LED for Actinic Supplementation

hollback · Sep 21, 2010

I haven't ventured into much research regarding LEDs. I have a 120 gallon Oceanic Tech series tank and I am currently running 2-250w SE Radiums on Icecap Electronic ballasts. I also have 2-48" T5 for actinics. I'm not really impressed with the two T5s compared to the old VHO actinics I used to run. They really made the corals pop and the T5s don't seem to have the impact. I was thinking about replacing my T5s with some blue LED strips. Is this feasible? Would I need a ton to even see the effect? The little research I've done seems to say go with the 3w Cree LEDs with optics. Is there a good product that will suit my needs? Any help would be great.

Thanks!

butts182 · Sep 21, 2010

World Wide Corals uses coralSky LEDs. I also would recommend them.

gar732 · Sep 21, 2010

Reef brites are supposed to be cree internals. Everyone who has them seems to love them and they are not too expensive. I was going to go with reefbrites but have decided to go all led after seeing a tank with leds in person.

Also, what bulbs are you using for your T5s? I was much happier with my ati blue+ over the actinics I used to use.

Good luck

hollback · Sep 21, 2010

Thanks for the info. The Reef Brites seem like a good option. I would only be able to afford one 48" strip. Would that be enough to make my corals pop a little with the 500 watts of halides on? I'll have to ask around and see if anyone local is running one so I can see the color in person.

I am currently running IceCap Actinic T5 bulbs. The are fine, they just don't have the color punch with the halides on.