stunner strip led's

[cMidd]

what would you recommend to go with 14k par38's.

also will they be ok suspended about 24-26" off my water level, if i purchased (or made) some reflectors for them?

LMK your thoughts..

[+mcallahan]

put them closer to your water level, for sure go for the reflectors if you go the stunner route.

The reflectors are cheap - I think $3-$5, so please don't waste your time and try to make your own for that price.

And...if you are running a panorama strip (from ecoxotic) that should be plenty for actinic supplementation over your seahorse tank.

[+Hydro]

I bought reef brite LEDs and I'm very happy with them. They come in a reflector.

[JamesL]

Like Mark said, the reflectors you can get for the stunners are cheap (in price), but work very well. The just snap on to the stunners. I have them on my 4 over the tank, and like how they direct the light.

[cMidd]

Ok, so will 24" be ok or will the light just spill. The panorama is on my 75 now b

[DaJMasta]

Like Mark said, the reflectors you can get for the stunners are cheap (in price), but work very well. The just snap on to the stunners. I have them on my 4 over the tank, and like how they direct the light.

Out of curiosity, do they really do anything? I know the stunners don't use optics, but LEDs are very directional light sources on their own, how much difference do the reflectors really make other than keeping the spread a little reigned in?

In this case, because your LEDs will be so high over the tank, I would opt for a different actinic supplementation method: PAR30s or PAR38s. Get some all blue bulbs and mount them up with the PAR38s. Because the stunners use LEDs on a lower intensity level than the ones in the PAR bulbs and because they don't use optics, they will not get good depth penetration from that distance and you'll end up having to buy more of them because the effect of each will be minimal. Because you can select the LED configuration exactly, I would suggest something like BoostLED's PAR30s.

[cMidd]

Awesome thankyou Daj.

[+mcallahan]

I've got my stunners hanging 12" over my solana and I get plenty of light at the bottom of the tank.

[JamesL]

Like Mark said, the reflectors you can get for the stunners are cheap (in price), but work very well. The just snap on to the stunners. I have them on my 4 over the tank, and like how they direct the light.

Out of curiosity, do they really do anything? I know the stunners don't use optics, but LEDs are very directional light sources on their own, how much difference do the reflectors really make other than keeping the spread a little reigned in?

I am using them as dawn/dusk lighting. I have two blue strips, and two ultraviolet ones. They really make the corals pop when the metal halides are off.

[stoneroller]

I made my own reflector and mounted three stunners together -- one 403 (almost UV), one blue, and one 8k. They rest about two inches off the water surface of a 3.5 g nano. Growing SPS! I'd like another wallwart to control the white but that's another $25 or so. Love 'em.

[+mcallahan]

I made my own reflector and mounted three stunners together -- one 403 (almost UV), one blue, and one 8k. They rest about two inches off the water surface of a 3.5 g nano. Growing SPS! I'd like another wallwart to control the white but that's another $25 or so. Love 'em.

which tank of yours is this one?

[cMidd]

Ok...so would it work 24" above the water? Gahhhh. To much money to buy and just have all the light spill

[stoneroller]

I personally think 24" is too far away for the stunners. I raised mine up to two feet, disconnected the white and UV -- not much penetration or color but just a little radiant glow from a green polyp acro and a green candycane. Wasn't impressive IMO at 24.

Mark, stunners are on a DIY all-in-one acrylic nano, 3.5 g, in my son's room.

[DaJMasta]

I agree. Mostly I said the PAR bulbs would be a better choice because the intensity of lensed PAR38s for your mains will be greater than most MH setups or really any T5 setup short of a really excessive amount of bulbs. It's really difficult to compete with intensity against Crees or equivalents running at 1A+ with optics - with coverage or overall output - sure - but the area under the spot of the PAR38s won't be all that affected by stunners simply because of the difference in intensity... just like 2 or 3 T5 actinics would give a nice blue hue to the tank but the spots under the PAR38s would still be 15-16k (by my estimate, at least).

If you're not using the stunners with the mains, they would be an excellent choice for even coverage and color configuration (there's lots of options and they will give a much less spotlight-y diffused look)... but using high powered PAR38s as the mains I just don't think they'd be able to compete.