Some questions about upgrading my LED lighting

[strawberryfish]

I recently got a new "grow light" for my 10 gal nano and was wondering if it was going to be to powerful or too big of a jump from my previous cheap amazon LED light. It's only 53 par but it isn't variable other than adjusting the height above the tank. The light I was using previously was much weaker but was also right above the surface of the water not offset 30 inch or so.
Thanks for the help in advance.

 

[strawberryfish]

Previous Light and New light for reference

 

[Bpb]

Incorrect spectral emphasis on that light. It is for terrestrial plants not coral. Way too much red. Return it.

 

[Spare time]

Yeah I definitely would swap it out for a different light. I am not sure how that much red would impact the corals given that most tanks don't have anywhere near that much red light. Most of what I have seen points to heavy red light as being negative or not very beneficial for corals. A wide blue/violet spectrum is best.

 

[strawberryfish]

Incorrect spectral emphasis on that light. It is for terrestrial plants not coral. Way too much red. Return it.

Yeah I definitely would swap it out for a different light. I am not sure how that much red would impact the corals given that most tanks don't have anywhere near that much red light. Most of what I have seen points to heavy red light as being negative or not very beneficial for corals. A wide blue/violet spectrum is best.

Even in the blue light setting, I may be interpreting it incorrectly as I'm clearly inexperienced but I thought this meant it didn't have any red spectrum light. Sorry if this is a stupid question. Thanks for the reply, I really appreciate it.

 

[Bpb]

Even in the blue light setting, I may be interpreting it incorrectly as I'm clearly inexperienced but I thought this meant it didn't have any red spectrum light. Sorry if this is a stupid question. Thanks for the reply, I really appreciate it.

If it has a blue only setting that would be better than all the red. But it would then be uselessly under powered and you’d be providing only one single wavelength of diode for corals that would greatly appreciate a more balanced spectrum. There’s essentially no application I would find to use that light on a reef tank. There are better options out there. Likely just as inexpensive. 21ledusa comes to mind

 

[Spare time]

Even in the blue light setting, I may be interpreting it incorrectly as I'm clearly inexperienced but I thought this meant it didn't have any red spectrum light. Sorry if this is a stupid question. Thanks for the reply, I really appreciate it.

You could run just the white and blue, but that would really only do well for corals that thrive with lower lighting. You'd get a peak of about 100 for the par level. Low light is usually 75-100ish, medium being 100-200ish, and high being upper 200's+

 

[strawberryfish]

If it has a blue only setting that would be better than all the red. But it would then be uselessly under powered and you’d be providing only one single wavelength of diode for corals that would greatly appreciate a more balanced spectrum. There’s essentially no application I would find to use that light on a reef tank. There are better options out there. Likely just as inexpensive. 21ledusa comes to mind

You could run just the white and blue, but that would really only do well for corals that thrive with lower lighting. You'd get a peak of about 100 for the par level. Low light is usually 75-100ish, medium being 100-200ish, and high being upper 200's+

Thanks for the replies, I'll run it for a couple of days, in both blue only and blue and white, to see how it affects the corals. In the meantime I'll look into the 21ledusa. Really appreciate the help guys.

 

[oreo54]

If it has a blue only setting that would be better than all the red. But it would then be uselessly under powered and you’d be providing only one single wavelength of diode for corals that would greatly appreciate a more balanced spectrum

If you look at the par measurements any combination produces roughly the same output.
Like Kessil logic .
49 PAR "blue only" 53 PAR W/B
B/W is just old school..

Not defending the light but it has some albeit limited potential here.
Bigger issue atm is putting it 30" above the tank. and sideways..

Based on the efficiency it is an approx 28W led over a 10gal tank..

Bigger problem is the fixture width and getting those photons into the tank.

 

[oreo54]

Previous Light and New light for reference

Got a nice little experiment there.. How long have you been running that light?
Any comments on growth/survival?

See too much red is "apparently" bad (scientific studies).. Dana Riddle suggests no more than 30% (from memory so not "gospel") of the PAR in the red band.
Many studies used pure red which could or could not be relevant to mixed spectrum lighting.

Red Light Represses the Photophysiology of the Scleractinian Coral Stylophora pistillata - PMC

Light spectrum plays a key role in the biology of symbiotic corals, with blue light resulting in higher coral growth, zooxanthellae density, chlorophyll a content and photosynthesis rates as compared to red light. However, it is still unclear ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Used blue/red and found damage in high par but not low par.
Most would consider a "little" red a good thing but not needed. Any white led will have some red..

Any specs on that light i.e wattage ect.

 

[strawberryfish]

Got a nice little experiment there.. How long have you been running that light?
Any comments on growth/survival?

See too much red is "apparently" bad (scientific studies).. Dana Riddle suggests no more than 30% (from memory so not "gospel") of the PAR in the red band.
Many studies used pure red which could or could not be relevant to mixed spectrum lighting.
Most would consider a "little" red a good thing but not needed. Any white led will have some red..

Any specs on that light i.e wattage ect.

Thanks, Was going to do a build thread on it but never got around to it. I think its an older model of this Hygger light This tank has been running under that lighting for over a year and a half.
Picked up a mix of different frags after first 4-6 months, including monti, birdsnest, zoas, GSP, discosoma, clove polyp, etc. A good mix of "easy" sps and softies.
Lost the sps within 2 months, I think my tank just wasn't established enough for sps although it certainly could have been the lighting.
Didn't want to add anything for a while after losing my sps, so I just let the softies sit, aside from typical cleaning and top ups.
They did fine growth has been slow but my clove polyp and GSP have overtaken their plugs and are growing like weeds now, although I know its not much of an accolade to get GSP to grow.
I've only just recently started to add in new frags to the system, so still too early to say much about its effect on growth but they all color up nicely.

If you look at the par measurements any combination produces roughly the same output.
Like Kessil logic .
49 PAR "blue only" 53 PAR W/B
B/W is just old school..

Not defending the light but it has some albeit limited potential here.
Bigger issue atm is putting it 30" above the tank. and sideways..

Based on the efficiency it is an approx 28W led over a 10gal tank..

Bigger problem is the fixture width and getting those photons into the tank.

I'll do some changes and mount it horizontally now , what height do you recommend I'm rather new to this and didn't want to "shock" the corals with drastic light changes. Thanks for the reply.

 

[oreo54]

Thanks, Was going to do a build thread on it but never got around to it. I think its an older model of this Hygger light This tank has been running under that lighting for over a year and a half.
Picked up a mix of different frags after first 4-6 months, including monti, birdsnest, zoas, GSP, discosoma, clove polyp, etc. A good mix of "easy" sps and softies.
Lost the sps within 2 months, I think my tank just wasn't established enough for sps although it certainly could have been the lighting.
Didn't want to add anything for a while after losing my sps, so I just let the softies sit, aside from typical cleaning and top ups.
They did fine growth has been slow but my clove polyp and GSP have overtaken their plugs and are growing like weeds now, although I know its not much of an accolade to get GSP to grow.
I've only just recently started to add in new frags to the system, so still too early to say much about its effect on growth but they all color up nicely.

I'll do some changes and mount it horizontally now , what height do you recommend I'm rather new to this and didn't want to "shock" the corals with drastic light changes. Thanks for the reply.

First you need to know I mainly build/ design freshwater lighting.
I just have an unhealthy obsession with led lighting in general .
Sooo can't get too far involved in suggestions here except on a very.... broad....basis

Honestly there isn't really enough information
to go on anyways.
Tank dimensions (standard 10 gal or long)
How long and what intensity your old light was run at.

I'm going to assume 18w was the old light and you ran it at 100%.



And new one is 28w.
If you put it at the same height as the old light and it " fit" (24" tank vs 20" and a 24" light)
it would be definitely stronger.

Since you can't dim the new light nor any ramping function on makes it even trickier.

If forced to guess then about 1ft off the water for the new light.
Without measuring light output it is just a guessing game though and one I'm not exactly comfortable with to be honest.

Your corals will tell you if you did it right.

 

[strawberryfish]

First you need to know I mainly build/ design freshwater lighting.
I just have an unhealthy obsession with led lighting in general .
Sooo can't get too far involved in suggestions here except on a very.... broad....basis

Honestly there isn't really enough information
to go on anyways.
Tank dimensions (standard 10 gal or long)
How long and what intensity your old light was run at.

I'm going to assume 18w was the old light and you ran it at 100%.



And new one is 28w.
If you put it at the same height as the old light and it " fit" (24" tank vs 20" and a 24" light)
it would be definitely stronger.

Since you can't dim the new light nor any ramping function on makes it even trickier.

If forced to guess then about 1ft off the water for the new light.
Without measuring light output it is just a guessing game though and one I'm not exactly comfortable with to be honest.

Your corals will tell you if you did it right.

The tank is roughly 16"x 12"x11" not exactly a cube, but not a traditional 10 gal either. Luckily I came to a similar conclusion to yours in regards to height. I dropped it down to 20" from 30" and within a few minutes my Zoas and my Duncan looked far happier, so I plan on dropping it again tmr before the lights go up. And see how they do. Thanks again for your input, I appreciate it.