It's time to get serious about my lighting.

[Mostly Rock]

I have a 75 Gal tank, it's 18 to 20 in to the substrate. My lighting is currently an Odyssea T5 with 2 actinics, and 2 14k's, and a single reflector that wraps around them all. PLUS, I use egg crate as my top, and I seem to remember a grotesque PAR reduction of about 43% (correct me, please, I want to be wrong about this!) So I assume my PAR rating is abhorrent. So, do I get a nice T5 setup like a
http://www.aquacave.com/tek-light-t-...upply-693.html
or should I go big and try for a LED setup? If so, which one? Then my question is, should I make a hood and mount the lights in there so I have a lid to keep the jumpers in, or is there a better type of mesh type material available to make a lid with? Yeah, I know, I have a lot of modding and upgrading ahead of me, but I think my lighting needs to be a priority now.
-Mike

[oger696]

ive currently got 2x 54 w T5's and am changing to LED's i am very impressed with them but there is the $$ to consider .. but having leds will make it alot easier to have a cosed in hood for your jumpers etc since there is not much heat emitted from them compared to any other light i guess at the end of the day is how much u want to spend

[Mostly Rock]

Which LED 's are you looking at? I'm not very familiar with them, so there is a pretty huge research factor involved too.

[Mostly Rock]

AquaBeam 600 Ultra Strip - Marine White/Reef Blue combo... I'm guessing a couple of these would be good, I just can't find a price anywhere. The UK site gave me a USA distributor, but they said I can't look at their prices cause I'm not in the Kool Klub. Where do you guys find your LED's?

[CarmieJo]

I have an original Solaris G series light but they have gone out of business. There were tons of new LED's at MACNA this year. I won a Marineland Reef Capable LED that I am running on my NC24. Visibly it looks brighter than the PC's but I don't have a PAR meter so that may be an optical illusion. Anyhow I think it is OK for a nano but probably not for a big tank. Hopefully Dick will check in here. He knows a lot about LED lighting and can steer you in the right direction.

[oger696]

Hopefully he will carmie ; ) ...

Mostly rock .. im in Australia so could be completly diff but when i look at english prices on the net its not much difference ... 1 aquaray 5 led strip retails here for about $176 ...

Carmie aquaray also do tiles which have 10 leds in them for more intense lighting .... they are 20cmx20cm squares.. quite compact little units possibly a better alternative for larger tanks with greater depth etc

This site has not a bad review of LED lights and gives some good examples along with costings and charts too show PAR comparisons too MH
http://aquariumdigest.wordpress.com/...ghts-lighting/

All looks pretty good too me .... The impression i get is MH has better depth penetration and is better for depths of about 24" + and more wide spread light if you have a really wide tank but the LED has more usable light for photosynthesis for corals / plants ... most of this example is on the old model Aquaray 500 the new 600 ultra models have a wide beam angle lens and higher light output and some other minor benefits ...

[Amphibious]

Hopefully Dick will check in here. He knows a lot about LED lighting and can steer you in the right direction.

The LED lighting field is changing so fast I have not been able to keep up with the technology. It’s gotten so confusing, at least for me, that I’ve gone in a different direction, at least for now.

Explanation: Each of us has a different method of understand things. Some can read it and understand, others can look at spectrum charts and grasp the meaning, some rely on a PAR meter, and still others can look at all the data and get a good grasp on things. I’m different, at least when it comes to this lighting business. I have to “see” the lighting in action and witness the effects on coral. I get nothing from spectrum charts, techno data, written word, Sanja’s seminars or Dana’s analysis articles, except a headache! That all means NOTHING to my understanding. I have to experience the light in person. In the last five years I have spent 10’s of thousands of $$ on light fixtures (remember the 72” Solaris? I bought four of those for myself at a cost of $3,500 each). Then theirs the education I got with MH prior to Solaris and now the education setting up the aquaculture trying to stay away from MH. I’ve tried LEDs, PCs and T5s in various sizes and the bulbs, that’s another whole story. BUT there is hope, at least for me!

I knew T5 bulbs are not created equal through my experimenting with different manufacturers and their various color renditions. There’s a plethora of bulbs. Some do little or nothing for corals or their color and then you see pictures or reefs in real life that the colors literally JUMP out at you. I’ve been trying to find someone to give a clue to the clueless (that would be me) and I did about two weeks ago. I bought a Tek 48” x 8 54W light (the exact one referenced above) and, as directed, 6 ATI Blue Plus and 2 ATI Aqua Special bulbs. What a difference!!! Not only do my colors jump out at me but my corals are going through a color shift (for the better) but I’m noticing better growth than with any of the MHs and LEDs I’ve used. YES, brand and color temps make a difference.

For now, I’m “into” T5s with the specific bulbs mentioned. There are other manufacturers, like Giesmann, that produce excellent color tempT5s. The ones mentioned above are what was recommended tome and I’m very happy with them. In fact I’m about to order more Tek fixtures if anyone is interested.

I do have 2 - 3’ Tek 4 x 39W fixtures for sale as I need the 4’ ers.

Dick

[reeferee]

AquaBeam 600 Ultra Strip - Marine White/Reef Blue combo... I'm guessing a couple of these would be good, I just can't find a price anywhere. The UK site gave me a USA distributor, but they said I can't look at their prices cause I'm not in the Kool Klub. Where do you guys find your LED's?

i just purchased the AQ 00 ultra strip marine blue. well, it's very blue but i do like it. thinking of adding a reef white. keep it over a 20g fuge. well, more like a frag tank. purchased them at a local LFS for 160$ CDN.

[Amphibious]

Mike,

I saw a guy make a screen out of bird netting and plastic window screen frame. The bird netting had about 1/2” square openings. the netting itself was very thin, didn’t block any light noticeably. Check that out at Home Depot or Lowes.

When you are ready, I can save you some $$ on that Tek light. I bought one a couple of days after you were here and got the ATI light bulbs mentioned above. I’m very pleased at the results.

[oger696]

Sounds like you have alot of lighting systems Amphibious may i ask what system you are using on your main tank ? you said you have bought a heap of the solaris setups ... have u been using them a while now and how are the results from using the LEDs ?

[Amphibious]

Hi John,

I leapt into the LED craze with both feet in 2005 when the Solaris first came out. I have the dubious distinction of having bought the very first Solaris sold, the 72" H model. I love it. As PFO came out with upgrades, I bought the latest version. Because of the problems associated with the first version, I felt I needed to stay on top of the PFO LED fixture. Plus, I was selling dozens of them and had to field complaints from my customers, so saw the need to be as informed as possible. Through it all, Pat the owner of PFO, and I became friends. I sold off two of the four versions I had as I upgraded and when PFO went bankrupt from the law suit, I sold the one I had in use at the time. I still have one that is not in use and has issues. Parts are not available so this one takes up space in our aquaculture building. Anyone wanting to experiment with a 72” Solaris I4 model can have it for the shipping or pick it up here free. People interested can call or PM me.

Results? At first I was pleased with the results. Now reflecting back and having further experience with LEDs, I believe they are the light of the future. In the last two years I’ve only tried one different brand of LED fixture, the Ecoxotic Panorama. Initially I was impressed with construction, fit, finish and light output. Now, I feel the light is adequate for some aquarium lighting but you’d better do your own research and, if possible, observe in person any LED light before you buy it. Ecoxotic has a second generation of it’s Panoramic model. I’ve sold a few of those and the customers seem to be very happy, no complaints so far. Ecoxotic also has a new hot product called the LED Cannon. It is a form of pendant LED fixture. I’ve seen these at MACNA in September. They were awesome. Yet more money to throw at an unproven lighting concept.

The LED lighting industry is evolving rapidly. It seems there are multiple new manufacturers and dozens of new models. Most are made in China (surprised?). Many are junk, IMHO, and the field of LED lighting is changing on a monthly basis. It is one of the best examples of ”buyer be ware" I’ve ever seen in this industry. Every body wants a piece of the action and that draws out the cheap, the greedy and the ambitious. Are there good LED lights out there? I’m sure there is but I can’t point anyone in a certain direction. Sorry. I just can’t afford to buy every model available for me to “see” the light and results. The reason being, besides the money, is what you are not happy with tends to take up space in your life. That leads to having to sell products that I’m not happy with. Not an easy thing for me to do.

In my quest to find the “right” lighting for MY needs, I’m currently very happy, almost ecstatic, with the Tek T5 lights I mentioned above. I’m going to finish out my aquaculture facility needs with seven more of them and that will be it for me for awhile. The LEDs will continue to evolve and I may get back into them in a year or so, after the dust settles a bit. I did hear about a new manufacturer from Brazil that came out with a line of LED fixtures. They claim to have designed and built the LEDs from scratch in their own facility, not relying on existing LED bulbs as everyone else is doing. That one could be “the one” to keep an eye on.

That pretty much covers what I know and how I feel about the LED lighting industry. All the above is just my opinion based on my experience. I’ve learned, few things in life are written in stone, and subject to change. The only exception in our personal life would be our HEADSTONE.

Hope this answered some of your questions.

Dick

[oger696]

It did thankyou for your time to write that up ; )

[Mostly Rock]

Alright, now that I've decided to go with the Tek T5's, what am I gonna do about my moon lights?

[Amphibious]

Moon lights are cool. But that’s it!!! They offer nothing to your reef system except esthetics. And, how often do you stay up and ooh and aah after lights out? Ok, once in a while for maybe 10 minutes to a half hour? After a time or three the novelty wears off and they become just moon lights with no practical purpose. Oh yeah, some people will say, well I want my corals to spawn and you need the moon cycle to trigger that. Good luck with that!!! Get the light that grows coral and don’t worry about any light that burns the midnight candle when you are sawing logs, zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Dick

[CarmieJo]

You can also buy little add on moonlights.

[oger696]

Is there no truth to the saying that it encourages breeding cycles in certain species ? i speak from no experience only what ive heard ..... i do have moon lights and i have to say if i didnt have them i would want them as yes i am awake for many hours after my tank lights go out and i do like the look of the moon lights .. instead of having a pitch black tank i have somthing i can look at still .... also irrelevant but with the aquabeam/aquaray lights controllers you can set power usage for certain times and set them to %5 so they work as a moon light after the 12 hour photo period .... for example TMC do a led strip that is fully submersable and IMO much better then the clip on moonlights u can get as they are not an even spread of light ..... http://www.tmc-ltd.co.uk/aquarium/aq...exible-led.asp

[CarmieJo]

My Solaris actually has a Lunar Cycle. Not only are the LED's able to be dimmed as low as 1% but it mimics the moon phases. It is very cool and I love to watch my tank after "sunset" but I don't think it makes any difference to the corals. That being said, the dynamics of coral spawning in captivity are just beginning to be studied.

[Mostly Rock]

Dick: The moon lights are mostly because I find myself rocking a little girl back to sleep at all hours of the night, and watching the nocturnal habits of our little friends helps us both relax.
Oger696: Those would be perfect, if they came in blue and if I could find a distributor in the states.
Carmie: I don't think the Tek 8bulb T5 fixture has any room to mount some modular LEDs, but if you know of a waterproof strip (preferably thin) I could mount under the front lip of my tanks top front rim, I think that would keep them hidden and effective in lighting the tank for Blizz and I.

[Amphibious]

As a reminder...

Moon lights are cool. But that’s it!!! They offer nothing to your reef system except esthetics.

From the dictionary; Esthetics: concerned with beauty or the appreciation of beauty : the pictures give great aesthetic pleasure. • giving or designed to give pleasure through beauty; of pleasing appearance.

That’s what I meant. Sitting and rocking with a little girl for any reason is a huge plus for her and you. I totally agree and understand.

Is there no truth to the saying that it encourages breeding cycles in certain species ?

If there is any truth it is not well documented, only anecdotal evidence. In other words, outside of Mother Nature’s true moon cycle, it isn’t happening with any regularity or planned sequence of events. At least as far as I know.

Dick

[oger696]

theres many options that come up mate ... heres an example ... http://www.1topstore.com/product_inf...oducts_id=8559 im thinking 24 leds might be a bit much but depends on how big ur trank is i guess ... also thier not high output leds so shouldnt be overly bright