

[SPotter]

i know a guy that has ai sol's on a 30" tank hung 22" abovr the water line. his corals are amazing and he has clams on the sand bed!!!

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[gbru316]

Then why most people dont suggest radions with 30"tall tanks? I could be wrong, just what I commonly read on here.

I dont know much about LED's....

It has nothing to do with the capability of the LED, and everything to do with optics.

LED's are directional, point light sources. Their intensity is directly related to how their output is focused. For instance, a coral 60" away from an LED with 20 degree optics might be fine, or even burn, but that same coral 60" away from an LED with 120 degree optics would die.

The issue I have with commercial build LED arrays is their lack of versatility. It's impossible to build an LED array that will properly light every tank that is 4 feet (or 3', or 6') long due to their varying depths.

I forget where it was from, but I read a thread about someone who installed their LED lights in their ceiling to light a tank that was on a typical stand, and it worked beautifully.

[stradlover]

The whole LED thing has me completely baffled and confused. My Halide ballasts and PC ballasts are getting older and use a lot of juice...and of course crank out a lot of heat. I like the 'idea' of LED's, but I can't seem to get a clear answer from anyone who is ACTUALLY USING them to replace their halides, etc.

It would seem to me this wouldn't be that complicated. Surely, someone somewhere, has taken sublux readings with Halides, T5's, PC's etc. Sure wish I could find a post of lumen readings at standard tank depths for those, with LED readings side-by side!

I get the heat savings...I get the energy savings...etc. I just want to know if I'm going to get the same kind of results or not from LED's as I'm getting from my Halides and PC's. Sigh....

[stradlover]

LED's are directional, point light sources. Their intensity is directly related to how their output is focused. For instance, a coral 60" away from an LED with 20 degree optics might be fine, or even burn, but that same coral 60" away from an LED with 120 degree optics would die.

Maybe adjustable lenses, then for tank depth is the answer to that issue. Works with my Maglight! HA!

[gbru316]

I doubt anyone has taken side-by-side lumen measurements, becase you shouldn't be measuring in lumens, you should be measuring PAR.

There are TONS of threads discussing PAR values of LED fixtures vs halide.

Unfortunately, PAR isn't the only factor. Spectrum and coverage are equally important.


The bottom line is that if you're looking for a hassle-free, plug and play solution, you should probably not make the switch. If you're willing to drop some dough, and are prepared to make adjustments and deal with a "learning curve," LED's might work for you.

Certainly there have been people who switched back to MH/T5 from LED after running into problems. There have also been many who have successfully switched.

[gbru316]

Maybe adjustable lenses, then for tank depth is the answer to that issue. Works with my Maglight! HA!

Once you adjust the spread, you'd also have to adjust the spacing :lmao:

[MikeyUU]

http://www.vividaquariums.com/aquariumLightExperiment.asp

They have compared par for LED and Halide in a 30" tank. If you haven't seen this test you should, its pretty interesting.

[stradlover]

I doubt anyone has taken side-by-side lumen measurements, becase you shouldn't be measuring in lumens, you should be measuring PAR.

There are TONS of threads discussing PAR values of LED fixtures vs halide.

Unfortunately, PAR isn't the only factor. Spectrum and coverage are equally important.

Fair enough. I keep flashing back to my old school days when I had the store. HA! PAR is what I mean to refer to!

The bottom line is that if you're looking for a hassle-free, plug and play solution, you should probably not make the switch. If you're willing to drop some dough, and are prepared to make adjustments and deal with a "learning curve," LED's might work for you.

My current system is pretty plug and play for sure...and it's been working for a VERY long time. I'm not much for adding work to my reef-keeping routine....kinda past those days. So, I appreciate the above thought. I was just ordering some replacement Halides today, and a couple Actinic PC's and was thinking about adding that couple hundredn bucks towards an LED purchase. Plus one of my workhorse ballasts burned out last month and I had to replace it, so this all got me thinking about LED's again. But I really don't want to hassle with trying to "figure out" what works for my tank when I already know what does. My tank inhabitants are pretty chipper. If I were going to replace my lighting, I'd like those PAR readings at depths so I could compare them to the areas at depth directly under my PC's as I'd probably replace those first.

Maybe I'll order a new submersible meter and take some readings so I can compare those readings to various LED readings.

I haven't really been on here before, and I was pretty overwhelmed by the LED links and threads. So, if you have a suggestion of one you've seen, or could reference regarding PAR readings at depths, I would appreciate that.

Thanks for your thoughts.

God bless....

[kentlighting]

I have a 225 running and have never ran halides on it. I run 72 LEDs on it 36 royal blues and 36 cool whites. All Cree xp-g and Xr-e and I have had great growth. I want to add more colors to the system to bring out the corals colors some more.

[gbru316]

Fair enough. I keep flashing back to my old school days when I had the store. HA! PAR is what I mean to refer to!



My current system is pretty plug and play for sure...and it's been working for a VERY long time. I'm not much for adding work to my reef-keeping routine....kinda past those days. So, I appreciate the above thought. I was just ordering some replacement Halides today, and a couple Actinic PC's and was thinking about adding that couple hundredn bucks towards an LED purchase. Plus one of my workhorse ballasts burned out last month and I had to replace it, so this all got me thinking about LED's again. But I really don't want to hassle with trying to "figure out" what works for my tank when I already know what does. My tank inhabitants are pretty chipper. If I were going to replace my lighting, I'd like those PAR readings at depths so I could compare them to the areas at depth directly under my PC's as I'd probably replace those first.

Maybe I'll order a new submersible meter and take some readings so I can compare those readings to various LED readings.

I haven't really been on here before, and I was pretty overwhelmed by the LED links and threads. So, if you have a suggestion of one you've seen, or could reference regarding PAR readings at depths, I would appreciate that.

Thanks for your thoughts.

God bless....

Dr. Joshi LED analysis part 2 (http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2012/1/aafeature)

Dr. Joshi LED analysis part 1 (http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2010/5/aafeature2)

Dr. Joshi Quantitative comparison of lighting technologies (http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2010/2/aafeature2)


There is also a ton of information on here, in both the DIY and lighting forums.

My advice is to stick with the current setup. You have it, you know it works well. You currently have stability. Is it worth disrupting for the sake of (potential) savings? A lighting change can, and probably will, drastically change the appearance of your tank. Are you prepared for that?

If you were just starting that tank, I'd recommend LED's. I've read good things about the GHL mitras, but they aren't cheap (about $1200 per pendant, covering an area of 30" x 24" up to 33" deep). DIY LED's are much cheaper.

[nikunjpatel]

I had six Radions on my 30 inch tank...did not like the growth. Added 3x 400 20k watt halides and used four of the radions as supplimental. SPS is doing much better.

[nineball]

Fair enough. I keep flashing back to my old school days when I had the store. HA! PAR is what I mean to refer to!



My current system is pretty plug and play for sure...and it's been working for a VERY long time. I'm not much for adding work to my reef-keeping routine....kinda past those days. So, I appreciate the above thought. I was just ordering some replacement Halides today, and a couple Actinic PC's and was thinking about adding that couple hundredn bucks towards an LED purchase. Plus one of my workhorse ballasts burned out last month and I had to replace it, so this all got me thinking about LED's again. But I really don't want to hassle with trying to "figure out" what works for my tank when I already know what does. My tank inhabitants are pretty chipper. If I were going to replace my lighting, I'd like those PAR readings at depths so I could compare them to the areas at depth directly under my PC's as I'd probably replace those first.

Maybe I'll order a new submersible meter and take some readings so I can compare those readings to various LED readings.

I haven't really been on here before, and I was pretty overwhelmed by the LED links and threads. So, if you have a suggestion of one you've seen, or could reference regarding PAR readings at depths, I would appreciate that.

Thanks for your thoughts.

God bless....

This link will give you a quick video of why and what LED's are on my system and if you go through the thread you will get comparisons with Plasma, Metal Halides, florescent and LED's with par lux and lumen comparisons.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRJXcIZADLE

My thread which has been split has a long history of evaluation of the various configurations and types of lights but be forewarned there are over 2,000,000 views and a bazillion pages to wade through but the history is there.

Peter

[bugs713]

I have a 38" deep 185g and did DIY 72 Cree LED's. They have only been online for 3-4 weeks and so far all is great. I have some excellent par reading at all depths which surpassed what I was hoping for - I had thought I would need MH supplementation, but does not appear to be the case.
I used all 40 degree optics, but will be changing some out to 60 or 80's to help spread the light a bit more on the bottom.

Par reading using a Apogee MQ-200 meter curiosity of Reef Culture:
* 6" - 2400 - 2800
* 13" - 1280 - 1530
* 22" - 980 - 1140
* 28" - 520 - 840
* 34" - 430 - 720
* 40" - 270 - 480

More info in my build thread:http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2139179&page=8

[upnext]

I have a 96/48/30 and I was thinking to go with the canon leds

[shawn.short]

I have a 324 g DT , and my AI sol super blues, 32 tall and my LEDs are 15 inches from water and only at 60% and most of my corals are someone's else's because they'd place them in my system due to growth and color! I love them soooo worth the money, no replacement no chillers no fans and no high power bill