Success with LED and SPS

[daplatapus]

Nice info, scubasteve. Not sure I understood all of it yet, lol, but certainly made some good points and provided food for thought.

[Madreefer]

Originally Posted by daplatapus

Nice info, scubasteve. Not sure I understood all of it yet, lol, but certainly made some good points and provided food for thought.

Yea thanks Scubasteve

[ScubaSteve]

Originally Posted by daplatapus

Nice info, scubasteve. Not sure I understood all of it yet, lol, but certainly made some good points and provided food for thought.

I tried to make it as non-sciency as I could so I might have either still made it too techy or missed out some important concepts. So, if you need a clarification on anything, ask away.

[kien]

The question of UV is an interesting one. I know that for DE Halide bulbs you HAVE to use them with UV shielded glass. Well, at least I have never come across a DE halide bulb that did not require a UV shield. Also, the outer glass envelope of the mogul halide lamps are UV shielded.

[mike31154]

I did a little more digging re the UV issue & found this article. They've carried out some measurements on various bulb types, technologies, their UV output & how much UV-A in particular actually makes it through some of the so called glass shields that envelop lamps. UV-B & -C are downright nasty & can really hurt you as well as most any living thing.

http://www.aquarium-design.com/reef/uvlighting.html

[Madreefer]

So next question. Are the lenses on LEDs equipped with "uv LEDs" have the proper lenses? Same question goes out to the DIY guys. Local guy here in town decided to take the glass out of a fixture to try to get a little more use out of the MH bulbs. Bad idea. All corals fried. So with uv LEDs and not having the proper glass/lens will it be the same result? I would think so

[ScubaSteve]

Originally Posted by Madreefer

So next question. Are the lenses on LEDs equipped with "uv LEDs" have the proper lenses? Same question goes out to the DIY guys. Local guy here in town decided to take the glass out of a fixture to try to get a little more use out of the MH bulbs. Bad idea. All corals fried. So with uv LEDs and not having the proper glass/lens will it be the same result? I would think so

In LED fixtures, "UV LEDs" aren't actually UV, and if they are , they're just in the UV zone. I am using UV LEDs in my PhD work, so I can tell you with confidence that a "UV LED" and a real UV LED are two VERY different beasts. Most of the LEDs used in fixtures aren't at a wavelength to be considered harmful. Also, an unshielded halide bulb puts out MUCH more UV than a few little LEDs. But with enough low power true UV LEDs,you can cause yourself some trouble.

But to answer your question, there is no point in putting a shielding lens on a true UV LED if you are trying to use it as such. LEDs put out fairly narrow spectra, so blocking the UV with a lens really is just blocking all the light.

What we are actually wanting out of all of this is the deep violet which gives a blacklight effect. Going deeper into the UV wavelength actually does not yield more fluorescence, so there really is no point.

[Madreefer]

Well thanks. Very informative. What are you running for lights on your tank? Sorry too lazy to search your posts. And if you dont mind, what are are your percentages of intensity?

[kien]

Originally Posted by mike31154

I did a little more digging re the UV issue & found this article. They've carried out some measurements on various bulb types, technologies, their UV output & how much UV-A in particular actually makes it through some of the so called glass shields that envelop lamps. UV-B & -C are downright nasty & can really hurt you as well as most any living thing.

http://www.aquarium-design.com/reef/uvlighting.html

That's an interesting article on UV! So in other words. 1. the uv shields on halide bulbs only block out some UV and by some I mean hardly any. 2. UV is harmful to corals.

[Dearth]

I am no expert and have only ever had LED lights I took this picture today of my tank i have had this setup for 5 months and the lights are only at 60% intensity so far I started at 20% and gone up from there. This was a kit from RapidLed and a friend built for me there are 6 blue, 4 white, 1 red and one moonlight.

Sorry my IPhone 4 doesn't do justice but with the exception of one coral all my coral are thriving under this set up with full bloom and great colour. Almost all came from a MH tank and within days were doing great and are all growing at a fast rate. I wouldn't go with any other lighting setup because I am very impressed with how well the coral are thriving under the LED lighting.