Lighting Website Updates

[TropTrea]

Originally Posted by zombiefish

Anybody use the Kessil A150W special blend led light? I was told two of them would be perfect for a 50 gallon. Any input?

Two 50 Watt LED's = 100 watts on a 50 gallon which gives roughly 2 watts per gallon.

I'm using 60 watts on a 40 gallon which is 1.5 Watts per gallon. I think Im slightly on the low side for light but getting fantastic coral colors and moderate coral growth on LPS's.

Not knowing the specifice of the Kessil chips I would say they seem the right size but be careful of the color balance. Yo want roughly 1 watt of neutral white for 3 to 6 watts of blue lighting dependent on your personal color taste.

[zombiefish]

Originally Posted by TropTrea

Two 50 Watt LED's = 100 watts on a 50 gallon which gives roughly 2 watts per gallon.

I'm using 60 watts on a 40 gallon which is 1.5 Watts per gallon. I think Im slightly on the low side for light but getting fantastic coral colors and moderate coral growth on LPS's.

Not knowing the specifice of the Kessil chips I would say they seem the right size but be careful of the color balance. Yo want roughly 1 watt of neutral white for 3 to 6 watts of blue lighting dependent on your personal color taste.

Thanks, appreciate your input.

[TropTrea]

Correction that Kessil A150W is only 32 watts. I would recommend at least 3 of them for a 50 gallon tank. That would give you much closer to 20 watts per gallon rather than 1.28 Watts per gallon that is well under my lights. At 265 each your talking $795 which is a lot for lighting on a 50 gallon tank. I just did a DIY LED system for a 90 gallon at roughly half that much money.

Using 5 Watt LED's for mid day you can put in 60 watts of Neutral Whites and Royal Blues for around $130.00. For the dawn to Dusk you can put in 35 watts of 3 watt LED's with a combo of 430nm, 454nm and 46nm LED's for under $100.00. You would be spending less total than one of these 32 watts units.

Sorry but I have gotten very cost sensative since the recession. Time would be roughly 4 hours to build someting simple like this so your talking your labor breaks out to about $140.00 an hour. There are not many jobs out there that allow you to make $140.00 per hour. This is what I use as factor if I should or should not build it myself.

[zombiefish]

Originally Posted by TropTrea

Correction that Kessil A150W is only 32 watts. I would recommend at least 3 of them for a 50 gallon tank. That would give you much closer to 20 watts per gallon rather than 1.28 Watts per gallon that is well under my lights. At 265 each your talking $795 which is a lot for lighting on a 50 gallon tank. I just did a DIY LED system for a 90 gallon at roughly half that much money.

Using 5 Watt LED's for mid day you can put in 60 watts of Neutral Whites and Royal Blues for around $130.00. For the dawn to Dusk you can put in 35 watts of 3 watt LED's with a combo of 430nm, 454nm and 46nm LED's for under $100.00. You would be spending less total than one of these 32 watts units.

Sorry but I have gotten very cost sensative since the recession. Time would be roughly 4 hours to build someting simple like this so your talking your labor breaks out to about $140.00 an hour. There are not many jobs out there that allow you to make $140.00 per hour. This is what I use as factor if I should or should not build it myself.

Yea I don't think 800 bucks in lighting for a 50 gallon tank is what I want to spend right now. Ill look into the DIY led areas and see if its something I can tackle

[Alohadood]

I have a coralife HO t5 with quad bulbs. Right now I run dual (stagered) atinic 450's and one daylight 65K and one ultra 10K.

LRCF, is this a good set up or should I be looking at a different bulb ratio/set up?
Tank is 75Gal

[TropTrea]

Originally Posted by Alohadood

I have a coralife HO t5 with quad bulbs. Right now I run dual (stagered) atinic 450's and one daylight 65K and one ultra 10K.

LRCF, is this a good set up or should I be looking at a different bulb ratio/set up?
Tank is 75Gal

For starters 4 T-5 bulbs on a 75 gallon tank will limit you only a few of the soft corals, and a few of the lower light LPS corals. Even the best fixture I would recommend at least 6 bulbs or to suplement with LED Lighting.

As far as your bulb combination gorew you have 2 Blulbs strong in the White spectrum ( the 10K and the 6.5K) While it makes the tank look nice a bright the full spectrum bulbs do not produce enough blue light for the Corals.

If it was my tank I would go to one Atinic and 3 of the 450nm Blulbs. Then suplement with a strip of 454nm (Royal Blue LED's) at a total of about 30 Watts for a predawn to post dusk effect. Then I would add another strip with roughly 40 watts of Neutral White LED's for the midday lighting. You can use your T-5's for the Dawn to Dusk period with a strong Blue tint.

[taowa]

I use AI Vega a and Eco-lamps KR93SP. My SPS will survive around 2-3 months and start to rtn/stn from base up. My friend suggest that I have to adjust White led vs Color led to fit with my tank, he recommends to have more White% than other color. Is it true? Is there any article explain about led color?

So far I set White and Color around 80%:70% for 5 hr.

[TropTrea]

Originally Posted by taowa

I use AI Vega a and Eco-lamps KR93SP. My SPS will survive around 2-3 months and start to rtn/stn from base up. My friend suggest that I have to adjust White led vs Color led to fit with my tank, he recommends to have more White% than other color. Is it true? Is there any article explain about led color?

So far I set White and Color around 80%:70% for 5 hr.

Different corals require different wavelenghts of light to get the best growth and color out of them. It has been found that several SPS corals do not like light in the 680 nm range as in excess it will cause them to bleach out.

A majority of the light most corals utilize is in the 420nm to 480nm range wich is in the near UV to Blue range. However there are photosensative chemicals that are activated to a lesser degree at other wave lenghts as well. Finding that perfect balance has many variables including the specific coral your trying to keep.

A general rule of thumb is if you are using Cool whites LED's a ratio of 1 Watt of White to 1 to 2 watts of Blue LED's. If your using using Neutral Whites the ratio needs to coser to 3 watts of Blues and some people go as far as 6 watts of Blues to one of Whites. With the cool whites it common for many people to suplement with a minimal amount of Red LED's while with the Neutral Whites this is not necessary.

I like to work off the bases of at least 1.5 Watts of Blue LED's per gallon of water. When I refer to Blues I'm looking at Royal Blues 454 nm, True Blues 470 nm and Near UV 420 nm. In a Ration of roughly 4 to 2 to 1. Then I will add enough neutral whites to please the viewers eye.

In the near future this formula will not work though. As Cree is comming out with the XP-E2 chip that suposedly in the reseach labs has hit as high as 261 lums per Watt. Presently getting above 100 Lums per Watt is rare.

[TropTrea]

Why does this always list out as the top of my new posts with the post by Vickybe listed as the last poster?

[Imperator]

I haven't had a tank up for some time, like 8 years. It seems like lighting has changed a lot. I have two 250 watt MH electronic ballists. I was looking for some bulbs. All the bulbs seem to be very a high kelvin rating. I don't like the way that looks. Can I get a good recomendation for a 5500k bulb?

[TropTrea]

Originally Posted by Imperator

I haven't had a tank up for some time, like 8 years. It seems like lighting has changed a lot. I have two 250 watt MH electronic ballists. I was looking for some bulbs. All the bulbs seem to be very a high kelvin rating. I don't like the way that looks. Can I get a good recomendation for a 5500k bulb?

The popularity of the low K high PAR bulbs is down in favor of the higher K bulbs. The basic reason for this is more people are interested in bringing out the florescense in there coral than rapid coral growth. Add to that the popularity of T-5 lighting where you get roughly the same amount of light for about 75% of the electric bill. Then the new addition of LED comming into the picture where you have bulb life of 5 plus years and an even greater reduction in the electric bill. So for a distributor to decide what to stock he looks at what is selling the fastest for him. If he stocks 100 metal hide bulbs as sees 70% of his sales are for 20,000K bulbs he will stock them before he stocks the 6,500K bulbs. But the 6,500K metal hide bulbs are still out there being manufactured.

From the new reefer he weighs out all the aspects of lighting and today is putting operating cost as a strong factor. This operating cost includes bulb replacement cost as well as his electric bill. On this cost bases the newer LED's win easily. However for the individual with an already functional lighting system this is not always the case or takes a considerable lenght of time to balance out switching.

As a quick comparison

2 250 Watt MH with Atinic T-5 suplements of 108 Watts means your using about $240 worth of electricity a year, plus plus another $120 in bulb replacement costs for an operating cost of $360

6 T-5 Bubls at 54 watts each will cost your $180 worth of electricity plus $150 in bulb replacement costs for $330 a year.

Finaly a LEd lighting system with 240 Watts of electricity would cost you $130 in electricity and no bulb replacement cost in 5 years.

While the quality of light is very simular each has its advantages and disanvantages. But ifwe look over 5 years of operation from the LED's as being the most economical we spend an aditional $1,000 using T-5's and an aditional $1,130 using MH's.

Now your want to weigh this against the cost of upgrading and for most people it is wash over 5 years. But if your building from scratch the difference in initial cost is a big factor as LED's cost initialy more than MH's or T-5's unless you build the system yourself.

[chrisryherd]

I have a 95 gallon tank and will be using 2x gen2 radions. I would like to supplement this with some T5 lighting. I am thinking 4 bulbs (two on each side of the LEDs). I see a big price difference in price for T5 lighting, is there a big difference in the higher price T5 and what would be a good setup for my situation. thanks in advance for all your help.

[TropTrea]

Originally Posted by chrisryherd

I have a 95 gallon tank and will be using 2x gen2 radions. I would like to supplement this with some T5 lighting. I am thinking 4 bulbs (two on each side of the LEDs). I see a big price difference in price for T5 lighting, is there a big difference in the higher price T5 and what would be a good setup for my situation. thanks in advance for all your help.

Yes there is a big difference between a #130 and a $500 light fixture with T-5's. Im assuming your going with 4" ling tubes and adding 4 of them to a LED system would probably be over kill. The 4 T-5's alone shoul handle more than half the needed lighting for your tank. So is all you would need is an additional 40 to 60 watts of LED'stotal.

An easier option might be to run two single T-5 tubes and keep all your LED's as they are. I personaly love to mix T=5 ATI Bue Plus Bulbs with LED's as the complement each out beautifuly filling in the spectrum gaps form each other.

[cwleed]

I'm also needing lighting suggestions for a 25 gallon+10gallon(sump), 24" x 15" x 18 high". I'm looking to keep sps , I'd like suggestions of ECO Lamps KR93SP-18" is ok for my tank? if not.Can someone also give me recommendations for best lighting for my tank

http://www.aquariumline.com/catalog/...ml?language=en

[TropTrea]

Originally Posted by cwleed

I'm also needing lighting suggestions for a 25 gallon+10gallon(sump), 24" x 15" x 18 high". I'm looking to keep sps , I'd like suggestions of ECO Lamps KR93SP-18" is ok for my tank? if not.Can someone also give me recommendations for best lighting for my tank

http://www.aquariumline.com/catalog/...ml?language=en

Looling over the specificcations on this LED light I would say it seems like one of the better LED lighting units out there. However I then saw the price of 832 Euro dollars or over $1,100 US dollars for a 70 Watt LED Unit.

Now I know why I love DIY lighting. To buld something like this would be under $200 us dollars.

[trueblackpercula]

Well if your looking for a good led fixture to try I am sure you can find a radio first gen for about $450 and they work great as I have one.

[TropTrea]

Originally Posted by trueblackpercula

Well if your looking for a good led fixture to try I am sure you can find a radio first gen for about $450 and they work great as I have one.

Keep in mind we are only talking a 25 Gallon tank here. About the max you would want in quality LED's would be 50 Watts and even 37 Watts should be enough to allow you to grow most SPS corals. I"m only using only about 45 Watts of LED's on my 40 gallon frag tanks with better growth than I had with 156 Watts of T-5's.

[moondoggy4]

PC bulbs guys any ideas http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh....php?t=2348969

[TropTrea]

Originally Posted by moondoggy4

PC bulbs guys any ideas http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh....php?t=2348969

POC's are the least effecient light bulbs out there. They are only one step above the old T-12's as you can push more watts of power into them.

Solow wise since your combining them with MH's, use a combination of Blue bulbs. I would go with 480nm bulbs personaly but I know others like the 410-420 nm atinics. So it is a lot of personal color choice.

Using these as dawn to dusk when they are on alone the atincs will not look as bright and give a lightly more purple tint than the blues at 460nm. When the MH's are combined with they they will wash out the color from the atinics more so than they would the blue bulbs.

Coral growth, I think your gong to enough light from the MH's to cover that part in the blue part of the spectrum.

[ggabe145]

gor the past seven months I have had one AI vega over my 55 gallon tank, yes I know 2 would be better but i'm a poor college kid who can't afford 2, but one day i will. I have seen great growth in my acans. My montis were slow at first but in just the past month I have seen great growth and it is now plating up well. The light sits about 12 inches over the tank atop of a self made canopy the of course is painted white on the inside to help reflect the light, but I have an idea of using that white as a base layer and then putting a layer of the highly reflective chrome paint. Has anyone tried this yet?

[TropTrea]

Originally Posted by ggabe145

gor the past seven months I have had one AI vega over my 55 gallon tank, yes I know 2 would be better but i'm a poor college kid who can't afford 2, but one day i will. I have seen great growth in my acans. My montis were slow at first but in just the past month I have seen great growth and it is now plating up well. The light sits about 12 inches over the tank atop of a self made canopy the of course is painted white on the inside to help reflect the light, but I have an idea of using that white as a base layer and then putting a layer of the highly reflective chrome paint. Has anyone tried this yet?

Look into some of the local metal shops and see if they have polished Alumnium sheets. I used them a few years back and the results was fantastic no both T-5's as well as MH's. The real secret of sucess with with it is the way you bend it to reflect the maximium amount of light into the tank rather than back at the light, or out the sides of the tanks.

[diverdan6996]

OK, I bought 1 Radion G2 for my 55 on 9/14/13, have had it set on mfg's 'color template' setting to date. Now I would like some advice on kicking a custom setting for growth & color, because I'd hate to wipe out what I have with experimentation....after all I am just a po' boy!!!

[TropTrea]

Originally Posted by diverdan6996

OK, I bought 1 Radion G2 for my 55 on 9/14/13, have had it set on mfg's 'color template' setting to date. Now I would like some advice on kicking a custom setting for growth & color, because I'd hate to wipe out what I have with experimentation....after all I am just a po' boy!!!

First off make changes slowly. No more than 5% on any one channel every week or preferably two weeks. More Blue light yield more florescence and also more growth. But if you hit a threshold the return become negative. Fining that point is sometimes a pain. Then adjusting the white part of the spectrum will be there 95% for improving your viewing please. Personal taste will determine if this is at 20% of full power or 80% full power.

[Snyper19]

Hi, I'm planning into converting to LEDs, I own an RSM 250 (65gal) but I'm not sure if I should get 1 radion (gen2 or gen3), I'm not sure if one should be enough....

Other option I saw was the maxspect razor 160watts 16k.

Will either LEDs fixture be enough for my tank?

I'm new to LEDs please be gentle.

Thanks

[TropTrea]

Originally Posted by Snyper19

Hi, I'm planning into converting to LEDs, I own an RSM 250 (65gal) but I'm not sure if I should get 1 radion (gen2 or gen3), I'm not sure if one should be enough....

Other option I saw was the maxspect razor 160watts 16k.

Will either LEDs fixture be enough for my tank?

I'm new to LEDs please be gentle.

Thanks

For a 65 gallon tank you should be in the range of 130 to 195 total wattage. When you get a dimmable LED fixture you want to up that considerably as you not want to run all your LED's at 100% power to get the light you personaly like.

Now depending on the corals your keeping you can go the high or low end of the current range. Also the quality of the fixture will make a big variation in how much light your getting at the same wattage. I would avoid fixtures that are delivering 1 watt per LED as this adds to the cost and the old 1 watt leds are less efficient than the newer 5 and 10 watt LED's.

Also consider DIY LED's. LED's are the easiest to build yourself. Most people can build a fantastic system for well under $2.00 per watt. Plus it gives you the options to have the light spectrum you want rather what someone boxed thinking everyone will like it.