supplement lighting

currently running a current orbit usa and love it so far wanting to get supplement lighting possibly a led strip my question is what do i want to help corals grow better just all white supplement or 50/50 any advice would be appreciated on brands and optical degree 90...120 and so on i love the ease of the current orbit and being new to the hobby this is what drew me to the light the corals i have now all seem to be doing great with that being said im one of those people who is always looking to make what he has better

 

It depends on a lot of factors. What type of coral are you wanting to keep being the biggest one.

The DIY route will get you the biggest bang for your buck in most cases, depending on how DIY inclined you are. I believe one of the sponsors here RapidLED has supplement strip lights.

As for a plug and play light strip ,for sps, you will want to look for something that has 3watts per diode minimum. You probably don't need a whole lot of LEDs and the mix is up to your taste in how blue you want your water, but don't skimp too much on white diodes. 50/50 white/blue, what I run, will give you a fairly white light so you don't get a lot of fluoresce from the corals from this mix.

Optics is dependent on how high above your waterline the lights are positioned.

Lots of factors to consider with LEDs.

You may also want to consider supplementing with T5s. They are a little more standard and many people really like the LED/T5 combo.

 

+1 to ^^^

Unfortunately, many corals have perished at the hands of similar aquarists. One thing corals do not appreciate is a change in their environment, with increased lighting being one of the main contributors to bleaching and death. It can be done, but your existing livestock will need to be acclimated, e.g.- start your new lights at low power for a short duration, then increase slowly over a period of several weeks while watching for signs of stress. While there's no actual scientific calculation, years of observation have shown that nutrient levels can affect the maximum light intensity to which corals may be subjected before bleaching.

HTH

 

right now i'm interested in softies and LPS I really would like a brain coral on my sand bed but not sure if the current led would have enough par on my sand bed

 

I wouldn't attempt it. That unit employs 1/4w diodes. While they do produce PAR, the penetration level is very low. I'd recommend a ReefBreeders Value fixture, then use your Orbit for the automated sunrise/sunset effects.

 

need some opinions i have a friend who has 2 Ai SOL blue's he is willing to let me have real cheap anyone have experience with these? would 2 be too much for my tank i have the glass canopy still on if you think these would be a good option how high off the tank should they be mounting and what lighting schedule would you start with thanks for any help this lighting thing is not easy to figure out