Getting tired.....

aereaus

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Impressive color. I just reaquascaped and look forward to my corals filling in and looking mature once again.
Blues are way over saturated and the UV tends to really mess with the color, I haven't taken the time to actually white balance the photo. It can be quite hard to capture the essence of a tank in a photo, at least for me. haha, now my dslr takes great shots that usually fairly accurately represent the tank but I haven't used it in ages. These phones and their cameras make me lazy!
 

bigroost

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I like your thread!

What I would like to see is an effort to consolidate information. As a new reefer I have been trying to gain success with my LEDs over the last few months. Lots of people say its because the person using the led doesn't know what they are doing, you'll get no argument from me. What I would like to see is a sticky with successful led tanks with a simple this is what I use, this is how high they are, this is the intensity, this is the run time. The beauty of any community is its willingness to share its collective knowledge, I know lots of that info is buried within tank threads and is probably there, but in my experience if I try to search for my brand of light to see what others are doing all I find is hey this is my new light its gonna be great.

I personally have been reading for months, have access to a par meter, and still can't figure it out.
 
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trido

trido

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@bigroost, I understand your frustration. When I started a decade ago I asked more than once on a couple forums what the "best" MH fixture was and what bulbs I should use. The answer I always received was, "whatever works best for you". Its never easy to tell someone what they should buy. I have some of the cheapest fixtures on the market but am able to trouble shoot them, modify them and rebuild them when they need it. I cannot tell you that those are the best for you because honestly, they aren't the best for me. They are what I want to afford and what works for me. My wife would not approve if I spent $3000 on lighting so I can have the "Best" light on the market.
Its not necessarily up to the new reefer, but helpful, to look around, ask questions, make some friends or gain respect from reefers that you feel give good advice and then make the best decision you can given all the advice you've received. No one can give you the "best" answer. There are no two reef tanks that are the same. I've built several large systems for reefers over the years and they all settled in to have a different sweet spot that grew corals the best. Despite my using the same basic set ups.
 

aereaus

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@bigroost Like Trido said, it's gonna be hard for anyone to give good advice about what is "best" for you, many will just defend their latest purchase and tell you to get what they have. I'll refrain from doing that...despite my bias!
Lol, here's what I suggest...make a list of what you want to keep, get dimensions on your tank and compare them with coverage from different fixtures. Look at the output and options different fixtures offer, decide on a price point and get the best possible fixture for that price. Secondarily, when you decide a few fixtures that you think may work for you make a post here and ask others for their experience with the lights -- what kind of coral they keep and if they've ever had issues with reliability or customer service. Lastly, exercise patience when starting to use your new lights.

I cannot say this enough and it is probably the truest thing I will ever utter. There is NO more practical and helpful skill in this hobby than patience. I am STILL learning it 15 years after starting this saltwater obsession.
 

Vaughn17

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I have been running LEDs for quite a while and I just don't argue as I am to old for that. I don't care if other people use whale oil, Krill oil, LEDs or reflected light from the moon. I also don't care if instead of water you keep your fish in damp sawdust or newspapers. It's up to you. Do whatever you want because no one cares how other people run their tank. I also run a reverse undergravel filter. How stupid is that?

Not stupid if it works for you, which it obviously does. Beautiful tank!






 

bigroost

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Thanks for the replies, to be honest if you guys were saying you need this light etc... I wouldn't respect the opinion as much. The main problem I am having or atleast what I have it narrowed down to is photoperiod. Most of what I find is people showing the ramp up\ ramp down with time. I only have on and off. I am currently cutting time hoping to get growth because the other direction seems to make things unhappy. I have been using a par meter and have lower numbers than most of what I see posted but still manage to bleach things. I know there are no shortcuts and what goes here make not go there.

My suggestion was more of if you have multiple scenarios to look at with others success, I would bet a fairly consistent pattern would begin to emerge.
 

aereaus

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if your par is lower than what you'd expect and still bleaching stuff check the red and green levels -- those bleach corals quickly if they're too high. Also your whites vs blues -- it all has to be balanced. I have about 10 different time points on my radion daily schedule. My lights come on at 11 and it's all uv and royal blue until 12:30, then 12:30-1 the whites go from 0% to 10%, 1-2 whites go to 35%, then at 4:35 (peak photoperiod) whites peak at 60%. Then reverse cycles out. I have greens ramping up at a slower rate and to a less intensity than my whites. LED's take a ton of tuning but once you find that sweet spot you gotta stop messing with them lol
 

Tom Davey

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I have not read every post but. I have been running LED for almost a year and my corals are doing great. I run Radions and an older AI and They both work great.
 

Mussin

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I'm in the market for some LEDs for my 120 (4x2x2). Looking for a budget minded fixture. Think a couple "black boxes" would suffice?
 

Mastering the art of locking and unlocking water pathways: What type of valves do you have on your aquarium plumbing?

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