Quote:
Originally Posted by StirCrazy
Have you thought of going full UV instead of near? I think the UV is something were missing in the Led light set ups and they will make your corals pop like crazy. as for the green, I wouldn't waist my time, unless you got nothing better to do  I think green will have the same results of when people were trying the red ones mixed in. lead to more algae.
Steve |
Thought about it Steve but the near UV ones at 395nm were had for $15 vs. closer to $100 for true UV-A at 365nm. I'm looking at options for 365nm but until the cost comes down I won't be trying them. As for the green ones, it's just a notion right now. I'll probably let the nano-reef.com crowd experiment with that first
However, I don't think a bit of green will have the same effect on Algae that red would. The red is really into the spectrum algae likes for photosynthesis. Green is much closer to the blue end of the spectrum. If I did it I would only use maybe six emitters with no optics just too add some colour to the tank and help the red and orange pigments pop a bit. the blue and UV are great for the green pigments and to some extent the red but green apparently really brings out the reds and oranges.
Quote:
Originally Posted by asmodeus
So you are saying there Ron that those lights have better PArs then the 8x 54 w t-5's and what is the life span of the LEd's and if one blows how easy is it to change.
really good work man.
|
Yes, better PAR than my fixture which is a Sunlight Supply Sunblaze fixture. It's a pretty good one with contoured reflectors etc. but I am sure some of the others with true individual reflectors and active cooling will give a bit more PAR than mine. It was doing a great job and SPS were growing just fine under it. However, the LEDs have really blown it away with nearly twice as much PAR with about half the energy consumption. That's the beauty of LEDs as a light source. They are way more efficient than other methods.
Their life span, as long as they are adequately cooled, should be 50,000 hours. At 8 hours per day of lighting that is nearly 8 years. I am saving $250x8= $2000 in bulb changes alone not to mention using less electricity. Changing them is not that hard. Unsolder the wires and pry it off the heatsink (I used adhesive pads but if I had drilled and tapped the heatsink then it would just be a matter of undoing the screws holding the LED down). New adhesive pad and new LED and resolder the wires and you're good to go.