Success with LED and SPS

[kien]

Originally Posted by Dez

So in a nutshell, yes, LEDs can grow sps just fine and the colours are still beautiful.

There you have it. No further discussion required. Mods, please close thread.

[ocean diver]

Dez; what are you running beside the SOL's as far as the DIY you speech of?

[Dez]

Originally Posted by ocean diver

Dez; what are you running beside the SOL's as far as the DIY you speech of?

I'm running 24 RB 3 watt crees, and 24 CW 3 watt crees from rapidled.com.

I went from over 1100 watts of halides/T5s to under 400 watts of LEDs. So overall I'm quite happy.

But then again, I'm not that picky. As long as corals are growing and healthy, I'm happy. My tank is by no means drab in terms of colour.

[lastlight]

Originally Posted by Dez

So in a nutshell, yes, LEDs can grow sps just fine and the colours are still beautiful.

Is still beautiful the same as equally beautiful in your experience?

[Douglas]

Thank you everyone for the opinions and advice. I'm going to stick with the LED's for now.

[Dez]

Originally Posted by lastlight

Is still beautiful the same as equally beautiful in your experience?

Different beautiful . Mind you, I've tested my tank parameters once in the last year and a half. Calcium was at 280. My corals are still colourful and still growing. I have no idea what my phosphate or nitrates are at. I still have decent polyp extension, and decent colours. I really don't maintain my tank other than glass and water changes. When I did the change oner from MHs to LEDs, it was definitely different, but now I definitely like them. Like Brad says, the pros far outweigh the cons. I used to evaporate 5 gals a day. I have venting to the outside to take care of it, but all that is turned off now. I don't remember the last time I looked at the temperature of the tank cause that's not even a concern anymore. With halides, I used to look at the highs and lows cause of the temp. fluctuations. And not worrying about bulb changes? Who can argue that?

[Dez]

All these pictures were taken minutes ago with my iPhone 4 to give you an idea of colours (sorry not the greatest pics, just quick). All these colours are pretty accurate to life.

Got this as a 1" frag from Bignose. I mounted it on a golf tee and the golf tee is still in there somewhere. Half it's life has been under LEDs 14" below the water surface near the edge of the tank.


The orange cap is all LED growth from frag, the green one in center never changed from MH to LED.


This purple rimmed one on the right was never this purple under MH.


This green one was a 1/2" frag from Lobsterboy, it sat on the sandbed when I had halides, then went to LEDs and it took off. The cap is all LED growth.


Got this coral shortly before the switch to LED. It has maintained it's fluorescing brightness.


This isn't sps but it grew from a 1" frag. That alien eye whatever it is. I think it's a chalice? Don't know names of corals sorry. All LED and it's grown up the side of the glass.


This was a 1" frag from Snappy. Now it's slightly smaller than a volleyball. Half it's life under LED still as bright and growing like crazy.


This clam always has a white growth edge. Grows very well under LEDs.


This coral was from Snappy. Super grape mili. It sat for about a year under halides without much growth, it has done most of it's growing under LEDs.


This pink pocci has remained bright pink in my tank under LEDs. Also one thing to note is that when I had halides, I used to dose a lot of zeo stuff to tweak colours. I haven't dosed any of that stuff in 2 years.

[Douglas]

Now that's the stuff! Dez, you have made me a believer!

[Madreefer]

Originally Posted by kien

There you have it. No further discussion required. Mods, please close thread.

Hasn't been a more informative thread than this one in a long time. But yea good idea. But don't shut the Random Thought Thread down. It's really helpful to the hobby.

[mrhasan]

Originally Posted by Madreefer

Hasn't been a more informative thread than this one in a long time. But yea good idea. But don't shut the Random Thought Thread down. It's really helpful to the hobby.

Yah learnt a lot. Hats off to ScubaSteve