Lighting upgrades

[FishWife]

So, in drooling over the (expensive) kits and mods for nanos at nanotuners.com website, I've been struck by an idea. Why not add lumens with LEDs for nanos? I mean, the problem with them that I've most frequently heard is that they don't penetrate deeply into tall tanks and that large arrays are super 'spensive.

 

Nanos aren't tall tanks.

Nanos are small tanks, requiring small arrays, if "arrays" is even the word I want.

 

Ergo, why not add light with LEDs? Any thoughts?

 

Also... how does one equate LED lumens with MH wattage? Like, is it lumens/gallon, as with watts/gallon as a rule of thumb?

 

And... do LEDs do the job for SPSs?

 

These are the questions we must ask ourselves.

Edited July 25, 2008 by FishWife

[tpallas]

There are a couple of options:

 

- Add an inexpensive LED strip to add shimmer effects (daylight) and moonlight to supplement a T5 or T5 flourescent system

 

- Build a complete LED system yourself. There's a couple of DIY threads on the nano-reef.com forums which are interesting but the guys doing it show relatively considerable electrical skills.

 

- Buy the commercial system, which as you note, is quite expensive. I'm going to try this for a 10 gallon which I am currently planning (Solaris 14" system). It was either that or a MH/T12 combo, which, after those components, moonlights, controllers, and electrical costs, comes out to about the same as the LED system. Plus, the LED system has great effects (365 moon/sun cycle, etc).

 

The Solaris system are supposedly putting out the same amount of lighting as a 400W MH @ 15k. Advanced Aquarist did an online review of the first systems which came out two years ago where you can get reviews on PAR, etc.

 

I think on a shallow nano tank, LEDs should be fine for SPS (I'm going to try in my 10g with Montis). I know people are having problems with their SPS in deeper tanks (esp. the Solaris H and G series - I hope the problems in the I series will be rectified). There is of course always the danger of over-exposure but luckily these systems can be powered down by percentage.

 

So, in drooling over the (expensive) kits and mods for nanos at nanotuners.com website, I've been struck by an idea. Why not add lumens with LEDs for nanos? I mean, the problem with them that I've most frequently heard is that they don't penetrate deeply into tall tanks and that large arrays are super 'spensive.

 

Nanos aren't tall tanks.

Nanos are small tanks, requiring small arrays, if "arrays" is even the word I want.

 

Ergo, why not add light with LEDs? Any thoughts?

 

Also... how does one equate LED lumens with MH wattage? Like, is it lumens/gallon, as with watts/gallon as a rule of thumb?

 

And... do LEDs do the job for SPSs?

 

These are the questions we must ask ourselves.

[FishWife]

There is of course always the danger of over-exposure but luckily these systems can be powered down by percentage.

 

Come again? Powered down... how? Got a site I can read? TIA!

[amay121]

Powered down mean, the lights strength can be increased/decreased.

 

Solaris uses both blue and white LEDS in conjunctions I believe and the user has the ability to control the Whites and Blues. From what I've been reading from some of the few users out there is that they usually have blues at 100% and whites at 20-60% or something like that. Ask tbittner, he has a solaris set or two on his 450 I believe. He absolutely loves it, and that 450 is a pretty deep tank.

[tpallas]

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2007/10/review/view

 

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2006/8/review2

 

And if you are electronically inclined:

 

http://www.ledtronics.com/

 

Solaris LED:

 

http://www.solarisled.com/

Edited July 26, 2008 by tpallas

[tpallas]

Yeah - you can both control color temperature up to something like 22K and also the output when the light is too strong for the setup. Pretty cool IMO!

 

Powered down mean, the lights strength can be increased/decreased.

 

Solaris uses both blue and white LEDS in conjunctions I believe and the user has the ability to control the Whites and Blues. From what I've been reading from some of the few users out there is that they usually have blues at 100% and whites at 20-60% or something like that. Ask tbittner, he has a solaris set or two on his 450 I believe. He absolutely loves it, and that 450 is a pretty deep tank.

[FishWife]

Thx for links... so, nothing for nanos yet, I guess. Nanotuners had DIY kits for LED... but I'd need a little more hand holding to make it work. It's good to think about, though...

[jamesbuf]

You could always add a couple of these:

http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_searchItem~C...0~parsed~1.html

Ignore the lighting fixtures at the bottom of the list. The first few LED lights are what I'm referring to.

[FishWife]

You could always add a couple of these:

http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_searchItem~C...0~parsed~1.html

Ignore the lighting fixtures at the bottom of the list. The first few LED lights are what I'm referring to.

 

Didn't come up for me, James.

 

I'm looking at snuggling one of these between my T-5s in my Red Seas Max hood... thoughts?

Ebay provider

[jamesbuf]

Try this:

 

http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_ViewItem~cat...FILTFILDLK.html

 

Do a search for "current LED". There are a couple different versions of these. One with all white LEDs, one with all blue LEDs, and one with 50/50 blue and white.

[tpallas]

That could be a good way to get a shimmer effect without adding a MH to your tank.

 

 

Didn't come up for me, James.

 

I'm looking at snuggling one of these between my T-5s in my Red Seas Max hood... thoughts?

Ebay provider

[paenian]

I've got one strip of the all-white Current USAs that I'm not using anymore; I only got it for testing.

 

I built two 54 LED units for less than $300 each; they're in testing phase (installed, awaiting PAR meter) but emit beautiful glitter lines and seem to be making our corals (including your Bird's Nest and Ricordia) very happy.

 

PAR readings coming soon: diy thread

 

Paul

[ChrisS]

I have one of the 12 LED strips from that ebay seller, this one.

 

I originally thought I might use it for moonlighting but it was much brighter than I expected...too bright for moonlights in my small tank. I ended up using it to supplement blue light for the 10k PCs I had on the tank. It did a nice job of that and adding a bit of glimmer for the 10g nano. I've got it laying around not in use right now...though I may put it on the 20G nano if I ever get that up and running. In the mean time you're welcome to borrow it if you want to see how something similar would look in your tank.

[kmitch]

If you dont mind some DIY, the folks on N-R have been talking about this for awhile: http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=138608

[FishWife]

I have one of the 12 LED strips from that ebay seller, this one.

 

I originally thought I might use it for moonlighting but it was much brighter than I expected...too bright for moonlights in my small tank. I ended up using it to supplement blue light for the 10k PCs I had on the tank. It did a nice job of that and adding a bit of glimmer for the 10g nano. I've got it laying around not in use right now...though I may put it on the 20G nano if I ever get that up and running. In the mean time you're welcome to borrow it if you want to see how something similar would look in your tank.

 

That would be great, Chris. I'd love to see it before buying... can you EMAIL me? (I'm trying to stay off this site as a disciplined action with my time... too much time on WAMAS distracts from the main events of my life sometimes! ) TIA for the offer and the email (marcia@tapestryofgrace.com).