E Lowther`s Lighting Upgrade!

So after much research and browsing around I have finally decided that I am going to upgrade my current T5 lighting to LED's. I personally believe LED's are going to be a much better long term solution for the lighting of my reef tank and with the control they provide while not having to continuously replace bulbs it should prove to be a worthy investment. I decided that Ecotech's Radion will be my light of choice due to all its many features and software that will allow me to have better control of the lighting. Today they should be arriving by FedEx truck and I am super excited to start playing with them. I am going to be documenting the colors of the corals as well as any increase/decrease in growth. I will continue this little experiment for the rest of the summer and I look forward to seeing what results of the change in lighting!

 

Sorry for the lack of updates over the weekend, but this weekend was my 21st birthday so of course I had to take a break from school and the fish tank to celebrate it properly in Ames with my friends! Anyway, on to the updates! Today I took my old canopy down, and removed the old T-5 lighting system and began to retrofit it for the Radion's. Then after that getting in place properly, I began playing around with the programs and seeing my colors my lights could make. I was able to program a 24hr light cycle that I really like so later this week I will get a video up of that! But here are some pics of the build from today.

 

First off, these lights do have quite a shocking price tag but the way i see it with T-5's I have to replace all four bulbs every six months so when the price of the bulb is around $35 dollars each that means I pay about $280 a year so why not bit the bullet once and get the equipment that is top of the line plus a one time buy. I am going to have to sell alot of frags to even get close to breaking even...

Mike, late next month we should be holding a GIRS meeting at my house and Alex (Killernights) is going to bring over his PAR meter.

 

More pics

 

Ok, so I want a little discussion on this. My lights are at a safe 6 inches away from the top of the water and I am starting my radions at 50% of intensity.Is that too high or too low to start with? How much should I increase it by and how quickly should I increase it? Also, tomorrow I will post my photo cycle time period and get some opinions on that but for now lets start with the intensity since that is a more pressing matter.