Cali Kid Corals

LED Light on my Pico...

tr1gger

tr1gger

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So I have been struggling with my lighting on my pico for a while now. I figure I would finally reach out for some advice since the dealer doesn't really seem to know much about their equipment. I know everyone has HUGE tanks, so maybe this will be fun for you guys to step back for a second and try to imagine my little ole' tank that has less water in it than a 5 gallon bucket ;)

Here is my current light, it is a ReefBreeders PAR38 w/Gooseneck. It has the following layout on 90 deg. optics

6 450nm royal blues
2 420nm violets
1 660nm deep red
3 4500K neutral whites

AD0K4cT.jpg


It is EXTREMELY hard for me to get a photo to show the true color. Most of everything I take is purple :/

So my real questions are...

  • Height of the light from the water
  • 90 Deg, 120 Deg or No Optics

The photo above (Older, a lot has change IN the tank so don't take that as my current layout :p) shows it with the optics on it. I did a small experiment tonight with no optics and it has way less of a spotlight effect on the tank and less shadowy areas. I cant get the light any higher without buying some type of hanging kit.

So anyone out there with some LED experience that can look and figure out if what I have going is right or wrong would be awesome. Higher? Lower? Better Optics? Different light all together? I can get more pics together if need be. Thanks!
 
overall what's wright or rong :)D) depends upon if your corals will grow/like the conditions. Secondary are things like viewing aesthetics, things like spot lighting, disco balling, light spillage.

So what I would do is adjust it so you like it the looks, then see how the corals respond. If you're slamming them with too much light, they will bleach out quit quickly. Not enough light, it might take a bit longer to notice changes. Overall though I think you're fine for what I see.
 
Tank looks great Dan!

The optics are really to assist in penetrating your water. They are made for tanks deeper than say 24". I had 90' optics on my 110 gallon tall that was 29" deep and was able to grow LPS on the bottom.

I think for your 5 gallon that the optics are WAY overkill. If you like them, I would suggest you raise the light as much as you can. I think NO optics would be the most appropriate for your tank. Sometimes that can cause a bit more light spill than you might want, but as far as lighting your coral, prolly the best. For a tank that size.......if you ever decide to change, I would look into the rapid LED kits that you can customize the shape, size and amount of light.

If the coral's are digging it though.........don't listen to me. LOL!
 
I agree w/ previous posts- I think you have potentially too much light, but depends on what corals you want to keep. for the form factor of your tank you could go with a small LED strip; reefbrite 8", panoramic or similar ones. For using your PAR38 I'd go w/ no optics at first and see how it works, I doubt you'll need them.
 
sfsuphysics said:
Overall though I think you're fine for what I see.
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Appreciate it, Its very difficult to tell on a small tank like this :)


Kmooresf said:
I think NO optics would be the most appropriate for your tank. Sometimes that can cause a bit more light spill than you might want...
Click to expand...

Thanks for the compliments Kris. I took the optics out last night. Everything does seems a bit more cheerful this morning but the light spillage into the room is ridiculous!


CookieJar said:
You could go with a small LED strip; reefbrite 8", panoramic or similar ones. For using your PAR38 I'd go w/ no optics at first and see how it works, I doubt you'll need them.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice, I will def. look at those products!
 
Seems like a decent light. But a bit of a point source, and might be overkill on PAR.
Borrow the club PAR meter!

For that size tank, there is no need for optics as far as penetration.
However, your big problem may be light spill.
If you are standing next to the tank with no optics, you may get a ton of glare.
So probably about right as-us,. Maybe a bit lower.

My wild guess at ideal:
I think 3 small clusters would be better, fairly equally spaced lengthwise, with 60 deg optics.
Each cluster being ( 2 RB, 1 NW, 1 Violet. )
Dimmable, and/or probably running at 500mA or even less.
 
Wow, you have a lot of LEDs for that pico. I actually only run 9 LEDs for my 20L and I think it's definitely enough. However, I have them spread across an 18" heatsink and the entire lighting is offset slightly to account for the Remora skimmer on the left side. I think that setup is pretty good but I have 80 degree lenses. If you decide to go with something more focused, you'll probably want to raise the lighting a bit. If it were me, since the space is so confined, I'd probably go with something more focused and some sort of combination of raising the lights and increasing/decreasing the light intensity.
 
I ended up taking the optics out and going with a full spread on the tank. I raised the light as high as the arm would go and re-aquascaped the tank for a center island design with a cave for the shrimp. It seems to be a LOT better for the corals and the overall appearance for the tank.

NbiT6Heh.jpg


I am going to start working on a 5-6" hood to contain light spillage. Everything seems to be getting better :)
 
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