"Black Boxes"

Justin Johns · Dec 7, 2015

I just ordered some "black box" led's for my 55. I'm currently running a 36 inch current orbit USA led's at 90% and dual t5 ho 54watt light. What is a good way to acclimate the tank with the new lights. I run my led's 9hrs a day and the t5 for 6.5 hrs a day. The tank is a very mixed reef tank, everthing from toad stools to sps. Thanks for your help.

shane91 · Dec 7, 2015

I don't know if this is the best way to do it. But I had no choice and everything turned out fine. When my old lights burnt out. I picked up a black box led from my lfs. I was dark two days on my tank. I ran it 25% on both white and blue. And bumped it up by 10% percent each till roughly 75% after 5 days. I took it slow. Also bumped the lighting by 1-2 hours longer each day also. First day I started at 4 hours. I have a very mixed tank from zoa, lips,sps and the only thing that didn't like it was a hammer

shane91 · Dec 7, 2015

Hope that helps atleast a little bit

Justin Johns · Dec 7, 2015

Thanks for the help! Here is a pic of my tank will update after I get the new lights up and running.

shane91 · Dec 7, 2015

That's s sweet tank!

Justin Johns · Dec 7, 2015

Thanks. I got the tank In September this year and have done a lot of husbandry to get it to where it is now, just wish it was predrilled. And about 100 more gals than it is now. Lol

shane91 · Dec 7, 2015

I drill most of my tanks practiced on about 20 ten gallons hahahaha

Thunt4jr · Dec 7, 2015

I'm using black box too! Mike Herman is the man for it!

Justin Johns · Dec 7, 2015

In your guys opion how high off the water should the lights be?? I've been told like 12 inches off the water. What can I put on top of my tank so that my gobys don't jump out. Already lost a diamond because their was a 2 inch gab in back.

Thunt4jr · Dec 7, 2015

Justin Johns said:
In your guys opion how high off the water should the lights be?? I've been told like 12 inches off the water. What can I put on top of my tank so that my gobys don't jump out. Already lost a diamond because their was a 2 inch gab in back.

Mine is 16 inches high off the water. You can buy a reptile screen that will fit on top of your tank.

Thunt4jr · Dec 7, 2015

Justin Johns said:
In your guys opion how high off the water should the lights be?? I've been told like 12 inches off the water. What can I put on top of my tank so that my gobys don't jump out. Already lost a diamond because their was a 2 inch gab in back.

Mine is 16 inches high off the water. You can buy a reptile screen that will fit on top of your tank.

shane91 · Dec 7, 2015

The few I have array different heights two at 12 inches 1 at 16 and another only 9 inches

Justin Johns · Dec 7, 2015

I'll be putting 2 165w over it. Guess I'll have to play with it and see what works best.

xavier009 · Dec 7, 2015

I plan in putting mine at about 12 inches high. Although i plan on leaving enough room to make it adjustable if need be.

SB Reef Lights · Dec 7, 2015

The sweet spot for least brace shadowing seems to be 14" for most tanks. BRS sells a nice screen kit that will not block much light. Avoid using eggcrate it will not only block light, but create a silo effect leading to disco lights on the sand.

Make sure to start the lights very low, then work up watching corals for sings of bleaching. I would start at 25%w and 45%B, then go up 5% a week.

Justin Johns · Dec 7, 2015

Mike Herman said:
The sweet spot for least brace shadowing seems to be 14" for most tanks. BRS sells a nice screen kit that will not block much light. Avoid using eggcrate it will not only block light, but create a silo effect leading to disco lights on the sand.

Make sure to start the lights very low, then work up watching corals for sings of bleaching. I would start at 25%w and 45%B, then go up 5% a week.

Thanks!! I can't wait till these lights show up so I can see what they look like on my tank.

shane91 · Dec 7, 2015

Mike should that be relatively a standard for switching to led? And you make lights??

SB Reef Lights · Dec 7, 2015

Shane, pretty standard, however initial intensity can depend on a lot of things so watch corals closely. Although most black boxes have 55 diodes, PAR and more importantly PUR can vary greatly.

Also the previous lighting, type of corals and placement are important. Always better to start low and work up. If too low, corals will brown out. A brown coral is a healthy coral, it will regain color as you move up in power. However if too high, bleaching can happen overnight, and few corals return from bleaching.

Once issue with many black boxes is they have a ton of blue light. Your eyes are not as sensitive to blue as yellow and green, so often new users crank the blue channel up and torch their corals too quickly. Even most PAR meters don;t read LEDs well, for example the Apogee meter looses sensitivity quickly below 470nm wavelengths.

I do make custom premium black box leds. Not all black boxes are created equal. I wanted an affordable box that could compete with high end trendy lights in PAR and PUR, at half or less the price.