Led lighting and the reef tank

[saltyfilmfolks]

So what are the numbers on a lux meter. That I should have?

depends on what you have in your lighting set up tank depth and the par range your looking for.
you need(want) X amount of par on the sand. that'll equal X at the top
I have 40,0000 on top of the water for a 24in deep tank. I COULD double that with my leds.

 

[ironman20725]

I'm about 240 mid way down tank

 

[ironman20725]

They're Chinese black box led's

 

[Timothy Butler]

what wattage MH were you running and what fixture?
do you have a link to the new fixture?

 

[Timothy Butler]

400 watt with the blue spectrum with parabolic shade. Yes Fluvial.com and called them also about the timer which is run by a wifi. you set the time you want morning, day and night to run using the percentage of the power of light. Atintic and white with both white, blue and red spectrum all in one. You can run atintic all by itself for morning and night. I am currently running one of the 25,000 Lum light at 50℅ and the other light on atintic 100℅ during the day. And 50℅ or the atintic for morning and night. Getting a good response from all the corals at this point and amount. Morning is one hour, day is eight hours and one hour of atintic for evening.

 

[Timothy Butler]

400 watt with the blue spectrum with parabolic shade. Yes Fluvial.com and called them also about the timer which is run by a wifi. you set the time you want morning, day and night to run using the percentage of the power of light. Atintic and white with both white, blue and red spectrum all in one. You can run atintic all by itself for morning and night. I am currently running one of the 25,000 Lum light at 50℅ and the other light on atintic 100℅ during the day. And 50℅ or the atintic for morning and night. Getting a good response from all the corals at this point and amount. Morning is one hour, day is eight hours and one hour of atintic for evening.

 

[Timothy Butler]

This is a 75 gallon tank with a refugium filter. Have a protein skimmer and a calcium reactor running in the filter. Also a light over the plants growing in the refugium part at night when the tank lights are off.

 

[Timothy Butler]

So what are the numbers on a lux meter. That I should have?

Look up your corals on Google and they will give you the parameters of light they need to thrive and grow healthy to reproduce. I have found that to be good information and there is a free lux/Lum meter in the play store. Not real reliable you can get one at Amazon.com for sixteen dollars. Recommend it for accurate levels!

 

[Timothy Butler]

Runs 7 to 8 try and keep it natural usually is good from water change to water change and all other parameters are within acceptable range. I water change more often than my friends. It seems good I have a much healthier tank than they do. Add phytoplankton to

Went to the coral dealer they are also saying probably to much light. Y

2 25,000 k lights LED replaced 1 400 watt metal halide light running on the blue spectrum. Currently running one at 50℅ power on day and the other on 100℅ atintic day. Both are at 100℅ atintic during morning and evening. That is one hour morning eight hours at day and one hour evening. The corals are responding well to this schedule and opening more and more each day. They came from the coral store running twelve hours a day. Am I shocking them with the decrease in time? Google says that they should be under moderate to low light is this correct? I Google all corals and research individual needs and buy corals of similar needs. Stoney corals at the top and sps corals midway to bottom of my tank.

 

[Timothy Butler]

what wattage MH were you running and what fixture?
do you have a link to the new fixture?

A 400 metal halide light on the blue spectrum for eight hours a day and two 2500 atintic bulbs. With the two atintic running one hour , before metal halide as well as during and one hour after the metal halide light goes off. Replaced with two 25,000k lights with atintic mode for one hour before the daylight comes on. Running one light at 50℅ power and the other running 100℅ atintic at day. During the day it has white, red and blue spectrum all in one fixture. Been trying new power output corals are responding well to this. I think my coral provider sold me way more light than needed in the store the corals were on Twelve hours a day and I moved them to a eight hour day with atintic on one hour before and one hour after the daylight. Am I shocking them with the decreased day? Google all corals before I buy them to get the proper light and water flow. Is Google reliable? Since I started the new light level corals are responding well. Should i be satisfied with the results I am seeing or do you recommend a different way? Do not want to under power and fight back to a different power output to revive them and stress them more than I am now. All suggestions appreciated!!

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

The difficulty with changing to led(or others) is matching par. without a light meter its actually hard to tell. depending on the led it may not be as much par as the MH you had. Id keep an eye on the corals and look for browning, if it starts, begin increasing light.
Some say led "are very powerful"... but its really dependant on the led and the comparison to what was on the tank before.

 

[Timothy Butler]

The difficulty with changing to led(or others) is matching par. without a light meter its actually hard to tell. depending on the led it may not be as much par as the MH you had. Id keep an eye on the corals and look for browning, if it starts, begin increasing light.
Some say led "are very powerful"... but its really dependant on the led and the comparison to what was on the tank before.

 

[Timothy Butler]

From what I have researched led is more focused beam ( ray) of light. It is said from what I read that you can turn the power or amount of light for that reason. I think my coral dealer sold me more light than I need. So it's two 25,000k light LED with wifi timer. I am experimenting on the power. They can both be atintic or as I do now run one white light also has red and blue spectrum in it at 50℅ and the other light on full atintic for a eight hour day cycle. Both atintic one hour before day then wifi ramps one light to 50℅ power with the other on atintic all day then ramps light down to atintic for one hour after the day cycle. Another thing is these corals were on a twelve hour day cycle at the store. Am I shocking them with the decreased day? They are responding well to the new power levels. I moved from a 400 watt metal halide to LED first in my group to do so. Fluvial 25,000k reef and marine lights and a wifi timer. Googling and researching as well as possible just got a Lum meter helping a lot. Do you see anything I maybe overlooking? Or bad research? Buy all my corals after research of individual needs and try to get coral from the same region. Any help is much appreciated!!!

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

what brand? fluval? And no, lower levels and shorter time should be fine. That fluval is not a powerful light, Id actually worry its not enough.
Its a bit more important to keep an eye on the coral and look for browning(too little light) or too much(too much light.)

 

[Timothy Butler]

what brand? fluval? And no, lower levels and shorter time should be fine. That fluval is not a powerful light, Id actually worry its not enough.
Its a bit more important to keep an eye on the coral and look for browning(too little light) or too much(too much light.)

 

[Timothy Butler]

They are Fluvial led reef and marine lights with a Fluvial wifi timer. Went to the coral dealer they tried with little luck to set timer. So I contacted Fluvial and they were little help. It must be a reason when you get this app from the play store it has a 2 out of 5 rating. I invested to much to go back to the metal halide plus I save a lot of money on energy costs. The corals are looking better with the decrease in power one one white at 50℅ and the other on atintic. If the coral dealer can do it so can I. Spend a lot of time on Google researching LED hope it pays off. The lights are 2 25,000k reef and marine lights. I think the dealer over sold me the lights. What do you think? All suggestions and knowledge of the lights are appreciated!!!

 

[Timothy Butler]

They are Fluvial led reef and marine lights with a Fluvial wifi timer. Went to the coral dealer they tried with little luck to set timer. So I contacted Fluvial and they were little help. It must be a reason when you get this app from the play store it has a 2 out of 5 rating. I invested to much to go back to the metal halide plus I save a lot of money on energy costs. The corals are looking better with the decrease in power one one white at 50℅ and the other on atintic. If the coral dealer can do it so can I. Spend a lot of time on Google researching LED hope it pays off. The lights are 2 25,000k reef and marine lights. I think the dealer over sold me the lights. What do you think? All suggestions and knowledge of the lights are appreciated!!!

I forgot it is a standard 75 gallon tank with 50lbs of live rock. Sps at the top and and lps bottom two thirds. A refugium filter with a protein skimmer and a calcium reactor. The lights sit on the rim three inches of the water no heat released with these.

 

[ironman20725]

I actually have the non wifi model and I never really liked them. I personally never had any luck with them and corals

 

[Mpierce]

Is the the 35 watt or 46 watt model? I too would be concerned it's not really enough juice for your corals, especially coming from a 400w MH. It may be fine for a shallow tank, but I don't think you need to raise it off the water. If anything maybe you should consider adding a second fixture, or going with higher output LEDs all together.