Going from PC's to LED's should I acclimate the coral?

cam78

cam78

Active Member
Im going from a Current USA PC fixture to 2 Aqua Illumination Sol Blue LED light. Is there a concern of burning or damaging coral with these new lights? I know I can control the intensity of the new LED's but don't want to put out too little light or too much. Any suggestions? Anyone deal with this before? These will be suspended over a 120 reef. 48" x 48" x 24. Should I acclimate the intensity of the lights slowly? Is this necessary?
 
J

jstdv8

Guest
dfinatly, if they aren't dimable and I don't think they are maybe you could start with the LED's up off the water a ways and move them down over a week or so a little at a time.
 
cam78

cam78

Active Member
Well the intensity can be controlled so I guess I could play with that. Problem is knowing what power I was at to what Im gonna have. This is gonna be annoying Im sure
 
acrylic51

acrylic51

Active Member
I would just dim the lights a good bit and slowly over weeks work them up to your liking....Or as suggested raising them up would work as well, but you could do both as well.
 
cam78

cam78

Active Member
But how do I know at what intensity to start at? I would like to start at the same intensity as the PC I have now. Ya know what I mean?
 
2quills

2quills

Well-Known Member
Probably no way to tell for sure unless you got your hands on a par meter. I would probably start out with a little less than half power and try that for a week. If everything looks ok maybe raise it up just a touch and then try that for a week..and so on and so on. Just a thought.
 
J

jstdv8

Guest
I'm going to guess that half power on good LED's will be stronger than good PC's. Just a guess, I have no proof of this at all.
But if you figure that PC's generally aren't sufficient to keep anemones but metal halides are. And LED's are somewhere right at the power of MH's maybe even brighter/harsher. There must be a line in there. I'd say they would be about the same at 50% as your PC's at full
 
acrylic51

acrylic51

Active Member
Have you searched for a meter? I think I remember looking at the Apogee or Opagee (spelling), but price wasn't that bad...
 
cam78

cam78

Active Member
Acrylic: I just spent about $1500 on lights. The last thing I wanna buy is another $300 meter. LOL. here is my question though. I hooked up the Sol Blues. Everyone says run them at 50% or less to acclimate. I have three options. White output, Blue and Purple output. What will burn the coral? All colors or just the white?
Right now I think I have white 50% Blue 70% and Purple at 70%. It looks great and bright. Is this what the power output is? There is no "Power level option" Am I clear with the question?
 
acrylic51

acrylic51

Active Member
I would run all at 50%. Not really sure which would cause more harm, but safe bet would be to take them all down to 1/2 or just under. How close are they mounted to the water surface? Your power output would be your dimming ability over each color if that make some sense.
 
2quills

2quills

Well-Known Member
I would assume that it is a safe bet to say that the 3watt bulb fixture is going to be at least twice as intense and penetrate at least twice as deep as the the pc's. So I would start at half the output, if not a little less as Shawn stated at first. The corals won't adjust over night. The output should be brought up slowly over the course of a few weeks. From what I understand corals will usually respond rather quickly to the new lights in one way or another. If it's not enough light you should be able to see some noticeable differences within the first couple of days.
 
cam78

cam78

Active Member
Well to be honest with the way it is set now, 50% 70% and 70% it appears a little dark.. The color is outstanding but it definitely does not light op the room like it used to. I understand because the WHites are at 50% and there is more blues than before but the coral was opened up and looking alright. I wonder if the blues need to be toned down too? I wonder if they would burn a coral like the whites would. I wonder who would know this. The lights are awesome though. Real nice color and not nearly powered up to what they could do. I wonder if I call AI if they could give me more info on the acclimation? They put a warning on the product to acclimate so they must know something.
 
2quills

2quills

Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by CAM78 http:///forum/thread/383190/going-from-pc-s-to-led-s-should-i-acclimate-the-coral#post_3352098
Well to be honest with the way it is set now, 50% 70% and 70% it appears a little dark.. The color is outstanding but it definitely does not light op the room like it used to. I understand because the WHites are at 50% and there is more blues than before but the coral was opened up and looking alright. I wonder if the blues need to be toned down too? I wonder if they would burn a coral like the whites would. I wonder who would know this. The lights are awesome though. Real nice color and not nearly powered up to what they could do. I wonder if I call AI if they could give me more info on the acclimation? They put a warning on the product to acclimate so they must know something.

What do you mean by darker, are you trying to light up the room or light up the tank? The light is more focused now and that's why you need to be careful. I don't recal the manufacturers specs off hand but are the white being driven at lower milliamps than the blues?
 
cam78

cam78

Active Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by 2Quills http:///forum/thread/383190/going-from-pc-s-to-led-s-should-i-acclimate-the-coral#post_3352100
Quote:
Originally Posted by CAM78 http:///forum/thread/383190/going-from-pc-s-to-led-s-should-i-acclimate-the-coral#post_3352098
Well to be honest with the way it is set now, 50% 70% and 70% it appears a little dark.. The color is outstanding but it definitely does not light op the room like it used to. I understand because the WHites are at 50% and there is more blues than before but the coral was opened up and looking alright. I wonder if the blues need to be toned down too? I wonder if they would burn a coral like the whites would. I wonder who would know this. The lights are awesome though. Real nice color and not nearly powered up to what they could do. I wonder if I call AI if they could give me more info on the acclimation? They put a warning on the product to acclimate so they must know something.

What do you mean by darker, are you trying to light up the room or light up the tank? The light is more focused now and that's why you need to be careful. I don't recal the manufacturers specs off hand but are the white being driven at lower milliamps than the blues?
The Milliamps? Wow. I have no idea. Barker I mean the PC's before lit up the tank and the whole room. They were very bright white inside the tank and out. Thats what I meant.
 
2quills

2quills

Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by CAM78 http:///forum/thread/383190/going-from-pc-s-to-led-s-should-i-acclimate-the-coral#post_3352102
Quote:
Originally Posted by 2Quills http:///forum/thread/383190/going-from-pc-s-to-led-s-should-i-acclimate-the-coral#post_3352100
Quote:
Originally Posted by CAM78 http:///forum/thread/383190/going-from-pc-s-to-led-s-should-i-acclimate-the-coral#post_3352098
Well to be honest with the way it is set now, 50% 70% and 70% it appears a little dark.. The color is outstanding but it definitely does not light op the room like it used to. I understand because the WHites are at 50% and there is more blues than before but the coral was opened up and looking alright. I wonder if the blues need to be toned down too? I wonder if they would burn a coral like the whites would. I wonder who would know this. The lights are awesome though. Real nice color and not nearly powered up to what they could do. I wonder if I call AI if they could give me more info on the acclimation? They put a warning on the product to acclimate so they must know something.

What do you mean by darker, are you trying to light up the room or light up the tank? The light is more focused now and that's why you need to be careful. I don't recal the manufacturers specs off hand but are the white being driven at lower milliamps than the blues?
The Milliamps? Wow. I have no idea. Barker I mean the PC's before lit up the tank and the whole room. They were very bright white inside the tank and out. Thats what I meant.
Milliamps/mA...sorry, dumb question. Ofcorse they are, I wasn't thinking. Most of the diy rigs are done pushing 350mA on the whites and like 750mA on the blues. Probably not relivant I was just currious. The flourescents broadcast light in every direction, the led's are focused more to a localized spot as I asume they are using optics on them. It couldn't hurt to send the manufacturer an email for sure.
 
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