Nano reef LED lighting

[Baxibus]

hello all,

i am attempting to get back into the hobby and i was looking at various nano setups and the Innovative Marine Nuvo 16 seems to be a popular choice.

Marine Depot offers a version with an upgraded LED fixture and i was wondering if anyone has any experience with this setup:

AquaticLife 24 Inch 36 Watt LED Light

i am planning on some soft corals, mushrooms, and maybe some LPS.

is this light going to be over kill? i am not familiar with LEDs as my last reef tank had PC lighting and would love any input out there on this setup.

Thank you!

[Gibbnal]

Seems like everyone who purchases a 16 with the stock lights upgrades to something more powerful. People say you can keep mushrooms and LPS just fine, but mine were much happier when I got better lights.

I would spend the extra $ and get the Maxspect combo package over the AquaticLife deal. Sure it would work fine, but kind of detracts from the style of the tank, IMO.

[Bucknuter]

This seems to be working well.
2 14k(white color)
3 10k(black color)

http://i1108.photobucket.com/albums/h409/bucknuter/image-1.jpg

[Gibbnal]

I like it! Looks like a bunch of little robot heads peeking over the side of your tank.

[michael_cb_125]

Check out this company. All the fixtures are hand made in the USA. Incredibly bright.

http://www.nano-box-reef.com/

~Michael

[moondoggy4]

^^^^^ +1 on the nano box led lights also look into the Maxspect combo apparently their is a good saving on buying the combo. These will cost more but in long run you will be much happier with the results.

[TropTrea]

hello all,

i am attempting to get back into the hobby and i was looking at various nano setups and the Innovative Marine Nuvo 16 seems to be a popular choice.

Marine Depot offers a version with an upgraded LED fixture and i was wondering if anyone has any experience with this setup:

AquaticLife 24 Inch 36 Watt LED Light

i am planning on some soft corals, mushrooms, and maybe some LPS.

is this light going to be over kill? i am not familiar with LEDs as my last reef tank had PC lighting and would love any input out there on this setup.

Thank you!

I have so far not been thrilled by many of the comercial LLED fixtures out there. I'm running DIV LED's on most of my tanks now. With the present LED's out there today I would say you should consider something in the range of 2 to 3 Watts of LED lighting per gallon of water. This is changing rapidly though as a couple years ago I would have recommended 3 to 5 watts but LED's have improved greatly on output per watt.

Look at the color balance of the LED's as all LED fixtures are not the same. If they are using neutral white LED's then you want something close to a 1 White to 3 or 4 Blue ratio on the LED's. If they are using cool Whites you want a ratio of 1 White to 1 to 3 blues. Personal color preference here is important as what one person claims is too blue in lighting another will say lacks blue.

One thing I like about DIY if you do't like it you can change it yourself with a simple one or two LED swap out that will drasticly or slightly change your effect.

[Gibbnal]

That was really well put. Definitely no simple equation for picking the right LED - everyone has a different opinion of what "good" looks like (including your livestock). Your analysis was the best I have heard so far.

[Bucknuter]

hello all,

i am attempting to get back into the hobby and i was looking at various nano setups and the Innovative Marine Nuvo 16 seems to be a popular choice.

Marine Depot offers a version with an upgraded LED fixture and i was wondering if anyone has any experience with this setup:

AquaticLife 24 Inch 36 Watt LED Light

i am planning on some soft corals, mushrooms, and maybe some LPS.

is this light going to be over kill? i am not familiar with LEDs as my last reef tank had PC lighting and would love any input out there on this setup.

Thank you!

My buddy is running this system successfully with soft and LPS corals. Big upgrade from the starndard IM LEDs