boost led experiment after 1 month

Yea, there are so many variables, you almost have to have separate tank systems for each lighting system you're testing to be sure. And were they all the same types of coral?

Anyway, I'm excited, I ordered 3 of the Boost LEDs Monday night (though afternoon for them since they're 3 hours behind me), and they already arrived. That was fast.

I'll try to upload pictures to show, but hopefully I'm not too late to revive some frags I got almost two weeks ago and have been struggling under inferior water/light conditions.

 

Keep us posted, I was thinking led not just for the coral but for my electric bill. this metal hld is expensive to run. I would think just the savings in electricity would pay for it in a year or 2, not to mention the bulb replacement.

 

Lighting is always an interesting discussion, I wouldn't try to sway anyone one way or another, I think it all depends on what you're trying to achieve, preference and obviously there are lots of different factors that would impact results.

In my little experiement, I cut frags all from my main tank and I tried to keep them all the same size, same corals. I also tried to place them the same distance away from the light source, give or take an inch or two. Since the test tanks were small, I used 40 & 60 degree optics on the LEDs, even though the tanks were linked to a common sump I know there are other factors such as flow and food to take into consideration. Since no fish were placed in the test LED test tanks, I'm assuming there was more food in my main tank (T5s) at any given time (more fish poop) but putting all that aside and just focusing on the things I had control over, for me the T5s (with good bulbs of course) produced better overall results for the corals I keep. Now I'm in no way saying LEDs suck, again I think it's what your'e tryng to keep and achieve. If I had to setup a smaller tank today I would probably go with LEDs, especially if my goal was color over growth (not the actual color of the coral but the appearance to our eyes under LEDs).

They are still expensive in my opinion so I can't justify the initial savings for a large tank, they are suppose to last a long time but who really knows. However if $$ is not an issue and I don't have to start out with tiny frags, I would probably go with all LEDs on a larger tank, they do enhance the colors and who wouldn't want the shimmer effect.

Im sure some LED are better than others, of course they come with a higher price, what I tested is probably what most of us average reefers would use or could afford.

As mentioned, there are lots of factors that attributed to the outcome, however I'm no light expert but I think a lot of it has to do with the the spectrum produced by the lights themselves. Hopefully someone with more experience with lights would jump in and shed some "light".

 

What was your bulb combo for the t5s? I had an 8 bulb over my 90 for like a year and while growth was pretty good for the most part the coral color was lacking it seemed. It might not have been directly from the light though but since swapping tanks and switching to LED corals that had lackluster color before are getting more vibrant. I can't comment on growth really though.

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