Time to choose my LED lighting

M

major fish

Member
My tank has been running now for 6 months the size of it is 60''L X 24''W X 28''Deep. As I will be complete on my fish stock in the next month or so, QT all being well and good for the last one or two additions it is now time to pin down the LED system to bang above it.

Done a fair bit of research even down to looking at the 'chinese' efforts, or cheap efforts to be exact. It seems that the good units available are offered by firms that don't reply to enquiries or refer you to a distributor who charges more than an AI vega for a lesser quality unit.

Obviously with a deeper than average tank the unit needs to be able to punch down so that if I want a light loving sand dwelling coral it will be happy.

My options, are AI Sol a definite contender as this is more than man enough for the job.

AI Vega. Preferable to me over the Sol, merely due to the increased elegance of design. However hard I have searched the info on depth performance is avoiding me.

Maxspect Razor 160W. This is at the bottom of the pile on the wanted list, however due to the slim design it merits a place. A supplier has assured me it is perfect for a deep tank, however I bought a shed from America and the doors jammed up after a week. Good for anti theft because no c***t can get into it. (I am getting lights from USA as cheaper than UK).

My question really is, are the Vega and Razor man enough to punch down to 28'' leaving at least 100 par. This reading being the one bandied about the net for minimum at the bottom for most corals.

Thanks for the help. I am fine with the amount of units to use, just hoping the vega comes up trumps.
 
steved13

steved13

Well-Known Member
PREMIUM
I used the sols for over 1.5 years with no issues, scolly, acans, trachy, clam all did well on the sand, in a 27" tall tank
 
M

major fish

Member
My main LfS has 2 sols over his display tank which is the same size as mine, that is why they are my main choice. Proven, by me seeing what he has in the tank and how long they have been in there and doing great.

I am secretly hoping the Vega is man enough for the job and think I know in the back of my mind that the maxspect is no good for the depth.
 
Reefer85

Reefer85

Member
Major -

I just installed a 3 x Vega unit on my 210 gallon (30" depth?)

If you point me towards a decent PAR meter, i'd be happy to buy one and give you my results... it DEFINITELY gets to the bottom, but no idea what the PAR rating would be....
 
M

major fish

Member
Reefer85 said:
Major -

I just installed a 3 x Vega unit on my 210 gallon (30" depth?)

If you point me towards a decent PAR meter, i'd be happy to buy one and give you my results... it DEFINITELY gets to the bottom, but no idea what the PAR rating would be....
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply. i am leaning towards them over the Sol, actually. Trade off of less intense but more spread. Just haven't found any par readings that are independent of aqua illuminations. Not that I have found any by them either lol.
 
Reefer85

Reefer85

Member
I just found this:

Apogee MQ-200 PAR Meter

and am going to try and order it today...

I'll let you know - i'm dying to know how the lights are doing myself honestly.

The color combinations are infinite, and i'm still playing around with the timer schedules and stuff... loads of fun.

Will update once I get the thing ordered up
 
Reefer85

Reefer85

Member
Ok - take no prisoners, I ordered it overnight delivery so I'll have you your answers tomorrow :)

However he did say that the readings didn't read the "blue" lights from LEDs as well (nothing does except something that costs like $5K he said) and that the readings were mostly from the white light, but it's all about baselines etc etc...

in any case, i'll share my results along with diagram of the tank tomorrow.

Anyone have a good link for what PAR values are good/bad for different corals???
 
M

major fish

Member
Ahhh that explains a lot.

I had the brainwave that I hadn't put par reading on the end of my google search. Still couldn't find anything conclusive as people were using perspex between the light and water plus a few other things. they all showed under 100 in a 30'' deep (american, read tall) tank. There were a few responses that they can't read LED properly. So they may indeed be good enough for the deeper in England or Taller in USA tanks. The readings would obviously be missing a lot of the leds.
 
BigAl07

BigAl07

Administrator
RS STAFF
Have you looked into the GHL Mitras? Not the cheapest on the market but great performance and coverage to boot. At least look into it so you don't look back later and say, "I wish someone had told me about that LED light . . ."
 
Reefer85

Reefer85

Member
Par readings hot off the press!!!

Time got away from me today, so I was only able to sample and record the right half of the tank, but here are the results:

PARreadings_zps368e5649.gif


NOTE: there are three AI Vegas on this tank, more or less centered in each 2' section of the 6' tank, although the right and left most ones are about an inch or two more to the center (since I don't need light on the very ends of the tank)

1200 - just above the water, maybe 4-6 inches below the light?
738 - just under the water surface centered below the unit
200 - towards the back of the tank about 1/2 way away from the unit (i have some palys here)
412 - right smack dab under the unit about 10" deep- the finger leather LOVES it here.
171 - about half way down towards maybe 1/2 way to the front of the tank - a zoo colony here (the one my clownfish reside on)
169 - 20" depth just off to the right of center under the unit
98 - maybe 6" back from the glass directly in front of the 169 reading
80 - right next to the glass all the way down.

Given that the "blues" aren't read as efficiently as the white, i'd say that the 80 reading is probably close to 100 on a "normal" scale, but that's only based on an article i saw that said that the LEDs were only read 80% efficiently as other lights. (so I guess 80/.8 = 100 right?)

The "middle" zone provided lots of 250-400 readings, but I wasn't recording them then, just playing around, so don't really remember where they were but generally more in the middle of the tank (front to back wise) was brighter of course and once you got above the bottom quarter, I don't think I saw anything less than 100 that wasn't in a shadow.

Anyway, I'll get more thorough readings mapped this weekend for the rest of the tank....

I have NO CLUE about PAR readings really, but I *did* see somewhere that 100 was considered the lowest value for corals that needed a lot of light? (12" away from a standard light bulb read only a value of 20 on this meter... under my florescent light in my office, I couldn't crack 10 LOL... my iphone light close up was pretty high though hahah)

Cheers!
 
Reefer85

Reefer85

Member
Re: Par readings hot off the press!!!

Oh yeah... and the settings were 84% intensity on the white, 80% on the blue, royal blue, and deep blue, and 60% on the red and green LEDs.

Not sure what cranking them all up to 100% will do (or look like LOL), but that's testing for another day...
 
M

major fish

Member
BigAl07 said:
Have you looked into the GHL Mitras? Not the cheapest on the market but great performance and coverage to boot. At least look into it so you don't look back later and say, "I wish someone had told me about that LED light . . ."
Click to expand...

I did look into those, before. They are about 120% dearer than a Sol Blue over here in England.

Sol Blue is £425 but if I get it from USA then £225. plus postage.
 
M

major fish

Member
Thanks Reefer.

Very interesting. I didn't think they threw down enough light. As you say though, with full throttle it PAR will be higher and adding the percentage would also increase the reading. I think it is a trade off between the PAR 30'' down and the spread. One has the advantage down and the other outwards.

Perhaps running costs and the amount of units on a tank can also come into play. You probably need 4 sols on your tank but 3 vegas are ample.

Although my LFS have 2 sols on a 5' tank 30 Tall. clams on the bottom have been there for over a year. His are running extremely blue because I think the controller is knackered.

yet according to the link, clams need 400+ par.

Maybe, then it isn't entirely about PAR. In fact, thinking aloud, i am sure I read a few months back that everyone was focusing on par when Lux was just as important. I am sure it was lux.

I have thriving happy corals in my smaller tank.......crap lighting compared to what the chart says they need.

A full blown reef is not on the cards for this bigger tank because all the fish seem to like a good old swim about. So I think I will keep the rock work in the wall formation I have, get the Vegas and pick corals to suit.
 
Reefer85

Reefer85

Member
Major - glad to be of service... I think they told me I would have needed 6 Sols to do the job, so it was definitely a cost factor decision also (because of the light spread issue.)

I'll continue mapping out some PAR readings over the weekend and update this thread, but good luck on your purchase. (By the way DEFINITELY get the controller, it's way cool.... although "wireless" is a misnomer... it wirelessly connects to the Vegas, but it has to be plugged into USB power to work... luckily for me I have a power outlet RIGHT in front of the tank in the wall I use and i just leave it plugged in. I does come with the wall adapter, so that's not a problem.)

Cheers,
 
M

major fish

Member
Going to give it another week or so.

just stumbled across something on another forum after googling and some one had a response from AI to say both systems have the same spread.

saw a chart too and AI indicate 5 Sol's for my 5' tank if mounted under 12" from the water surface. They must make it up because the LFS have 2 with careful positioning of coral.

Mind you, there sols are not mounted front to back but end to end.
 
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