These LED's just aren't cutting it. Or - are they?

[monocus]

i have no problems with my vertex .if you want you could borrow my par meter and check various levels of your tank

[Slyguy00]

Where do you get par meters, and how much do they cost?

[waynemah]

16" tall water column with 9" between water and light gives you 25" to the sand bed. I ran my lights 15" above my 24" tall tank with great success (39" above sand bed). If you raise the light up a bit, you can continue with your current brightness and get better coverage. I would likely start by raising it about 5".

If you decide to turn the lights down a bit, I would say cut all colors equally. Your LED lit tank will look about 30% duller than your T5 tank. Every time I look at my tank now (with T5) it's like a glowing kick in the face compared to what it was with LED.

[sphelps]

Originally Posted by neoh

I'll try taking it down by 10 across the blues and see if it makes a difference!

I find the white spectrum is more responsible for high light bleaching but generally you would reduce the entire spectrum to acclimatize the corals to the new light. Most people experience coral bleaching when they make the switch due to running the fixture too high, the visible light is much different.

[Slyguy00]

Originally Posted by waynemah

I ran my lights 15" above my 24" tall tank with great success (39" above sand bed).

Was that at 100%? 39" seems really high.

[waynemah]

Originally Posted by Slyguy00

Was that at 100%?

Those had 80 degree frosted optics and were run at 80% on the white and 100% on the blue. Having no optics will make our heights different, but raising the fixture itself is a tool to improve coverage and lower the brightness at the same time. If your coverage is good, drop the brightness.

[Slyguy00]

Is there an average height people run their lights above the sand bed? I just hung my maxspect razor yesterday and am not sure if I should keep it at the same height as the legs (like 8") or move it up more.

[neoh]

Originally Posted by waynemah

16" tall water column with 9" between water and light gives you 25" to the sand bed. I ran my lights 15" above my 24" tall tank with great success (39" above sand bed). If you raise the light up a bit, you can continue with your current brightness and get better coverage. I would likely start by raising it about 5".

If you decide to turn the lights down a bit, I would say cut all colors equally. Your LED lit tank will look about 30% duller than your T5 tank. Every time I look at my tank now (with T5) it's like a glowing kick in the face compared to what it was with LED.

I did indeed turn them all down equally. Well, except the white since it's only at 6% anyways.

The lights are definitely duller than when I ran T5's.

I'll try turning the light down as opposed to moving the lights up, as it would illuminate the room a little too much. I'll give it two weeks - if nothing happens, I'll move them up as recommend.

I appreciate everyone's input! And monocus, I'll need to finally put you up on that offer for the PAR meter.

[waynemah]

Originally Posted by neoh

I did indeed turn them all down equally. Well, except the white since it's only at 6% anyways.

The lights are definitely duller than when I ran T5's.

I'll try turning the light down as opposed to moving the lights up, as it would illuminate the room a little too much. I'll give it two weeks - if nothing happens, I'll move them up as recommend.

I appreciate everyone's input! And monocus, I'll need to finally put you up on that offer for the PAR meter.

6% seems quite low! But then again every light is different. Do you have any pictures with white balance to portray the look of the tank? It might be a case of not enough light. Par meter at this point could go a long way!

[neoh]

Originally Posted by waynemah

6% seems quite low! But then again every light is different. Do you have any pictures with white balance to portray the look of the tank? It might be a case of not enough light. Par meter at this point could go a long way!

Certainly couldn't hurt.

May be low, but the whites don't really make the colors pop as well as I like. I've got a lot of green coral.

As far as I know, whites don't do much for coral growth, hence why I've cut them out.