LED Lighting

[Vimby210]

So I am an older school Aquarist, had a train wreck due to lack of quarantine. I Got out of the hobby for several years. I Started a new tank in December of last year. With t5 and metal halide lighting hard to find, reluctantly I bought LED lighting. Spending a good chunk and doubling the lighting i bought two current light bars for my mixed reef attempt. All was good, coraline algae started to grow, some zoas were doing great. I went through several very short lived diatom blooms, as a new tank should. Then a diatom bloom set in, got worse, worse, fades in and out of between red slime. It will not relent. I sat staring at the lighting after week 2 of this bloom. Noticing my LED were yellowish, not crisp white. Yes, i know to check all the nitrates, phosphates. All at zero. ph at 8.1 to 8.3, I run a protein skimmer with an algae scrubber. Tank is lightly loaded with 5 tiny fish. 75 gallon.

Finally to my question. Im now faced after 7 months to have to change out my lighting. I bought LED lights reluctantly and now need to again. Is this what i have to look forward to? Short lived LED lighting. Not sure weather i should purchase a t5 metal halide old school combo from ebay, upgrade it to better bulbs. Or Trust "new technology" again. Very frustrated and wanting to bail from the hobby again. Help me out folks. Give me some reason and guidance to this confusing array of lighting now dominant in this hobby. Bottom line is t5 with Metal Halide worked! I loved it before, and people oood and aaaahhdd over my system years ago.

 

[blaxsun]

Without knowing the LEDs in question it would be hard to comment.

 

[Vimby210]

Without knowing the LEDs in question it would be hard to comment.

the lights i have were mentioned above. they are the current pro- dual 48"

Without knowing the LEDs in question it would be hard to comment.

 

[blaxsun]

the lights i have were mentioned above. they are the current pro- dual 48"

I really only have experience with AI and EcoTech LEDs, which have worked really well for me.

 

[Reefer Matt]

The current light bars are for freshwater and fowlr only, imo. I have them, and the newer r24 lights. The r24 lights work pretty good, but not with the phone app. I like the Kessil a360x lights better. The Current USA light bars usually don't produce enough par, and proper spectrum. The company has also folded, and the lights are now managed by saltwateraquarium.com

 

[Vimby210]

The current light bars are for freshwater and fowlr only, imo. I have them, and the newer r24 lights. The r24 lights work pretty good, but not with the phone app. I like the Kessil a360x lights better. The Current USA light bars usually don't produce enough par, and proper spectrum. The company has also folded, and the lights are now managed by saltwateraquarium.com

Thanks for your opinion on fresh water but it's opinion only. Unfortunately on your account it grew Coraline well in my tank, and my zoas and hammer coral were doing great. Then my white led bulbs started turning yellow. All other information you provided I know. I'm looking for ideas, and good lighting unfortunately and not opinions.

I've read reviews after reviews of even the high end led fixtures failing. I'm looking for experience to guide me in this led nightmare.

Thanks for any information in advance.

 

[Reefer Matt]

Thanks for your opinion on fresh water but it's opinion only. Unfortunately on your account it grew Coraline well in my tank, and my zoas and hammer coral were doing great. Then my white led bulbs started turning yellow. All other information you provided I know. I'm looking for ideas, and good lighting unfortunately and not opinions.

I've read reviews after reviews of even the high end led fixtures failing. I'm looking for experience to guide me in this led nightmare.

Thanks for any information in advance.

Yes, lighting isn't as cut and dry as it used to be. I had a 400w metal halide back in the day myself. My first led lights were the same ones you have. I wish you luck in your search. Happy Reefing!

 

[Seansea]

Did you buys these lights used? And i would take any and all advice reefer matt is giving you cuz his tank is legit and hes running kessil leds. I would NEVER EVER RUN HALIDE NOR T5S AGAIN. Led lighting has moved so far ahead this point your just asking for hefty electric bills, more heat and more maintenance.

For leds radions are the best to grow coral, kessils look best because of the shimmer and some good quanta or orphek bars might give some better overall coverage. Ive heard the ai blades are sweet from a programmable stand point but dont know much about them.

 

[RedoubtReef]

I went back to halide/t5 after more than a decade of led use. Reefbrite and ATI are still great options as well as used halide/T5 fixtures.

 

[X-37B]

Halide user for 30+. I run 100% led now and have been for only 1.5 years now.
I run gen5 Radions on 1 tank, AI 16hds on 2 tanks, and NoopPsyche K7V3 on my nano.
Only issue I have had is a few of the 16 lens needed to be replaced at $5 a piece.
Any of these lights can grow coral and do it quite well, imo.

I did notice you said no3 and po4 are zero which will promote unwanted uglies.

Pm me if you want growth pics.

I do not plan to use any of my halides or t5's again

 

[Vimby210]

Halide user for 30+. I run 100% led now and have been for only 1.5 years now.
I run gen5 Radions on 1 tank, AI 16hds on 2 tanks, and NoopPsyche K7V3 on my nano.
Only issue I have had is a few of the 16 lens needed to be replaced at $5 a piece.
Any of these lights can grow coral and do it quite well, imo.

I did notice you said no3 and po4 are zero which will promote unwanted uglies.

Pm me if you want growth pics.

I do not plan to use any of my halides or t5's again

I dont have measurement equipment to do as low as needed, but my algae scrubber runs 10 hours at night to help balance PH. The api test I use state zero, but i dont have the upper end test equipment just yet. So When i say 0, its what i measured with api tests. Now, Hig no3 and PO4 cause ugglies, but ive yet to hear overly low cause ugglies. Can you Expand on that theory?

That being said, did your AIs arrive doa? Ive heard good and bad, on an equal spectrum about them, and almost pulled the trigger on some api 32. But then I found some reviews talking pretty bad about them.

The Radions are pricey. I have another Pricey hobby, and Radions are out of my budget right now.. I guess thats what frustrates me. The budget lights are just that! Budget. The mids have failed me, and when i comment mids, Coral view pros IMO, offered a mid range at the time. The company litterally folded a month after my purchase. Ive read nightmares about the upper end lights to, which make me overly Nervous as well. Failures either right away, or within a year. What is your experience, or any other experience of longer than a year. $10.00 parts are not concidered a failure. Just maintenence costs. Failure meaning whole light replacement due to major failure is my concern. Im not interested in buying 1000 dollar light fixures every year or two. I guess thats my concern in a nut shell.

 

[Vimby210]

I went back to halide/t5 after more than a decade of led use. Reefbrite and ATI are still great options as well as used halide/T5 fixtures.

So what exactly are you using, what LEDs did you use, and what was the failure rate?

 

[Vimby210]

Did you buys these lights used? And i would take any and all advice reefer matt is giving you cuz his tank is legit and hes running kessil leds. I would NEVER EVER RUN HALIDE NOR T5S AGAIN. Led lighting has moved so far ahead this point your just asking for hefty electric bills, more heat and more maintenance.

For leds radions are the best to grow coral, kessils look best because of the shimmer and some good quanta or orphek bars might give some better overall coverage. Ive heard the ai blades are sweet from a programmable stand point but dont know much about them.

Thanks for your input sensea, but his reply seemed a little bashing IMO. Sorry. Im no nube in this Hobby, I kept several hard to keep fish in my reef years ago, and just was careless and added that one last fish. After my disaster I disappeared from the hobby for over 10 years. Im sure his tank is ligit! But mine was too. Powder brown, and a asfer angel with gorgous stringers had them for years in a 75 gallon. Here come the tank police. LOL Just to name a few.

So tell me time on your leds, and what has your experience been. Failures, No failures, anything in the mid range. You suggest two high end lights. I have no interest in sps. And high end expense with what im reading on blogs and customer reviews of the high end fixtures, im just nervous.

 

[Seansea]

Your algae scrubber for only 10 hours is the problem. I run mine 16 on 8 off. I have found this best for keeping ugliesnout of tank. You want to rin the scrubber lights longer than your mains so the algae has a preferable place to grow

 

[RedoubtReef]

So what exactly are you using, what LEDs did you use, and what was the failure rate?

Hamilton Cebu, 2 x 250w Radium's with 4 ATI T 5s. I ran Ecotech Radion previously. They did ok, but they just didn't have the same punch and shimmer that I had before switching to LED. Issue for me is that mfgrs update their lights and stop supporting the old ones every few years now. It's like they're iPhones. There's pics of my tank under LED and now under the Hamilton fixture in my build thread and the 'disco ball' effect with the LED is hard to miss and I was never happy with that.

 

[RedoubtReef]

Double post

 

[Seansea]

Is this a 75g? If just lps and softies you could go a couple kessil a 160s and that would do. They are what i run on my tank but i did just order the quanta pro led bar which is like led forms of t5. I added so.e sps about a month ago and a 160s are a little on the low light sude for them. But i have had them for 7 months now and no problems.

As far as how long i run them i have the spectral controller and i have them on at 1200 and ramp up to 1530. Then 100% intensity and 30% color til 2030 the n ram down until 0000. I have some corals groqing out of control in just 7 months including some low end sps.

 

[vancouverredsea350]

I ran the current USA orbit 48” x 2 (not pro) on my 70 gallon aquarium for 3/4 years and used them on a 75 gallon for a few years before that and they performed no problem and still work but I just upgraded to two Red Sea LED 90’s. The chalice in my picture didn’t last as the lighting wasn’t strong enough but all the other corals got good growth.

 

[Yazannreef]

For your purpose. I would find 2 radion g4s xr30s for cheap. Seen them floating around here for $300 a piece. They still perform very well.

I have had xr30 g4 pro over my late 75 gallomnand they were fantastic.

I currently have orphek icons and they are a beast but they are pricey.

And yes I had reffbrite MH with xhos and they were amazing( the heat is what drove me away). They are still in my garage collecting dust!.

 

[Vimby210]

Your algae scrubber for only 10 hours is the problem. I run mine 16 on 8 off. I have found this best for keeping ugliesnout of tank. You want to rin the scrubber lights longer than your mains so the algae has a preferable place to grow

The idea of an algea scrubber is to remove Nitrates and phosphates, which mine are at or close to zero. And being on to long strips your tank entirely of Phosphatea and nitrates. Which also, is not good. One poster claimes that No Nitrates and phosphates causes uglies, when actually, high nitrates and phosphates is known to cause uglies.