buying new setup and have questions on leds

[apedroza]

My tank is 60x24x30. It's the deepness that I'm concerned about. Will LEDs be stron enough to penetrate that deep? I've seen the fixtures and like them just wondering if there's a better option for around the same price.

[350gt]

Hydra fifty twos are made for deeper tanks...

[jcnkt_ellis]

It depends on what type of corals you are keeping and how low you want to grow them. The leds will be bright enough to illuminate your whole tank, but it will take extra units to effectively grow colorful softies on the sand bed, and even more units to grow SPS frags down that low. All the available big name units are designed to provide enough par for softies at the sand bed on a 24" high tank.

[350gt]

For reference, i have 3 ai vega's on a 60" tank and growing sps frags on the sand bed...

Lights are 10" awl and are not set at 100%, whites are only up to 30 now and blues at 80..

[jcnkt_ellis]

Your tank is also 24" high and par does not drop like a rock until it hits the waterline so 10" above it doesn't matter

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2013/1/aafeature provides the par output for AI vega

At 24" you are getting 50-100 par across your sand bed. Min par for most SPS to remain colored is this threshold. Ideal par range is about 400 with the limit at around 700. I'm at work, otherwise I'd link this site as well.

Per the output graph for the Vega at 30" deep his sand around his rock work would only get 0-50 par. 6" of water makes a big difference.

[350gt]

Not what the par meter read when i borrowed it..

I dont doubt 6" makes a big difference, thats why i mentioned the 52s which are made for deeper reefs..

[350gt]

This is when i had them lower at 8"

[350gt]

You are right though, the sps frags on the sand are not growing like crazy but have awesome color, higher they get the faster they grow but color is not as great...

I think ai recommends them at 4-6" which will raise par on sand bed and throughout the tank.

[jcnkt_ellis]

That is great that your par meter showed above average results for your lights.

The problem is that the op is still dealing with a very deep tank. I looked at the spectral density graph for the hydra 52s posted on AI website. You get great par with the 50 degree lenses at 24" down but in a limited radius. If you had a tank that was six inches deeper, the radius would be even smaller. The fact is that the op will need more fixtures then someone with a tank that is the same footprint but 24" deep in order to get the same amount of par on the sand bed.

At the end of the day, you can grow anything on the sand bed with any big name fixture if you have enough of them. So, the question that needs to be answered is what does the op want to grow on the sand bed?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[350gt]

Yes sir, thats why i just posted my par results for reference... I doubt he plans to grow sps on the sand bed but #'s are sometimes over rated and im sure the hydra 52 or any fixture will work for him..... # of units is up to him and his budget..

When i first got my units, some said leds will not grow sps on sand bed, others said they would never put leds over there aquarium.... Lol the majority of the site is now running leds of some kind...