krusing93 Posted October 14, 2016 Share Posted October 14, 2016 Sooo heres the deal I am running 5 gallon Fluval Spec V which can be seen in my footer and I am looking into expanding my horizons past LPS and softies and venturing into the world of SPS (Que. the dramatic music) duh duh duhhhhhhhhhhhh... Anyways I am looking for a kick ass light that will sufficiently handle SPS and has the controllability in order to not fry my LPS and Acans.... FIRE AWAY Link to comment
uwdanno Posted October 14, 2016 Share Posted October 14, 2016 Sooo heres the deal I am running 5 gallon Fluval Spec V which can be seen in my footer and I am looking into expanding my horizons past LPS and softies and venturing into the world of SPS (Que. the dramatic music) duh duh duhhhhhhhhhhhh... Anyways I am looking for a kick ass light that will sufficiently handle SPS and has the controllability in order to not fry my LPS and Acans.... FIRE AWAY I'd check out ToTM tanks here to see which builds and results you like. Can't go wrong with a Nanobox. Link to comment
1reefluvr2 Posted October 14, 2016 Share Posted October 14, 2016 How can I put pics ...!I built my own have the same tank as you, 3 Cree royal blues and 1 white on dimmer.Buck puck Driver, Under 50 bucks super small footprint been up and running getting sps growth like a bad man easy to build. Link to comment
krusing93 Posted October 14, 2016 Author Share Posted October 14, 2016 How can I put pics ...!I built my own have the same tank as you, 3 Cree royal blues and 1 white on dimmer.Buck puck Driver, Under 50 bucks super small footprint been up and running getting sps growth like a bad man easy to build. when you hit reply got to more reply options and attach a picture!!! Link to comment
ninjamyst Posted October 14, 2016 Share Posted October 14, 2016 your marine orbit is adequate for SPS. Link to comment
krusing93 Posted October 14, 2016 Author Share Posted October 14, 2016 your marine orbit is adequate for SPS. What should it be running at? I am currently running at 25% white and 85% blue? Should I increase blue for SPS gradually?? Link to comment
markalot Posted October 14, 2016 Share Posted October 14, 2016 So this is really a loaded question. For any stick you want spread, which is more important that the type of LED. Think about a person on a stage with only a single row of lights overhead. Spooky shadows. Most important though are water params, STEADY water params. If KH moves more that .5 over day, brown. If PO4 swings too much, brown. You want low PO4 of course, but like everything it needs to be stable. Too low PO4 will cause as many issues as too high PO4, but swinging PO4 will kill SPS. NO3, same thing. Steady, and not too low. The only parameters I've been able to swing without any notable issues are Calcium and Mg. Most failures with SPS, most notably acros, is lack of patience and swinging parameters. You have to think about everything you do, especially in a nano. Not asking you these questions, but saying you need to ask yourself. What is my current KH? What was it yesterday? Is it stable? Is my water change water similar in KH to the tank, or will I swing KH doing a water change? Do I have a reliable means to keep PO4 low without dropping it too fast and harming the SPS? Do I have enough flow? THEN get back to the lighting. Do I have the proper spectrum and coverage? Have I rented or purchased a PAR meter so I'm not guessing and risking $$$ on frags? Have I seen any SPS tanks using my lighting system AND have good colors and growth? In my opinion T5 has to be in the mix for some Acropora to color well, but it's not mandatory. I can almost guarantee that many acros won't grow or color well under the Orbit, but other SPS like stylos, poci's, and montis, might do just fine. Still, all that said, if you nail the water params and nutrients things well do quite well. Remember, SPS like food AND clean water. Feed heavily, export heavily. Hope this helps. Link to comment
krusing93 Posted October 14, 2016 Author Share Posted October 14, 2016 So this is really a loaded question. For any stick you want spread, which is more important that the type of LED. Think about a person on a stage with only a single row of lights overhead. Spooky shadows. Most important though are water params, STEADY water params. If KH moves more that .5 over day, brown. If PO4 swings too much, brown. You want low PO4 of course, but like everything it needs to be stable. Too low PO4 will cause as many issues as too high PO4, but swinging PO4 will kill SPS. NO3, same thing. Steady, and not too low. The only parameters I've been able to swing without any notable issues are Calcium and Mg. Most failures with SPS, most notably acros, is lack of patience and swinging parameters. You have to think about everything you do, especially in a nano. Not asking you these questions, but saying you need to ask yourself. What is my current KH? What was it yesterday? Is it stable? Is my water change water similar in KH to the tank, or will I swing KH doing a water change? Do I have a reliable means to keep PO4 low without dropping it too fast and harming the SPS? Do I have enough flow? THEN get back to the lighting. Do I have the proper spectrum and coverage? Have I rented or purchased a PAR meter so I'm not guessing and risking $$$ on frags? Have I seen any SPS tanks using my lighting system AND have good colors and growth? In my opinion T5 has to be in the mix for some Acropora to color well, but it's not mandatory. I can almost guarantee that many acros won't grow or color well under the Orbit, but other SPS like stylos, poci's, and montis, might do just fine. Still, all that said, if you nail the water params and nutrients things well do quite well. Remember, SPS like food AND clean water. Feed heavily, export heavily. Hope this helps. That was a kick ass reply! Thanks for taking the time to throw it all out there for me... I just hear so many different opinions that it drives me crazy and I agree T5 is the best I have had it on previous tanks but LEDs are just so unique and sustainable .... So frustrating haha... but thanks again! Link to comment
Clown79 Posted October 15, 2016 Share Posted October 15, 2016 I have 2 tanks. 10gIM - softies, lps, and sps. I have the Aquamaxx Nano running 80% blues and 30% whites. My sps are higher in the tank. I h saved a pocillopora which is growing. 15g standard with Ai Prime lps and sps I personally think water quality and stability is really important. Certain lights like the older fluorescents weren't known to work well with sps but I think that most LED fixtures are sufficient. If anything, I think most under estimate LED lights. Tank dimensions play into factor on the fixture that will work, placement of corals, the type of sps, but most importantly the water quality and stability. A lot of acros are known to be more difficult and susceptible to instability. You could start with easier sps like birdsnest, stylophora. Link to comment
blasterman Posted October 18, 2016 Share Posted October 18, 2016 Some SPS like green or blue digipora are as tough if not tougher than LPS. Unlike acropora digipora thrives in small tanks and will tolerate alk swings. Other fussy SPS like Acropora will just frustrate you in a small tank. Birdsnest corals in my experience are in between. Link to comment
lkoechle Posted October 18, 2016 Share Posted October 18, 2016 I agree with others that stability is probably a bigger than lights. That said, I've heard great things about nanobox and plan on using them on my next build. I've only used AI Sols until now but one of those would be overkill until on your size. When we started with SPS, we got some tiny "average" frags (green slimer, birdsnest, random CHEAP stuff) to experiment with before really spending our money on it. That would be my advice. Experiment with the cheap stuff, trade it in if you don't like and are confident you can manage SPS before getting some really nice pieces. Fortunately for me, with the exception of pretty much everything I got from Kat, I like the cheap stuff. lol Link to comment
blasterman Posted October 21, 2016 Share Posted October 21, 2016 I currently have a couple frags of blue digipora about 20" under a mars aqua, and they love intense light. German blues typically look more brown/purple under the weak commercial lights we see on this forum and others, but when you have some really intense light their polyps turn metallic, and it's really bad-ass. Try that with T5. Small tanks are otherwise stupid easy to light. It's keep stable water params that's hard, and difficult to keep calcium carbonate saturated in such a low volume. That's why fussier SPS have such a hard time in small tanks. Link to comment
SouthFlorida_Tron Posted October 21, 2016 Share Posted October 21, 2016 Once you understand how to maintain acros, get them to grow, etc... only then will you see that ultimately t5 is the last resort to get them to color as they should... i found out after the switch... theres just something about t5's that sps love... Link to comment
Clown79 Posted October 21, 2016 Share Posted October 21, 2016 I still love the look of corals under t5's. ALL corals. The colours pop. I have leds simply due to hydro costs and bulb costs or else I'd have t5's. Link to comment
SouthFlorida_Tron Posted October 21, 2016 Share Posted October 21, 2016 I'm starting to lean that way... And zoas look wayyyyy better under led no doubt. Link to comment
blasterman Posted October 25, 2016 Share Posted October 25, 2016 If I wanted a T5 look with LED I'd put plastic diffusers over my tank and still have full dimming and color control. Link to comment
SouthFlorida_Tron Posted October 25, 2016 Share Posted October 25, 2016 It's not just for aesthetics... T5 bulbs affect coral tissue differently. Link to comment
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