Success with LED and SPS
 

I'd like to see pictures, and any posts, of tanks with success with LED lighting. I've made the switch, from MH/T5's to LED, and it's been a couple months, and things are not as nice as i hoped for. My LPS and softies are liking it, but my poor SPS.... Not so nice. (Opening Can of Worms). Would just like to see sucessful applications with LED and SPS. Just to know my investment was worth it.

what kind of Leds?

made the switch about 3 years ago and could not be happier
I can send you a video of sps growth if you like that I have been making
I fragged my red digi and take a photo of it everyday for the last ~30 days and string them together into a video
http://fragbox.ca/my-aquarium/

I'm using a 4 foot F series Sunbrite. On my 72 gal/18x18x48 mixed reef. I like the clean look of one fixture.

GHL Mitras looks like it has promise, follow the thread below, I think he's had it the longest - but I'm like you, I don't want 2 or 3 modules hanging over the tank attached to some make shift hanger.

I like the one fixture look, clean , like the vertex or sunbrite.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...2097957&page=8

what do you mean sps not liking it?
bleached?
not as vibrant? less growth?

Not as vibrant, less growth, less polyp extentions, some browning. I did have a bit of a water quality issue. (traces of phosphates) which i have hopefull figured out. But what i've seen so far the sps did like the MH/T5's better. Time will tell. Patience is the key, i guess.

dam
really not happy!
that happened with me when I was using AI Sol
everything browned out and I lost alot of sps
sounds like they are not getting enough light. You have the lights turned down?

This light has the ability to increase up and dim down, over the course of the day. I have it maxing out, at about 90% right now. And I have also illiminated the red and green colors from the light. I have found that those colors cause excessive algea blooms, and don't really look very nice, to me. It's heart wrenching to see full colonies, that have taken me more than year or more to grow, turn brown, just because i wanted to keep up with the trends, or save a few bucks on power and bulb replacement.

I posted a few pics of my SPS in this thread

http://96.31.76.198/vbulletin/showth...005#post773005

While I lost a little "pop" in my colors, on a very few pieces, overall I'd say LEDs can successfully grow SPS. My growth has not slowed, polyps are the same, colors are mostly the same. This is with 6 x AI Sol blues. Either your light doesn't have enough power/intensity, or the water quality issues you mentioned are affecting the corals.

GOOD LEDs are perfectly good for growing SPS :)

Maybe you are blaming the wrong thing? You mentioned a phosphate issue. Raised phosphates can inhibit growth, cause browning and kill SPS. In some species it can happen fast especially if they are used to cleaner water. By the time you realized you had elevated phosphates it may have been there for a while? Fixing that problem won't turn your SPS around over night. It could take weeks if not months for SPS to recover.