thumb rule for led? and for t5?

[roy026]

hi all!

 

im new here!!

im considering to make me a nano reef...

during my research i can a cross the cree xr-e leds..

since im also keeping vivaria and freshwater tanks,

i am realy interested to know how many watt a gallon you guys aim for??

since reefers mostly go for very high on watts with thier tanks..

because of your high light depending creatures..

and if led works great for you guys,

why not use it in the other forms of keeping an ecosystem..

(becuase there isnt that mutch going around there with leds..)

so what is the essential difference between t5 and led when it comes to how many watt a gallon you go for

to keep even the most difficult (mean by light dependment) corals??

 

excuse me for my english and for not inroducing myself..

[Trogdor447]

hi all!

 

im new here!!

im considering to make me a nano reef...

during my research i can a cross the cree xr-e leds..

since im also keeping vivaria and freshwater tanks,

i am realy interested to know how many watt a gallon you guys aim for??

since reefers mostly go for very high on watts with thier tanks..

because of your high light depending creatures..

and if led works great for you guys,

why not use it in the other forms of keeping an ecosystem..

(becuase there isnt that mutch going around there with leds..)

so what is the essential difference between t5 and led when it comes to how many watt a gallon you go for

to keep even the most difficult (mean by light dependment) corals??

 

excuse me for my english and for not inroducing myself..

 

 

What per gallon is irrelevant in salt water! Your looking for radiation to hit your corals and such - If you just want to keep a fish in salt water - any light will do - if you want to create an environment for Coral to grow - your going to need to do some homework. T5's work great for all soft corals - Metal Halides are great - bulbs are pricey - and put off a lot of heat - LED is almost the perfect solution - you can get color temp and target the area your looking for - Then Optics can be used to spread the light out over a specific range - A lot of homework needs to be done -

 

LED's Pros - Cheaper, Half life is not reached until 10 years at least, and a lot cooler, can be laid out in any pattern..

T5 - Cheaper initial cost, bulbs are pricey, pretty generic to find replacement bulbs in a pinch, Keeping hard corals becomes a bit of a pain with these very hit or miss

Halides - Were the 'king' of its time - LED's are kind of coming into this realm to replace them and doing a great job -

 

 

The most IMPORTANT thing your going to buy for your tank is a RO/DI unit, the Second will be your light

[roy026]

i already got me a ro unit (ifthis means reverse osmosis)

but arrent you guys aiming at some specific amount of light in your tank??

becuase with planted fresh water tanks we go for 1 a 2 watt a gallon (i got 8x 24w t5 ho on my 70gal)

i see it like this..

if you guys see its much more efficient to go for led instead of t5 (in terms of WATT)

then ill be realy motivate to switch entirely to led with all of my tanks (exapt for the uv-b for my frogs,

these wil stay t5)

but im not realy clear about if these with led for cree pack everything of the spectrum needed for plants..

but this is a question im not going to bother you with

[Milad LEDGroupBuy.com]

i already got me a ro unit (ifthis means reverse osmosis)

but arrent you guys aiming at some specific amount of light in your tank??

becuase with planted fresh water tanks we go for 1 a 2 watt a gallon (i got 8x 24w t5 ho on my 70gal)

i see it like this..

if you guys see its much more efficient to go for led instead of t5 (in terms of WATT)

then ill be realy motivate to switch entirely to led with all of my tanks (exapt for the uv-b for my frogs,

these wil stay t5)

but im not realy clear about if these with led for cree pack everything of the spectrum needed for plants..

but this is a question im not going to bother you with

 

We have a few customers that are purchasing LEDs for plants. They seem to stick with just Cool Whites to light a planted tank and they use XM-Ls in smaller quantities than reefs. What you will find is you need coverage, not power because the LEDs will output enough to handle your plants but you just need to make sure you have enough to cover the entire tank.

[jasonthomas]

Hello.

 

Even though I would expect to have a lower count of LEDs for a planted tank because of lower light requirements compared to corals, the spacing is going to be important. Will I just have to have the same count as a reef tank but run them at a lower intensity? What would the rule of thumb for both (i.e. 2 blues, 2 whites per 30cmx30cmx30cm at 60 degress for Marine; 4 whites for 30cmx30cmx30cm at 60 degress for Freshwater; etc)?

 

I'm assuming that photosynthesis in Plants & Zooxanthellae is the same, so why is colour temp not so important for a planted tank, is this just about the viewing asthetics - that marine tanks are normally bluish, and freshwater are expected to be on the warmer side?

 

Many Thanks

 

Jason

[Milad LEDGroupBuy.com]

Hello.

 

Even though I would expect to have a lower count of LEDs for a planted tank because of lower light requirements compared to corals, the spacing is going to be important. Will I just have to have the same count as a reef tank but run them at a lower intensity? What would the rule of thumb for both (i.e. 2 blues, 2 whites per 30cmx30cmx30cm at 60 degress for Marine; 4 whites for 30cmx30cmx30cm at 60 degress for Freshwater; etc)?

 

I'm assuming that photosynthesis in Plants & Zooxanthellae is the same, so why is colour temp not so important for a planted tank, is this just about the viewing asthetics - that marine tanks are normally bluish, and freshwater are expected to be on the warmer side?

 

Many Thanks

 

Jason

 

There are two things at work here

1. Aesthetics

2. What a coral/plant needs to grow

 

First let me explain im not expert on the activation spectrum for corals/plants but have been reading alot on them since so many people have been asking me.

 

Point 1. You need to make sure you like how the tank looks. This means the overall color and how the plants/corals look like inside. This is normally 14000K for reefs and something in the range of 5000-8000K for planted tanks. The corals and plants reflect the color they are. So if something is red, its going to reflect the red light. Depending on how much red is in the light, its going to look different.

 

Point 2. Point 1 is great an all but if you are just giving a coral the spectrum it reflects and not uses then you are giogn to get great growth. From my understanding, this activation spectrum is the basically the same for all plants/corals. It peeks at 420nm (Ultra Violet) 455 (Royal Blue) 660 (Deep Red). The Red is going to make them grow, and the bluer colors are going to make them "flower" up.

 

Again im no expert on point 2. Ive just been reading article after article on it and hopefully someone can chime in to back it up or correct me.

 

 

 

So you need coverage on the tank. You are going to use much less LEDs for a planted tank because they need less light, you just need to make sure the coverage of the tank is there.

[jasonthomas]

thanks for the info. Will do some more reading

 

jason