corals and their light?

**glarior** · 11-20-2012, 08:05 PM

I am going to build LED lights for my new tank setups....

Each type of coral likes a certain amount of light (PAR) and water flow

Is there a article or something that will tell me the optimal PAR and water flow for corals?

SPS, LPS, soft.. etc

**glarior** · 11-20-2012, 09:07 PM

What about their color spectrums?

**sweeneyc** · 11-20-2012, 11:53 PM

Its really tough to get something that is exact. there is so much speculation on height of corals, size of the coral. Even the type of lighting you are using (t5, t8, halide, LED, compact) causes different types of lighting.

Check the Reefcentral.com forum.

**Cliff** · 11-21-2012, 07:12 AM

I don't think there is one clear cut answere to your questions. I have yet to find two credible sourses of information that both aggree. Even more so with LEDs. No two fixtures will be the same. It's not like T5HOs which are pretty standardized

For LEDs I have the AI SOLs. What I really like about LEDs is that they are fully controllable, meaning you can adjust the intensity of each type of LED in the fixture. The model that I have has three LEDs grouped together in each LED cluster which has: one 3 watt 6000K, one 3 watt royal blue (~18000K) and one 3 watt acentic. I run them at 50% to the white, 70% to the blue and 65% to the royal blue. I have enought light for SPS in the top 1/3 of the tank, anemones on the bottom, and all other corals inbetween. The tank is also 24 inches high.

LOL, I don't think I was much help here

**glarior** · 11-24-2012, 01:14 AM

Originally Posted by sweeneyc

Its really tough to get something that is exact. there is so much speculation on height of corals, size of the coral. Even the type of lighting you are using (t5, t8, halide, LED, compact) causes different types of lighting.

Check the Reefcentral.com forum.

Yea that is what I am trying to figure out what will do best with my setup and LED's.

Originally Posted by Cliff

I don't think there is one clear cut answere to your questions. I have yet to find two credible sourses of information that both aggree. Even more so with LEDs. No two fixtures will be the same. It's not like T5HOs which are pretty standardized

For LEDs I have the AI SOLs. What I really like about LEDs is that they are fully controllable, meaning you can adjust the intensity of each type of LED in the fixture. The model that I have has three LEDs grouped together in each LED cluster which has: one 3 watt 6000K, one 3 watt royal blue (~18000K) and one 3 watt acentic. I run them at 50% to the white, 70% to the blue and 65% to the royal blue. I have enought light for SPS in the top 1/3 of the tank, anemones on the bottom, and all other corals inbetween. The tank is also 24 inches high.

LOL, I don't think I was much help here

I agree on the non clear answer.

I am going to build my own LED's for the new setup. I switched from MH to LED over a year ago and the corals loved it... plus no more cyano! My lights are 25white and 30 royal blue cree at 3w (or so I was told). I have softies in that tank but would like to try some new corals.

Yes, your cluster information it just the kind of thing I am looking for.

**glarior** · 11-25-2012, 04:00 AM

What does everyone think of this color layout? It will be 3 units over 7ftx2ftx2ft tank all able to be dimmed.

36 RB
10 CW
5 WW
5 NW
2 Green
2 cyan
3 red
3 UV

**ILuvMyGoldBarb** · 11-25-2012, 12:41 PM

Is that your plan for 1 unit or for the whole tank? If that is 1 unit, that is way way too much. I only have 72 total diodes over my entire 210gal tank and I had to dial my blues back to 75% and my white to 65% to keep from bleaching my corals. I was bleaching SPS just 1" off the substrate.
This is my LED build thread: http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/aqua...ad.php?t=92141

**glarior** · 11-25-2012, 03:28 PM

That is the other part I am trying to figure out. Currently I have two led units with 30rb and 25 whites over a 120g doggies tank. They grew great but my oe lps bleached. I based my number of led off that. One article said length times width divide by 18 for sps tank.

**ILuvMyGoldBarb** · 11-25-2012, 04:31 PM

Well, that is certainly close, but it all depends on what optics you decide to use. I personally have 60 degree optics on mine with no spotlighting at all.

**glarior** · 11-26-2012, 06:08 AM

Haha, just read my previous post.... I need to stop posting replies from the cell phone!

Your right there are way to many LED's. Thanks for the link to your build!

another method I was told about is one 3w LED covers 15sq" of surface. Using that method and a few other suggestions I came up with this... Please note that UV is violet