LED lights...why doesn't anyone do this?

thommyboy121

thommyboy121

New Member
So, I was thinking....why can't we just take a string of LED christmas lights, bunch them together in a tight area, and point them towards our reef tank...would that not help the growth and coloration of corals? Then, I went on to read that christmas lights don't have the same output (but they DO have some output, are cheaper, and probably could give off as much PAR right?). Has anyone tried this? just to test it out? Anyhow, I also looked into this: http://www.theledlight.com/par38.html ...would this not work either? Why not?
 
acrylic51

acrylic51

Active Member
There was a thread on the other big site. He did use Christmas lights, but not sure of outcome though. You could try to search it and check it out.
 
swimmer4uus

swimmer4uus

Member
From what I remember about the guy who tried this, way too much work, for too little output, no matter what he did. Great idea, and at first I myself tried it, but not the best option.
 
flower

flower

Well-Known Member

If you don’t want to spend the money on expensive lights you can select coral with little to no need for light. These have very bright beautiful color and do take some extra care in water changes, but so worth it. Spanko offered a picture some time ago. The tank looked so fantastic and they are all low light coral you could keep under regular fish lights.
I am trying to attach an image..I don't know if it will work with the new SWF.com system.
 
acrylic51

acrylic51

Active Member
The guy who had the thread did have success with growth in his coral and such, but he did find some short comings to it, and I think in the end it was a mechanical issue with the tan and not the lights....Might, be wrong...if I come across the thread I'll read alittle more.....
 
acrylic51

acrylic51

Active Member
The guy I was referring to his name is PHurst.....He started the setup and ran it for roughly months....He kept softies, zoas, xenia, and finger leathers in the small tank. In his thread he did state exactly what style of christmas lights he used....Off the top of my head I think they were the Philips brand. On his thread he should multiple pics of the progress of the tank and coral and had success with getting coraline algae to start as well. He needed room for a frag setup and gave the setup to a person in his reef club and she was suppose to update the thread, but hasn't to this point. You might want to try to PM him over on the other site and see if he has any updated information on the tank.
 
thommyboy121

thommyboy121

New Member
one last question.... do actinic lights serve any purpose other than providing blue light to make a more realistic and aesthetic look to the tank? In other words, do they aid in coral growth or the actual color of corals? The reason I ask is because I have 4 X 54 watt T5 lights (2 white 2 actinic) and was wondering if I could boost color by putting in 4 white t5s and supplementing the with led christmas lights for blue color. THIS is the reason I was looking into LEDs. I wasn't ever planning on making an all LED system, or depend on them to make my corals happy.
 
kraylen

kraylen

Member
Originally Posted by acrylic51
http:///forum/post/3270223
You should check out Phurst build thread....not tacky done rather neatly.
Not a fan, if you want to use LEDs there are plenty of cheaper options on DIY set ups with real LEDs... Xmas lights are for trees.. not reef tanks. I would rather put Xmas lights on my car.
 
acrylic51

acrylic51

Active Member

Originally Posted by Kraylen
http:///forum/post/3270334
Not a fan, if you want to use LEDs there are plenty of cheaper options on DIY set ups with real LEDs... Xmas lights are for trees.. not reef tanks. I would rather put Xmas lights on my car.
 
thommyboy121

thommyboy121

New Member
do actinic lights serve any purpose other than providing blue light to make a more realistic and aesthetic look to the tank? In other words, do they aid in coral growth or the ACTUAL color of corals? The reason I ask is because I have 4 X 54 watt T5 lights (2 white 2 actinic) and was wondering if I could boost ACTUAL color by putting in 4 white t5s and supplementing the with led christmas lights for blue color. THIS is the reason I was looking into LEDs. I wasn't ever planning on making an all LED system, or depend on them to make my corals happy.
in other words: do actinics contribute to PAR/ coral growth/ actual coral color? If not, then why can't I just put some blue lights to make the aesthetic and realistic reef coloration?
 
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