Goin' LED finally

Goodbye T5s



The before shot



Only using 2 on this tank. Other +1 will go on another tank

 

Looked better before, but I'm guessing that's just because pictures are impossible under LEDs.

 

I think the coverage was a bit better with 8 lamps across the tank, the 2 fixtures are 8-9" wide and so the coverage from front to back is a bit less. Mainly though, the shadowing is the fault of the Elephant Ear, it's too frickin big for the tank!!

--- Auto-Merged, Oct 16, 2015 ---

But yeah...the pics under LED are definitely not reflective of the colors, which are about the same

 

I might have to lower the lights a bit, and/or build a canopy. My desk is to the left of the tank and the glow is a bit much, T5s were sitting on the rim so there wasn't much light spill, it's actually more now.

I do have a few quality T5HO ballasts and reflectors in the garage that I got a while back from @Armydog - you remember when you and I met up with @Big D at Bass Pro a few years back? Yup still got those. Might incorporate one of those good german lamps into the mix...

No idea, I picked it up 4 years ago (actually, I'm "holding" it for a guy, 4+ years now) and it was about 16x16, now it would easily reach 24"+ if it was on the bottom

 

I ran AI sol blues supplemented with T5's and was very happy with the results. Color was good, even light spread, growth was good. I'd recommend giving it a shot if you're not completely happy with the LEDs.
Now I'm running Halides and LEDs, which I also like. Ramp up the LEDs in the morning, blast the halides for 4 or 5 hours mid day, then ramp down the LEDs in the evening.
I have had AI sol blues and hydras and even both at once. I was never happy with the tank under stricly LEDs.

 

After a few days I can say that I really like the difference. I've never run LEDs over a tank before so this is a bit of new territory for me. I now understand why people's pics of tanks with LEDs don't look that great, yet in person, they do. The coloration is great and the "disco effect" is not as prevalent as I had expected.

One thing I was unsure of was the level settings. These are Photon 24s (the programmable ones) and what I used to do with the T5s was kick on half (4) of them (all ATI Blue Plus) at about 1pm, then the other half at 2pm (mixture of Geismann, Purple Plus, etc), then kick the second half off at 10pm and the blues off at 11pm. So about 8 hours of peak with 1 hour on either side with just blues. Then I feed at about 10:30 or 10:45.

Now I have 2 channels on each fixture so I run the moonlights (blue=2) from about 12:30-7:30, then I start ramping those up 10 every half hour so the blues are at full about 1pm or so, then I start ramping up the white channel around 10 or 11am at 10 per half hour so that they are on full by around 2pm. I run both channels on full until about 8:30pm then I start ramping down the white channel first at 20 per half hour and blues start ramping down at 20 per half hour at about 9pm. Something like that, I'm going off of memory, when I get home I'll post the schedule.

So last night when I fed, the lights were I think 50 or 60 blue and maybe 30 white. Tank was still pretty bright but a few of my Anthias didn't come out for feeding like usual, so I grabbed my flashlight and went on the prowl, turns out they had already "gone to bed". Guess I'll have to adjust my feeding time back a little bit, but that's OK.

I ramp the lights down so that by 11:30 or 12, the blues are on 9, then 5, then 2. What do most people do with moonlights, leave them on really low (1 or 2) all night, or shut the lights off completely for a few hours or so?

Turns out my memory was faulty (big surprise) and the 4th RB fixture I have is also a Photon 24, so those 2 will be going up on the tank at Grove & Platt ASAP. Time to revive that build thread!

 

probably around 8". But the fixtures end-to-end are about the same length as the tank so raising them up would only throw more light on the floor. I don't think coverage is a problem...but that's just me

 

I have no idea if this is related to the LED change, but ive noticed some odd behavior with my Anthias. One gone, 2 or 3 hiding / sitting on bottom, one injured

 

I dialed back the LEDs to blue 70% white 40% for the peak, for about 5 hrs/day with ramp up/down, and about 6+ hrs of 0/0.

3 Anthias are still hiding out. 2 stay in dark places, one just hangs out in the corner. Not eating either. Anyone??