Coral Growth Under LED's

[plantarms]

yeah in the 20 days since i've tuned down my lighting (at about 30% right now) all of my corals have appeared to open up a lot more especially the zoas and xenia. i think they key is keeping the led lighting down lower because they do ouput a very high par value. color on everything is looking great

[dstrbd4eva]

Great thread here. I'd like to hear some updates from everyone who hasn't posted here in a while. Have you made changes to your LED setup? Are the corals doing better/worse? Any additional information from those of you who had the LEDs running for many months would be great. Thank you.

[coolwaters]

word of advice dont place LEDs close to each other. 1" apart min.

 

also make sure to fill up a large area if you have coral high up.

[wfournier]

These images were taken about six weeks apart. Sorry I rushed the second one and didn't clean the glass. tank is lit by 16 CREE EX-E's with 80 degree optics.

 

 

 

[coolwaters]

i also noticed a rapid growth when the coral is adjusted to the light and is directly under the LEDs.

 

coral off to the side are just getting enought to stay alive...

that just means i need more LEDs =)

[bxz]

It's been about 6 months now since I kept my 20L under 26 Cree. Softy and LPS are coloring well, not so sure about SPS, all of them have a brownish color. I'm wondering if it's because of the 6k cool white. I like the color looking under RB only, so brilliant.

 

 

One thing I noticed is there's a green algae growing on the glass bottom and back wall, it's high density and very short, like a lawn. I know it's not green hair. My snails seem not able to help much. Not sure if anyone has the similar algae.

[Zeadon]

hey,

 

i read alot that everyone turns down their leds to like 30-50% cos they are so powerful. why doesn't everyone use like half the number of LEDs, its cheaper that way and also u get less point sources so you get an improvement in the shimmer.

 

for example alot of the 12g cube led builds use 6 RB and 6 white, why not 3 of each, and use them closer to full power. or i guess u could have 4 of each for that extra power if needed occasionally?

 

thanks in advance!!!!

 

Zeadon

[coolwaters]

hey,

 

i read alot that everyone turns down their leds to like 30-50% cos they are so powerful. why doesn't everyone use like half the number of LEDs, its cheaper that way and also u get less point sources so you get an improvement in the shimmer.

 

for example alot of the 12g cube led builds use 6 RB and 6 white, why not 3 of each, and use them closer to full power. or i guess u could have 4 of each for that extra power if needed occasionally?

 

thanks in advance!!!!

 

Zeadon

 

 

u get less coverage though.

 

wonder if cree is willing to make a 10" X 20" LED die for me =/

[Zeadon]

u get less coverage though.

 

wonder if cree is willing to make a 10" X 20" LED die for me =/

 

but xres have 90 degree optics. that is more than enough to cover the tank if u halve the number of leds

[rrcg50]

i run my blues at full blast and turn the whites to where i like the color, i know opposite of what everyone else does but it works, and my lps/monti like it

[jtl2]

I've been running 24 xp-g CW and 24 xr-e RB on my tank since February with some SPS, LPS, crocea, acans and zoas. Some of the zoas seem to be smaller; however, some appear exactly the same and still growing.

 

Thinking of adding a couple of xp-e reds to pump up the red in the acans and some zoas...anybody chime in on their experience with the red leds?

 

John

[therman]

I've been running 24 xp-g CW and 24 xr-e RB on my tank since February with some SPS, LPS, crocea, acans and zoas. Some of the zoas seem to be smaller; however, some appear exactly the same and still growing.

 

Thinking of adding a couple of xp-e reds to pump up the red in the acans and some zoas...anybody chime in on their experience with the red leds?

 

John

 

I asked this same question a while back and got zero response. Someone elsewhere posted that red light can actually inhibit growth, and that sounded familiar like I saw it in a study somwhere.

[reeftankguy]

hey,

 

alot of the 12g cube led builds use 6 RB and 6 white, why not 3 of each, and use them closer to full power. or i guess u could have 4 of each for that extra power if needed occasionally?

 

thanks in advance!!!!

 

Zeadon

 

 

I have 20 Cree's on my 12G and run them at max power... I have great colors on my corals and growth...

 

I'm just saying...

[mxpro32]

i run my blues at full blast and turn the whites to where i like the color, i know opposite of what everyone else does but it works, and my lps/monti like it

 

Thats what I do too.

[jm82792]

Darn it!

Most of my zoas(almost the only coral i can own)

like it under 18 inches of water on the sand bed with my Phoenix.

 

Any higher and I get melting.

Soo I guess I will try to nuke the high par zoas that like it 2 inches from my MH.

There are the ones that melt from anything but the sand bed,

while other ones(maybe 25% of the zoas I have) turn totally brown and die unless they are 2-4 inches from the 175 watt Phoenix MH light.

There is also a specie of octocoral that likes being in 3 inches of water on the beach,

maybe it will color up(won't color up from my MH at all) from Cree?

But the lack of UV may not let the octocoral color up,

I will see what happens.

So I guess LEDs in my case will be interesting to experiment with and at the same time disappoint me.

When I do more than a cheap 9 LED arduino controlled prototype I will go with a dual tube T5HO light with LEDs to make it a quad tube.

[thewire]

Darn it!

Most of my zoas(almost the only coral i can own)

like it under 18 inches of water on the sand bed with my Phoenix.

 

Any higher and I get melting.

Soo I guess I will try to nuke the high par zoas that like it 2 inches from my MH.

There are the ones that melt from anything but the sand bed,

while other ones(maybe 25% of the zoas I have) turn totally brown and die unless they are 2-4 inches from the 175 watt Phoenix MH light.

There is also a specie of octocoral that likes being in 3 inches of water on the beach,

maybe it will color up(won't color up from my MH at all) from Cree?

But the lack of UV may not let the octocoral color up,

I will see what happens.

So I guess LEDs in my case will be interesting to experiment with and at the same time disappoint me.

When I do more than a cheap 9 LED arduino controlled prototype I will go with a dual tube T5HO light with LEDs to make it a quad tube.

 

i have to question your acclimation. I read one of your post asking for help in LED DIY last maybe 5 days ago and you have yet decided which route to go on the driver. How come suddenly your corals starting to melt. details please.

[jm82792]

Sorry for my posts,

I sometimes don't put as much time into them as I really should to make them clear as they should

 

For the past year I've had some zoas from here locally.

So far I've over this time noticed some zoanthids dislike the brightness of my MH light,

they will shrink back recede and eventually melt, even with slow acclimation.

Others on the other hand love being 2 inches from the light,

without it they turn brown.

Even with acclimation some of them won't have the color that they should unless they are exposed to shady parts(furthest away from the light on the sand bed) of my tank and even with the low light they have explosive growth.

 

Basically some of my zoas love this light,

others totally hate it even with proper acclimation.

(Basically put them on the bottom, wait a few weeks then move them up a little then see what happens

and repeat as needed)

The octocoral loves high light,

it is only found in 6 feet or less so of water and only where it's sunny for most of the year.

In my tank even with being maybe 3 inches from MH it looses it's color.

This is something I wish to "cook" under the light and see what happens,

maybe it will stay neon blue and not lose it's coloration..

 

In the end I am slightly disappointed because even with the best of my efforts some of the zoas hate

much light while others need a ton.

The Cree's need to be throttled back down to 30% brightness and I feel like a good portion of their capacity and to a lesser end price is not being used.

Maybe I can put the planned light above a larger square frag tank then crank it up to 100%.

 

Concerning the driver I'm somewhat up in the air,

I want the cheapest method that I can control with a microcontroller.

I'm wanting to get used to controlling a Cree array with Arduino,

I want to produce a nice finished product, play with it, then finally put it to some form of use.

[haguense]

I am planning my LED fixture for my 120 liter tank. I have found a supplier for UV 420nm High power LED that might be a direct replacement for actinic bulbs. I have no idea if they have a distributor in Europe. Do they sell to the US?

 

415-420 nm If=350 mA output power 450 mW

http://yesled.com/Spec./YL-UVP40-420-400.pdf

 

or

 

http://yesled.com/Spec./YL-SARY-420-400.pdf

 

Does anybody have experience with this LED?

 

I think that a combination of this UV LED with CW and RB LED would appropriate for some corals.

[FZhang]

I am planning my LED fixture for my 120 liter tank. I have found a supplier for UV 420nm High power LED that might be a direct replacement for actinic bulbs. I have no idea if they have a distributor in Europe. Do they sell to the US?

 

415-420 nm If=350 mA output power 450 mW

http://yesled.com/Spec./YL-UVP40-420-400.pdf

 

or

 

http://yesled.com/Spec./YL-SARY-420-400.pdf

 

Does anybody have experience with this LED?

 

I think that a combination of this UV LED with CW and RB LED would appropriate for some corals.

 

The wavelengths for those lights aren't really UV. More just like a violet.

[haguense]

The wavelengths for those lights aren't really UV. More just like a violet.

 

Ok, there are not UV but violet. The important point is that they emit 420nm photons (the main line for the actinic T5) in contrast to the ~460 nm photons of the RoyalBlue LEDs.

e.g. actinic T5 spectrum

 

http://www.f3images.com/IMD/aquarium_image...tinic_graph.jpg

 

This company also produces LEDs with higher energy photons.

[McJosh13]

Ok, there are not UV but violet. The important point is that they emit 420nm photons (the main line for the actinic T5) in contrast to the ~460 nm photons of the RoyalBlue LEDs.

e.g. actinic T5 spectrum

 

http://www.f3images.com/IMD/aquarium_image...tinic_graph.jpg

 

This company also produces LEDs with higher energy photons.

 

 

Just what I've been looking for... now who sells them?

[haguense]

Just what I've been looking for... now who sells them?

 

They do not have a distributor in Europe. Do they sell in the states?

[northstar1357]

Lately, i've noticed all my corales bleaching white. and the only corals that are happy is my zoa nowhere near the LED light.. Currently have the 3.6LED from Nanotuner for NC12. Should i just use 2 strips or 1 strip? i also have a rose anemone that is always show its bubble

[evilc66]

If you have been running it for a while, and the bleaching is recent, then it's more than likely not the lights that's the direct cause the problem. You have some sort of water quality issue that is just making the situation with the lights worse.