Flippers reef 125 gallon

[GoVols]

Lights done. Light intensity is set low for acclimation with corals. I'm now running 395 UV's, so slow and steady. It's "more crisp" looking to me in person than what the pictures show.

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I love it.

I looks great Don,

Glad thinks went smooth and thanks for sharing.

If you don't mind:
How old was your leds, before you replaced them?

 

[Flippers4pups]

Just did 20g last night plus 10g fw rodi for the ato. ZzZzZzZz

Water change done. Had to order new tires for my wife's car. I need them soon too, in a couple months.

Now to change the water in the beta tanks. Grandkids have betas.

 

[Flippers4pups]

I looks great Don,

Glad thinks went smooth and thanks for sharing.

If you don't mind:
How old was your leds, before you replaced them?

Whites since 2016, blues around two years.

 

[Flippers4pups]

I figure I should post this here too, since not everyone will go on the "modded black box" thread. Anyone that has LED's on their tank should understand what's going on:

"Maybe @Dana Riddle can chime in on this as I haven't heard much of anything spoken on this subject. At least in the hobby. LED's will degrade. They may light close to the manufacturers claims of hours of use before they "burn out", but there will be a decrease in intensity and will color shift.

This is VERY important to us in the hobby, not so much in household lighting.

LED's degrade very slowly, so slow that we don't notice the decrease in intensity and color shift. Our corals will adjust to this slowly over time, to a point. This all has to do with heat and its effects on diodes. Cracks, delamination and heat effects on the phosphor coatings placed on the surface of these chips to achieve the color.

THIS HAPPENS TO ALL REEF LED FIXTURES. HIGH-END TO CHEAP FIXTURES!

With anything we buy, more expensive manufacturers of fixtures may use better manufacturing techniques and materials, but in time they will loose intensity and experience color shift. It's just going to happen.

Manufacturers of these fixtures, especially high end/expensive, regularly release "next gen" models in hopes that you will upgrade to them. As they don't sell replacement parts, led PCB boards, led diodes, drivers......etc. We've all seen this where owners will sell their "last gen" fixtures to help buy the "next gen" fixtures. Anyway, you get the picture.

Refreshing a PCB board with new leds, say every couple years will keep your corals happy and save you money in the long run!"

 

[Peace River]

I figure I should post this here too, since not everyone will go on the "modded black box" thread. Anyone that has LED's on their tank should understand what's going on:

"Maybe @Dana Riddle can chime in on this as I haven't heard much of anything spoken on this subject. At least in the hobby. LED's will degrade. They may light close to the manufacturers claims of hours of use before they "burn out", but there will be a decrease in intensity and will color shift.

This is VERY important to us in the hobby, not so much in household lighting.

LED's degrade very slowly, so slow that we don't notice the decrease in intensity and color shift. Our corals will adjust to this slowly over time, to a point. This all has to do with heat and its effects on diodes. Cracks, delamination and heat effects on the phosphor coatings placed on the surface of these chips to achieve the color.

THIS HAPPENS TO ALL REEF LED FIXTURES. HIGH-END TO CHEAP FIXTURES!

With anything we buy, more expensive manufacturers of fixtures may use better manufacturing techniques and materials, but in time they will loose intensity and experience color shift. It's just going to happen.

Manufacturers of these fixtures, especially high end/expensive, regularly release "next gen" models in hopes that you will upgrade to them. As they don't sell replacement parts, led PCB boards, led diodes, drivers......etc. We've all seen this where owners will sell their "last gen" fixtures to help buy the "next gen" fixtures. Anyway, you get the picture.

Refreshing a PCB board with new leds, say every couple years will keep your corals happy and save you money in the long run!"

Excellent feedback! Thanks for sharing! I'm assuming that you would be able to see the difference over time with a PAR meter?

 

[Tahoe61]

The tank looks amazing Don. Fantastic large established corals.

 

[Flippers4pups]

Excellent feedback! Thanks for sharing! I'm assuming that you would be able to see the difference over time with a PAR meter?

This should be the case. Especially around the 10,000 hour range. One would need to measure when new and measure a year, at second year....etc. Intensity would be easier to measure, the color shift is a different story.

The tank looks amazing Don. Fantastic large established corals.

Thank you Cheryl! It's a pleasure seeing your post!

 

[RichtheReefer21]

Thanks for sharing the knowledge sir.

I suppose my numbers are lower under the pur and par readings I have done in comparison to the brand new fixtures from a.i... this will definitely go on my maintenance list in the years to come.

Thanks again.

 

[Peace River]

This should be the case. Especially around the 10,000 hour range. One would need to measure when new and measure a year, at second year....etc. Intensity would be easier to measure, the color shift is a different story.

Thank you for the feedback. How would you measure the color to determine a color shift over time?

 

[Flippers4pups]

Thank you for the feedback. How would you measure the color to determine a color shift over time?

With a spectroradiometer. I don't think we as hobbyist would or could afford one. They run several thousand dollars.

Taking what is reported from the lighting industry, they loose intensity and color shift with time.

 

[Peace River]

With a spectroradiometer. I don't think we as hobbyist would or could afford one. They run several thousand dollars.

Taking what is reported from the lighting industry, they loose intensity and color shift with time.

That makes sense. Thank you for the response!

Edit: If I understand correctly a spectroradiometer measure the nanometer (nm) level of the light. Is this correct?

 

[Flippers4pups]

That makes sense. Thank you for the response!

Edit: If I understand correctly a spectroradiometer measure the nanometer (nm) level of the light. Is this correct?

Yes

 

[NDIrish]

Thanks

What thermal paste did you use? I was thinking of Gelid GC-extreme.
Sorry with all the questions but I'm not that familiar with leds.
Thanks,

 

[Flippers4pups]

What thermal paste did you use? I was thinking of Gelid GC-extreme.
Sorry with all the questions but I'm not that familiar with leds.
Thanks,

The Modified Black Box Thread

The light is 8" from the waterline and 24" to the sand bed. I'm also trying to cover 30" width so I'm thinking I may need use 120s. I was curious about effect of lenses, so went into the lab to take a look. I used a 3-watt green LED (easy to see) and took a PAR measurement with no lens and...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[NDIrish]

The Modified Black Box Thread

The light is 8" from the waterline and 24" to the sand bed. I'm also trying to cover 30" width so I'm thinking I may need use 120s. I was curious about effect of lenses, so went into the lab to take a look. I used a 3-watt green LED (easy to see) and took a PAR measurement with no lens and...

www.reef2reef.com

Thanks. Although after reading it, there is no need if mars aqua is smd.

 

[Flippers4pups]

Thanks. Although after reading it, there is no need if mars aqua is smd.

Correct, I believe.

 

[Flippers4pups]

Last night I'm looking at my tank and thinking something is missing. Shimmer. I didn't put any of my lenses back on during my diode replacement. Pulled a fixture, one by one, and added six lenses over the 13000k's. Shimmer is back! I'm very pleased with the look.

Corals are doing very well and go figure, the big montipora has its white edges back. Like it needs to grow anymore! Wife said I've got to do something with it and the monster toadstool. She said they are going to grow out of the tank! Lol

 

[NDIrish]

Last night I'm looking at my tank and thinking something is missing. Shimmer. I didn't put any of my lenses back on during my diode replacement. Pulled a fixture, one by one, and added six lenses over the 13000k's. Shimmer is back! I'm very pleased with the look.

Corals are doing very well and go figure, the big montipora has its white edges back. Like it needs to grow anymore! Wife said I've got to do something with it and the monster toadstool. She said they are going to grow out of the tank! Lol

Thanks showing me the block box thread. I looked before and didn't find it.

What decision did you make about your sand? Did you add the Fiji pink?

 

[Flippers4pups]

Thanks showing me the block box thread. I looked before and didn't find it.

What decision did you make about your sand? Did you add the Fiji pink?

Your welcome!

Caribsea aragonite special grade.

 

[Flippers4pups]

Lenses installed. Definitely some "shimmer"!