corals and LED light.

Now i know little about corals and there requirements.
but what i do know is that they need a blue light and a white light.. to stimulate algae...
And because i am running a neo tank, i want to get only 1 or 2 beginner corals.
But there isnt enough space in my hood for another tube.
but plently of room for blue LED lights. So in saying that can an LED light be used??

Thanks.

 

Something along the lines of a stunner strip can be used.... or a retro kit.

What type of lighting do you have now? and how big is your tank?

 

it is only but 40 litres.

What is retro lighting?

 

A Retro(fit kit) is basically the bare bones of the lighting(everything you need, but nothing more), making it more customizable than whole fixtures.

 

A retro LED kit is the actual bare bones components. You solder everything and plug it in. It is a pretty simple thing to do IF you know how to solder. The heat sinks are probably one of the most important things needed. Finding one to fit your needs can be daunting sometimes.

Rapid LED is a great source.

 

Par38 leds would be awesome in a tank that size. Maybe 1 or 2 depending on the actual dimensions and what you want to keep.

Something like this
Ecoxotic PAR38 LED Aquarium Lamp

or

Nanotuners.com

Pay attention to the optical spread, I think both of these are 40 degree angle, but they can be changed with kits to give a wider spread, but the wider spread will result in less intense light, as it will be more diffuse.

Edit: Also, you can buy light standard par38 light sockets at lowes, home depot, ikea etc... so, there is a wide range of options for the fixute.

 

ime i wouldnt do leds they are not as reliable as t5's or halides. they just havent gotten as advanced in means of light output.

 

Please enlighten me on the reliability and output of HO LED VS. MH or T-5.... I long for your wisdom on this lighting debate.

 

i had a 40 gallon reef tank under 400 watt metal halides, i have since moved up to a 90 gallon but thats aside the point. i heard about the nice panorama fixtures of led on petsolutions.com i ordered two and placed them over my tank, over the next several months my acros seemed to get worse and worse and finally perished, which is unfortunate as they were huge. i quickly set back up my halides and my leds ar enow over y refugium just keeping chaeto alive. quite a dissapointment as those fixtures are unreasonably expensive.

 

A panorama is a nice light, but nowhere near the par output of a 400 MH. A sol could blow the 400 out of the water for par though, but at a price. MH still have a significant price advantage over leds. There are some exceptions though. I think on small tanks, such as the 10g tank the op has leds are cost effective. This is because small MHs or T-5s are not significantly less expensive than larger ones and with leds you do not need to replace bulbs nearly as often.