High Tide Aquatics

Going LED

Which fixture? is the 90 and 120 a retro kit?

Definitely get dimmable if an option. In my experience, at an equal visual brightness, LEDs will toast your corals till they adapt.
 
It is the Illuminarium LED Pendant 2010 lights that are dimmable. I was going to try to cycle the light like on, off for an hour but I heard that it wouldn’t mater and it might work. I don’t know…….
 
Light duration and intensity are not interchangeable. Just use a low intensity to start and don't cut the time period in 1hr cycles.
 
Ok, because SPS is cool but I don’t have any, and I want some jimmy at Neptune said he would trust 90w for them 120w maybe. Chalice is SPS correct? I can’t remember, if not then I ll be fine. Recordia Yuma are my new favorites.
 
YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!! well kinda dumb, because I saw them in a frag tank with zoo's. Whats up with plasma I heard thats next and LEDs will be phased out. Well on the 1st I will be getting my 90w duel plug. Hope it goes well because these stock T5's suck.
 
costa510 said:
...Whats up with plasma I heard thats next and LEDs will be phased out....
Click to expand...
Interesting question. Always fun to try to predict the future.

My thoughts is that it will go more like MH => quick burst of LED now => plasma a few years => back to LED for good.

Getting the spectrum right on LED is difficult, and they are expensive.
Plasma lights have a big advantage that they are a lot like MH in look, setup, feel, and so on.
I think a lot of people see them as a simple higher efficiency modern update, so an easier marketing sell.
Hence, there is a good chance they will be the next light of choice instead of LED.

But eventually, vendors will get the LED spectrum right.
LEDs should fundamentally be more efficient, cost/lumen is consistently dropping,
and Asian low cost fabs are slowly improving.
So long term, sure seems like LEDs will win.

And the new nano-hole led and other technology might change the game completely.
LEDs actually can convert a huge 65%+ of the electricity to light, but that is INSIDE the diode, and only 20% or
so actually escapes. There are some new breakthroughs that might make large improvements on that.
 
Nope: Leds will eventually replace T5 and Plasma will replace MH.

Personally I can't wait for the plasma lights. I love that the color spectrum varies as you adjust intensity. Seams to be the best replacement for the sun yet. They transition from a 20k look while dim and get to a very warm spectrum at full power, just like the ocean. Plasma also matched the color spectrum of the sun better than anything yet and they are not even in full production yet. LEDs will never replicate that.

Of course, you will never mount a plasma light in a Nano either, so those are sticking around.
 
Just like the ocean? At which depth? Surely nothing below, well, 6' or so.
 
Can you elaborate on your experience and current solution for me. I have some LED set-ups and have mixed feelings about them. I like to hear other peoples experiences and solutions.
 
Qwiv said:
Nope: Leds will eventually replace T5 and Plasma will replace MH.

Personally I can't wait for the plasma lights. I love that the color spectrum varies as you adjust intensity. Seams to be the best replacement for the sun yet. They transition from a 20k look while dim and get to a very warm spectrum at full power, just like the ocean. Plasma also matched the color spectrum of the sun better than anything yet and they are not even in full production yet. LEDs will never replicate that.

Of course, you will never mount a plasma light in a Nano either, so those are sticking around.
Click to expand...

Funny, I actually thought the whole spectrum-intensity relationship was a big drawback.
Personal preference of course.

But LEDs can replicate that just fine.
Multiple LEDs with different colors on independent dimming controls based on time of day.
Costs extra to do that of course - for now.
In the case you want, simply turn down the whites, and leave blues on longer.
 
The amount of LEDs you need to cover the light spectrum is just not feasible at this point. All the colored LEDs cover such a narrow spectrum that you would need way to many to cover the entire spectrum and controls to adjust them. The white LEDs try to overcome the narrow spectrum with coatings to create a wide spectrum, but I am not impressed. They trick your eyes, but not your corals. I had many corals that looked incredible to the point of looking fake under an LED setup I made, others looked horrible. Colors were not there. Same issue with rgb LEDs.

It is like the analog vs digital debate years ago. Digital content only started to rival analog when sounds were ripped into such small pieces and stored digitally that your ears basically can't tell the difference. This worked because computing power can scale so well. Doing this with light is going to be harder. Mounting a Led screen with all the LEDs needed above a tank isn't going to be cheap. We will see what happens with white LEDs. They could come up with something there. The smooth spectrum graph you see in the white led data sheets is not true.

Look here
http://www.kidsmakestuff.com/articles/show/53l2
The test instrument has a lot to be desired there, but it demonstrates the idea. Can't find the link using a proper test device.

Of course, it's still all opinion as lighting has always been. I think the plasmas look great. Go check them out. We are lucky that we actually live near some. Good led build btw. Love to see it when done.
 
I have a cheap diffraction grating spectrometer, and the whites look very much
like they do in the data sheet to me.

At any rate, I hope I have a plan that covers both coral + human.
If not, oh-well. I have space in the fixture for a few T5 bulbs to fill in the color.
I have LED + T5 now. Looks good and grows algae quite nicely. :)
 
well said, I was onna say that but.......... lol joking cant wait I seen a tank with SPS with the LEDs I wanted but I m not gonna get my hopes up.
 
I have seen a bunch of tanks with SPS and LEDs. Most look fine. Not as great as a sweet t5 or mh set-up, but it has taken years to get to these super crazy light we have now.

rygh - I should also note that the colors you want to see is very subjective and play a big part into how successful your LED set-up will be. Sure you know that.

I personally like the look of very natural light for a portion of the day and like a longer dusk/dawn time where you transition to the more supernatural look. That is why I am excited about the plasma lights. Of course the majority like the 14k kinda look, evenly spread over the tank. For that person, copying the spectrum of a Radium + and actinic bulb is going to be the goal.

My next set-up is going to copy the (2) color LED set-up that you see on the market now. The problem with that is you are still missing light in some spectrums both natural lights provides and say a radium set-up. Mostly the red and violet. You also end up with to much color in other spectrums if you are going for the Radium look. Lots of the threads talking about washed out colors are trying to resolve by adding colors in missing spectrums, but doing nothing to reduce the light in spectrums that have to much light, which they should.
 
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