LED Intensity

[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

[Bblinks]

Originally Posted by 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

I know how it feels Brad, just paid for $800 sewage and property tax is just around the corner. Some times I feel like I can even print it fast enough. Below is a picture of my tank's par reading with AI's on full blast, I used an apogee par meter. If you get a chance to get some par reading off your tank, maybe you can use it as a reference.



Just in case here is a link to melevsreef, he has radium 250 and 400 mh par reading there.

[Aquattro]

Rich, is this with the three, or after the addition of the others?

[Bblinks]

No, Thats with all 9. If you look at the picture, there are 2 dark strips which are the 2 braces on the tank. As you can see the par reading drops off dramaticlly as soon as you get on the outter circle of the light and thats why I am gonna get 3 more.

[Aquattro]

thx

[Bblinks]

My buddy Peter, apexfd who took my old tank(210) which is similar to yours but taller had 3 AI's running for a while, now he has put on an extra one because it was too dim for him. I will ask him to give you some feedbacks since your tanks are so close in demension.

[Aquattro]

Does he have any significant SPS in the tank that would compare to mine? To compare color retention?