Marineland LED Reef Capable Lighting System

[msalih81]

Hi everyone glad to be here. I'm new to the site and this is my first post/question. Anyways, I have a 120gall tank with a depth of 24 inches and bought this lighting system in hopes that I will eventually be able to have a reef tank. I've read mixed reviews about this lighting system so I'm not quite sure which type of corals this light will be able to support. The specs on the system are as follows:

48-60 inch size
10,0000k 1watt white LED lamps
460 nm, 1 watt Lunar LED lamps
There is an option for both daylight/lunar. I'm going to try attaching a picture I took of the graph from the box concerning the LUX/Par values but i'm not sure if it will be clear enough. It does say that at 24inch depth centered under the light, there is a peak par value of 64 and LUX again, under the center the peak is is 5870.

There isn't any darker areas in my tank except for 2 corners. Also if by chance it isn't enough light, I do have a regular florescent lighting fixture that came with the tank, it isn't power compact. Would buying a type of florescent tube light help? Any ideas that wouldn't cost too much to buy if this isn't enough lighting? Thanks all. Sorry about the huge picture lol =)

-Michelle

 

[StirCrayzy]

Welcome.!
This is a low power entry level LED fixture.
I bought one ("reef capable")when they first came out and was very dissapointed with the output.
my tank is 30x12x24 deep and it did not coverthe bottom of the tank well.
i paid return shipping and went with t5's. The only way i couldve justified using would be to add a second one right next to it...
And at that added cost, you would be better off with a GOOD 3W bulb DIY kit and your tank will be happier.

 

[TylerHaworth]

The answer to all of the above is no.

 

[Doogle]

^+100. Can you return it or sell it ? Using a T8 orT5no fluorescent isn't going to help you any, you need T5 HO fluorescent at least for a 24" deep tank. You could do some corals with a 4 bulb t5HO but a six bulb T5HO will give you more light over wider area and you could grow almost anything given the coral is placed correctly in the tank. High light demanding corals need to be closer to the light.

 

[Doogle]

I don't want to get you down, their are a lot of corals you can keep under that light, there just are better options out there. :bluenod:

 

[sk8rdn]

Welcome to RS!

....Insert Funny Signoff Here....

 

[BigAl07]

Hello and welcome to RS! We're glad to have you on board

I have to admit the above are correct. I think it was VERY wrong for Marineland to label that light as such. I mean "Reef Capable" is a very broad term because some coral need very low light and some don't require light to survive at all. I wish someone would take them to task over this and force them to be more descriptive about the light and change that "Reef Capable" tagline.


Your best bet for long-term success is the spend some time researching different technologies while also saving your money. Save enough to buy a fixture that serves your current and long-range needs instead of buying "enough for right now".

Good luck and again WELCOME to RS!!

 

[msalih81]

Aww damn, ok all well thanks for being honest. I printed out this thread and taking it to the place I bought the light from. I told him what I wanted to do as far as corals go and he told me this was good. Either he was mislead and didn't know how weak the light was or he lied. I'm kinda mad because I was going to get MH or MH&T5 lighting combo but he told me this was top of the line, the newest technology and I was totally mislead. On top of all that, it's been one problem after another already with this tank and it's only 5 weeks in. I got a blue jaw trigger and 5 chromis and they are doing better now but the trigger had ich I believe so I did a FW dip and did a hyposalinity on my tank and I don't see anymore ich on the fish and they are eating great. I should have did a fishless cycle but oh well. The little coraline algae that were growing on the 3 live rocks I have died because of the low salinity (1.011 sg) should I throw them out or keep them and they will regrow? Wish me luck please! This isn't going too good so far. Thanks again for the help everyone!

 

[TylerHaworth]

This light will definitely not perform as well as a T5 unit or a Metal Halide unit. There are many LED lighting options that will, but just not this one.

If I were you I would stop asking your LFS for advice, and rather do your research somewhere that doesn't stand to monetarily benefit from you. (Here!)

You mention you are only five weeks in with a blue jaw trigger and five chromis... Tell us more about your system, as I sense we have far more than just your lights to discuss/advise.

Do you test and how?
Source of water?
Tank size?
Filtration?
Flow?
Substrate?
How much rock?
Really anything you might be able to think of to help us paint a picture of what you have going

 

[msalih81]

This light will definitely not perform as well as a T5 unit or a Metal Halide unit. There are many LED lighting options that will, but just not this one.

If I were you I would stop asking your LFS for advice, and rather do your research somewhere that doesn't stand to monetarily benefit from you. (Here!)

You mention you are only five weeks in with a blue jaw trigger and five chromis... Tell us more about your system, as I sense we have far more than just your lights to discuss/advise.

Do you test and how?
Source of water?
Tank size?
Filtration?
Flow?
Substrate?
How much rock?
Really anything you might be able to think of to help us paint a picture of what you have going

Hi Tyler this is what I have going so far:
1. I have a standard saltwater test kit that measures the pH, ammonia, nitrite, and nitrates. I use a hydrometer to measure my salinity.
2. I'm going to try to get a RO/DI system soon but at the moment I'm using tap water with the conditioner to remove the chlorine etc. Is this why I probably am getting brown algae on my rocks/sand? because I have 0 nitrates at this time in my water.
3. I have 120 gallon with 2 overflows in which one is connected to a Eheim pro 3e and the other is connected to a wet/dry filter which is a good size. I've always bought "more" then what I need filtration wise.
4. Temp stays around 78 degrees
5. Live sand
6. I have alot of "reef rock" for my tank but at the moment most of it is out of the tank because my trigger was hiding for weeks and I had to know if he was ok so I took most of it out. Good thing I did because he had ich. The rocks are real but not live, I was told if I put a couple of live rocks with them that it would seed the other's and technically become live later on. But the 3 live rocks I had died because of the low salinity at the moment in the tank, should I toss them out?
7. Turbo Twist 3 UV steralizer in which the flow rate at the moment is around 50 gph for killing ich.
8. 2, 3200 gph wave maker jets.

Hope I didn't forget anything. My water was cycling before I had to do the hyposalinity change (1.011 sg). It had gone through the ammonia stage, and was in the nitrite stage but didn't get to the nitrate stage. I heard that the beneficial bacteria kind of stall out while in a hyposalinity state so I'm hoping that's what's going on now because at the moment My ammonia, nitrite, and nitrates are all 0. Also, before I did the change the pH was 8.2, salinity was 1.022. Ok hope I didn't forget anything if I did sorry and let me know, thanks.

 

[Doogle]

I think you got the filtration covered and the sterilizer is conditional I don't think many use them, If it's a uv that is more for freshwater but ozone is good I hear. Anyway read up on the stickies here about ich, cycling, lighting and how to qt fish and dip corals before putting them into your tank. Ask questions and welcome !

 

[TylerHaworth]

1. Good
2. I would suspect the tap water is a contributing source of the algae. I actually have a friend that needs to sell a very nice (discounted) five stage RO/DI unit, PM me if you would be interested in more details.
3. Good as well, although I would not use a canister filter on my systems because of the significant maintenance needed. I would also recommend a protein skimmer
4. Good
5. Good
6. Rock is rock for the most part... "live" means that it is colonized with nitrifying bacteria. One should have about 1.25 pounds of rock in a system per gallon of water. What you are considering "dead" will quickly become live again if you just put it back into your system. the reef rock you mention should be fine as long as it is clean.
7. Good

 

[msalih81]

Ok so I've been looking at the t5 ho units. I may add one to the led system I already have, specs are on my first post. How many bulbs should I add? 4 or 6 and how many watts total should I look for? Should I get the 6500k or 10k white bulbs and also I was told by my LFS (whats that stand for anyway lol? fish guy at the store im guessing?) that I don't want to get into hard corals because they are a pain in the butt and hard to keep alive is this true? Either way I'd deff like to get clams and anemones and at least soft corals. I might want to get into the hard corals later on when my system is more mature but it depends on how hardy or sensitive they are I suppose. So what I'd like to know is if I added either a 4bulb T5 HO system or a 324watt 6bulb T5 HO unit with actinic and either 6500 or 10k rating bulbs with it, what would my options be added to the LED lighting I have?

 

[StirCrayzy]

If you keep the LED unit it will just be for shimmer effect. Highly placed animals will make some use of the output, but i wouldnt consider it a substantial light source. Go with a 6 bulb t5HO fixture for sure if the plan is for clam and nems; which are very light hungry animals.
Also they are both sensitive and will require excellent water quality at ALL times, and really should not be added for a few months after your tank matures and stabilizes.(6+months old at least).
Good luck, and keep us posted!

 

[Built347]

After getting hosed on 5 of these when I started salt tanks I am sorry to say they have no place in a reef tank... (unless your tanks very shallow and only keep zoas and Xenia n such)... I had 5 48" bars over a 125 long and struggled with everything but low light softies.. if your interest is mixed reef you will need MUCH hotter lights... sorry...