Marineland Reef LED light

[mr. limpid]

It's been two months since I switched over from my PC light to the Marineland Reef Capable LED and my corals are doing great. I have a 20gal. long reef, with Hammers; Zoos; Disc and Xenia. I have one fish a yellow tail damsel, I had two the guy that is left wanted his space. The only change I made was since the fixture sat very low it did not throw light from front to back. so I gutted my old PC, kept the fan active and placed the LED fixture directly on the lens of the old PC. This was good for two reasons raised the fixture so that it covered a larger foot print and protected the LED's from salt spray, since I do not want a lid on my reef. All corals are fully open and no bleaching occured, the only change is that the Xenia no longer pule but they are getting thicker bodies vs they used to be taller and thinner. The only faults I found with this fixture is that it sits to low, causing a narrow band of light and the last row of lights are 1" inside the fixtures minimum length. Which means an 18-24 fixture has LED's that are 16" overall width (just something to keep in mind if planning to use these fixtures). all in all I like the shimmer effect and the crispness of the light it throws off and my corals are happy. For softies I give this fixture a thumbs up.

 

[jerth6932]

Glad to see you like it! I got my grandma one for her fresh water tank and she loves it!! Glad to see someone using and sustaining things with it in SW!

 

[mr. limpid]

Update almost 3 months: I have the middle upper most hammer branch starting to melting away happen over a weeks time I believe it because it most of been directly over a light and its about 6" from fixture. so have moved it to a lower position to see if it comes back. Xena are still doing great and getting thicker and fuller everyday. I have starting moving the fixture from front to back so its not just hitting same spot all day.

 

[2quills]

How come your fixture looks so much different then the pictures I see of the marineland reef capable lighting system?

 

[mr. limpid]

I modified it because it sat so low it did not get light at the front and back of tank. I gutted an PC fixture to house the Marinland fixture.
Also the heads were opened up last night 1 head is half dead and the other show a little signs, the new growth is looking fine. All the other heads show no ill effects. I did notice the Zoos that are in the middle bottom of tank not open, going to move one (since it attached to shell) out of the direct light and see if that makes a difference.