LED lights and its PAR reading

[slinky]

here is my 55 Gallon Standard -

Recently upgraded to LED (DIY style). and noticed a big turnaround in some coral coloration and some coral bleaching, noticibly ORA Joe the coral's tip used to be brown, now navy, neonish blue; and superman monti, used to be brown base (should be blue) and now ,almost bleached to white. I knew the light was too strong... Notice where the PAR map, 460 is where the Joe the Coral is, 500 is where the superman monti is.

Now here is the light:

72 CREE 3Watt LED soldered on 2 heatsink, DIY, inspired by snowmansnow, covering the entire 55G tank.
216W of LED replaced 250W metal halide, some bleaching will happen, right?

can I still save the superman? (now is cream color with red polyp, not extending).

thanks andy and ansley for the PAR meter.
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[lilrobb]

Reduce photo period and acclimate - numbers are good but not the reason your corals bleach... Correctly acclimated your corals will love it

 

[slinky]

I agree, I figured all my corals are 2/3 way down from the watertop, so frying them wasn't an issue, so I didn't acclimated them too much (maybe a week, without a PAR meter, I wasn't sure). I guess I am wrong, the LED is spitting out some serious PAR.

 

[eandrews]

Slinky;547962 wrote: I agree, I figured all my corals are 2/3 way down from the watertop, so frying them wasn't an issue, so I didn't acclimated them too much (maybe a week, without a PAR meter, I wasn't sure). I guess I am wrong, the LED is spitting out some serious PAR.

You saw my LED modules on the Red Sea Max, they hit 300 easily and people that spend 4-500 for 20-24 arrays think they are cheap... :lol2:

 

[schwaggs]

Yep, reduce the photo period or raise the fixture higher off the tank and gradually lower it over the next month or so...

 

[misu]

back to my wattage rule of thumb, if a guy has two panorama module eating 30W or so over his 34gal and you put 200+ watts over your 55 gal one of you is a bit off

 

[slinky]

I am off.

I overkilled.

I thought my corals are close to the bottom, so I blasted them.

 

[misu]

want to do it again with fewer leds? I can probably use yours over my 135

we'll talk tonight when you come over to pick the frags

 

[schwaggs]

Lets not forget that watts are not what is important, it is PAR. The Cree LEDs he is using are most likely more efficient than the Panarama LEDs, therefore he might have even more light!

Are you trying to acclimate your corals or are you tring to perminantly reduce their light output? If you would like to reduce you light output, you could get a dimmable LED driver. That will extend the life of your LEDs and reduce the heat generated.

 

[misu]

Schwaggs;548006 wrote: Lets not forget that watts are not what is important, it is PAR. The Cree LEDs he is using are most likely more efficient than the Panarama LEDs, therefore he might have even more light!

that's why I put "rule of thumb" in there. Agreed on the panorama efficiency.

Schwaggs;548006 wrote: That will extend the life of your LEDs and reduce the heat generated.

cool they will last 25 years then

 

[slinky]

the problem is, even the low spot of the tank now are about 400 PAR. they are not dead, so I hope they can get used to the light eventually.

 

[oz]

I have encrusters from 150 - 450 PAR successfully. I agree it's an acclimation issue. If you want a smaller Superman/Supergirl/Rainbow/etc chip to try lower let me know.

 

[oz]

And the penetration numbers are interesting. VERY strong penetration through 75% of the tank and then drops in half in 3-4 inches. That's a good setup for mixed reef.

Can you dim the LED's?

 

[slinky]

nope, I can only raise it or lower it.

 

[slinky]

about a foot off the water surface. I use 70 degree.

 

[phi79]

What optic do you use?

 

[acroholic]

What number of whites and blues make up the LEDs?

 

[slinky]

Half and half. 70 degree optics.

 

[acroholic]

I had the 24" AquaIlluminations LED (2 modules) with 24 LEDs per module in a 2:1 ratio of
Cree XP-G White: Cree XR-E Blue. It was way too white. I had to dim the whites down to 30% and the blues to 100% to get even the slightest rendition in the 14-15K ratio. Plenty of PAR like what you have. Bleached out my corals, but the color was so terrible I sold the fixture after 6 weeks and went back to my Radium metal halide.

You are definitely better with the 1:1 ratio white/blue.