Explain to me Like I am 5 - What color LEDs I need

I am upgrading my lights from old compact fluros. I am super interested in LEDS, but not DIY. I want to buy strips or a fixture. I am looking at a couple of options on Dr. Foster and Smith (I use Bill Me Later thru them and have coupons and gift certs, so they are my site of choice).

I know some of the complaints about the look with some older LED fixtures was the simple white/blue only combination. I have a 90 gallon tank, 48 inches.
I was looking at this fixture:
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Produc...m?pcatid=24725
and possibly supplementing with Stunner strips to get a fuller spectrum.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Produc...m?pcatid=21598

but they also have:
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produc...7&pcatid=24397

I currently have only mushrooms in my tank, so no major SPS issues to consider. I would like to have enough light to keep a wider range or corals.

So, can someone please help me understand 10k vs 14k white, what lights I need to supplement and how much I need over my tank?

I know fixtures are over priced over DIY, but I don't want to have to build a fixture. I simply am not that good, and I want something that looks nice. I appreciate any help or suggestions.

 

your links are not working

there are a lot of other fixtures too that are full spectrum and not full spectrum posted here too,

todd snails has one about his taotronics that's blue and white only and reefbreeders has a full spectrum value

i don't know about anything from experience but i will be purchasing a full spectrum setup for my self soon and will be writing a review

 

His links are from his post on Reefcentral here.

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The difference between the different kelvin ratings, as in 10000k compared to 14000k is how hot a black body emitter would look at that temperature. For example, at 1000K, a material would glow close to red, while at 15000K it would be closer to blueish white. It is the color of the light, and as such, a part of the electromagnetic spectrum.

Keep in mind how much of each color you need to successfully keep coral. I would suggest at least 4 of the 24W strips.


To be honest, we don't exactly know what colors we need. Though there has been success success with plain cool white and royal blue combinations, others have reported that having more colors makes their corals look better. Realistically, having more colors of lights, such as 5000K and 10000K white lights cannot hurt and will at worst, just provide a different color of light and a wider range of output. Seeing as the lights you are looking at are not very high in output, option one would provide a wider output of spectrum that may help with coral growth.

 

Marineland Reef Capable LED Lighting System w/Timer: LED Aquarium Light Fixtures

Aquarium Lighting & LED Lights: ecoxotic Stunner LED Strip

 

i'm 5 and didn't understand..

lol kidding.. great write up and the key here is that we don't know exactly and different corals will react to different spectrum.. and some one told me (which means it might be right or wrong) that other colors might hurt the corals but i don't see that...

in my mind the only way more colors would effect coral growth would be because you're replacing beneficial colors with less beneficial but more pretty colors so it would just give less of the beneficial light so it shouldn't not hurt it but just give less of the more important lights


and by the way welcome to the forum, i noticed thats your first post..

 

I was looking at 2 of the MarineLand fixtures, and 2 stunner strips (one in magenta/453 blue) and one in Magenta/12k white. Is this too much light?

 

Honestly, those lights are terrible but will work for low light corals. If your tank is 24 inches deep, I don't think you could keep mushrooms on the bottom. If the reading for the light from one strip is correct, you could only reliably keep them about 18" away from the light. They are built with shallow aquariums in mind. If you can do it, try to add in a stunner strip with the optics added to allow deeper light penetration.

Just for reference, a single AI Sol has about the same output power as 2 of the 36" strips. If you can save $400 using DrFosterSmith, then I would look at 2 of the Maxspect Razor lights. They are more than enough to keep any coral you please.

Alternatively, 1 Maxspect Razro 27" could light most of the aquarium. It wouldn't be as thorough as the other options, but it will be able to keep SPS almost the whole length. Maxspect has a quote saying that just for a bit of insurance. A Maxspect Razor would be about $200 more than the route you were planning to take, but is a much better option as it is much more powerful, using near best LEDs as well as having optics to hopefully direct light down.

If you have the ability to not buy from DrFosterSmith perchance, there are a few vendors here that sell LED lights that would allow you for about the same price as the Marineland lights which at best could only keep LPS at the very top or other soft coral, keep much more light intense corals. These lights from Reefbreeders, although not ask stylish as the Marineland light, do have dimmers and the ability to use wall timers to turn each color on and off. They have a bit of extra color in them, and are only $179.99 each with a 4 foot aquarium requiring 2.

 

I honestly think that that's not going to be enough light :-/

Since you don't want to do a DIY fixture, I would check out reefbreeders' value fixture here:

reefbreeders

I would get 2 or 3 of these if I were you

 

Reefbreeders(Use the one with NW), Maxspect Razor, Brightaquatics true spectrum PAR38, ledtric full spectrum PAR38

 

Use 4.5-5K whites, also Stunners can only grow coral in large numbers on a small tank, what tank size/dimensions? CB, DR, NW, RB, TV, cyan would make a full spectrum fixture...