Coral under LED vs Metal Halides

[The Veg]

Hello everyone!!!

 

I have been visiting nano-reef for a few months now and figured I should finally post something. Right now I have a Cadlights 22 with the 4x24W T-5 fixture. This light is pretty good but I want to upgrade to either metal halide or LEDs. I am not worried about cost so much as I am worried about effect the light with have on the coloration of my coral. I do have some SPS and plan to get more in the future. I do like the idea of a DIY LED fixture. Has anyone switched to LEDs and had some bad results with corals losing their color or turning brown?

 

Pete

[Nemo Niblets]

This doesn't apply to your question, but I have seen brown corals in straight blue LEDs that had a very very light green color and they looked neon green. So anything under LEDs looks good

[evilc66]

I have found so far that water parameters need to be kept up on much more with LEDs than with other light sources. It wasn't until I started dosing that I noticed better coloration from my sps, even though the growth was fine. El Fabuloso also doses regularly on his pico and the results speak for themselves. Also talk with Sherman. He has been doing lots of LED work on his larger tanks and has posted lots of pictures of his corals looking great.

[The Veg]

I guess my main concern is that I have heard of people's coral losing color after switching to LEDs.

[Reefman36]

Evil what are you dosing?

[evilc66]

I guess my main concern is that I have heard of people's coral losing color after switching to LEDs.

But corals losing color can be due to a number of things, including too much light (LEDs are very powerful), and impropper water parameters. I'm pushing a year with LEDs over my 4g (two years total with the tank), and most of my corals look just as god as under MH. I have a few mushrooms that could stand being in lower light and are looking a little paler, but they do ok. Everything else is fine.

 

Evil what are you dosing?

Kents Nano Part A and B

[yardboy]

My contest tank is lit with LED's. I'm listening carefully to your concerns as I have the same ones. Evil, with a 4 gallon tank I'd think there is so much more that can be affecting the corals besides light that it isn't a fair comparison. Even the ten I'm running may not be totally valid, but I'm watching the water parameters ike a hawk so hopefully that variable can be eliminated.

If you want to see how it goes with mine, follow the contest link in my sig.

[evilc66]

Oh, no question. 4g is a relatively unstable volume of water. I've been pretty good on weekly water changes though. Even then, my sps didn't color up fully until I started dosing.

[yardboy]

SPS in a 4 gallon would definitely keep you busy. It's like being very thirsty and drinking water out of a shot glass. you have to keep filling, and filling, and filling................

Glad to hear that you are having success though. I really hope LED's work out for growth because I very much like what the tank looks like under them. I really like blue colors underwater (yes, I usually dive around 60-80 ft.) and until LED's have not seen anything to compare to my eye with VHO super actinics.

I've got a 60/40 ratio of blue to white now, and am thinking of going even further, to 80/20!

[therman]

Have quite a variety of low to high end zoas and palys under 44 Crees for going on 6 months. Coloration, growth, and general health are much better under LEDs in the polyp tank than they are under 400W 20k Ushio MH in my sump. These tanks are on the same system with identical water parameters. Those that are closed up and looking iffy under the MH often open right up and perk up if I move them into the tank with LEDs.

 

So far I have had limited experience with the SPS under them though. Looking at replacing the 250W and 400W halides I have on other tanks though so hopefully I'll know more soon!

[badfish816]

just out of curiousity evil. is there a difference between reguler part A and B and the nano part A and B?

[arioch]

Have quite a variety of low to high end zoas and palys under 44 Crees for going on 6 months. Coloration, growth, and general health are much better under LEDs in the polyp tank than they are under 400W 20k Ushio MH in my sump. These tanks are on the same system with identical water parameters. Those that are closed up and looking iffy under the MH often open right up and perk up if I move them into the tank with LEDs.

 

So far I have had limited experience with the SPS under them though. Looking at replacing the 250W and 400W halides I have on other tanks though so hopefully I'll know more soon!

 

My one m. digitata seems to be doing very well in my pico tank under 2x3w white 3x3w blue CREEs. I wish I could say the same about my two yumas, who have shrunk down to the size of a zoa polyp each and crawled under an overhang I established in haste for them.

 

Anybody know how else I can try to nurse them back to health?

[evilc66]

just out of curiousity evil. is there a difference between reguler part A and B and the nano part A and B?

Just more appropriate levels of ingredients so it's harder to overdose the tank.

 

My one m. digitata seems to be doing very well in my pico tank under 2x3w white 3x3w blue CREEs. I wish I could say the same about my two yumas, who have shrunk down to the size of a zoa polyp each and crawled under an overhang I established in haste for them.

 

Anybody know how else I can try to nurse them back to health?

Turn the LEDs down to start, and put them in shade. If they will still take food, they should be ok. If they start turning white, or start developing holes or lesions, they are gonners.

[arioch]

Turn the LEDs down to start, and put them in shade. If they will still take food, they should be ok. If they start turning white, or start developing holes or lesions, they are gonners.

 

I've never had to feed them before, so I'm not quite sure how to feed them or how they're supposed to react. I've fed a mini carpet 'nem before, do yumas react similarly? What should I be looking out for?

[Sherman]

The biggest mistake most of us make when we change to led is we tends to place our corals very near to the leds.

I did that when I start with leds and result in many of my LPS and SPS bleach and burn.

For low light demand corals like zoos and mushrooms it is good to start placing them somewhere near the tank base or on sand bed.

For SPS you can start by placing them from the mid height of the tank and move up slowly if there is a need.

This is what I learn from my LED experience.Hope it helps.I am no expert in SPS keeping.

[therman]

I kept a large M. foveolata colony under 9 luxeons for several months in a Q tank setup and it did great and grew until the GFI popped when I didn't check the tank for a couple of days

 

I've tried one acro frag under my 44 Cree fixture so far and it bleached out. However this was a finicky acro that seems to prefer bluer low intensity lighting. I'm going to stick a variety of sps frags in the tank right now so hopefully I'll have more to say soon.

 

 

The biggest mistake most of us make when we change to led is we tends to place our corals very near to the leds.

I did that when I start with leds and result in many of my LPS and SPS bleach and burn.

For low light demand corals like zoos and mushrooms it is good to start placing them somewhere near the tank base or on sand bed.

For SPS you can start by placing them from the mid height of the tank and move up slowly if there is a need.

This is what I learn from my LED experience.Hope it helps.I am no expert in SPS keeping.

[MedicBMC]

Now that I have my LED system running I too am concerned with this. So far I have my blues and whites running at about 30%.

 

I'm interested in getting some sunset monti or some kind of encusting monti, and also some chalice. How will these do under LED's?

[evilc66]

As long as you put them in appropriate levels of the tank, they should be fine. Treat your corals like they are under MH. Top of the tank is higher light than the bottom.