# Lighting is very imperative to the corals



## davemedinis (Sep 10, 2011)

Lighting can be the most important element in the growing corals.Majority reef aquariums contain corals that are photosynthetic and depend on proper illumination for their growth.Most of the symbiotic corals derive their nutrition from the products of photosynthesis. So,lighting is an important decision you need to think before you make a decision of setting up your coral reef aquarium journal.Identify which corals you are going to keep,as soon as you know what sorts of corals you intend to keep then choose the lighting that is most suitable for it. 
Besides the illuminating equipment,water quality also very important,no matter how well your lighting system over your tank is,if there are yellowing agents, wastes and other dirt gathering in your water,the light source cannot reach the bottom of your tank.
There are some popular lighting system available:
T2,T5,T8 and incandescent,fluorescent,LEDs and so on.
Personally,I'd prefer the LED aquarium lighting systems,for they are more pure.We can choose a certain spectrum for our corals.
:animated_fish_swimm


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## phil_n_fish (Nov 19, 2011)

I agree. Lighting in a SW tank is one of the most important elements. I would recommend LED or VHO at a minimum because Fluorescent was barely pushing it for my 10 gallon and 40 gallon and all I had was low light coral. Another thing about lighting was the kind of Kelvin rating of your bulbs. 
Another tip is you don't have to have strong lighting hit the bottom. You can stack your live rock so you can have high light coral closer to the surface and low light coral towards the bottom.
Lighting doesnt just matter during the day, Moon lights also help your tank life act more natural. And you will see coral open their polyps at night and many actually turn into a neon color with a moon light. Just remember to give your fish atleast 4 hours of darkness before the moonlight kicks on.


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## davemedinis (Sep 10, 2011)

And there is a problem about the LEDs,they are to strong,most of them are built as powerful aquarium lighting system.Kelvin,I'd prefer 12,000K.What do think about that please?


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## Reefing Madness (Aug 12, 2011)

LED or T-5. For none heat transfer. LED or Halides for the water shimmer, the others don't have that. LED's can be had with dimmers on them.


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## phil_n_fish (Nov 19, 2011)

davemedinis said:


> And there is a problem about the LEDs,they are to strong,most of them are built as powerful aquarium lighting system.Kelvin,I'd prefer 12,000K.What do think about that please?


If I'm using florescent, 12k will be good if I run two bulbs at once with a 7,5k to give the growth spectrum. but with LED it gives two colors one white and the other a form of blue and some even give off red but I havent seen it in person. One of my previous tanks I had sum ultra low light coral so I used a 20k bulb to give that deep ocean look.


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## davemedinis (Sep 10, 2011)

Reefing Madness said:


> LED or T-5. For none heat transfer. LED or Halides for the water shimmer, the others don't have that. LED's can be had with dimmers on them.


I am looking for dimmable LED aquarium lights,though there are some of them on the market now,I would like to wait some months until the technologies become mature.


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## davemedinis (Sep 10, 2011)

phil_n_fish said:


> If I'm using florescent, 12k will be good if I run two bulbs at once with a 7,5k to give the growth spectrum. but with LED it gives two colors one white and the other a form of blue and some even give off red but I havent seen it in person. One of my previous tanks I had sum ultra low light coral so I used a 20k bulb to give that deep ocean look.


Red light source in LED aquarium lights for growing corals? Oh,,I have not seen it before,and I don't think it is necessary...


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## Reefing Madness (Aug 12, 2011)

davemedinis said:


> I am looking for dimmable LED aquarium lights,though there are some of them on the market now,I would like to wait some months until the technologies become mature.


Its out there and its mature. There are a ton of people using this now.


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## Reefing Madness (Aug 12, 2011)

davemedinis said:


> Red light source in LED aquarium lights for growing corals? Oh,,I have not seen it before,and I don't think it is necessary...


The red LED's are for color rendering.


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## davemedinis (Sep 10, 2011)

Reefing Madness said:


> The red LED's are for color rendering.


Yes,I see,Red LEDs will increase lots of PAR value,but they are not good for a tank,especially when the Red light source penetrates the water,the tank looks not pure,I don't like...Only Blue and White are good for tank....


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## allenwang3 (Dec 19, 2011)

I am agree with you.The LED aquarium light is very useful.The most important is LED Aquarium can save more energy.


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## phil_n_fish (Nov 19, 2011)

its amazing how aquarium technology is keeping up with our modern world =)


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## Reefing Madness (Aug 12, 2011)

davemedinis said:


> Yes,I see,Red LEDs will increase lots of PAR value,but they are not good for a tank,especially when the Red light source penetrates the water,the tank looks not pure,I don't like...Only Blue and White are good for tank....


When you see the units with RED LED's in them, you will note that there are only about 3-5 in the unit, just enough for rendering, nothing else.


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## davemedinis (Sep 10, 2011)

Reefing Madness said:


> When you see the units with RED LED's in them, you will note that there are only about 3-5 in the unit, just enough for rendering, nothing else.


You might be right,but most of our experiment prove that the Red and Orange spectrum will be filtered out by the water immediately,they cannot penetrate the water.:animated_fish_swimm


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## Reefing Madness (Aug 12, 2011)

davemedinis said:


> You might be right,but most of our experiment prove that the Red and Orange spectrum will be filtered out by the water immediately,they cannot penetrate the water.:animated_fish_swimm


Interesting, never heard that one. Thanks


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## rocklee (Feb 10, 2012)

davemedinis said:


> And there is a problem about the LEDs,they are to strong,most of them are built as powerful aquarium lighting system.Kelvin,I'd prefer 12,000K.What do think about that please?


I thinks the power of the lighting system depends on how deep is your tank !:fish-in-bowl:


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## davemedinis (Sep 10, 2011)

rocklee said:


> I thinks the power of the lighting system depends on how deep is your tank !:fish-in-bowl:


What? I have never heard about that the depth of a tank will affect the lighting power.
Definitely no.


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## Reefing Madness (Aug 12, 2011)

davemedinis said:


> What? I have never heard about that the depth of a tank will affect the lighting power.
> Definitely no.


Absolutely, depth has a great impact on the lighting. The deeper the tank the stronger the light needs to be. 18-24" 3watt LED or 175w halides will do. Deeper than that, and your corals should be kept higher in the rock work, or you should get stronger halides and LED's for the bottom.

LED Aquarium Lights, Lighting; emitters, PAR, DIY, How they work | Aquarium Article Digest
Aquarium Lighting; Reef, Planted Light Information. PAR, Bulb, Watt, Kelvin, Nanometers, MH, LED.
samsreef.com - PAR readings - How much light?


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## Reefing Madness (Aug 12, 2011)

rocklee said:


> I thinks the power of the lighting system depends on how deep is your tank !:fish-in-bowl:


100% correct to a point. Depends on what corals you plan on keeping in there also.


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## davemedinis (Sep 10, 2011)

Reefing Madness said:


> Absolutely, depth has a great impact on the lighting. The deeper the tank the stronger the light needs to be. 18-24" 3watt LED or 175w halides will do. Deeper than that, and your corals should be kept higher in the rock work, or you should get stronger halides and LED's for the bottom.QUOTE]
> 
> That's right, but my LED light has far more penetration and PAR value than any others I have ever seen. Here is the parameter and PAR(based on 120 degree optical lens,White 14000K:Blue 460nm=2:1 ratio):
> 
> ...


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## Reefing Madness (Aug 12, 2011)

Do'nt know about the LUX, doesnt do anything for me. How about PAR readings?
Like in the links I posted above.


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## davemedinis (Sep 10, 2011)

Reefing Madness said:


> Do'nt know about the LUX, doesnt do anything for me. How about PAR readings?
> Like in the links I posted above.


Hey,dear friend,Lux is the lumens.
And the mmol is PAR reading.
12 inch:1280mmol;
20 inch:728mmoll;
30 inch : 265mmol; 
40 inch: 206mmol;

BTY,what's the size of your tank pls?


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## Reefing Madness (Aug 12, 2011)

davemedinis said:


> Hey,dear friend,Lux is the lumens.
> And the mmol is PAR reading.
> 12 inch:1280mmol;
> 20 inch:728mmoll;
> ...


My tank is 96" x 24" x 24" 
Nice PAR values, you got me sold. But for my tank, I'll stick with Halides, as LED's would cost me a small fortune to get. Even a DIY would cost me in the $400 range.


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## davemedinis (Sep 10, 2011)

Reefing Madness said:


> My tank is 96" x 24" x 24"
> Nice PAR values, you got me sold. But for my tank, I'll stick with Halides, as LED's would cost me a small fortune to get. Even a DIY would cost me in the $400 range.


Wow, your tank is pretty big, especially the length. What's the power of your MH lighting please? If choose LEDs, you will need more than 500W in my opinion.
$400 cannot cover the demand, even DIY.
:fish5:


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## Reefing Madness (Aug 12, 2011)

davemedinis said:


> Wow, your tank is pretty big, especially the length. What's the power of your MH lighting please? If choose LEDs, you will need more than 500W in my opinion.
> $400 cannot cover the demand, even DIY.
> :fish5:


I am using 2 175 Metal Halides. One on each end, and 1w LED's flex in the middle, its like a 18"x16" LED's. Not bright enough for corals but its light. I can do the 3w China LED's 200 3w, I think I came up with like $300-$400.
3W High Power LED Pure White 110-130LM [SS-3WW] - US$1.99 : Satistronics Store, China Electronic Components Online Store - Wholesale Development Tools and Components from China
3W High Power LED Blue 25-35LM [SS-3WB] - US$1.89 : Satistronics Store, China Electronic Components Online Store - Wholesale Development Tools and Components from China
50pcs 80 degree lens for CREE LEDs (SS-CREE-80) White [SS-CREE-80W] - US$25.99 : Satistronics Store, China Electronic Components Online Store - Wholesale Development Tools and Components from China

Or I was going to do this:
eBay - New & used electronics, cars, apparel, collectibles, sporting goods & more at low prices

Or maybe a bunch of these:
eBay - New & used electronics, cars, apparel, collectibles, sporting goods & more at low prices


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## davemedinis (Sep 10, 2011)

Reefing Madness said:


> I am using 2 175 Metal Halides. One on each end, and 1w LED's flex in the middle, its like a 18"x16" LED's. Not bright enough for corals but its light. I can do the 3w China LED's 200 3w, I think I came up with like $300-$400.
> 
> Or I was going to do this:


1W LEDs have been outdated in 2012, 3W LEDs are the majority. And optical lenses are needed.

Your tank is very long, one LED light will not cover the whole tank enough. If I were you, I would pick up two of them, probably 200-250W per pcs.

By the way, the links of the Ebay LED chips, only got 6300-7000K, cannot match the standard, 12000-18000K will be fine. You also need to take the Blue LEDs into consideration, 460-485nm have been proved good for algea.


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## Reefing Madness (Aug 12, 2011)

:huh:
I believe that the links I showed, have, Lenses, 100pc 3W LED's, both White and Blue, the only tihng I left out, is where I get my power supplies.


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## davemedinis (Sep 10, 2011)

Reefing Madness said:


> :huh:
> I believe that the links I showed, have, Lenses, 100pc 3W LED's, both White and Blue, the only tihng I left out, is where I get my power supplies.


Not only power supplies, you also need to get fans, electric boards, heat-sink, soldering wires,etc.


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## Reefing Madness (Aug 12, 2011)

The reason I did not post those things, I have them already.


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## davemedinis (Sep 10, 2011)

Reefing Madness said:


> The reason I did not post those things, I have them already.


That's fine, so wish you have a great DIY job.


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## Reefing Madness (Aug 12, 2011)

Maybe. Not sure as of yet which way I will go with it. But thanks.


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## davemedinis (Sep 10, 2011)

Reefing Madness said:


> Maybe. Not sure as of yet which way I will go with it. But thanks.


In fact, soldering the LEDs onto the circuit board can be the most ticklish process,if the solder welder is closed to the LEDs and temperature is too hot, it always burn the LEDs.


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## Reefing Madness (Aug 12, 2011)

Maybe I should throw in that, I fix and repair video games and electronics for a living. I can even replace certain surface mout ic and transistors. I use a adjustable butane solder pen. =)


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## huangyu (Feb 24, 2012)

what kind of the led light can be good to the corals?


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## Reefing Madness (Aug 12, 2011)

huangyu said:


> what kind of the led light can be good to the corals?


There are a mess of LED's out there good for Corals. What are you looking at?


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## huangyu (Feb 24, 2012)

Reefing Madness said:


> There are a mess of LED's out there good for Corals. What are you looking at?


hmm, not sure, i just got a plan for buying a fish tank with some corals... i knew a few things about it :betta:


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## Reefing Madness (Aug 12, 2011)

Ecoxotic: Aquarium LED Lights, Reef LED Lighting

New Design White Blue 1:1 3W LED 141W Grow Light Aquarium Coral Reef Tank | eBay

Epistar New 120 Watt Led Aquarium Grow Light Blue White Coral Reef Tank Black | eBay

2112 NEW LED Aquarium Coral Reef Tank White Blue 1:1 LED Grow Light 212W | eBay

Fish & Aquarium Supplies: LED Lights


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## davemedinis (Sep 10, 2011)

Reefing Madness said:


> Ecoxotic: Aquarium LED Lights, Reef LED Lighting
> 
> New Design White Blue 1:1 3W LED 141W Grow Light Aquarium Coral Reef Tank | eBay
> 
> ...


Nice links,thank you~.But they are not built with low output voltage technology.


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## Reefing Madness (Aug 12, 2011)

davemedinis said:


> Nice links,thank you~.But they are not built with low output voltage technology.


How could they not be built with low output voltage?? Last time I checked those LED's were not 120v each....???? They would have to be built with a low voltage output ie. 12volt power supply to make them work. ???


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## LYDIAhy1959 (Mar 15, 2012)

Reefing Madness said:


> Its out there and its mature. There are a ton of people using this now.


where can we get that, link?


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## Reefing Madness (Aug 12, 2011)

Reefing Madness said:


> I am using 2 175 Metal Halides. One on each end, and 1w LED's flex in the middle, its like a 18"x16" LED's. Not bright enough for corals but its light. I can do the 3w China LED's 200 3w, I think I came up with like $300-$400.
> 3W High Power LED Pure White 110-130LM [SS-3WW] - US$1.99 : Satistronics Store, China Electronic Components Online Store - Wholesale Development Tools and Components from China
> 3W High Power LED Blue 25-35LM [SS-3WB] - US$1.89 : Satistronics Store, China Electronic Components Online Store - Wholesale Development Tools and Components from China
> 50pcs 80 degree lens for CREE LEDs (SS-CREE-80) White [SS-CREE-80W] - US$25.99 : Satistronics Store, China Electronic Components Online Store - Wholesale Development Tools and Components from China
> ...


Try going through a few of these


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