How do you run your LEDs for LPS and softies?

glb · Apr 19, 2015

What are your intensities and time periods for a successful LPS/softie tank? I have

9- Royal Blue Luxeon ES 3 watt LEDs

5- 5,000K Neutral White Luxeon ES 3 watt LEDs

On a 12g nano, mounted 6" above the tank b

glb · Apr 19, 2015

Right now I run blues at 40% for 8 hours and whites at 15% for 4 hours.

glb · Apr 20, 2015

saltyphish · Apr 20, 2015

I run my rapidled at 50%-nw,rb,b,uv.

glb · Apr 20, 2015

saltyphish said:
I run my rapidled at 50%-nw,rb,b,uv.

Thx. What corals do you have?

revhtree · Apr 20, 2015

Bump!

Reefing Madness · Apr 20, 2015

I have a bunch of softies and run my leds like so
75% Blues
60% Whites
8 hours
No ramp up, no ramp down.

NanaReefer · Apr 20, 2015

My Reef Radiance LumenTek Pro 180 is 10 1/2" from water surface. Whites at 13% max, blues at 60% max. LPS/SPS dominant, 5 frags of Zoas-lol.

saltyphish · Apr 21, 2015

Mostly Zoas, a fungia, hammer coral, some gsp, a goniopora, acan lord, symphilia, and some type of favia.

glb said:
Thx. What corals do you have?

glb · Apr 21, 2015

Thanks everyone. I notice there's much more difference in how people run their whites. What are the pros/cons of running them higher vs. lower?

glb · Apr 21, 2015

ryleary · Apr 21, 2015

bump, i feel like their is a lack of information when it comes to LED lighting schedules. I just got a reef radiance 165p+ and i have been asking around for someone who has long term success with mixed reef led lighting. I would love to see a lighting schedule from someone with a beautiful tank.

saltyphish · Apr 21, 2015

I should also add I have a rapidled retro kit with my custom leds. 4 nw, 4 UV, 4 blue, 12 rb. That is why my whites run equal to all other leds.

saltyphish said:
I run my rapidled at 50%-nw,rb,b,uv.

glb · Apr 21, 2015

Mods should this be moved to led forum?

Reefing Madness · Apr 21, 2015

Sure, I can do that.

cheetofingers · Apr 22, 2015

Ive been running a radeon Xr15w pro on my 5 gallon, its 8" above the water surface. Im running the preset for best coloration, at 30%, but I have noticed that my zoas at the bottom are stretching... and my acans up top are not happy. I should switch their positions probably.. but its not possible at the moment.

glb · Apr 22, 2015

I'm at 40% blues 8hrs/day and 16% whites 4 hours/day. For softies and LPS, would I get better results changing the intensities, times etc? I know whatever I do should be done slowly.

hart24601 · Apr 22, 2015

ryleary said:
bump, i feel like their is a lack of information when it comes to LED lighting schedules. I just got a reef radiance 165p+ and i have been asking around for someone who has long term success with mixed reef led lighting. I would love to see a lighting schedule from someone with a beautiful tank.

I think honestly there isn't a ton of information because it really isn't all that important compared to how the individual prefers it. The most important thing to keep in mind is the daily amount of light, so if you like a longer photoperiod then drop the intensity a bit. And all this of course is dependent on how powerful the lights are that the person has.

I feel that LPS and softies are easier to judge how much light they like as they generally retract when they have had enough. So I just vary the intensity/duration of my lighting over my LPS based on how they are reacting.

My tank in my signature is a mixed reef, it's decidedly SPS heavy, but I love LPS and have found out it's harder to run a mixed reef than pure SPS. Getting everything in the right amount of flow and light isn't easy.

ryleary · Apr 22, 2015

Yeah it's kind of a mystery to me. Everything seems to be doing Allright until one of my sps looked like it was bleaching at the base after it showed some growth, and then I had 3 polyps of zoas that weren't looking good and not opening that I moved to the top of the tank and now looks great where my other zoas are doing OK at the bottom of the tank.

I saw one guys running the same light at me doing 100% whites for 5 hours during the day and getting good results where others are running at 30%.

Seems like a crap shoot to me. I just wanted to see some led schedules that had had great success.

glb · Apr 22, 2015

hart24601 said:
I think honestly there isn't a ton of information because it really isn't all that important compared to how the individual prefers it. The most important thing to keep in mind is the daily amount of light, so if you like a longer photoperiod then drop the intensity a bit. And all this of course is dependent on how powerful the lights are that the person has.

I feel that LPS and softies are easier to judge how much light they like as they generally retract when they have had enough. So I just vary the intensity/duration of my lighting over my LPS based on how they are reacting.

My tank in my signature is a mixed reef, it's decidedly SPS heavy, but I love LPS and have found out it's harder to run a mixed reef than pure SPS. Getting everything in the right amount of flow and light isn't easy.

Those are good points. It sounds like trial and error to some degree. I don't plan on having SPS in this tank because it's a nano and too hard to keep stable enough for them. So, do you need to run whites more than 4hrs/day like I am? I did it to get a gha problem under control but now that's better. Temp isn't an issue with the lights. I plan on keeping Lobos, favia, Acans (my favorite), zoas and ricordea to name a few. Those have worked together for me in the past.