Nano questions

[huskerduck]

Hey guys, a couple questions. For Nano lighting I'm tossing around LED lighting but I want to GROW SPS and other corals, a friend of mine in Florida has been in reef hobby for decades and is telling me LEDs will not grow corals or growth is VERY slow. Is he not using the right kind or is this part of owning LEDs?

 

Also, Im kind of tossing around the idea of just resorting to Water changes like every couple weeks on the Nano. I remember Jason in Salem one time telling me instead of testing all the time and adding all sorts of chemicals and such he just started doing large water changes frequently. He said it actually ended up being cheaper in the long run not to mention time saving. Does anyone do this? So if I have a 28 gallon Nano would I do a 30% change bi-weekly or is there a standard to follow?

[Jeramy]

I have a nano with ten gallons of water in it and I do 2 gal water changes every friday =) It may be over kill but I wanted to make sure I was keeping every thing balanced and the cost is like $2 a week and it gives me a chance to check over all the filtration and make sure every one in the tank is happy. However I have not been at this very long just started this system back in august. I will be switchin to led light hanging over the tank at the begining of next month But I may supplament it with the power compacts that came with my biocube.That we will have to see as time goes by. Hope this helps.

[reefnjunkie]

Short answer- sadly your friend is misinforming you

 

I dont know that I would pin point your friend not being able to grow SPS due to LEDs (if they have tried, they may not have) if I read that right-saying LEDs wont grow SPS is simply false-LEDs as you know are just the type of lighting, and there are different watts, colors etc.

 

I have been using LEDs for close to 6 months (I guess) and all I have are SPS and they grow fine-a few grow to fast, but I wont say that is besause of the LEDs but it may be. I spent a LOT of time reading different forums and reasearch all I could find before I jumped on LEDs and even then ran one fixture over half my tank while the other side remained metal halide-until I was sold that they work and they work just as good-BUT all LEDS are not equal

 

My LED fixtures are all DIY and I use 3 watt crees, but they are being ran at 80%- all of the off the shelf LED units I have seen all cast a different look based on how the bulbs are placed (i.e. blocks of white then blocks of blue or alternating white/blue. Depending on your footprint there are few off the shelf units that seem like they would work fine, if you dont mind building a unit thats a great way to go so you can control the look even better-

 

As to weekly water changes, thats your call its more work for me with the size of tank I have. I had a 24 gallon Nano for about 2 months, I got frustrated becuase that small water volume was difficult to keep consistant for what I like to grow. I'll let someone else field that 1.

 

If you look around you may find a picture or 2 (whistle) of what my tank looked like-I just moved everything into the new tanK which is all LED-244 3-watt Crees with 2 6 foot VHO actinics