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Unread 01/26/2009, 06:46 AM   #1
ocean17
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Question Solaris LED Lights and coral growth

Hello all, I’m ocean17 and have had a reef tank set up all of 2 months. It was a father’s day gift from my wife and she had a tank service set it up. In one fateful answer in my first phone consultation (fish only/reef), I entered the highly addictive world of coral farming.

My tank is 339 gallons and measures 60” L X 24” D X 44” T and the Solaris light is approximately 6” above the water and my first rock structure is about 9” below the water line. A good friend of mine loaned me his PAR meter but it’s batteries were low and when replaced them it read X10 lux anywhere from 600 to 900 where the corals are placed.

My question is, do LED’s grow coral the same as MH? The lighting is all together different looking in that the LED’s don’t “appear” to cast off the same amount of light but I’m told it’s not about that but about the PAR instead. Anyway, just looking for some folks that can give me more confidence in this LED.

ocean17


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Unread 01/26/2009, 08:33 AM   #2
S Helinski
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LED aquarium lighting is a relatively new technology. I don't know of many people on URS who use them as their primary source of lighting. So I'm actually excited to see how your tank will turn out.

It seems as though most LED lights give off a lot more PAR per watt than other forms of lighting. However, keep in mind, depending on what corals you are keeping, that light is just one factor in growth. You can have all the light in the world, but with low Ca and CaCO3 levels you'll never get much growth out of many stonies...

With that, keep us updated, and if you really want more advice, test your water and post your results. Ideally try Salifert brand test kits. Most of them use a titration procedure to produce results, which makes them very accurate.

Steve


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Unread 01/26/2009, 09:21 AM   #3
m-fine
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Corals most efficiently use light in the 400-480 nm range (violet to blues) which happens to be a range where human eyes are relatively inefficient. When looking at two lights, the one that appears dimmer to you could very well be delivering more light to the corals.

PAR meters also measure light in photons, with no adjustment for the fact that lower wavelength photons (violet/blue) contain more energy per photon than the higher end (green yellow and red). This is a big driver in why a 20,000 K light measures lower PAR than a 10,000 K light when the wattage in and bulb technology are relatively equivalent, such as 2 MH bulbs, or 2 different T5 tubes, or 2 different LED's. For surface plants, it seems well accepted that while spectrum does matter, photon density outweighs energy. In corals, I think this is still less understood, but it appears that spectrum plays a much more important role. Water filters longer wavelengths rather rapidly, so it is not surprising that aquatic photosynthetic organisms have adapted to a blue weighted spectrum.

Anyway, the short answer is, you can not rely on your eyes or even a PAR meter to tell you how well corals will grow under a light. They are relative guidelines at best. The Solaris light appears to be designed for coral growth with a heavy blue emphasis, which is not surprising since PFO has been supplying the reef hobby for quite some time and I expect they have good internal knowledge on reef lighting. Only time will tell.

Also, to add to what Steve said, key drivers for coral growth besides light include high Alk, adequate (above 360) calcium, low nitrates and low phosphates (they inhibit growth), and adequate levels of magnesium and other trace elements, and also water flow rates. These factors are likely to outweigh the differences between light sources in many or most cases.


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Unread 01/26/2009, 10:09 AM   #4
DocMark
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I am very interested in this. This is a deep tank. Is anyone running LEDs on a tank this deep (44'-46") with SPS dominant?
What if most of the SPS are 18-24" below the fixture?
mark


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Unread 01/26/2009, 10:24 AM   #5
m-fine
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The LED's usually have a relatively narrow focus (varies with LED design and lens choice) which means good penetration, and reduced dropoff with distance. Penetration is basically a function of beam angle and water clarity, and if I remember correctly the Solaris uses narrow beam angles to keep the light on the corals and off the glass which would make it a perfect choice for a deep tank.


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Unread 01/26/2009, 10:59 AM   #6
MarkKlier
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Ocean17, you are in Corpus Cristi, are you from the upstate area?
I have grown many corals in many situations, I have looked at par reading for a long time. It really depends on what type of coral you are trying to grow.
What are you trying to grow?
MK


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Unread 01/26/2009, 12:20 PM   #7
ocean17
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Sorry, I'm new to all this and just noticed I posted this in the "upstate" section. Most of mine are stony corals, milli's a few fav's and zoos. I also have some hammers that are doing great. What I'm looking at is the polyps on the stony's are not the same as a friend down the road. His are much bushier than mine, but then again they've only been in the tank for 10 days.

I'm also getting a wave maker and have just adjusted the water flow recently.

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Unread 01/26/2009, 02:22 PM   #8
m-fine
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In a tank that is less than 12 months old, I would focus on water quality rather than light. Tanks go through a startup cycle, and it takes time for things to settle down.

Make sure amonia and nitrite are undetectable.

Nitrates should be low as possible, below 10 ppm, ideally below 0.1 ppm

Phosphates below 0.03 ppm

Good flow over the SPS is important, with a total tank turnover of 40-80 times per hour (or 12,000 to 24,000 gph in your case) as a commonly recommended range.

Also, it can take time for corals to adjust to new light and water conditions, although by 10 days I like to see things looking fairly happy.


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Unread 01/26/2009, 05:20 PM   #9
Capt_Cully
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Quote:
Originally posted by m-fine
In a tank that is less than 12 months old, I would focus on water quality rather than light. Tanks go through a startup cycle, and it takes time for things to settle down.

Make sure amonia and nitrite are undetectable.

Nitrates should be low as possible, below 10 ppm, ideally below 0.1 ppm

Phosphates below 0.03 ppm

Good flow over the SPS is important, with a total tank turnover of 40-80 times per hour (or 12,000 to 24,000 gph in your case) as a commonly recommended range.

Also, it can take time for corals to adjust to new light and water conditions, although by 10 days I like to see things looking fairly happy.
I agree with M. I really think that a level of stability is key. Tank maturation will take 6-12 months even in the best stiuations. I think there are intangables at work there. You just have to "keep doin what yer doin". Routine, consistent, maintenance and testing.

That said, I don't think it's impossible for you to grow SPS in your new tank, I just think it's going to be slower. I also think that regardless of light and flow, you'll have difficulty maintaining decent coloration on Stony corals until the tank gets good and settled, and consistently stable.

Best of luck, I GOTTA see this tank, it sounds outta sight!


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Unread 01/26/2009, 07:40 PM   #10
SkiFletch
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Also agree with Cully and mfine. I just want to add that flowrate and flow dynamics will have a major impact on polyp extension and color in most stony corals. Each coral likes it's flow a bit different but that is easily responsible for differences you may be seeing.

As for the lighting and wavelength thing: I agree that corals are more biased towards blue spectrum light. Especially deeper water corals. There is a decent amount of research into this in the form of which zooxanthellae (there are MANY types) use which wavelengths of light. From what I know of the research it seems that different corals have different zooxanthellae in them and therefore use slightly different wavelengths of light. Some shallower species including clams can use some of the higher wavelengths but most corals cannot.

Ocean 17, I'm als excited about how your tank responds to the LED lights. Ultimately I plan to use them in more of a DIY fashion


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