Wow, the coral colors really pop with the new lights. Did you edit the pictures?
nice!!! looking awesome that should grow well and also colors should get even better!!!
Thanks everyone. The pics are straight from my camera to photbucket and then to this post, I never edit my pics.
Will be interesting to see how my corals react to the different lighting.
Hey dunk, one of the frags from you is right above my yellow tang in one of the pics and here is another…
wow john!! i like it a lot that frag looks like a tri color under those led’s it looks awesome. i know its pink/purple with green polyps but it looks like some yellow as well man i want more led. thinking about the royal blue led from ecoxotic?
Nice upgrade John. I like the look with the combo LED/VHO lights on. the corals really glow. I think the VHO actinics are a good combo with LEDs since most LED blues are in the chlorophyl B range of 453 nm blue light. the VHO 420 nm Actinics cover the “A” type light requirements. should make for healthy, strong corals.
Thanks Ken, I agree with you about the VHO’s.Hoping the clams get enough light down on the bottom. Going to do par readings when it’s my turn for the par meter.
From what I hear that par meter is very popular. I was actually looking into them for learning exp. But they are pretty expensive. Like the price of 3 Sps lol.
dunk, ecoxotic is big money for lousy light and no control but on off. forget it!
Yeah I know it sucks but they sell the all blue par 38. Its like $30 more for it than the ones I have. I would get the evil but no all blue.
if looking at PAR38 take a look at Orphek also check out the new DIF30 units
They are nice. The dimmable one is cool but I want it to auto dim. They are expensive though the ones I have now are $88 and the ecoxotic is about $120. They don’t dim but I really don’t want to dim it unless it can be on a controller. I kinda want to look in to full led but I don’t have a lot of room in the hood. After seeing those colors it does make me want it. Paula look great too saw them in person. Led is cool.
I have been contemplating this fixture recently. LED grow lights are substantially cheaper than some of the “reef systems”. My only concern is the salt corrosion, but greenhouse conditions are also pretty taxing on electronics.
The only problem I see is they are only 1w led’s and they won’t penetrate the water well. But if it’s shallow should work
The lights would be installed above a smaller tank <40g. I am still undecided if I should purchase an AI fixture or an cheaper alternative.
The ai and DIY are sweet but expensive me personally waiting for cheaper. They look great but not seeing a need as of yet. My par 38 showed me that led works.
no way i’d prefer the grow lights, which are made specifically for growing certain interesting “plants”–non dimmable or controllable, no depth penetration [i would not trust their PAR measurements one bit], replaceability if 1 bulb goes out, damage from salt [the last picture shows the label saying no waterproof], made in china for sure, etc.
hey paul I know the led’s last 50,00 hours what do you do when they reach that point?
[quote=“dunk, post:37, topic:4461”]
hey paul I know the led’s last 50,00 hours what do you do when they reach that point?[/quote]
well 50,000 hrs equals 11 years of 12 hours on. by then there’ll probably be intergallactic/nuclear/plasma lighting. PBJ! according to my reading, the 50,000 is at full blast also, and then the output of the spectrum is reduced by about 30%
oh yeah lol didnt think obout that 50,000 is a lot but doesn’t seem that long
LEDs may last a long time, but the power supply ballasts can get messed up.