Evergrow (Chinese Lights)

[FastUno]

I purchased one of these & I just don't get it. Results have been less than favorable. This is all on an experimental 30g tank (aside from my 75g tank).

http://www.ebay.com/itm/330900426092?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649


I only did 15% & even less White initially & 15% blue. I never got past that due to the results below:

-2 Hadonni carpet anems (Very moody & they would close up from size of dinner plates to size of a silver dollar. I had never seen that in a carpet anem before.

-Anthelia (Just did not want to open up fully). 1-4 polyps opened & no more.

-Zoa (Fine under LED)

-Duncan (Fine under LED), but they look so much more opened on MH.


I did have the lights right on top of the tank though, so if anything it might be that. I just added my 150W DE MH in place of them & BAM. Like magic my carpets look so healthy & opened & the anthelia is fully opened & happy as it should be.

I have seen 2 other tanks with these LED fixtures, but the older blue/white only LED's.

Guy 1: Does 50% White & no more & 60-80% blue & he says he can pretty much grow anything. Awesome coraline & nice tank.

Guy 2: Does 15% max white & 80% max blue & has a variation of corals, with only a few corals having a hard time.

 

[duromega]

well,
I recently ordered one on ebay and I sent it back same day it came in
I didn't like it I feel this is a cheap overpriced LED fixture

 

[Rob&Gab]

well how long ago did you do the switch from MH to led? they could be shocked? i might be wrong tho. they might just not like the lighting.

 

[FastUno]

I had the anem in my 75g sump initially & it was fine and perfectly healthy. Then I moved him over & he was fine for a few days.

Then one day all of a sudden one of them is so small. My Percula clowns are swimming around happy as can be though.

I put on the MH yesterday afternoon, after 1+ week of LED's. That evening everything looked so healthier & today they are just stunning.

I LOVE these fixtures & I think the build quality is excellent for the money. Biggest bang for you buck & I want them to work. I am surprised you found them to be of poor quality? Maybe you got a knock off of a knock off?

I have now seen a few tanks with LED's & the closest thing that I have seen to MH lighting are the Kessil A360's.

 

[Rob&Gab]

what did you have your LED's TUned in at i forget what you told me.

 

[FastUno]

I had it tuned in at first 7-8% white & 10-15% blue for 3-4 days and then 15% white & 15 blue for another 3-4 days.

Funny, I just looked at my anthelias now with the MH off & after a few minutes they look just as they did under the LED's with the last 15% each setting. So maybe they are not getting enough light, since they look the same way when my MH lights turn off after an hour or so.

 

[lnevo]

So you were only at 15% and your nems werent getting enough light so you switched back after one week to full MH? Sounds like you they weren't getting enough light and you had a lot more room to grow. I would have continued acclimating and gone brighter faster... Also everyone needs time to get used to it...one week is not a long time in the grand scheme..

 

[Reef Reaper]

Everything improved in my tank immediately. (From par38 led to evergrow)

 

[peteyboyny]

I just picked up some of the older Chinese units from another member yesterday. This is a test run with LEDs for me. Made a hanging kit (needs bracing to keep it from sagging in the middle). Mine aren't dimmable. Switched out the lights (from t5's)midday. I know one day isn't enough to tell, but everyone in my tank seems to be very happy so far (mixed reef - LPS dominant). We'll see. So far so good.

 

[peteyboyny]

Lights on.

 

[FastUno]

peteyboyny, the older ones with blue & white LED's only right? I saw 2 tanks do OK with the older ones. Please come back & let us know how your corals do and which corals do great vs which ones you simply cannot seem to grow. Nice color & tank, what setting you have white & blue on?

Here is my anthelia after 1 hr of MH off. They looked the same with 15% white & blue LED's on for most of the day...meaning they simply did not want to open up fully, only a few polyps opened.

I bet with all that was said the newer full spectrum are less powerful & we need to raise the output higher then.

Before that I tested a set of what appeared to be awesome Fluval Sea LED. At least 4 of my corals bleached in just one day. I had them on a few hours (2-4) only at the beginning & all was fine. Then one day I left most of the day & when I got back the corals looked lighter. The next day even lighter & I stopped the LED's. Mind you that I have a lot of different corals in my tank & only the lower light loving ones bleached. 2x Zoas that were on the top level & bottom, colt, & hairy mushrooms. All other corals were fine.

Mind you that the Fluval Sea is a fixture you place directly on the top of the tank & there is no dimming capability.

So with this experience & based on other MR experience, I started the Evergrow's really low. Maybe I just needed to increase light. It seems like such a gamble, when all I did with my 150W DE MH fixture is simply turn it on & leave for 8-10 hrs. There is not much electricity difference between the 120W LED with 3x fans & the 150W MH with 2 fans.

 

[lnevo]

At 15% power the lights are only 1/10 of what your tank was used to. Kudos on going slow. Perhaps starting at 30% and going to 75% in two weeks may have been a better slope to try. And you would probably need to go close to full power to match those MH.

 

[peteyboyny]

I wouldn't think going from MH to LED would need that low % to acclimate. My units aren't dimmable, so I don't have many options. I would increase the % on yours. And yes, they're the older blue and white units.

 

[d5332]

From everything I've read in regards to lighting in general when switching lights things need to be aclimmated, expecially with LEDs.

For some reason, the intensity of LEDs can spook even the fish.

Many people seem to have the D120 and after acclimmation everything opens up and appears to be fine and growing.

15% of anything is very dim, not many corals or inverts would open up at that, if you are not returning it give the LED unit another try and to what others do, acclimate over a two week period or something similar.

 

[homegrowncichlid]

well,
I recently ordered one on ebay and I sent it back same day it came in
I didn't like it I feel this is a cheap overpriced LED fixture

Wow, at $165 this is one third of the cost of a Radion. What do you mean cheap overpriced? Looks like prices have finally come down and suppliers are becoming competetive. Are you saying the Evergrow is still overpriced? Poor build quality? Maybe the wavelenths are a bit off? not quite 10K or 450?
At these prices, I may have to switch from my T5 next year instead of buying new bulbs.

Need more reviews and information.

 

[FastUno]

I offered $160 for them & got them for that (FREE SHIPPING). I think it is excellent quality FOR THE PRICE.

Thanks for your inputs. That was exactly what I was trying to do, start low & go slow. As was said perhaps I needed to crank it up a bit. After one carpets got small & then one of the carpets started to detach, I had enough & went to 150W MH.

BTW, the 2 carpets came from a nano tank with AI nano LED's. They were a very small fixture with only blue/white light & they opened up just fine in this persons tank. So they really did not go from MH to LED. They were always in LED, just from AI to chinese. All the other corals went from 250W MH (75g tank) to LED's (30g tank).

I wanted to do a test run for everyone & post on this forum. I wanted to take frags from my main tank & see how they compared to chinese LED on the experimental tank.

 

[Rob&Gab]

this is the really good evergrow. allot of people have them and this is what im planing on getting for my girlfriends upgrade.

the it2040 bit pricey but well worth it. full SPEC's and all.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Evergrow-IT...582?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f2a11416e


Right now my girlfriend is running tao tronic's (chines LED) blue/white 50/50, shes had them from the start of our reefing journey and this fixture has done wonders to the corals there not the best lights but it is a bang for your buck, back when she got it, it was around 200+ and then shipping. but they are very nice. They call her from time to time to make sure the lights are okay and nothing is wrong with them. here is the link to them There the best of the best yet for the "CHINES LED's" the growth rate and color in all the coral have really taken off its amazing.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0092LXQRM/?tag=reefs04-20

 

[homegrowncichlid]

WOW, there's a hugh forum on this on reefcentral, and people are excited about the D120. The it2040 looks awesome and the price point is pretty good. Their website doesn't seem up to date, still listing the it120 (i touch series?). Anyway, I may be retiring my T5s next year.

 

[lnevo]

Yeah from my research the D120 is the best bang for the buck right now and the best combo of lights for full spectrum.

Also back to the OP. It could take several months too for your corals to fully acclimate once you get the dimming where they need to be.

 

[Rob&Gab]

also forgot to add she runs her lights at 20% white 60% blue and then after 5 hours of light being on she tunes them down to like 15%white 50%blue.

tank is 25"High