LED Box Light Positioning

MichelleMas · 04/12/2016, 03:53 PM

I just received my LED Chinese Lights. I am using acrylic sheets to cover my tank. Can't I just sit the lights on top of the acrylic. If not, can you please explain why?

mgraf · 04/12/2016, 05:42 PM

I guess you could but, I would want them in a way that they could never fall in the tank. Could end up costing you an LED fixture or, your life. Plus, it gives you a better spread of the colors with a little height. Won't have as many/so bad of hot spots.
I have my black boxes about 16" above my tank. I like them higher up. Haven't burnt any corals yet.

Ou8me2 · 04/12/2016, 05:59 PM

I think moisture would be a concern them being so close to the water. You are going to kill any light spread by having it that close. You'll also probably cook corals because the lighting will be so intense even if you have the light turned down to lower levels.

Example: Say you hang the fixture at 12 inches and measure the par at the surface of the water and it's 500-600 par at the surface, then imagine what it would be just 1-2 inches off the water at the bottom of the tank. Purely just and example and not saying this is the case with your lighting. There is a reason they recommend 12-16 inches off the water for optimal performance and especially if you have a mixed reef with many different coral lighting requirements.

It would be more helpful if you gave us a description of the tank and what you have or plan to have in the future.

MichelleMas · 04/12/2016, 07:25 PM

Dimensions of the tank are 24"high 48"long 12"wide. Tall and thin. I purchased 2 165W LED fixtures. I have a deep sand bed about 2-3 inches in all places. Live rock comes halfway up the tank. Highest point of live rock is about 10 inches from the top.

I currently have a hood with built in lights. I am going to have to remove that lid to put up the LED's so I purchased acrylic sheets to cover the top.

I really do NOT want to put holes in my wall or ceiling to hang lights and that is my big issue.

Ou8me2 · 04/12/2016, 08:20 PM

Plenty of Ideas on how to hang the lights without drilling into walls or ceilings. Most people use electrical metal conduit and there are other ways also and fairly cheap solutions. I've seen people use PVC making mounts and even people using 80/20 aluminum parts and framing to create solutions.. https://8020.net/

https://www.google.com/search?q=aqua...w=1920&bih=979

https://www.google.com/search?q=aqua...+conduit+mount

MichelleMas · 04/14/2016, 08:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ou8me2

Plenty of Ideas on how to hang the lights without drilling into walls or ceilings. Most people use electrical metal conduit and there are other ways also and fairly cheap solutions. I've seen people use PVC making mounts and even people using 80/20 aluminum parts and framing to create solutions.. https://8020.net/

https://www.google.com/search?q=aqua...w=1920&bih=979

https://www.google.com/search?q=aqua...+conduit+mount

I don't see a reason why I would need to hang them so I was just checking to see if there were any. I am going to just set them on top of my tank and see what happens. At the very least if someone has this question in the future I will have an answer.

kendrid · 04/14/2016, 08:28 AM

I ran my three black boxes 3" off of my water's surface for the past 1.5 years. I finally build a canopy so I can have them 12" off of the water.

To make it work I took all of the lenses off of the LEDs. This spread the light out so it does not focus like laser beams. In your case run the lights below 50% on both channels for at least a couple of weeks and watch to be sure you aren't bleaching any of your coral.

I moved my lights up because when they are that close to the tank you can see the individual LED colors on the rocks and coral and there was a lot of shadowing.

drummerboyevil · 04/14/2016, 08:40 AM

You're gonna get some realllllly "hotspot" areas of light and multicolored discoballing most likely. These fixtures are best when they are like 10"+ above waterline.

04/12/2016, 03:53 PM	#1
MichelleMas Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2016 Posts: 76	LED Box Light Positioning I just received my LED Chinese Lights. I am using acrylic sheets to cover my tank. Can't I just sit the lights on top of the acrylic. If not, can you please explain why?

04/12/2016, 05:59 PM	#3
Ou8me2 Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2016 Posts: 743	I think moisture would be a concern them being so close to the water. You are going to kill any light spread by having it that close. You'll also probably cook corals because the lighting will be so intense even if you have the light turned down to lower levels. Example: Say you hang the fixture at 12 inches and measure the par at the surface of the water and it's 500-600 par at the surface, then imagine what it would be just 1-2 inches off the water at the bottom of the tank. Purely just and example and not saying this is the case with your lighting. There is a reason they recommend 12-16 inches off the water for optimal performance and especially if you have a mixed reef with many different coral lighting requirements. It would be more helpful if you gave us a description of the tank and what you have or plan to have in the future. Last edited by Ou8me2; 04/12/2016 at 06:05 PM.

04/12/2016, 08:20 PM	#5
Ou8me2 Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2016 Posts: 743	Plenty of Ideas on how to hang the lights without drilling into walls or ceilings. Most people use electrical metal conduit and there are other ways also and fairly cheap solutions. I've seen people use PVC making mounts and even people using 80/20 aluminum parts and framing to create solutions.. https://8020.net/ https://www.google.com/search?q=aqua...w=1920&bih=979 https://www.google.com/search?q=aqua...+conduit+mount Last edited by Ou8me2; 04/12/2016 at 08:32 PM.

04/12/2016, 05:42 PM	#2
mgraf Registered Member Join Date: May 2010 Location: Canal Fulton Posts: 741	I guess you could but, I would want them in a way that they could never fall in the tank. Could end up costing you an LED fixture or, your life. Plus, it gives you a better spread of the colors with a little height. Won't have as many/so bad of hot spots. I have my black boxes about 16" above my tank. I like them higher up. Haven't burnt any corals yet.

04/12/2016, 07:25 PM	#4
MichelleMas Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2016 Posts: 76	Dimensions of the tank are 24"high 48"long 12"wide. Tall and thin. I purchased 2 165W LED fixtures. I have a deep sand bed about 2-3 inches in all places. Live rock comes halfway up the tank. Highest point of live rock is about 10 inches from the top. I currently have a hood with built in lights. I am going to have to remove that lid to put up the LED's so I purchased acrylic sheets to cover the top. I really do NOT want to put holes in my wall or ceiling to hang lights and that is my big issue.

04/14/2016, 08:28 AM	#7
kendrid Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Lake in the hills, IL Posts: 806	I ran my three black boxes 3" off of my water's surface for the past 1.5 years. I finally build a canopy so I can have them 12" off of the water. To make it work I took all of the lenses off of the LEDs. This spread the light out so it does not focus like laser beams. In your case run the lights below 50% on both channels for at least a couple of weeks and watch to be sure you aren't bleaching any of your coral. I moved my lights up because when they are that close to the tank you can see the individual LED colors on the rocks and coral and there was a lot of shadowing.

04/14/2016, 08:40 AM	#8
drummerboyevil Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2004 Posts: 654	You're gonna get some realllllly "hotspot" areas of light and multicolored discoballing most likely. These fixtures are best when they are like 10"+ above waterline.