Who has successfully converted over from T5 or halides to LED?

[larryandlaura]

Who has had a established system and went to LED's? How long have you had the LED's? And any coral reactions such as bleaching, melting or growth?

[Manoj's Reef]

Tagging along for this one..

[schminksbro]

As you know Larry I converted one of the store tanks from ATI T5s to AI LEDs. No issues. Just start slow.

[zachtos]

http://www.captivereefs.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=314&pictureid=2504
http://www.captivereefs.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=314&pictureid=2502
http://www.captivereefs.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=314&pictureid=2505

I've talked about this on other forums, and experimented w/ LEDs for 7 years. Only recenlty have I found it financially viable (if you DIY). 4 year payback period (assuming 12cents/kwh and 1.5yr bulb exchange rate). I have not run my prototype hood long enough to know yet, because I plan to use it for a small desktop 'frag tank' type system. I can't afford to fully convert yet ($2500), so I'll pre-plan over the next year while prices drop. I have tried everything so I posted helpful photos.

[mrs binford]

Me and Mr. Binford both have converted over to leds. I have a all softy tank and I had T5 lights My softies love the new lights and the color is awsome. I had no issues changing. Mr binford did lose some things but he has alot of SPS and we learned that you need to start low and work your way of brighting the lights now his corol love the light. I have seen a big change in the electic bill to instead of a $300.00 we now have it under $200.00 It was well worth the change

[larryandlaura]

Thanks everyone for the input! I will be watching the progress at Reef Paradise. I'm experimenting again with LED's. This time over my frag tank. If all goes well, I will convert my main.

[bluwc]

You know it's funny because Andy was very skeptical of LEDs......he's def a MH fan and said the technology was too new (this was only a few months ago) and he finally crossed over and from he says, he seems happy with the results.

I've had LEDs on my cube since day one, but I love them and wouldn't think the T5s or MH would do it justice. I would change over the 60g from T5s but I have plans to tear down that tank when I finish the hardwood floors, so will figure out something for a different tank....not sure what I want.

[redemer123]

I converted from a 6 bulb T5 fixture to 2 AI modules and started low but not low enough, fried a few of my sps corals, no biggy ;)

[rosebud161616]

We are completely LEDs now and I would never ever go back! Love them! I did DIY on most of them (but with the price of the AIs now I am pretty much done with DIY) and used a PAR meter to adjust the dimming to make sure I wasn't over doing it...

[larryandlaura]

Bummer Andrew. I'm starting with the lights higher then slowly lowering it!

[redemer123]

no larry, actually thats a very bad idea as light doesnt really decrease as it moves through the air start on a low setting or else you'll fry your corals

[larryandlaura]

My good friend switched this way and it worked great. I have a few test frags in the tank and they are doing well. I'm also only running the lights 6 hours.

[rosebud161616]

PAR does reduce as it travels through air, just not quite as quickly as it does in our dirt tank water.

[purerebel]

When I set up my 20l frag tank, ( couple of months now) I started with LED's. I moved frags from the other tanks (T-5s) into the frag tank to kinda compare the growth rates. Everything under the LED's has grown considerablly more than the ones under t-5's.

[larryandlaura]

When I set up my 20l frag tank, ( couple of months now) I started with LED's. I moved frags from the other tanks (T-5s) into the frag tank to kinda compare the growth rates. Everything under the LED's has grown considerablly more than the ones under t-5's.

That's what I'm hoping John!

[Sun357]

I know it's not the same but I went from PC's in my BioCube to LED's and the growth seems better for me also.

~Fred

[larryandlaura]

I know it's not the same but I went from PC's in my BioCube to LED's and the growth seems better for me also.

~Fred

Awesome all the frags I transfered over are doing well!

[binford4000]

LED's are the way to go in my book.We have all AI's four full modiales on the 150 and two full and a nano on the wifes 75.I'm not sure of the four year payback as stated befor,My math show's a 18 month payback with the average of 130.00 a month drop in the electric and the end of the annual bulb replacement.Motorcity reefer who has also seen the typical drop also.and has seen an awsome change in his coral color and growth since dumping metal halides.The best advice I can give is to know what your LED's are.If you do a DIY and and do not use optics or reflectors the change over damage to sps should be minimal.If you use an LED that has them as AI's do the intensity is very brite and starting them very low is a must to reduce the chance of bleaching.Use of a PAR meter is a good idea .Personaly it was on of the best things we did for our continued enjoyment of our tanks and or pocket biook :thumbsup:

[larryandlaura]

[QUOTE=binford4000;134304]LED's are the way to go in my book.We have all AI's four full modiales on the 150 and two full and a nano on the wifes 75.I'm not sure of the four year payback as stated befor,My math show's a 18 month payback with the average of 130.00 a month drop in the electric and the end of the annual bulb replacement.Motorcity reefer who has also seen the typical drop also.and has seen an awsome change in his coral color and growth since dumping metal halides.The best advice I can give is to know what your LED's are.If you do a DIY and and do not use optics or reflectors the change over damage to sps should be minimal.If you use an LED that has them as AI's do the intensity is very brite and starting them very low is a must to reduce the chance of bleaching.Use of a PAR meter is a good idea .Personaly it was on of the best things we did for our continued enjoyment of our tanks and or pocket biook :thumbsup:

Very well put!

[MizTanks]

If all goes as planned I too plan to upgrade my t5ho to that of the AI Nano. Keeping in mind to be patient and start them low. This unit would also allow me room to upgrade my tank to a 40 without worrying about new lights :) a big seller for me is simple-i want my corals to look as good in MY tank as they do in the pictures.

[larryandlaura]

I love the colors LED's bring out. I'm hoping this works out!

[iyachtuxivm]

I guess i didnt really switch but I am using LEDS now. Some of the stuff came out of my 75g T5 and is now under the LEDs. I have had a crocea clam for over 4 years and it has been under MH and T5 always unhappy unless it was within 10" from the source of the light. I tried to get it to the same distance and it wouldnt open. I thought flow was bugging it so I shut off or directed flow away from it didnt help. I put it at the bottom of the tank 30" away from the source of the light and it opened right up. Same with most of my lps quite happy at the bottom or off center a bit.

[Paulo]

Just FYI. Air itself has a very little effect on par because light travels thru are without much "pollution of medium" as I am calling it. The distance itself matters because as you get farther from the it spreads out and is not as bright (flashlight effect). The light is being spread over wider area. If you some narrow beam optic, you actually can put light quit far away from tank. These are some of the setups that people have on open top tanks with LED away from tank 3 plus feet! I have read quite a bit about LEDS and I will definately be working on a system next month when I have more time.
Paulo

[redemer123]

Just FYI. Air itself has a very little effect on par because light travels thru are without much "pollution of medium" as I am calling it. The distance itself matters because as you get farther from the it spreads out and is not as bright (flashlight effect). The light is being spread over wider area. If you some narrow beam optic, you actually can put light quit far away from tank. These are some of the setups that people have on open top tanks with LED away from tank 3 plus feet! I have read quite a bit about LEDS and I will definately be working on a system next month when I have more time.
Paulo
thank you paulo, maybe someone will believe you

[Paulo]

Basically you do not lose much energy in air. You lose much more in water. Depth in water make a great difference. In air what happens is that the energy "leaks" out side of tank when it is moved higher. So it has an effect but not as much as one may think especially depending on which optics you use. To go Bill Nye on you all it has to do with density of media. A gas has low density. This means fewer atoms per volume. So light energy passes true without losing much energy. Water much denser (plus "polluted" with solids that block light) as light energy travels thru it it take a pretty good hit. Distance in air has an effect on par, but not near the effect that distance in water has on par.

[creefer]

I have been using LED since day one on my tank. The only thing I noted is that SPS really needs to be acclimated to the LED. Whenever I get a frag, it goes to the sand bed and is slowly raised over the course of a week or so. I browned out a good piece I picked up at the Lansing swap last year by not acclimating properly. I have also reduced the photoperiod slightly when acclimating new corals. I just got a bunch of new SPS frags, so I'll have more info soon.

[MizTanks]

thank you paulo, maybe someone will believe you

:( That wasn't very nice to say~could you be any more rude :(

[Paulo]

Miz, dont think it was meant to be rude. I think Red is saying that it is hard to explain to people that moving LEDs up has a lot less effect on decreasing par. This because optics focus light into a tighter beam than you can with MH or T5. Better focus of light, means less spillage out sides of tank. The biggest thing about led is the par loss is very much in air. The main loss of par in air is losses thru sides of tank. I'm sure some one out there willl tell me I'm full of poop but Red was not lol.

[MizTanks]

Guess I don't understand. My apology Redemer :)

[larryandlaura]

I guess i didnt really switch but I am using LEDS now. Some of the stuff came out of my 75g T5 and is now under the LEDs. I have had a crocea clam for over 4 years and it has been under MH and T5 always unhappy unless it was within 10" from the source of the light. I tried to get it to the same distance and it wouldnt open. I thought flow was bugging it so I shut off or directed flow away from it didnt help. I put it at the bottom of the tank 30" away from the source of the light and it opened right up. Same with most of my lps quite happy at the bottom or off center a bit.

What did you do when you changed out your lights?

[2pairs]

I switched from T5ho to LED's about 2 years ago, I started with a DIY with 36 LED's and no optics. Everything went great and grew faster than before. About a year ago I went to using 60 degree optics and things picked up a little more. Then about 6 months ago I added 12 more LED's with 45 degree optics and the sps not only stayed alive but has been growing at a good rate with better than ever color.
I am one of the people who will never go back and will always use DIY LED's because you chose what and ware the emitters are to fit your tank.

[larryandlaura]

I switched from T5ho to LED's about 2 years ago, I started with a DIY with 36 LED's and no optics. Everything went great and grew faster than before. About a year ago I went to using 60 degree optics and things picked up a little more. Then about 6 months ago I added 12 more LED's with 45 degree optics and the sps not only stayed alive but has been growing at a good rate with better than ever color.
I am one of the people who will never go back and will always use DIY LED's because you chose what and ware the emitters are to fit your tank.

Awesome glad to hear! Getting alot of positive on this thread!

[iyachtuxivm]

What did you do when you changed out your lights?

I set up a new tank. The new tank is LED. Thats it. I have adjustability I just put it at what I like (the look that is) about 75% of full power blue and 60% of full on white. The LEDs are a 2:1 ratio blue: white. The clam was about the only thing that i was worried about but once I figured out where it was happy everything else fell into place.

[schminksbro]

You need to acclimate corals slowly with halides or t5s as well.

I have been using LED since day one on my tank. The only thing I noted is that SPS really needs to be acclimated to the LED. Whenever I get a frag, it goes to the sand bed and is slowly raised over the course of a week or so. I browned out a good piece I picked up at the Lansing swap last year by not acclimating properly. I have also reduced the photoperiod slightly when acclimating new corals. I just got a bunch of new SPS frags, so I'll have more info soon.

[larryandlaura]

Anyone been running Leds over a year?

[2pairs]

Anyone been running Leds over a year?



Mine have been up for over 2 years, and I'm still loving them!

[binford4000]

Anyone been running Leds over a year?

We also have been running ours close to a year now,the longer we run them the more I become certin we made the right choice.There's also the heat issue loss that makes looseing the other lights a plus.Our larger tank is in a large back room of the house so it's difficult to keep it cool during the summer months.Before the AI's it was not uncommon for the chiller to come on eight to ten times a day.At 7.5 amps that's allot of money on top of the A/C.I would like to throw my .02 on the PAR issue.It's important to understand that par is an important measurment of lite but when setting up LED's there is a spectrum issue that gives you slightly off readings.It best to use a factor of 25% when reading your LED's.Another thing to understand is you need to know the light requirements of the species in your tank and try to find a happy medium for all the inhabitents.For example if you have an all sps selection then it's easy to say you need atleast 300 par at the midzone of the tank and hope for atleast 200 par at the outer edge of the box.If you have a mixed tank then light demands change and you would expect to have much less in the midzone and bottom.Make sense ? Another thing to understand is the design of the fixture also.For example AI's are intended to be atleast 12 inches off the water line for proper light spread.you can put them lower but you'll need more of them to light your tank.Hope this helps and switching to LED's in my book is the best thing you can do short of buying a quality skimmer. Good luck :big_grin:

[Heidi]

Well here's my 2cents :). I have 2 AI mods same as redeemer. I have had them since April. I had a ton of good color and growth at first but lately I have been mad at the lights. It may be some other imbalance in fact I think that low alk and high calcium have something to do with it... My first sps I bought as a little one inch frag purple digi is almost completely bleached out. There are even small spots that have gotten brown and all the polyps have left. It Makes me sad, I know digi's don't like a ton of light bit this is completely in crusted and un moveable.... Might be just using the lights as a scape goat idk... Picture is bad I know and it was taken under all actinic but you get the picture... :(
Heidi

[binford4000]

Well here's my 2cents :). I have 2 AI mods same as redeemer. I have had them since April. I had a ton of good color and growth at first but lately I have been mad at the lights. It may be some other imbalance in fact I think that low alk and high calcium have something to do with it... My first sps I bought as a little one inch frag purple digi is almost completely bleached out. There are even small spots that have gotten brown and all the polyps have left. It Makes me sad, I know digi's don't like a ton of light bit this is completely in crusted and un moveable.... Might be just using the lights as a scape goat idk... Picture is bad I know and it was taken under all actinic but you get the picture... :(
Heidi

are yor seeing any other bleaching on other corals ?? You said you alk is swinging low correct?How's your ph? I doubt it's the lights since you got yours the same time I got mine,all my bleaching occured within weeks of installing them.I have found digi's and birdsnest are usually the first ones to show if problems are ariseing.

[FireAQ]

Thanks for sharing all this information. It is really great to know so much on this forum.

[larryandlaura]

So far my zoas and palys are loving the Leds. Amazing growth and happy polyps. The chalices seem to be loving the Leds as well. Testing some Sps frags soon. Its been a month and im glad I made the switch.

[BEETLE60]

Hi Larry, I just changed my tank over to LED lighting about six weeks ago and I was a bit worried at first but every thing got through and I've only seen good things happen. All my morphs are blooming the hammer coral has never been so big during the day and the xenia up high are going troppo.
I used to have a 150w metal halide and now run a 60/40 blue/ white LED which is ,so my LFS tells me, equal to a 250 watt M/H .I cant remember but I think its 120 watts of LED

[pjr]

in June 2009 I converted a 135g from 250w halides to LEDs. the tank had been running since Feb 05 and now, over 2 years later, I would never go back! Heat issues eliminated, e-bill dropped $35 per month, great look, no bulb replacement, and great looks and growth.

[larryandlaura]

Nice Leds are the future. Any one on here with a bad experience?

[pjr]

Nice Leds are the future. Any one on here with a bad experience?

yes...acan lords don't like them much. Too bright. Acan echinata are fine though.

[larryandlaura]

My acans are doing fine under the Leds. However the digi is bleaching a bit.

[bluwc]

I have four different colonies of acan lords under my leds and all are happy and puffed out like normal. They been in there for many months. I will say that they are on the outer edge of my tank in lower par, except one colony that is directly under the light.

[pjr]

Blue, you're using the Solaris, right? I think those PFO units are not as intense as today's Cree-based LEDs.

My daughter had the newer Sunbrite Slimline over her tank (which is only 18" high) for a while and the Lords never adjusted. Maybe if the tank was 25" deep they would have been ok. She went back to her 2xT5 after a month and the acans were puffed back up on day 1.

[binford4000]

the wifes sand bed is nothing but acans and lobo's and they are thrieving under the LED's.She has two full AI SOL moduales and a nano inbetween them. It's important to use par meters when setting up LED's.The intensity is very missleading and it's important to aclimate the corals slowly just as you would with any other light sysytem

http://i825.photobucket.com/albums/zz179/binford4000/mrs%20binfords%20TOTN/IMG_8519.jpg

http://i825.photobucket.com/albums/zz179/binford4000/mrs%20binfords%20TOTN/IMG_8541.jpg

fat and happy lol

[larryandlaura]

Wow those acans are very happy!

[pjr]

They sure are happy! Very nice!

The AI setups let you dial down and adjust.... i tthink mosy people run them between 30% and 40% output. The bigger SB Slimline with the built-in timer do not; they eventually ramp up to full power. They were likely too much for my daughter's tank with only 18" depth. I should have tried the smaller Slimline (same physical size but only 12 LEDs instead of 18) on her tank. Oh well....

[larryandlaura]

I run a Evolution 120watt 20k and its not dimmable. I just raised the light during acclimating the corals. And lower it slowly weekly by a inch or so.

[carlitofish]

i am doing the conversion on several tanks. leds are much brighter and am having algae blooms but the coral are loving it. also the temps are muck easier to control.

[greg97527]

Having algae blooms here to after changing from halide to led.

Sent from my HTC Mecha using Tapatalk

[binford4000]

i am doing the conversion on several tanks. leds are much brighter and am having algae blooms but the coral are loving it. also the temps are muck easier to control.

Are these leds the one you posted about ?? I think they we're the t8 or 12 replacement bulb leds I am speaking. Could the plant spectrum be part of the reason for the blooms ?? Just curious?

[binford4000]

i am doing the conversion on several tanks. leds are much brighter and am having algae blooms but the coral are loving it. also the temps are muck easier to control.

Are these leds the one you posted about ?? I think they we're the t8 or 12 replacement bulb leds I am speaking. Could the plant spectrum be part of the reason for the blooms ?? Just curious?

[carlitofish]

Are these leds the one you posted about ?? I think they we're the t8 or 12 replacement bulb leds I am speaking. Could the plant spectrum be part of the reason for the blooms ?? Just curious?
algae blooms are calming down now. the increase in light power is the cause.