LED noob question

nazgul1979 · 09/16/2013, 08:41 PM

So I've tried to read up on LED's (par and lens angles, etc.) but to be honest, it's all a bit confusing to me. There doesn't seem to be one site that really goes step by step and really break it down in a way that a person who destroyed a LOT of brain cells in college (moi, of course) can understand. If anyone knows of a site that does this I'd really appreciate forwarding that link to me.
In the meantime, I found this on ebay and was wondering if these lights would be sufficient for a 80 gallon bowfront. Depth of 20 inches. It's about 6 months old now and just starting to really break in. I want to start with heartier corals like frogspawn and zoas and xenias but eventually do want to start dabbling in SPS and LPS (much further down the road, of course). 1:1 white and blue. Is that OK?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Pro-450-LED-...item33784012a5

nazgul1979 · 09/16/2013, 08:44 PM

I should probably point out that right now I have 10k x2 and actinic x 2 T5 HO. Not sure if I should really swap to LED or upgrade lights that I have now. If so, can anyone suggest how to mix/match my 4 T5 slots to achieve the coloring effect we all want and to grow some of the more light dependent corals?

sleepydoc · 09/16/2013, 09:12 PM

Rapid led has some nice articles on their site. The problem with things like PAR is they're very dependent on a lot of variables, so you can't really say what the par would be for a given set of LEDs and/or lenses. Other things like color temp, blue/white ratios are somewhat subjective as well.

09/16/2013, 08:41 PM	#1
nazgul1979 Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2013 Location: Riverview, FL Posts: 92	LED noob question So I've tried to read up on LED's (par and lens angles, etc.) but to be honest, it's all a bit confusing to me. There doesn't seem to be one site that really goes step by step and really break it down in a way that a person who destroyed a LOT of brain cells in college (moi, of course) can understand. If anyone knows of a site that does this I'd really appreciate forwarding that link to me. In the meantime, I found this on ebay and was wondering if these lights would be sufficient for a 80 gallon bowfront. Depth of 20 inches. It's about 6 months old now and just starting to really break in. I want to start with heartier corals like frogspawn and zoas and xenias but eventually do want to start dabbling in SPS and LPS (much further down the road, of course). 1:1 white and blue. Is that OK? http://www.ebay.com/itm/Pro-450-LED-...item33784012a5

09/16/2013, 09:12 PM	#3
sleepydoc Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: Minneapolis, MN Posts: 3,907	Rapid led has some nice articles on their site. The problem with things like PAR is they're very dependent on a lot of variables, so you can't really say what the par would be for a given set of LEDs and/or lenses. Other things like color temp, blue/white ratios are somewhat subjective as well. __________________ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 120 gallon, coast to coast overflow w/beananimal overflow. Waveline DC 10000 II return pump, 40 gal sump, Octopus XS200 skimmer, T5 lighting

09/16/2013, 08:44 PM	#2
nazgul1979 Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2013 Location: Riverview, FL Posts: 92	I should probably point out that right now I have 10k x2 and actinic x 2 T5 HO. Not sure if I should really swap to LED or upgrade lights that I have now. If so, can anyone suggest how to mix/match my 4 T5 slots to achieve the coloring effect we all want and to grow some of the more light dependent corals?