Mushroom Boy's BC29 - Steve's LED Install Page 2

[ciaobella]

Very nice! That lighting looks amazing gonna go with that for sure!

Love that anemone!

Im afraid to get one...years back when my brother and I had a nano cube and had a condy anemone it ate 3 of my fish I fed it often too. Actually my clown would feed him for me. I would drop a big piece of food in the tank the clown would swim up get it with his mouth and swim it back and push it into the anemone it was awesome.

[Kfmmartin19]

Did u have to specify the arrangement of the lights or just tell him what color and how many of each LED? What is your array? Do u have all the RB in one row? Thanks. Tank looks sweet btw.

[yman182]

At wha percentage are you running your LEDs at? How quickly are you ramping them up?

[rO.oster]

Any updates with pics? I'm beginning to grow quite skeptical of all this TV, OCW, and whatnot being supplied on the lighting forum. It's like, to achieve the ratios they speak about, you have to have 30 + LEDS for a BC29. Overkill!!! My gut is saying that marketing relationships may be driving the recommendations... With no real great pics as evidence or proof of the lighting combinations.

 

So far, the combination and ratio you are using is the most visually appealing I have seen so far.

[jedimasterben]

Any updates with pics? I'm beginning to grow quite skeptical of all this TV, OCW, and whatnot being supplied on the lighting forum. It's like, to achieve the ratios they speak about, you have to have 30 + LEDS for a BC29. Overkill!!! My gut is saying that marketing relationships may be driving the recommendations... With no real great pics as evidence or proof of the lighting combinations.

 

So far, the combination and ratio you are using is the most visually appealing I have seen so far.

I think you have it backwards. We in the DIY community (and very specifically here on NR) are what are pushing manufacturers in that direction, except every time they seem to #### it up and use LEDs that we know are not necessary. Look through the links in my sig and you'll find lots of pictures of what these LEDs can do.

[Mushroom Boy]

Thanks for the kind words everybody, I'm LOVING the color in the tank!

 

Did u have to specify the arrangement of the lights or just tell him what color and how many of each LED? What is your array? Do u have all the RB in one row? Thanks. Tank looks sweet btw.

I did not specify the arrangement. They took my request and laid them out in what I believe is a very logical pattern. There are 14 LEDs per row. The back row is strictly RB. The other row is the remaining LEDs in the following layout (from left to right when looking from the front of the tank): WW CB WW CB WW RB WW CB RB WW CB WW CB WW

 

At wha percentage are you running your LEDs at? How quickly are you ramping them up?

I started at about 40%, but then dialed them back just to be on the safe side to about 30%. I'm back up to about 40% now (as of about 2 weeks in).

 

Any updates with pics?

 

So far, the combination and ratio you are using is the most visually appealing I have seen so far.

I appreciate it and I owe the color all to Ben. I am a total newbie when it comes to LED and wouldn't have known which combo to get without the recommendation he made in the lighting forum. As far as pics, not much has changed, really. The only real update has been the addition of control knobs from Radio Shack. A nice $3 finishing touch (yeah, I know, I need to clean my hood )...

 

[Mushroom Boy]

Got a couple of shots this morning of my frogspawn under the blues...

 

 

[markalot]

You have an updated FTS?

 

I missed this tank, that picture after the LED install looks terrific!

[rO.oster]

Your yellow plate coral looks awesome! Please update with a FTS when you can.

[vansmack]

I am ready to pull the trigger on purchasing a set as well..SO what is the main difference between the warm whites (4000K) and the 5,000K Neutral White leds?

[Mushroom Boy]

Thanks everybody. Here's a couple of updated shots from tonight. The corals have responded amazingly well to the new lights (none more so than the turbinaria). Right now I've got them turned up to about 70%. On one note, I am bummed, though, I moved my frogspawn to the sandbed after extracting an RBTA that split and didn't realize it was touching the favia which it ended up burning. I'm hoping it'll bounce back quickly. Other than my own buttheadedness, I couldn't be happier

 

 

[Dnanoreefer]

very impressive tank. the coral is amazing under the lighting. wow.

[bonjorno2]

Tank looks really nice. How long did the install take you? I have stock lighting and was thinking about upgrading it before starting my tank.

[Ghost]

Looks amazing! How long did it take to ramp up to 70%?

[Mushroom Boy]

Thanks again for the nice comments. I really couldn't be happier with this lighting. I'd estimate it took me about 3 hours to install it. I'm not the savviest DIY'er, so somebody with more skills could probably get it done in an hour or two. It took about 8 weeks to bring it up to 70%. That's where I've still got it and I think I'm going to leave it there. I like the color and intensity the way it is. I don't think I would have any problems keeping anything under the current settings.

[2nd nature]

Any updates on the coral growth? Looks great!!!