Current Marine Orbit LED and SPS
 

Hey guys!

My 75g finished cycling a few days ago. Water is clean and everything. I got a Current Orbit Marine LED light just to start off with - my LPS and softies have been doing well in the tank with the light.

My friend recently gave me a few SPS frags to put in the tank (2 acros and a birdnest) and I put them at the top of the tank last night before bed. When I woke up this morning, they all seemed to be doing quite well… but I wondered if the light would be good long term.

Would this light be good long term for the new coral? If not, would it keep them alive for 4 months?

I have a combo of Current Marine pro LED and T5HO (separate fixtures). I run the intensity of Current Marine LEDS at 50% for blues and 25% for whites. For me anything higher bleaches the SPS corals and some lobo brains that are high up.

Why was I told my Current Marine pro led is no good by members of this site, and I couldn't keep any Coral alive I tried with it? (I tried several including easy softies)

Well first off you quoted someone that is also running T5's with the orbit. The T'5s are probably doing all the work. The orbits led's are only 0.5w. A quality led is 3 to 5 watts per led, much more output. Sure, the orbit is bright and would probably grow some nice fresh water plants but is just not intense enough for corals unless they were maybe 1" below the surface.

Also bear in mind, acropora success isn’t measured over the first night, or even the first month of keeping a specimen. And I’m not specifically talking about the orbit marine LEDs in particular, but simply success of the coral in general. Your own expectations will really be the driving force behind how well you perceive any piece of gear or maintenance habit to work. Do you expect your acros to simply stay alive? NOT bleach? Or do you expect measurable growth by the weeks? Or even days? I’d honestly say in this instance, not killing an acro is a poor measure of success. To me success would be a coral adding an actual measurable amount of tissue on a weekly basis. Take pictures of your coral once a month and if after 6 months you’ve added several branches and a few inches of growth overall, you’re in good shape. If it’s simply still alive. Or grown maybe 1/2 cm and sprouted another nub, id say some element in the overall formula that is your tank, is lacking. Possibly lights. Possibly something else


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Well this is a good example of not trusting everything you read on a forum. The issue with Marine pro is it has very little coverage. It only has a 60 degrees lens angle (Orbit Marine has 120 degrees).So it puts a lot of light in a small area but to have equal coverage you would need to have 2 of them.

And unlike some people claim it is not a power issue, Here I attached the PAR data of marine pro. You can see it has the strongest light intensity of any Current USA light fixture. But it also has the lowest coverage. Lenses on marine pro are designed to concentrate light on a small area.

https://current-usa.com/wp-content/u...ifications.pdf

I kept a variety of things under the Marine Oribts and they did wonderful as well as showed amazing growth. That being said.... I had them in a 55 gallon tank which is very skinny (really too skinny but that's a different topic) and I had all my stuff very carefully positioned in the top half of the tank directly below the lighting. I also never attempted to keep any sps or any "moderate/high" lighting corals.

A month ago, mine had shorted out and I was forced to get a new light. After a lot of research I had decided to go with the ReefBreeder's Photon V2s. I'm sure you've read about them on the forum at some point. I can say after having used the Marine Orbits for the past 5 years, and then moving to these, its very different. My corals have most definitely opened up more and I am able to move them around - place them on the sand where they are more happy and in general have must more flexibility. I feel all my guys are just thriving with the new light and I don't worry that they aren't receiving enough light. Plus now I can branch out and get new things (I wanted to get into sps). Ultimately, its up to you and what you want to have in your tank and the amount of flexibility you'd like to have.

I was so happy with mine for the 5 years I had them because all my things in my tank were purchased with having that light in mind... until I finally forked out and got the ReefBreeders...and now I wish I had done that sooner.

1" below the surface marine pro has 1000 pars (attached link), it would bleach everything there.


https://current-usa.com/wp-content/u...ifications.pdf

And at 6" your at the limit for sps. Like I said The coral would have to be right near the surface, and the is no data to show how high the light is off the water. And you didn't supply your real word par numbers, just a linked pdf from the light.

Everyone please… just answer my question don't make things difficult

My answer would be no, not for for the sps you have mentioned with the base model of Orbits.

I have four 36"orbit marine LED units over my 125. Never tried any SPS corals knowing they will not survive with that insufficient lighting. Softies and LPS are fine, slow growing, but fine

I have 2 Orbit marine pro and 4 T5 bulbs. I can grow/keep alive most SPS but the growth is painfully slow. In a year have gotten good encrusting, but very little vertical growth even with the light 10 inches away. My parameters are constant with dosing pumps and routine testing.
I have lost one LED row on he newest orbit but didn't bother getting it replaced as I'm lazy and want something different in the near future. The light has very narrow coverage as said above. I would not get these if you are looking to grow higher light corals.

Fair enough. Your original question. In my opinion

Would it be GOOD for lps and softies long term?

Lps. No
Softies sure. Those will grow by candle light.

Would it keep them alive for 4 months?

Lps & softies: yes, if something else doesn’t kill them


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I have two sets of Current USA Marine Orbit on my 90. All my Softies and SPS seem to be doing fine but my Mystic Sun Montipora and Purple Haze Montipora aren’t showing any growth. I really like the lights but have decided to upgrade to a better light.


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https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...66f3cd697c.jpg


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I have been using the Orbit Marine Pro on a 55 gallon coral QT. This light has kept many LPS and even some hardier SPS. such as Catspaw & Birdnest growing. It has also kept a ultra Golden Maxima clam growing for about a year now. My angel started nipping at the clam while it was in a show tank, so I put the clam in the QT under the Orbit. I built up a rock wall and placed the clam on top of it. The clam is about 8" directly below the light. The light sits on top of the tank and shines through a glass canopy. The key is keep high light demanding livestock up high and directly under these lights.

You have the Pro tho, he doesn't mention he has the Pro in his original post. So not sure he would have the same success. If he has the Pro he may have better luck as you have had with those corals :)

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Hydrus, You are right. I didn't know Current made a base model: Orbit Marine as well as the Pro line.

Marine Led is their first gen, marine pro is their 2d gen, Big difference in led strength

Doesn’t the marine us 0.1 watt diodes and the promise 0.5 watt diodes?


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.5 sounds correct

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Ok, NO


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