I swapped to these LED's about 6 weeks ago. They are very intense lights. I'm wondering if anyone has these lights and can tell me how high they need to be, I don't have the dimmable versions or atleast not yet lol. I have tested them on Zoa's, Polyps and SPS corals. The corals are giving all ranges of responses. I'm not sure if its too much or too little. Unfortunately I have no pics cause I don't have a camera lol. So if anyone has used these before and can tell me some tips and tricks with these, it'd be greatly appreciated. I am using x24 3w cree LED's on two panels (12 per panel) at 7 inches above the water line. Some people on thereeftank forums are using 24 per panel. Its already hard on the eyes with x12, I think I'd be blinded with 24 lol. I'm running 5 cool-white, 5 royal blue, 1 red and 1 green on each panel. I also have a 3/8 thick plexiglass blocking the lights from splashing water as well. From the water line to the sand bed is about 17 inches. The zoa's seem to do fine at the bottom of the tank up to almost the top of the tank. This goes the same with the star polyps. The SPS corals, especially the birdsnest, appear to be growing but are very light in color, no brown though. My pink birdsnest, is really light pink but in the last week its had 10 new buds on it with new pulps already growing on them. I felt this was too much light so I tested on the second birdsnest, a green with brown pulps one. Its lower in the tank by about 5 inches but its much more paler. Very light green but since I've gotten it, its gotten about 20 new buds growing on it. Both have full polyp extension but the colors are a little light but both appear to be growing extremely fast, faster then the zoa corals are. Not complaining but is that normal? I have a green pocillopora that is brown on the sides not facing light. So I placed it 3 inches below the water line and its doing great, atleast whats facing the light. Anything that isn't in direct light is a bit brown. I'll probably continue to slowly move the corals around till they are happy. I'm guessing moving them too much will probably stress them too, so I'll give it a few more weeks or so and move them if they appear unhappy but any recommendations would be greatly appreciated. My water parameters are as follows: Salinity 1.025 Hardness: 9 Calcium: 420 Mg: 1380 Nitrates: 0 ppm
Its a 65 gallon tank, that's 36" in length. There is a giant eurobrace in the middle so I couldn't do with just one panel, the rapid-led guys recommended two.
Did they use the solderless LEDs? If it is too bright for your liking you might see about replacing some of the white LEDs with more blue. Most people prefer about 2:1 ratio of blue to white LED. What degree optics did you use? If you can experiment you might try removing the lens on the whites to see if it will difuse some of the brightness.
Yes, these are the solderless ones. Are they removable? If so I'll just order some more RB to replace some of the whites. The lenses are at 80 degrees. The blues would definitely bring out more color though.
You might try removing the optics on the whites and see if you like the look. Then if you decide to replace some of the white, you might think about some of the "UV" LEDs. The CREE royal blue is 450nm-465nm. The "UV" LED is is really more of an actinic 410nm-420nm so you get some additional wavelength that is critical to the health of many corals. If you think about it, the true actinic blue VHO or T5 lamps that we have used primary wavelength is 420nm! If you do get them be aware that they will look dimmer compared to the royal blue to your eyes. The lower wavelength has less visible output but they do provide the penetration in the aquarium.
That seems like a small amount of LEDs to try to cover that much real-estate. I'm no LED expert by any means. The rapidled website shows a 75g should have 48x3, I would think the same would be true for your 65.
You bring up a good point. I was looking at the reason xystic thought they were too bright being from the white to blue ratio. Xystic, you might consider adding another 12 LED strip made up of blues. this would give you a bluer look and increase the lumens for the corals without having to have your birdsnest so close to the surface. Then based on whether you like the color, you could add a 4th strip getting you up to 48 LED level and adjust the number of white and blues to give you the color you like.
Yes for the 75 gallon it is x3 panels but the tank is at 48" for the 75. My tank is only the length of a 40 gallon breeder and the worst part of it is that its got an eurobrace. Even if I could fit three panels the eurobrace blocks out the middle panel. Thats why the LED-guys recommended the 40 gallon breeder kit and said it should be fine as long as I run the lights at 60% or higher. I run them at 100%. So what I'll be doing is replacing two of the whites on each panel with 1 RB and 1 UV and then adding another x2 UV's per panel to = 6 UV's between 2 panels. I'll run in total 28 LEDS maxing out both my drivers. 6 Royal blue 3 Whites 1 green 1 red 3 UV The corals have started to regain color and are still growing. If the lights don't seem to be enough, I'll order two more drivers. I'll have my next set of lights by monday i think.
I will! Also thanks for the information about the UV-LEDs. I didn't know about them at all. I'm excited to see what they will do.
