A Led Question For You.

[youngfisher]

Ok, so my dad wants to use his 40l as a nano. then over a couple of months he will have a 3ft marine tank but he wants this 40l for a goby pair or somthing similar. He has a 18w arcadia light (its the aqua 40 tank) - Would this 18w keep live rock alive. if not he wants to go down the LED route. he has been looking at the marine blue led strips on ebay, but im not sure if they will do the job. I think there just for display, so would this 18w be sufficent or..?

YF

 

[Anguilla82]

you don't need light to keep live rock 'live'.

lighting is just for our needs or the needs of any coral.

if its just gonna be a FOWLR setup then the 18w light will be fine.

if he's gonna want corals and bits an upgrade of lighting (possible to LED) would be needed.

The blue LED strips from ebay are good to bring out the colours of corals (i used them in my nano) but thats about it.

 

[youngfisher]

Ah, thats the anwser I was hoping for Rob.
Thanks!

YF

 

[OldFisher]

Hi,thanks for that rob.So i do eventually want corals in there would i be ok to keep my 18w light and just add a strip of white led's to kkep the corals alive? if do any idea where i could get them and what sort please?



OF

 

[Morri]

Ahhh funny you should bring this up I am working on a small LED build for my sump this weekend using 6 spare bulbs will post progress on Sunday

 

[shelaghfishface]

aaww youngfisher and old fisher. thats sweet

 

[Anguilla82]

No probs OF (nice looking ghostie you've caught there!).

you thinking of softies in this tank. if so an extra strip of LEDs will probably be fine.

Morri is a genius with LEDs as is Rabbut so well worthwhile watching his thread!

 

[rabbut]

The 18W PC light supplied with those tanks will be fine for softies and most LPS as is You'd only really need to up-grade if you want SPS TBH. However, there is nothing more satisfying for those of us that are good with DIY, than building a DIY LED array just for the fun of it

All the best
Rabbut

 

[degsod]

The 18W PC light supplied with those tanks will be fine for softies and most LPS as is You'd only really need to up-grade if you want SPS TBH. However, there is nothing more satisfying for those of us that are good with DIY, than building a DIY LED array just for the fun of it

All the best
Rabbut

Hehe I second that, I am in the process of ordering some more LED's for my next project

 

[youngfisher]

So the light he has already would be ok with softies? Like zoas, clove poylps etc?

YF

 

[owlbassboy]

it may need a change to a marine bulb.

there are new leds coming out soon and i will keep you all posted they only cost about 40/50quid max probably less and are way better that the aquaray rubbish tmc have out.

tmc have new leds on the way too which are meant to be the dog danglies but they are likely to have the price to show it.

 

[TigerIssey]

They have got a price to show it Ste. Aquabeam HD Ultra in Marine White Reef White.

Each array is £224.99. Not sure on the coverage yet. Article in this months Ultra Marine Mag. If you want a controller with the array then you buy a pachake of 1 controller and 1 array for £299.99. Controller on its own £79.99.

Uses Cree XR-E Power LED's.

 

[rabbut]

Which are the correct LED's, but they are looking like they are going to be under-driven by so far that they are no where near the 150W halide's output they claim it'll have. Until they have some being offered to the market or demonstrated though, we just won't know... Considering you'd be able to build your own unit that contains as many Cree XR-E LED's driven at full power for under £100 though, with computerised dimming, is £229 really a justifiable price for them?

All the best
Rabbut