WHY DON’T YOU HAVE LED YET?

[Regric25]

I can say that for some reason, I had trouble getting accurate colors when photographing Stephen's tank vs the others using halides. So I guess my reason is price (like everyone else), and overall color.

I am glad you said this Cory! I have the same problem when shooting stuff that uses LEDs. For some reason the blue LEDs come out super blue in the camera and it blasts the color right out of the image.

I think we all know why I dont have LED yet lol. Maybe when I get back into it LEDs will be inexpensive.

[tonyydeee]

Because I'm a teenager

[ErikH]

Because I'm a teenager

::ahem:: Take some senior pics for people and pay for it!

[ErikH]

Which, btw, are very good. You have great talent for your age.

[CoryDude]

I am glad you said this Cory! I have the same problem when shooting stuff that uses LEDs. For some reason the blue LEDs come out super blue in the camera and it blasts the color right out of the image.

I think we all know why I dont have LED yet lol. Maybe when I get back into it LEDs will be inexpensive.

Good, I thought it was just me. No matter how I adjusted the white balance (adding blue, red, yellow, or green) I still wasn't totally happy with the results.

All things aside, I do plan on adding an ecoxotic panorama fixture to the 60 cube when money is available.

[Europhyllia]

Do you really find this too blue?






and then huge difference from one tank to the next:


Honestly even with both of my tanks being LED lit and both being in the same room I think there's a HUGE difference in warmth and color tone. I based the way I set it the different intensities on what I imagined the different environments to looks like:
shallower and warmer light tones for the seahorse tank and cooler, slightly more bluer deeper tones for the Caribbean Reef. No deep sea blue for either though.

Here's a video that takes a lot of patience to watch but it will take you through a whole range of color possibilities with the AI SOL Super Blue:

ugh now I can't get that drowning song out of my head.

Anyway. If you don't like LED that's okay. ;)

But I wouldn't base my opinion on just one or two tanks lit with it because possibilities vary so widely with this lighting source and even with the same fixture there are huge adjustment possibilities (probably more so with the more controllable AI fixtures than the Ecoxotics)

Plus I know you are such a perfectionist with your pictures so I might look at mine and say: that's pretty! (even though I haven't even gotten to read the manual about White Balance yet, etc.) while you may see color flaws I don't even notice!
Happens to me with music all the time. Somebody will complain about the sound in my car and to me it will be like: What static? I don't know what static you're talking about...

[alton]

But color controlability is what's so awesome about quality LED fixtures.
My seahorse tank has a totally different feel than my reef tank.
Sure you can have it super blue like it seems to be the rage but you can control each individual color component in 1% increments.

This is why I got so close in ordering one. And then you post pictures which are awesome. I just want to go out and push the check out button again.
(PS: I think someone here secretly works for AI?) But we still luv ya Karin.

[Europhyllia]

Sorry!
Actually Seahorse Fixture is NOT AI!!!

Stephen assembled it for me. I ordered parts for it from all over the world including Australia because I wanted a certain BIN# of LEDs to get that super warm feel for the seahorse tank.

I think both fixtures turned out great for the type of tanks they are on. Love the warm swampy feel of the seahorse tank and the cooler reef tank feel of the big tank.

So if you want to really obsess about colors DIY is the way to go. If you just need high tweakability from an off-the-shelf fixture then I think AI is currently in the lead for that.

I just wanted to show the difference because saying the color on LED tanks isn't good would be like saying you hate green cars because the color is just too bright (like what kind of green car? Could be lime green or could be olive green -totally different)

And lots of things to consider with the colors too:

The cooler spectrum of the reef tank really helps A LOT with cyano. Switching to LED wiped out a huge cyano problem for me. It also was the reason I actually decided on the SOL Super Blue fixture over the SOL white because the spectographs on the SOL White showed more red spectrum (probably great for Cory's pics but not so great for my sanity because I hate looking at cyano)



With that said I did get cyano during the cycle period on the seahorse tank with the warmer white LEDs. Nothing like the bubble creating mess I had with T5s but definitely pretty good growth of red slime as compared to the big reef tank with the cooler colors.

[alton]

Karin can you post a couple of close shots of your big tank please?

[alton]

With my Marineland LED the Cyano has not gone away just like your DIY fixture. Could be another reason to buy AI Sol LEDs if your Cyano has completely disappeared? That would be a great problem to not have to worry about cyano in the future. Sorry I forgot you had a DIY fixtue on the sea horse tank but I could not tell much difference? But I do have to admit I am a man and we do not look closely to details (according to my wife)