Ecoxotic LED Club

[Singlefin]

Anyone have red acans under their ecoxotics?

[chippwalters]

FWIW,

 

I recently replaced 3 PPros and received 2 brand new ones from Ecoxotic. Both are in their original container, and I purchased one and used it for only 1 week-- then I bought a Radion. So, I have 3 brand new PanPros which I'll sell cheap. PM me if you're interested.

 

I also will have 3 Ecoxotic Par38's which have only a few months on them and have all original packaging I'm willing to sell as well. Not sure this is the correct place to announce this, but I suspect there are some Ecoxotic fans here!

[mike c]

How about a whole gaggle of Stunners (all with individual reflectors):

 

 

I actually added one more recently, just for fun, so that makes six on a 12g

 

LPS are doing real fine, as expected. I keep some hard corals (various Monits, Leptastrea, Pavona, etc.) and color and growth are improving weekly (I just installed all these a few weeks ago).

 

 

Recent coral pics:

 

M. undata - Tyree 'True Undata' strain (physical damage on the bottom from 'yours truly'), M. setosa (Tyree) up top, orange Leptastrea in the background

 

 

Leptastrea sp.

 

 

Could have got more watts of LED, for a lot less money, with just two Panorama Pro modules.

[TeflonTomDosh]

Could have got more watts of LED, for a lot less money, with just two Panorama Pro modules.

I was just thinking the same thing, lol

[mike c]

FWIW,

 

I recently replaced 3 PPros and received 2 brand new ones from Ecoxotic. Both are in their original container, and I purchased one and used it for only 1 week-- then I bought a Radion. So, I have 3 brand new PanPros which I'll sell cheap. PM me if you're interested.

 

I also will have 3 Ecoxotic Par38's which have only a few months on them and have all original packaging I'm willing to sell as well. Not sure this is the correct place to announce this, but I suspect there are some Ecoxotic fans here!

Which color options do you have?

[gulfsurfer101]

TY nanosapias, that is awesome to know!

[chippwalters]

Which color options do you have?

I have 3 of these in PanPro:

Ecoxotic Panorama Pro 19W 12,000K/445nm Blue LED Module

 

Ecoxotic Panorama Pro

 

and 2 of these in Par38:

Ecoxotic PAR38 LED Aquarium Lamp 21watt 12,000K (2 - Royal Blue / 3 - White)

 

and 1 of these Par38:

Ecoxotic PAR38 LED Aquarium Lamp 21watt 455nm Royal Blue (5 - Royal Blue)

 

Ecoxotic Par38

 

I also have the bulb fixtures for the Par38's.

[Nano sapiens]

Could have got more watts of LED, for a lot less money, with just two Panorama Pro modules.

 

True, but there are some advantages for using Stunners for my application:

 

1. Heat: Tank is in a very warm room, already, and this Stunner configuration puts out very little heat over a very wide area.

2. Reliability: Looking through many, many on-line threads, I don't think I saw even one post where a Stunner strip's LEDs burned out. Found a number of posts for burned out LEDs in the old PROs (new ones may be better, don't know yet).

3. Safety: If one Stunner burns out its not going to effect the corals much since its only 1/6th of the lighting. If I had two PROs and one burned out I would have lost 1/2 of my lighting!

4. I wanted to mount them in my existing canopy. PROs can fit, but I don't trust them to not burn out in the confined space since they'll generate a lot more heat in their immediate area.

5. I can mix and match a lot more different color spectrums than with just two Pros. That's a part of the fun, at least for me.

6. Prices for the new Stunners came down quite a bit and you can now have (10) connected together with just one new power supply (used to be (6) only with the old, less powerful, power supply).

7. Fun to attempt the 'impossible' ("Stunners have no PAR, they'll never grow coral", "Stunners are for accent lighting only...", etc.). After doing on-line research (which included a post with PAR numbers for the Stunners without individual reflectors), it became clear that 5 or 6 stunners with reflectors would produce enough PAR, at least for medium to lower light SPS, LPS, etc.

 

This is an experiment that needs to run for 6 months or so to really judge the results. It may not be a good option for everybody, but so far its working very well for me and my application.

[gulfsurfer101]

Ok well I bought my pro strip and power supply used from another member who said it had 2 months of use on it and I myself have used it for nearly two months and this morning I notice some flickering out of the strip. Now by mid day the strip is at full strenght but looks really dim and dimming. I don't have warranty on the item cause I bought it used. All I can say is I'm not impressed with this fixture as it hasn't even lasted a year under normal use.

[gulfsurfer101]

Well I found the problem to be a short where the wire connects to the module. I saw a bit of smoke coming out from there so I removed the end cover to expose the wires and looks like it will need to be resauttered if it's even possible to do with out it shorting out. Anybody local to me with a sautering iron gets a free beer if they can help me out here.

[eklikewhoa]

Anyone able to sustain coral life with the regular Ecoxotic Stunner strips?

[1.0reef]

Nano Sapiens used 6 and is growing sps.

IMO Ecoxotics leds are good but many fixtures using 3 watt leds like bridgelux, cree, and luxeon ES leds and have a good spectrum would probably be better.

[eklikewhoa]

Hahaha, somehow I missed that post even though it was right above mine.

 

Gonna give it a go now!

[Nano sapiens]

Nano Sapiens used 6 and is growing sps.

IMO Ecoxotics leds are good but many fixtures using 3 watt leds like bridgelux, cree, and luxeon ES leds and have a good spectrum would probably be better.

 

There are many different paths to lighting success and I like to look at what works best for a particular application. I had a specific set of criteria and these strips were a great fit. With the correct combination of strips one can cover some UV/violet through the blues plus various other parts of the spectrum (some not needed for coral photosynthesis, but they look good to our eyes) all the way to red. For a deeper tank, something with more power such as the 3 watt Crees (and others) you mentioned would provide a better solution for those SPS that need higher light.

 

As it is, this lighting forced some of Rics into deeper waters and bleached a M. setosa bright pink (this was only half-way up in the tank with the light 5" above the water).

 

For anyone interested in the science, using said quantum sensor I measured 182 PAR half-way up in the tank. That's a conservative calculation with only a 15% addition for a heavy use of 'Actinic' blue lighting (approx 2 to 1 Actinic to White). If I had a Spectrometer, I wouldn't be surprised to see 200 PAR at midpoint.

[eklikewhoa]

Nano sapiens, would you or have you tried the set up without the reflectors?

 

 

I am trying to add some lighting to my Fluval Spec V which is about 10" tall, right now I have the stock lighting which has the 30whatever 7500k leds and a single 12.5 8k/453nm stunner and debating if I should add another 8k/453nm stunner and reflectors for both or just ditch the idea of having coral.

 

Not trying to get too deep in on the lighting side since this was suppose to be a simple and clean AIO build.

 

Thank you for any suggestion and help you can provide.

[fretfreak13]

This was probably covered somewhere in this thread, but I really don't feel like reading all 11 pages of it to just maybe find the answer. I'm looking to buy the EcoPico LED Arm Light from Ecoxotic to put over my new fluval spec mantis tank. Just want to keep softies and zoas.

 

I want the optional three LED strips. The arm comes with one, but I guess you have the option to add two more? What EXACTLY do I need to buy to do this? I don't want to wind up buying stuff I don't really need. I'm a low budget college kid...

 

It gives the option for a transformers, a power supply (is that the same thing?), a three way splitter, a four way splitter, dimmers, etc. I'd like to be able to dim the LEDs, but do I need to buy a three way splitter and the dimmer, or the four way splitter with the switches attached? Do I need the other power supply, or does the one that just comes with the arm work for all three? I'm horribly confused...

[Nano sapiens]

Hahaha, somehow I missed that post even though it was right above mine.

 

Gonna give it a go now!

 

Tip #1: If you are going to attempt higher light SPS, I'd strongly suggest the individual reflectors.

 

Tip #2: If you want even more light, grab some nail polish remover and remove the plastic coating lining the insides of the reflectors (its actually a pink coating) and rub with a metal polish afterward to a make 'em shine. I obtained an extra 20+ PAR with this simple step. Just keep salt spray off them since the lining is gone and wipe them down if you do get salt on them.

 

Tip #3: Buy various strips to cover as wide a range of spectrum as possible. Ecoxotic's web site has spectral graphs of each color so you can see the wavelengths that they actually cover.

[Nano sapiens]

Nano sapiens, would you or have you tried the set up without the reflectors?

 

 

I am trying to add some lighting to my Fluval Spec V which is about 10" tall, right now I have the stock lighting which has the 30whatever 7500k leds and a single 12.5 8k/453nm stunner and debating if I should add another 8k/453nm stunner and reflectors for both or just ditch the idea of having coral.

 

Not trying to get too deep in on the lighting side since this was suppose to be a simple and clean AIO build.

 

Thank you for any suggestion and help you can provide.

 

Let me put it this way, with the reflectors you'll get ~25% increase. With only a 10" tall tank, using these without a reflector is certainly possible, but it would depend on the type of coral and the placement (low, mid, high). There are many beautiful lower light corals that would thrive with less intense lighting if you have a good spectrum of lighting.

 

Based on what you have, it looks like you have a majority of 'White' light. Many prefer a 2:1 ratio of Blue to White. If you want to keep things very simple and are on a budget, I would add a 'Royal Blue' strip (445 nm). The Royal Blue is a fantastic strip and will make the coral colors 'pop' as well as help them grow and be healthy.

[eklikewhoa]

Let me put it this way, with the reflectors you'll get ~25% increase. With only a 10" tall tank, using these without a reflector is certainly possible, but it would depend on the type of coral and the placement (low, mid, high). There are many beautiful lower light corals that would thrive with less intense lighting if you have a good spectrum of lighting.

 

Based on what you have, it looks like you have a majority of 'White' light. Many prefer a 2:1 ratio of Blue to White. If you want to keep things very simple and are on a budget, I would add a 'Royal Blue' strip (445 nm). The Royal Blue is a fantastic strip and will make the coral colors 'pop' as well as help them grow and be healthy.

 

 

Exactly the type of info I was looking for (along with your other post in this thread).

 

Thanks again!

 

oooOooh. another question, 'Royal Blue' or the 'UV' if given the choice of only one? For best Coral growth over asthetics.

[Nano sapiens]

oooOooh. another question, 'Royal Blue' or the 'UV' if given the choice of only one? For best Coral growth over asthetics.

 

Let's see, you already have some 453nm...hmmm, I'd still go with the Royal Blue if I only had these two choices.

 

The UV (more of a 'violet' 405 nm, but with some UV) has given mixed results (some say their corals are doing better, some say it's made no difference). I've got one on order, since I don't have this strip, just to play around with.

[eklikewhoa]

Let's see, you already have some 453nm...hmmm, I'd still go with the Royal Blue if I only had these two choices.

 

The UV (more of a 'violet' 405 nm, but with some UV) has given mixed results (some say their corals are doing better, some say it's made no difference). I've got one on order, since I don't have this strip, just to play around with.

 

 

Might wait on you to get yours in first, would like to hear first hand experience about it in comparison to all the others you have already.

[jedimasterben]

For anyone interested in the science, using said quantum sensor I measured 182 PAR half-way up in the tank. That's a conservative calculation with only a 15% addition for a heavy use of 'Actinic' blue lighting (approx 2 to 1 Actinic to White). If I had a Spectrometer, I wouldn't be surprised to see 200 PAR at midpoint.

Spectrometers don't measure PAR, they measure spectral output.

 

Let's see, you already have some 453nm...hmmm, I'd still go with the Royal Blue if I only had these two choices.

 

The UV (more of a 'violet' 405 nm, but with some UV) has given mixed results (some say their corals are doing better, some say it's made no difference). I've got one on order, since I don't have this strip, just to play around with.

Violet (specifically 410nm and 430nm) is significantly more useful to corals than royal blue, however, UV light is not, and can be detrimental, especially in tanks less than 24" tall. The 445nm strips are better than the 453nm strips are, both with actinic pop and with photosynthetic spectra.

[Nano sapiens]

Spectrometers don't measure PAR, they measure spectral output.

 

Technically, you are correct:

 

'A spectrometer (spectrophotometer, spectrograph or spectroscope) is an instrument used to measure properties of light over a specific portion of the electromagnetic spectrum, typically used in spectroscopic analysis to identify materials.[1] The variable measured is most often the light's intensity but could also, for instance, be the polarization state.' (Wikipedia)

 

Is it possible to determine PAR from Spectrometer readings? A Spectrometer is especially useful for showing the intensity for those wavelengths that a quantum meter is not sensitive to (ex. near UV, near IR)

 

Violet (specifically 410nm and 430nm) is significantly more useful to corals than royal blue, however, UV light is not, and can be detrimental, especially in tanks less than 24" tall. The 445nm strips are better than the 453nm strips are, both with actinic pop and with photosynthetic spectra.

 

I am aware of the supposed benefit of near UV (violet) and that's why I'm adding a strip. However,, I would still opt for the 445nm if I had a limited number of strips due to its visual appeal and benefit to the corals. The 405nm strip will appear quite 'dim' to our eyes, but intense to the corals.

[jedimasterben]

Is it possible to determine PAR from Spectrometer readings? A Spectrometer is especially useful for showing the intensity for those wavelengths that a quantum meter is not sensitive to (ex. near UV, near IR)

It gives an intensity graph, but as far as I know there is no conversion from that intensity to PAR. PAR is really not all that useful except for measuring blue and red spectrum. A green LED will light up a PAR like mad, but offers little to nothing as far as usable PAR.

 

I am aware of the supposed benefit of near UV (violet) and that's why I'm adding a strip. However,, I would still opt for the 445nm if I had a limited number of strips due to its visual appeal and benefit to the corals. The 405nm strip will appear quite 'dim' to our eyes, but intense to the corals.

It's not a supposed benefit - 410nm and 430nm are orders of magnitude more important than 450-460nm, as chlorophyll a drops off right after 430nm, and chlorophyll c (whose first peak is at 450nm-ish) is present at 1/10th the presence of chlorophyll a.

 

And you are correct. I'd rather not use much of the 'UV' strips, as I have no idea what LEDs they use and what their spectrum truly is (if they're relying on the manufacturer's spectral plotting, it could be horribly off). Better off using the 445nm, which should touch on the 430nm peak.

[Nano sapiens]

It gives an intensity graph, but as far as I know there is no conversion from that intensity to PAR. PAR is really not all that useful except for measuring blue and red spectrum. A green LED will light up a PAR like mad, but offers little to nothing as far as usable PAR.

 

Thinking this through, a Spectrometer will give an indication of how much intensity there is at any particular wavelength. This data would be useful to see if all the proper wavelengths for optimal coral care are being represented and have enough intensity. I can see the difficulty in converting this data into PAR.

 

It's not a supposed benefit - 410nm and 430nm are orders of magnitude more important than 450-460nm, as chlorophyll a drops off right after 430nm, and chlorophyll c (whose first peak is at 450nm-ish) is present at 1/10th the presence of chlorophyll a.

 

I'm aware of the studies done on near UV and photsynthesis and I don't doubt it. However, I've scoured the Internet for first-hand hobbyist reports specific to Violet LEDs and have run across varying results. Not sure if the variation is due to type of LED used, intensity, time allotted for benefits to manifest...or other factors. At any rate, it'll be interesting to see if this '405nm' strip will have a positive effect on my tank.

 

And you are correct. I'd rather not use much of the 'UV' strips, as I have no idea what LEDs they use and what their spectrum truly is (if they're relying on the manufacturer's spectral plotting, it could be horribly off). Better off using the 445nm, which should touch on the 430nm peak.