Best LED supplement for MH lighting

[ParkerB]

Does anyone know some good LED strip lights I can run before and after a MH photoperiod for viewing pleasure and to accent the MH for a more blue look.

Tryna go kinda a WWC route but they don't make powerbrite LEDs anymore.

Thanks

 

[1.0reef]

Off the top of my head
Reefbright
Ecoxotic (Don't put in hood/similar without fans)
Buildmyled Custom strips
DIY (Best, by far)

 

[ParkerB]

Those buildmyled strips look pretty nice. Do you think a 12" 90degree optic could cover a 36" tank with a 250w 20k radium?

 

[Reefing Madness]

Stunner LED Strips - 6watt, 12in.

 

[ReefLEDLights]

Does anyone know some good LED strip lights I can run before and after a MH photoperiod for viewing pleasure and to accent the MH for a more blue look.

Tryna go kinda a WWC route but they don't make powerbrite LEDs anymore.

Thanks

450nm Cree XT-E Royal Blue...Gives an awesome colour pop and much brighter than lower watt LEDs

Bill

 

[1.0reef]

Have you looked into doing a DIY fixture with RB and HV? It wouldn't be expensive, actually help growth/color, and be more powerful than buildmyled, stunners, etc

 

[johntran216]

Will doing all royal blue's help w the corals' coloration at all? Or just give it the pop look. I normally only run 2x 250w phoenix and noticed i've actually lost color when i added my diy led supplement bar, consisting of 12x bridgelux's RB's. Corals started to look pale.

 

[ParkerB]

Will doing all royal blue's help w the corals' coloration at all? Or just give it the pop look. I normally only run 2x 250w phoenix and noticed i've actually lost color when i added my diy led supplement bar, consisting of 12x bridgelux's RB's. Corals started to look pale.

Mainly looks but blue has always helped me with greens/blues more when I dim it more. I'm not really looking for all that much power tho. It's for aesthetics reasons mainly. More pleasing to my eye.

I was thinking maybe even a kessil a150w


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[Reefing Madness]

If thats all your looking for, why not just use the 22k halide lamp? I'm using em. You don't need any supplimention using those.

 

[mcarroll]

You are looking for night lighting as per your first post, right?

Supplementing Radiums during the daytime should be completely unnecessary, FWIW. I would switch to LED lighting altogether before I did anything like this.

For night lights, literally any ~450nm light will give the actinic effect, if that's what you are after. Even the cheap SMD strips (usually ~460nm) won't do too bad...just not as dramatic on the actinic effect.

Go with something with a little white in it if the idea is more for visibility - something with blue and white LEDs or a rating around 15kK or higher. Any of the strip lights mentioned in the thread so far should be good. You probably want to stay away from lenses for this application.

-Matt


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[shred5]

450nm Cree XT-E Royal Blue...Gives an awesome colour pop and much brighter than lower watt LEDs

Bill

I agree the Cree royal blues are really good for pop.

 

[Emoney]

ReefBrite XHO

 

[-Logzor]

ReefBrite XHO

These are awesome, I run them on my system...but don't underestimate their power. Yes they pop the blue but they also pop the PAR.

 

[SloppyJ]

I have the innovative marine single strip LED's in 456nm and they rock.

 

[ParkerB]

If thats all your looking for, why not just use the 22k halide lamp? I'm using em. You don't need any supplimention using those.

I strictly want to use a radium bulb. I've always had the best success with these when it comes to all colors and sps. I was thinking a 20k ushio but I have a galaxy ballast which I hear was built around the radium. So I'd like to stick with the radium that's the only reason why I'm tryna supplement. And for longer viewing hours. I can run the halide 4-6hrs and the LEDs about 8-10


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[ParkerB]

You are looking for night lighting as per your first post, right?

Supplementing Radiums during the daytime should be completely unnecessary, FWIW. I would switch to LED lighting altogether before I did anything like this.

For night lights, literally any ~450nm light will give the actinic effect, if that's what you are after. Even the cheap SMD strips (usually ~460nm) won't do too bad...just not as dramatic on the actinic effect.

Go with something with a little white in it if the idea is more for visibility - something with blue and white LEDs or a rating around 15kK or higher. Any of the strip lights mentioned in the thread so far should be good. You probably want to stay away from lenses for this application.

-Matt


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I'm not looking for solely "night lights"

I'm supplementing the radiums not for growth/ color purposes. I'm supplementing them for my viewing pleasure when they are running during the daytime hours of the tank. It isn't necessary to supplement the radiums but I would like to. I would use T5/VHOs but LEDs run the bill less.

I have some Orphek pendants but the MH is to strong for them to really do anything. I need something strong enough to make the light more of a real 20k look not the radium 20k (more of a 14k look)


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[mcarroll]

Dunno if you've ever tried this before or seen it in person, but IME it's going to take a fair amount of 450nm LED power to make a visual difference. (Radiums even at their whitest put out a lot of 450nm light already.) I would ramp up the blue slowly to avoid issues with your coral. Thankfully power can be fairly cheap if you need it...

Looking again at not-supplementing (or at least decreasing the need), what ballast are you running? Radiums really are blue enough - or can be. I swear!

I'll try to make a prediction…if I'm wrong, go pick up some blue LED strips. They will be your best bet! . BTW, mounting height will determine whether you want lenses or not. U know how high yet?

If you are getting something close to 14000k from a 250w Radium, that should mean you are running a magnetic ballast. And you should be seeing it consume more like 280 watts at the wall.

If so, switching to an electronic ballast should give you the blue you are looking for (as well as better power efficiency) by running the bulb at 250 watts. Craigslist or the For Sale forum should be good sources for cheap used electronic ballasts. Seems like its still around $150 for a new replacement. See how much the LEDs will run and compare I guess.

Just a thought...especially if you don't really need more power, just bluer light.

-Matt




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[ParkerB]

Dunno if you've ever tried this before or seen it in person, but IME it's going to take a fair amount of 450nm LED power to make a visual difference. (Radiums even at their whitest put out a lot of 450nm light already.) I would ramp up the blue slowly to avoid issues with your coral. Thankfully power can be fairly cheap if you need it...

Looking again at not-supplementing (or at least decreasing the need), what ballast are you running? Radiums really are blue enough - or can be. I swear!

I'll try to make a prediction…if I'm wrong, go pick up some blue LED strips. They will be your best bet! . BTW, mounting height will determine whether you want lenses or not. U know how high yet?

If you are getting something close to 14000k from a 250w Radium, that should mean you are running a magnetic ballast. And you should be seeing it consume more like 280 watts at the wall.

If so, switching to an electronic ballast should give you the blue you are looking for (as well as better power efficiency) by running the bulb at 250 watts. Craigslist or the For Sale forum should be good sources for cheap used electronic ballasts. Seems like its still around $150 for a new replacement. See how much the LEDs will run and compare I guess.

Just a thought...especially if you don't really need more power, just bluer light.

-Matt




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No it will make the radium more blue, I might be satisfied tbh cause its not an HQI ballast. It's just a 250w galaxy. I do want more viewing hours. As right now I'm running my SOL for 12 hours ill probably have to cut the time from the radium in half. Or 8 hrs sat the most. The LEDs are there to supplement but also add more viewing hours.

But I do get what your saying an I do agree. Again I just want more viewing hours lol.


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[mcarroll]

I'd still line up your costs and compare.

Assuming no DIY:
$135 for an e-ballast (marine depot...you may do better or worse..i'm not shopping it out.)
$50 for moonlighting (certainly more or less can be spent...seems like a middle ground based on what I see at Pemium Aquatics, for example.)

I predict to get an acceptable blue boost using LED's alone, you'll spend no less than that.

Mounting
BTW, have you figured out how you will mount the additional lighting? How high will make a big difference.

For examples (sic)...
If you have to mount your lights up high, then you will want lenses of some sort...how high is the big question so you know what lenses will work best.

If you're six inches over the water or less with your mounting, it may not matter as much...you may even want to make sure you don't get lights with lenses.

You'll get the most bang per watt out of a solution like Tunze's 8830, which is submersible and magnet mounted, if you could use that kind of mounting flexibility...mounted at the waterline, you know 100% of the light is going into the tank and as a consequence, less watts will be needed to do the job.

-Matt