LED Intensity

[Aquattro]

Ya, for my tank I'll try three, see how it looks. The MH setup is all contained in the canopy, so I can simply put it back while saving for a fourth unit, then try again

[Madreefer]

Your gonna need 4. Biggest mistake I see is people not getting enough of them. Once your corals are used to them, which in my case has taken since Sept you can crank them up to 100%. You just have to be patient as you run in to problems with bleaching and brownout. Since ive started to get closer to the 100% mark i've seen better growth and color. I've copied a lighting schedule off of a member on that other site and it's turned out great.

[Duker]

Originally Posted by Madreefer

Your gonna need 4. Biggest mistake I see is people not getting enough of them. Once your corals are used to them, which in my case has taken since Sept you can crank them up to 100%. You just have to be patient as you run in to problems with bleaching and brownout. Since ive started to get closer to the 100% mark i've seen better growth and color. I've copied a lighting schedule off of a member on that other site and it's turned out great.

Your the first person i've heard running LED's at 100%. A year of getting ur Corals used to it. Wow, but hey ya can't rush it. Feel like sharing ur lighting schedule?? And do u lightning storm ever? And, what led's r u using....cool white, royal blue, blue, uv, red, green? And its the Aqua Illumination Sol? Thanks.

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by Duker

Your the first person i've heard running LED's at 100%.

A couple are, I think Rich said he was on his setup.

[Duker]

Oh yeah, I wonder how long it took him to get them to 100%. Do u recall?

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by Duker

Oh yeah, I wonder how long it took him to get them to 100%. Do u recall?

No, but he did mention that the frags he got from me were under full lighting within a couple of days, so that tells me that my corals could take full lighting after the same amount of time.

[tang daddy]

Hey Brad, I am sure on deeper tanks like yours and Rich's running the AI at 100% isn't going to be a problem but to be safe start them off low like 60% and watch how the corals react over a 2 week period, mostlikely they can handle more but I bleached montis and some Lps when I had mine turned up to 70% on a 18" high tank. Most of my sps are higher up in my tank aswell...

Depending on the mounting height of the AI your sps could definitely take the light although led is abit different than metal halides as most users will tell you....

When are you ordering the lights up?

[Bblinks]

Originally Posted by Duker

Oh yeah, I wonder how long it took him to get them to 100%. Do u recall?

Couple of days but started off 18 inches awl then lowered to 8 inches month later.

[Bblinks]

Originally Posted by Aquattro

A couple are, I think Rich said he was on his setup.

Hey Brad,

I run my AI's full blast for 5 hours a day with ramp up 3 hours prior and 3 hours post. My lights are hung indside the canopy about 8 inches awl. IMHO you wouldn't have any issues running AIs' at full intensity during the same photo period as your halides. Those 400W must be putting out close to a 1000 PAR just under the water line. I can tell you that's about the same or just under the AI's Par output regardless of the spectrum, any healthy SPS colony(in your case the entire tank) will tolerate the slight change in light intensity and flourish with the exception of montiporas.

When I started using AIs on the 210 last November I was in the same predicament as most of us would since xmas is right around the corner and I have exhausted all my fish funds long ago for the year. However I did come up with enough money for 3 of the AI's after explaining the benefits for them to the better half. After reading a few different stories about LED's intensity taking out prized corals I decided to hang'em 18 inches awl at 50%. In the first couple of days, I was not happy with the color of the tank, it was just way to dim for me. So in the weeks that followed I bumped it up to 100%. I did noticed some of the SPS which are directly under the led started to color up, some of them has been in the tank for months without any colors. At this point I was really impressed with these lights although it has only been a short period of time I know I have made a good choice. One thing still really bugged me was the dimness over the entire tank. Even with them at 100% I still wished that they were brighter.

By the end of 2011 when I upgraded to the 300. I told my wife the same thing I told her when I upgraded to the 210, "this will be the last tank" I knew I wanted the AIs but just didn't know how many. I contacted C2 for info and I was told 12 units for the size of my tank and on the forum I was told 6 units would be plenty, I opted for 9 unit as it is some where in the middle. Now after running them for 4 month, all the sps are keeping there colors nicely and growth rate are awesome. All the frags I got from Brad at the swap are under the led within a few days after arriving without any problems and the more importantly they are keeping there original color as they were in Brad's tank. Honestly I don't think I can keep the same coloration if my light are ran at half intensity. lately I am been contemplating on getting 3 more so I can get full coverage and even if I wanted to keep an efflo on the sandbed I wouldn't have to worry about the lighting. I blame this on Brad since it was his amazing efflo got me thinking about this.

Brad, you have a very nice SPS tank with beautiful coloration, I would think any one with such a nice tank would have a sense of trepidation changing a major component on the tank. I know 3 of them would suffice but as far as the intensity goes, if you want to keep the colors that you have I would keep them at about 8 inches awl and run them at 100% for the same duration as your Metal halide and I will pre-warn you that they will seem a bit dimmer than you halides even at full blast.

[Aquattro]

Thanks Rich, sounds like a plan. I'll start with three and hope I keep the colors, and as budget allows, I can add units if needed. But for now, I'm stuck at 3. Property taxes coming up, and I have to budget for Costa Rica next winter