Max led setting?

[xxkenny90xx]

Just wondering what everybody has their leds set at. I turn my evergrows up occasionally (over the past 5 years) and am currently at 60% white and 80% blue. I'm happy with where they are set now but I am just starting to reintroduce SPS on the sand bed and want to make sure I don't burn anything. 

[Hercules]

If those are the 165 watt chinese box lights you are probably already in the right ballpark, i would try an acro frag in the middle of the water column. The coral will tell you

[xxkenny90xx]

It's the reefbreeders photon 48 with 102 3w leds. I started with a stylo (I heard that was a hardy sps) on the sand, should I move it up to the center? 

[xxkenny90xx]

Here it is

[Hercules]

Ah, very nice, i run my 300watt leds at about the same percentages with great success. I personally believe your stylo will be just fine. I do notice when the lights are turned down to about 50 percent the colors are much deeper and richer in color compared to running them at 65 percent. At 65 percent (over a two week period) they become mucher brighter and have more floresence so to speak. For example, my orange setosa will turn bright pink or the polyps in my rainbow monti will go from red to green.

[youcallmenny]

I'd suggest using a PAR meter.  The Photon's are great lights and I've had a lot of luck with them in the past.  

[fpd4308]

I am expirementing with the same thing. When I had to get out of the hobby, 9 years ago, it was all about metal halides. Getting back into it now I decided to try these Viparspectra 165 watt LEDs. Had them set at about 70 blue and 20 white. I noticed my Rainbow Monti was lightening up a bit so after some Google searching I adjusted them down to 45 blue and about 8 white. My tank, after sand bed, is only about 15 inches deep and the lights are about 12 inches off the water so I will just have to see how it works out.

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[Hercules]

Thats funny you say that fpd4308, im in the boat. I shut my big tank down about the same time due to heat problems running 3 400 watt halides and 4 96 watt power compacts(no chiller at the time). Ive been back at it for around 10 months using viraspectra leds on my smaller 65 gal tank. My initial goal was to set up a fish only system for my kid, however as you can see it triggered my addiction to sps lol.  All the corals in my tank are less than 8 months old and started as 1" to 2" frags. Coral growth has been excellent. 

[EMeyer]

14 hours ago, youcallmenny said:

I'd suggest using a PAR meter.  The Photon's are great lights and I've had a lot of luck with them in the past.  

Yeah, with all the money spent on lights I'm always surprised and a little frustrated by discussions about what % to dial in. I think we'd do a lot better if we could compare PAR. 

(I know LEDs require some correction factors for PAR readings but Apogee has a really nice page describing this for each LED chip. And regardless of correction factors its always gonna be a lot more accurate than just talking about % on dimmer switches)

[fpd4308]

Yeah, with all the money spent on lights I'm always surprised and a little frustrated by discussions about what % to dial in. I think we'd do a lot better if we could compare PAR. 
(I know LEDs require some correction factors for PAR readings but Apogee has a really nice page describing this for each LED chip. And regardless of correction factors its always gonna be a lot more accurate than just talking about % on dimmer switches)

I agree par value is a helpful number but ultimately it is just that, a number, it does not necessarily assure the health of your tank or your corals. There are way too many other factors, ie lights in tank coral came from, aquacultured or live caught, ect, ect, that contribute to the level of light necessary for a particular coral. I don't see anything wrong with comparing the dialed values with another person having success with a similiar set up, in fact, people are constantly comparing their par numbers with others in this same manner.

When I first started this hobby 15 or so years ago I, and many other reefers, had never even heard of a par meter. Not to say that using other tools is not helpful but there were some amazing tanks out there even then. I think we would do a lot better if we ignored numbers and went with experience and what we see with our own eyes. Just my humble, and likely old school opinion.

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[fpd4308]

Thats funny you say that fpd4308, im in the boat. I shut my big tank down about the same time due to heat problems running 3 400 watt halides and 4 96 watt power compacts(no chiller at the time). Ive been back at it for around 10 months using viraspectra leds on my smaller 65 gal tank. My initial goal was to set up a fish only system for my kid, however as you can see it triggered my addiction to sps lol.  All the corals in my tank are less than 8 months old and started as 1" to 2" frags. Coral growth has been excellent. 

Looking great!

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[maxicurls]

I never test par. I just blast them with tons of blue light from every source I can stuff in there & maybe 15% white for 7 hours. I used to use much more white - higher intensity & more time.

I haven’t done a scientific test, but my colors are definitely way better. Growth may have slowed a little, but I can’t be sure. 

[EMeyer]

1 hour ago, fpd4308 said:

I agree par value is a helpful number but ultimately it is just that, a number, it does not necessarily assure the health of your tank or your corals. There are way too many other factors, ie lights in tank coral came from, aquacultured or live caught, ect, ect, that contribute to the level of light necessary for a particular coral. I don't see anything wrong with comparing the dialed values with another person having success with a similiar set up, in fact, people are constantly comparing their par numbers with others in this same manner.

When I first started this hobby 15 or so years ago I, and many other reefers, had never even heard of a par meter. Not to say that using other tools is not helpful but there were some amazing tanks out there even then. I think we would do a lot better if we ignored numbers and went with experience and what we see with our own eyes. Just my humble, and likely old school opinion.

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I definitely agree that paying attention to the health of your animals is more important than numbers. And I'm not taking any stand on what spectrum or PAR is needed for coral health. I have too much still to learn in this area. 

That said, the reason I like PAR meters is blue light. This is the one area where we specifically cannot trust our eyes. Tanks lit with heavily blue spectra look so dim to my eyes, but then I throw a PAR meter on and realize its >200, instead of the <50 it looked like.

 

 

[fpd4308]

I definitely agree that paying attention to the health of your animals is more important than numbers. And I'm not taking any stand on what spectrum or PAR is needed for coral health. I have too much still to learn in this area. 
That said, the reason I like PAR meters is blue light. This is the one area where we specifically cannot trust our eyes. Tanks lit with heavily blue spectra look so dim to my eyes, but then I throw a PAR meter on and realize its >200, instead of the  
 

I agree with that. I wouldn't mind throwing a par meter under my lights one day just to see what the numbers are as a basis for comparison.

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[albertareef]

1 hour ago, fpd4308 said:

I agree with that. I wouldn't mind throwing a par meter under my lights one day just to see what the numbers are as a basis for comparison.

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Not sure if you know but we do have a couple of club PAR meters available to members to borrow.  There is a PAR meeter booking thread (pinned under general topics) - just post in there and we will put you on the list.

[xxkenny90xx]

Thanks for all the advice guys, I think I will look into a par meter (mostly for fun). I have tried different lights and intensities over the 6 or 7 years I've been reefing and do agree that the corals will tell you of they don't like something

[Bicyclebill]

Interestingly enough, I had recently bumped my RadionXR30’s up to 100% in phx14k setting and rented a par meter last week. I was surprised at how low the par was mid tank (around 220). I’ve taken them down and put up some old school brand new radium metal halides and can’t believe how much higher the par is same spot (around 450). Love the whiter, brighter, more colorful look if everything. But back on topic. Rent a par meter from club or BRS has awesome free rental as well that I did. I would shoot for 150 on the sand bed and make sure no corals are getting blasted directly by a white led and keep an eye on their health


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[fpd4308]

Interestingly enough, I had recently bumped my RadionXR30’s up to 100% in phx14k setting and rented a par meter last week. I was surprised at how low the par was mid tank (around 220). I’ve taken them down and put up some old school brand new radium metal halides and can’t believe how much higher the par is same spot (around 450). Love the whiter, brighter, more colorful look if everything. But back on topic. Rent a par meter from club or BRS has awesome free rental as well that I did. I would shoot for 150 on the sand bed and make sure no corals are getting blasted directly by a white led and keep an eye on their health


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Doing all the research on this LED lighting I am starting to think about going back to my MH lighting as well. Maybe I am old school but it just seemed so much less complicated.

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[SuncrestReef]

2 hours ago, Bicyclebill said:

~Interestingly enough, I had recently bumped my RadionXR30’s up to 100% in phx14k setting and rented a par meter last week. I was surprised at how low the par was mid tank (around 220). I’ve taken them down and put up some old school brand new radium metal halides and can’t believe how much higher the par is same spot (around 450). Love the whiter, brighter, more colorful look if everything. But back on topic. Rent a par meter from club or BRS has awesome free rental as well that I did. I would shoot for 150 on the sand bed and make sure no corals are getting blasted directly by a white led and keep an eye on their health


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That's interesting.  I have two XR30 Pro's with diffusers that I run the AB+ spectrum at 80%, but I get ~400 PAR at the top, ~300 mid tank, and ~200 on the sand bed.  Here are some of my PAR readings:

[pdxmonkeyboy]

Interestingly enough, I had recently bumped my RadionXR30’s up to 100% in phx14k setting and rented a par meter last week. I was surprised at how low the par was mid tank (around 220). I’ve taken them down and put up some old school brand new radium metal halides and can’t believe how much higher the par is same spot (around 450). Love the whiter, brighter, more colorful look if everything. But back on topic. Rent a par meter from club or BRS has awesome free rental as well that I did. I would shoot for 150 on the sand bed and make sure no corals are getting blasted directly by a white led and keep an eye on their health


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There is NO substitute for metal halides. In addition to intensity the coverage is soooo even.

Anyways.. back to the thread

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