High Tide Aquatics

Changing lighting? - MH and LED opinions wanted

I've been running 400W 20K SE bulbs (radium) on my display tank at RTC. To encourage faster coral growth in all of the teeny GreenMarine frags I've been adding I'm thinking about switching to a lower kelvin bulb and adding supplemental LED actinic lighting for color. At present the bulbs are about 12" above the water, and there are relatively few corals within 10" of the water surface.

I'm looking for your expert opinions on what 400W bulb and LED lights you would recommend. For best growth would you switch to 6.5K? 10K? Brand?

For LEDs, I have seen the reef-brite 48" strips are really nice. I could fit two of those on the tank, one on each side of the lumenarc reflectors to light the length of the tank and perhaps a one LED spot light in the center between the strips and the lumenarc reflectors. Any opinions on better LED options?

Thanks!
 
My new favorite MH bulb is the XM 10k with actinics. I am getting better growth over my old phoenix 14k. This is on a 150 DE though so not apples to apples.
 
I wouldn't switch straight over to 6.5s, if you do take your time, they are beasts. The XM 10ks are great bulbs, but they are beasts as well so take precautions when acclimating your corals to them, or any lower kelvin bulb for that matter.
 
So how does one go about slowly changing lighting? Do I manually change the bulbs each day with the 20Ks in the AM and PM and the lower K bulbs in mid-day?
 
Crabby said:
And that's why your tank is covered with them...right?

Thanks.

trust me one LFS is swapping out to reefbrites and i can count atleast 6 member here using them as supplement lighting....

i started with supplements then i say what the hell and went full force

IMO still best supplement led fixture
 
eldiablosrt8 said:
Crabby said:
And that's why your tank is covered with them...right?

Thanks.

trust me one LFS is swapping out to reefbrites and i can count atleast 6 member here using them as supplement lighting....

i started with supplements then i say what the hell and went full force

IMO still best supplement led fixture


But do you have any experience with any other LED strip light? For me the big attraction was the color they had, of which others are using now. The power supply issue is one that sours me as the dimming feature was part of the reason I got them and pitched them locally.
 
i did a DIY led 18x18 inch heatsink with18 leds on it..... i didnt like the color and the shimmer was horrible....

(strip lights)i have seen the maxispect( i think thats its name) over a tank and the colors just dont seem to pop and it started 2x algae growth

i read almost every article i could when the start of the DIY project my brain almost exploded
 
I'll search for the coral sky product, but maybe if you have a link handy for us to see it easily? I'm very interested in reefbrites right now, so anything else I should see first is appreciated!
 
www.ReefBuilders.com has the link on the front page right now.

http://coralskyled.com/products.html
 
Thanks Gresh, I'll check out those LEDs.

Maybe should gradually step down the MH bulbs - do my next bulbs at 14K and then go to lower K. What do folks think about transitioning from 20K to 14K - not too hard on the corals?
 
eldiablosrt8 said:
i respect that you have probally seen alot more than i have... plus you have a ton more exp. in this hobby

Awe man I wasn't trying to diss or anything :) I was just wondering what others you had looked into.

You really should check out the CoralSky products :) Very interesting line.
 
I looked at a ton of DIY style pendants n at every led at baymac plus whatever I can visually see at lfs its hard to see in person most people don't respect leds yet

I didn't take it that Gresh. I just respect your input
 
It's tough. Most stores only carry one or two brands and given the cost, it's hard for them to display a bunch. I'm not sure if CoralSky even has a Cali dealer yet. I tried to get them to BAYMAC but it wasn't possible due to their schedule. I'll probably be getting one of thier units to go with my lone Reef Brite since I "gave" one of my RB's to a friend (owed him money and he wanted one)
 
He did. CoralSky is tops on his list as well. Not sure how much he spoke about them and not sure if he had one to show off or not. CoralSky is a smaller company then most so it'll take more time for them to enter the market in a bigger way. The CK guys are extremely knowledgeable about LED's.
 
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