Help with LED intensity

Discussion in 'LED Aquarium Lighting' started by eddie2OOO, Jul 11, 2014.

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  1. eddie2OOO

    eddie2OOO Spanish Shawl Nudibranch

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    I have an open thread where I am trying to figure out what is wrong with my aquarium. http://www.3reef.com/threads/everything-is-slowly-dying…-what-could-be-wrong.153979/
    It seems that over the last 6 months my aquarium went from amazing, to barely making it. I am exhausting my troubleshooting options and am now questioning my LED light… My Duncan coral that is sitting about 5 inches from the light seems to be getting bleached, while mushroom (regardless of their location in the tank) and shrinking and dying. Frogspawn about 8 inches from the light is not opening. I spoke with buildmyled.com CEO who told me that I need to get (or rent) a par meter, to figure out if my corals are being overexposed to light. I am looking into it. Meanwhile can anyone that knows LEDs and has a better understanding how they effect different corals help me determine what I should do? Here are the specs of what I have. A lot of other information is located on the thread mentioned above.

    I have a 36" fixture with 30 LEDs (14000K) That I keep at 50% intensity for about 7 hours a day.

    (10) 6500K Cool White, (8) 450nm Royal Blue, (6) 470nm Blue, (2) 405nm UV, (2) 525nm Green, (2) 660nm Deep Red

    by buildmyled.com http://www.buildmyled.com/14000k-reef-spectrum/

    My tank is a Nuvo 24G http://www.innovative-marine.com/nuvo-aquarium/nuvo24.html

    DIMS (36” x 12.2” x 13”)

    So the light is sitting about an inch above the tank.

    Thanks,

    Ed
     
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  3. 2in10

    2in10 Super Moderator

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    What optics does it have? 60 degree, 80 degree?

    I would move the fixture up to about a foot above the tank to get a better light spread and mixing of the spectrum.
     
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  4. eddie2OOO

    eddie2OOO Spanish Shawl Nudibranch

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    It is 60 degrees

    I can give it a try. Do you think I should increase intensity to compensate, or just leave it as is?
     
  5. Reef_Ninja

    Reef_Ninja Spaghetti Worm

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    Duncan 5" and Frogspawn 8" from the light? I know not every LED is the same, and its hard to even compare the same model under different tanks, but to me it looks like your corals are way to close to the light source, depending on how far above the waterline your fixture is.

    For example, Im running my Reef Radiance DM155 at 40% at about 10" above the waterline. My tank is 18" deep. I have a torch at the bottom that is pretty happy now, and an acro frag have way up that is pretty happy as well.

    About 2 weeks ago, I had my fixture about 5" above TWL, at 50%, and the corals were pretty p**** off.
     
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  6. Pickupman66

    Pickupman66 Tassled File Fish

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    Wow. Definitely too close. I have mine hung 12" from the water. my tank is 20" deep. I have my reef radiance turned up but my other two at 40% blue and 20% white...


    Fwiw I had a custom one with 126 3 watt leds on my 180. Run at 90% that hung 8 inches from my water. I had 200 par on the sand in 24 inches of water...
     
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  7. Mr. Bill

    Mr. Bill Native Floridian

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    Actually, I'd suggest raising the fixture and lowering intensity as well until you see some improvement. Your corals will let you know if and when they need more light. IMOPE, it's far better to start with too little rather than too much.
     
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  9. 2in10

    2in10 Super Moderator

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    No I would lower it as mentioned. 30% of 40% is where I would set it for starters.
     
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  10. eddie2OOO

    eddie2OOO Spanish Shawl Nudibranch

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    I spoke to buildmyled.com again and they've talked me out of hanging the light higher, saying that with every inch par values drop drastically. He also said that the their LEDs are wide (120 degrees) so spectrum mixture is fine in its current position. So just to elaborate - the optics are 120 x 60 degrees. He once again suggested that i get a par meter to double check and perhaps (as 2in10 suggested) to lower intensity to 30-40%. He also told me to move Duncan lower, as it is not requiring too much light and is located way to close to the light.

    Also i am getting someone to come over with his par meter, and we'll see how it will be reduced if we were to get light a foot above the tank. If the readings will still be decent (not that i know what decent reading is) i'll just order the suspension kit.
     
    Last edited: Jul 15, 2014
  11. 2in10

    2in10 Super Moderator

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    Please post your par numbers and the distance from the light. A par of 50 to 100 is fine on the sand and 300 to 400 on top of your rocks.
     
  12. Codiax

    Codiax Plankton

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    Ive been having the same issue with my tank. Purchased an oceanreive full spec LED. I hung mine over my 40 gal breeder (about 16 inches above my tank) at about %60 for white and blue and so far so good.