LED's are great to grow LPS and Softies. Now if you step into SPS such as Acroporas and such, you start to run into a problem. The light from LEDs are emmited from a central focal point which acts like a beam, this causes a shadowing effect. It looks real cool when the water ripples, but for branching sps, the part that doesn't receive light, tend to not color up or fade, even sometimes die. Usually it's underneath. If your tank sits low and you see the corals from a higher angle, then it could be fine, but if you are look up at it, you won't see the nice colors you're hoping for. There's sorta a solution. Supplement using T-5s, VHO, or Metal Halides. For example. If you were going to do separate units like Ai Vega's or Ecotech, try and put some retrofitted T5's in front and back of them. If you chose Metal Halides. Go Down in wattage. so instead of 250w per unit, go with 150w and use DIY LEDs in front and back as the Main light... the Halides are supplemental. Just a suggestion. I'm pretty new to the hobby. I ran LEDs from the beginning and i wanted a SPS tank. I soon realized this issue and so I supplemented my LEDs with some Actinic T-5s. This seem to have fixed my problem. Hope this helps and doesn't make your decisions more complicated.
