• Folks, if you've recently upgraded or renewed your annual club membership but it's still not active, please reach out to the BOD or a moderator. The PayPal system has a slight bug which it doesn't allow it to activate the account on it's own.

What lights are you running and what's your experience with them?

i think the best mix of lights that would be most ideal would be white t5's and blue leds. maybe a couple of other colors thrown in like deep blue and uv. i think t5's do white best, but t5's can't compare to the pop you get from blue leds
 
prob for the best winning the one you did. i think the other one would be too powerful for most set-ups. especially a smaller one

Thanks! I am excited to try it over the (80g) frag tank with the T5s I think the acros might like it :)

Xavier, we went with T5s over our frag tank because of extreme bleaching of chalices under LEDs and because our white, blue and royal blue AI sol blue led made all of our acans look orange.
 
I just bought led's from aqua traders they are 3watt LEDs with about 180watt 48"I had 4 55watt t5 and I have to tell the LEDs are great they perform like 2000$ LEDs. I am so happy and the coral love them. I know some people don't like aqua trader but you have to be crazy not to get this led lights. I got the timers for the light. If you would like to see a video of the light let me know. Ps the blue lights are great too the colors at night are insane.
The only down side is that that say the lights are 200 watt but I know they can't be because the transformers are 90watts times 2 so the most it could be is 180
 
i don't know about their leds, but i cheaped out once and bought a t5 fixture from them... and it was junk, i got what i paid for. weird lamp sockets that are poorly attached and not at all supported. the wires pulled out on my 2nd bulb change. lesson learned.
 
I started out with T5 and loved them. Currently, use LED; however, I prefer the full light coverage of the T5. I feel like LED are too centered to where you place them... I have wide angle lense on them, but even then... to get the same light coverage as the T5 I feel like I would have to have 4 x 120 W LED units vs. 2 or 3.
 
I'm in the process of setting up an acrylic 180 (6ft long, 24 inch wide) that is euro-braced and has acrylic lids. I want to go LED. Are there any issues with the bracing and lids causing problems with the light penetration etc? .

I want a clean modern minimal type look, possibly Kessils.

Thanks
 

radiata

NJRC Member
I will not go back!

I originally ran IceCap ballast T5’s, and the yearly bulb change and energy consumption was getting to me. I switched over to two Apollo fixtures, and cut my energy consumption in half….virtually no heat….and no bulb changes.

I’m getting growth like crazy, but I will admit that some corals have changed in color…most noticeable with some of the chalices I have…..but I’m OK with that (being that I’m colored blind… :grin: )

Duh, if you're color blind, how do you know that some corals have changed color?
 

radiata

NJRC Member
I converted my show tank to 24 linear feet of LEDs from 16 linear feet of VHOs and a 150w MH. Now I'm pulling some LEDs and replacing them with T5s.

I think that the problem with LEDs is that they don't produce any UVA/B spectrum, and that the lack of this spectrum results in less appealing/true coloration than one gets with T5s.
 
Anyone have experience with the Reefbreeder LEDS. I found a group buy that gets them from China (under a different name directly at a great price.) They have done two buys so far and I'm waiting on the third one. The buyers are extremely happy, happy happy so far...I have to stop watching Duck Dynasty...
 
Top