Jump to content

What Lights are you using?


Recommended Posts

I'd really like to know what everyone is using around here for their display or fragtank lights.  What kind of reef are you running, are you getting good growth...etc.  I'd also love to find someone with kessil's on the south side that I can throw a par meter under.  I'll start.

Display - SPS dominant, ati t5 with two led tubes.  Growth is very good for sps and lps.

Frag tank - sps only, lumen arc 400w mh with radium, growth is hit or miss depending on species

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Im using 3 kessil 360s and almost pulled the trigger on some new LEDS this past week.  The three kessils provide enough light for all my LPS in the 180g but the SPS grow very slow and some of the colors have faded a bit.

 I think I am actually going to switch over to the ATI 8 bulb fixture and give that a shot.  It seems that everyone who has any LEDs and a successful SPS tank are supplementing it with T5.  My par with the 3 kessils is around 240 at the top, after 6 inches drops to 150, and only 40-60 on the bottom of the tank. I use the seneye for my measurements so its not the greatest PAR meter.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Running a Reef Breeders V2 fixture.  Polyp Extension and growth has been getting better now my parameters are better.

 

I still think a ATI fixture or Radium is the best for color and overall tank.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, cmak said:

Im using 3 kessil 360s and almost pulled the trigger on some new LEDS this past week.  The three kessils provide enough light for all my LPS in the 180g but the SPS grow very slow and some of the colors have faded a bit.

 I think I am actually going to switch over to the ATI 8 bulb fixture and give that a shot.  It seems that everyone who has any LEDs and a successful SPS tank are supplementing it with T5.  My par with the 3 kessils is around 240 at the top, after 6 inches drops to 150, and only 40-60 on the bottom of the tank. I use the seneye for my measurements so its not the greatest PAR meter.

Yea, Kessils are a great looking fixture but just not intense enough by themselves for sps.  I'm actually thinking about changing my lights to all led :() so may have a fixture available very soon

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, chac317 said:

Recently switched from Hydras to an 8 bulb Tek Elite with 3 Blue plus, 3 coral plus and two Biotek B5 blue led tubes. So far so good. Haven't measured par or anything. 

Did your corals respond quickly or just starting to color up?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Still in the feeling out stage I think. I wasn't sure what the par was with LEDs so I just started the T5 fixture higher and have been slowly moving it down so I'm not sure what the sweet spot is. I'm probably about 10-12" above waterline right now. The only thing I miss about LEDs is the pop. I think the corals are probably a truer color now but since my fixture has 4 bulbs on each plug I can't run only LEDs on it at any time. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just picked up a ReefBreeders 48in (used v2) and I'm in love with it already. The spectrum is good, love the coverage on the 75gal, and the color looks super nice. Time will tell on growth as it's only been on there about a month and things are still adjusting. 

 

I used a 32in led I bought from Luke for years and was really happy with everything except the spread on my 75gal. Had good growth and great colors (when I kept the parameters in check), just lacked a little on the ends of the tank. That will be going over the mantis tank as soon as I figure out how to hang it. It's way overkill but I'll run it at 10%, most likely no more. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I like the reefbreeders v2, pry my favorite out there.  Still debating those over my display or these wellpar black box with timers.  Only 119 bux and they are really nice.  Just hung them over my frag tank last night.

look fwd to see how the rb does for you.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 6/30/2017 at 6:43 PM, Luke33 said:

Yea, Kessils are a great looking fixture but just not intense enough by themselves for sps.  I'm actually thinking about changing my lights to all led :() so may have a fixture available very soon

What makes you want to switch to all LEDs? You have had a lot of success with the t5s and your sps look great!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

22 minutes ago, cmak said:

What makes you want to switch to all LEDs? You have had a lot of success with the t5s and your sps look great!

Plenty of reasons!  The efficiency is so much greater with led vs t5.  I run t5 for 8 hrs at 640w and another 4hrs at 160w.  I plan on getting 5 led fixtures and will run them for 8 hrs at 250w and 4 hrs at 125w.  The look is just unbeatable with led and I'll get better coverage through the entire 72" vs 60".  I plan on running the black box fixtures the opposite of the normal way, if I ran them the normal way I could get away with four fixtures.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, Budman said:

Using diy  Cree led with vho on my 125. Good color and growth. I have 2 sbreef for a 75 and we will see how they look and growth if I ever get it set up. 

It's been a while since I've heard of anyone running vho!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, coralfarm123 said:

I still use vho to supplement  3x250 hqi metal halides on m80 ballasts on the dislpay.  My frag tank has a 6 bulb tek t5 fixture.  Both tanks have good growth.  

I wouldn't expect anything else from you Ian 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Still using the lumenmax reflector I got from you too.  My light rack would be a pain to reconfigure so I haven't messed with it much.  If I set up something different in the future, I may go all t5 and add led supplements or just just a good combo of both.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, coralfarm123 said:

Still using the lumenmax reflector I got from you too.  My light rack would be a pain to reconfigure so I haven't messed with it much.  If I set up something different in the future, I may go all t5 and add led supplements or just just a good combo of both.  

You may as well stick with what you know works

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I made the switch and am starting off with the fixture pretty high up with only 2 bulbs and will slowly increase the intensity over the next month.  My tank is still a mess from moving and im curing more rock now that I have the space and its not a peninsula setup anymore. Went from the kessils to the ATI T5 fixture.  

 

 

kessil.jpg

t5 ati.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Looks good, that's a lot more light and you now don't have any intense spots like the kessil's.  Is that an 8 bulb?  Personally I would run the two bulb's for 10hrs and all on for 2 hrs, then move up to 3 hrs next week, then 4...etc.  Two bulb's is pretty weak intensity goes.  Just watch how they coral react.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I wasnt sure about the intensity vs the kessils. I was gonna run 2 for a couple days, then turn the 2 off and run the 6 channel for a couple hours and increase each day.  Eventually working up to 8 bulbs. I have alot of LPS so Im going to have to play with things and start moving some corals around accordingly. I like the look of it but damn all 8 bulbs on is BRIGHT!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Old school here, (5) 250 watt metal halide with a lttle new school diy led's for supplement. I was using 14K ushio's but there are getting impossible to find and I switched to 20K radiums. I am not real happy with the color and am removing some of the royal blue LED's on one section and replacing them with white to see if this works.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...