If you have a deep tank with led's and sps dominate.....the optic's should be used imo. Without optic's you do "waste" a little light but led's put out a lot of light even at half power and you can also play with the height. Cheers said:What is a good source for information on the best PAR values for different corals? Also the different daily time periods with those PAR values for the different corals? I have seen where some have said that a PAR of 100 on the sand bed of the tank might be a good minimum, acceptable PAR. Thanks!
David
[I]@bimmerzs wrote:[/I][quote="If you have a deep tank with led's and sps dominate.....the optic's should be used imo. Without optic's you do "waste" a little light but led's put out a lot of light even at half power and you can also play with the height. Cheers said:What is a good source for information on the best PAR values for different corals? Also the different daily time periods with those PAR values for the different corals? I have seen where some have said that a PAR of 100 on the sand bed of the tank might be a good minimum, acceptable PAR. Thanks!
David"]
There are a lot of variable's with that, even the in tank flow and surface movement can reduce/increase the amount of PAR dynamically over the same area. Here's a good start for helping to answer your question. http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2006/1/lines/view
Cheers,
O.K. I don't know about these things said:So do you not like your led spot lights with optics? I see your thinking about changing them on another thread with a different degree of optic. Do those come off and have you tried them with the optics off? You have to understand that if they are clustered leds they will look like spot lights depending on the spacing and how many you have. If you are trying to light your whole tank and not just target certain area's or corals then you will want more lights in a string (row). MAybe try raising them higher as that will change things like was said earlier and then your optics might be fine the way they are now.
[I]@DFW wrote:[/I][quote="O.K. I don't know about these things said:So do you not like your led spot lights with optics? I see your thinking about changing them on another thread with a different degree of optic. Do those come off and have you tried them with the optics off? You have to understand that if they are clustered leds they will look like spot lights depending on the spacing and how many you have. If you are trying to light your whole tank and not just target certain area's or corals then you will want more lights in a string (row). MAybe try raising them higher as that will change things like was said earlier and then your optics might be fine the way they are now."]
I have just been trying out the LEDs for a week now. I would like to widen the spot a little to spread out over more of the tank, but cannot raise them because they are in the canopy with the T5s. I do not want to diminish the intensity of the light by removing the optics altogether, or by running them at half power, although they are set on their lowest setting now, as I am breaking the tank in slowly to the new lighting. I want to bring them up to full power over probably several months time. If I could just spread it out slightly, I will have the entire rock structure included in their light, and will eliminate spots that have way too much light ( I have used the clubs PAR meter this week and discovered this is occurring ), and those that have too little. This is a very economical - a "frugal reefer" way of doing lighting, making the most of what they are capable of doing, and not wasting what they are doing!
David
David
[I]@Saltpro wrote:[/I][quote="[I]@DFW wrote:[/I][quote="O.K. I don't know about these things said:So do you not like your led spot lights with optics? I see your thinking about changing them on another thread with a different degree of optic. Do those come off and have you tried them with the optics off? You have to understand that if they are clustered leds they will look like spot lights depending on the spacing and how many you have. If you are trying to light your whole tank and not just target certain area's or corals then you will want more lights in a string (row). MAybe try raising them higher as that will change things like was said earlier and then your optics might be fine the way they are now."]"]
I have just been trying out the LEDs for a week now. I would like to widen the spot a little to spread out over more of the tank, but cannot raise them because they are in the canopy with the T5s. I do not want to diminish the intensity of the light by removing the optics altogether, or by running them at half power, although they are set on their lowest setting now, as I am breaking the tank in slowly to the new lighting. I want to bring them up to full power over probably several months time. If I could just spread it out slightly, I will have the entire rock structure included in their light, and will eliminate spots that have way too much light ( I have used the clubs PAR meter this week and discovered this is occurring ), and those that have too little. This is a very economical - a "frugal reefer" way of doing lighting, making the most of what they are capable of doing, and not wasting what they are doing!
David
Leds arent meant to run at there full specs and last long term. Frugal is good when and where you can be frugal but lighting isnt a place to be frugal. Narrow Optics dont work well when there too close to water surface, so if you cant raise them trying removing them. If your tank isnt that deep you probably dont need them. Guess you could try wider optics and see what happens. Leds are very powerful without optics on there own and very misleading to the naked eye. Do you have your par results so you can post them here with a pic? How big and deep is your tank by the way?
I want to take another round of readings said:Interested to see your results with the optics removed. Happy ThanksGiving to you!
Try to search in the internet I think you can find there some site that are related in lighting. But try a led light bulb it is lesser consume in energy/ electricity than the ordinary light bulb. Then they are the same bright than other light bulb just try a led it is beautiful. said:They are using led's...did you read the entire post?