Tank Journal Archive

[mscott]

A bit premature but, as i have decided what LED's im going to go with i thaught i would start this up now.
In total there will (for now) be 54 LED's over the tank. 42 crees and 12 suplimentrary bridgeluxes.
The colors will be thus
Bridgelux:
8x violet
4x UV
Cree:
20 Royal blue
14 cool white
2 red
2 warm or neutral white
2 green.
They will be placed on 2 heatsinks with 80 and 60degree lenses respectively. And hopefully it will be enough light for some softies at least, i hope to place my order with aquastyle on the 16th so hopefully it will still be shipped to be here just before or after christmas (hopefully before).

 

[mscott]

Right looks like there is going to be a change to the lighting. My mum dose not want another diy fixture in the house with my little brother starting to run around. So now i need to look around at alternatives. Now the only constraint (as always for this build). Is price. I know im going to be spending more on my lights than anything else, however i would like to keep it under $1000. Having multiple units of something smaller will work better for me as it means less initial outlay, and gives me the chance to make a stronger light over time. I do plan on having a mixed reef, with SPS in the future (distant). Im even up to using cheap units to start with then upgrade later on when the time calls for it. But need some help now.
Cheers

 

[Buddy]

Keep an eye on the marketplace and you should get something great for your budget/

 

[holly]

For the size of your tank you won't need $1000 unless you're buying something with all the bells and whistles. You could get a nice radian or similar that you can dial up and down in brightness. @Wrangy has a similar sized set up to you and is very happy with his lighting. He's keeping a mixture of stuff but predominantly SPS. Something that you can change the intensity of lighting is good for you if you're planning on changing someday to SPS. LED bulbs also last a long, long time.

 

[mscott]

$700 is on the much higher side of what im willing to pay, i reckon my limit to start off with is $500, to be upgraded later on in the tanks life. As it is im not willing to spend that much on the lights as im not sure how long the tank will be set-up for, and the stuff will just be sitting around getting old and gathering dust if i cant run it for as long as i want to

 

[Schnecke]

I would even consider a 120w Maxspect R420r (Razor) as they can be had for under $600.

I currently use the 60w Nano R420r over my 40cm Cube and it's been brilliant.

 

[mscott]

That could be do-able. I dont think i find out how much i am actually able to spend until either tomorrow or the day after. but its still good to brain storm

 

[Agent M]

What about the LED light units Oceanarium sells for $250 delivered? Website says "One light per approximately 60cm x 60cm footprint for SPS/LPS to 60cm water depth." which covers your size tank perfectly.

http://www.oceanarium.com.au/item.toy?iid=822579

 

[holly]

It's a good unit. If you're okay manually dimming to your requirements and using separate timers. If you want it all automatic including ramping up and down then you're forking out much more dosh. For your requirements this unit would suit well.

 

[mscott]

Thanks for that @Agent M, Ill be sure to look into that one. I would be good for softies-LPS, but probably only higher up SPS. However it looks to use bridgelux dioeds which i was told id need about 2x the wattage of this unit to cover my tank properly

 

[holly]

Thanks for that @Agent M, Ill be sure to look into that one. I would be good for softies-LPS, but probably only higher up SPS. However it looks to use bridgelux dioeds which i was told id need about 2x the wattage of this unit to cover my tank properly

Be careful of equating watts to brightness as it definitely does not.
SPS are kept in the top of the tank anyway as water depth cuts the light penetration of any light. if you're going to have a mixed reef you have to separate the LPS from the SPS and softies somewhat. 2 lights would be overkill on a softie/LPS tank but okay on a SPS (up top) and LPS/softie (in the lower half of the tank).

 

[mscott]

I was just meaning that if they use the same LED's (which they probably do) I was told by brideglux that i would need twice as many, with 80degree optics to get any form of useful light on the sand bed (which i want so i can place a nice hammer or even a clam there in the future). Still yet to know how much i can actually spend on the lights which is a pain, but we will see. They are the item i am now currently after.

 

[Agent M]

I was just meaning that if they use the same LED's (which they probably do) I was told by brideglux that i would need twice as many, with 80degree optics to get any form of useful light on the sand bed (which i want so i can place a nice hammer or even a clam there in the future). Still yet to know how much i can actually spend on the lights which is a pain, but we will see. They are the item i am now currently after.

I'm actually learning from this which is why I'm querying it, but if your tank has a depth of 70cm and the Oceanarium light covers SPS and LPS for a depth of 60cm (which is great) how does having more LEDs cover that last 10cm's of depth better?

 

[mscott]

I Have no idea what so ever, it may be that you are able to place more light in a concentrated area, so the penetration required for the next set of led's is less than the first. Like if you were to drop two items into the water half a second apart the second item would need less force to get to the same depth as the first one, and it would end up going slightly further.

 

[holly]

You need to have sharp lenses (perhaps even 60 degrees rather than 80) to penetrate to the sandbed properly.
With the light penetratoin: If you had one unit in which 10% of the light reached the sanded (made up %), adding another unit would be you had doubled the % of light getting to the sanded and thus doubled the amount of light in that area of the tank. But, that additionally would mean the top of the aquarium is also getting double the amount of light. (So you and bridgelux were right)

I've seen a lot of people having 2 units but angle them towards the middle and one off centre a little so you have different light spots. Some spots intense, some less so, some very little. Works really well and allows you to play with your placement of corals. Most people (me included) just point straight down.

Sucks not knowing what money you have to play with!

 

[mscott]

Im thinking perhaps (would be so much easier if i could diy this but mums orders) 1 unit over the main rockwork with 60-40degree lenses (it also has to penetrate through the 10mm bracing here) to keep my main bulk of corals and a 2nd unit with 60-80degree lenses for mainly vewing light over my central bomie. And when i want to add a high light coral to the sand, clams ect, to get a more spotlight fixture to light the area for them. Would this work? I dont mind having the different brightness levels in the tank.

 

[holly]

Sounds great! Having bomie's really helps as you can play around. And if you have a unit which you can dial up and down you can adjust the whole thing really well!

 

[mscott]

Humm, looks like i have a lot of planning and thinking to do here