LED Lighting

[Anonymous]

Has anyone tried any of the newer LED replacement bulbsor strips? It sure seems like some of them are very bright. Yeah 6000K is about the closest I could find to a good reefy color, but it I could knock out even one of my 400W MH fixtures.....


http://www.theledlight.com/

 

[Anonymous]

I am actually oring LEDs for my tank and will try them out.

http://ledwholesalers.com/store/index.p ... ductId=407

They use optics to increase the output. They are one watt high output leds. They incorporated blue and white and give off a 12-14K color appearance. The only bad thing is that they are not on seperate power sources and must be lit together.

I will attempt one per 2 feet, but may increase it to 2 per 2 feet of tank depending on the spread.

 

[Anonymous]

I am actually oring LEDs for my tank and will try them out.

http://ledwholesalers.com/store/index.p ... ductId=407

They use optics to increase the output. They are one watt high output leds. They incorporated blue and white and give off a 12-14K color appearance. The only bad thing is that they are not on separate power sources and must be lit together.

I will attempt one per 2 feet, but may increase it to 2 per 2 feet of tank depending on the spread.

I was thinking about working one panel into my lighting scheme, and backing off hours on the MH. Eventually maybe going to 1 MH and LEDs on either side.

 

[Anonymous]

I'll let you know how they work out. You can also type "AQUARIUM LED LIGHTING" into YouTube and it has some LED systems and retros.

 

[Anonymous]

I'll let you know how they work out. You can also type "AQUARIUM LED LIGHTING" into YouTube and it has some LED systems and retros.

Please! That array looks good and is far less expensive than I thought it would be. Wonder how hard it would be to make a canopy out of them. Before you laff remember I am totally DIY challenged

 

[Chemical_Whore]

I wonder if they could be "ramped up"per se, like using a dimable x10 controller? LED's dont mine low voltage to them like a balast does for a MH, and I would think they would have MANY more operation hours then a MH. I wonder how well they keep there color temp and intensity....I think I might follow this to see if this is a good option to cut that power bill my MH had last time.

 

[Anonymous]

I'll let you know how they work out. You can also type "AQUARIUM LED LIGHTING" into YouTube and it has some LED systems and retros.

Please! That array looks good and is far less expensive than I thought it would be. Wonder how hard it would be to make a canopy out of them. Before you laff remember I am totally DIY challenged

I got the panels, but the spread is not very good. On nano tanks or slim tanks these lights would be perfect, but over my 125 it will take too many panels to cover it. The color they give is like a 14K bulb, it really makes the corals pop. If anyone is interested in them send me a PM.

You are right Lawdawg they would mount very easily in a DIY hood. They are already mounted on aluminum so the heat is easily whisked away by a fan.

 

[Anonymous]

I wonder if they could be "ramped up"per se, like using a dimable x10 controller? LED's dont mine low voltage to them like a balast does for a MH, and I would think they would have MANY more operation hours then a MH. I wonder how well they keep there color temp and intensity....I think I might follow this to see if this is a good option to cut that power bill my MH had last time.

You would have to see if these are dimmable, some are not. They will last many more hours than a MH bulb. They lose up to 30% after 50,000 hours, assuming you use cooling fans. That is approximately 10 years at 14 hours a day.

 

[Anonymous]

I got the panels, but the spread is not very good. On nano tanks or slim tanks these lights would be perfect, but over my 125 it will take too many panels to cover it. The color they give is like a 14K bulb, it really makes the corals pop. If anyone is interested in them send me a PM.

You are right Lawdawg they would mount very easily in a DIY hood. They are already mounted on aluminum so the heat is easily whisked away by a fan.

I have that 20H nano now, and I have to do something with lighting so I'll add that to my list of possibilities.

 

[Chemical_Whore]

in costs and replacement alone these would almost make it worth it to do these on any tank then sticking with MH. I already have 14k bulbs for my MH so I think when I start things back up (this summer I hope) that this might be the road I go for. and if they were dimmable that would be very awesome! Yeah I can see this being a very good thing for the hobby.

 

[Anonymous]

I got the panels, but the spread is not very good. On nano tanks or slim tanks these lights would be perfect, but over my 125 it will take too many panels to cover it. The color they give is like a 14K bulb, it really makes the corals pop. If anyone is interested in them send me a PM.

You are right Lawdawg they would mount very easily in a DIY hood. They are already mounted on aluminum so the heat is easily whisked away by a fan.

I have that 20H nano now, and I have to do something with lighting so I'll add that to my list of possibilities.

Two of those over a 20H would give a good spread.

I added these LEDs to the for Sale threads and I am adding them to EBay. There is no way for me to incorporate them over my 125 with out needing at least six panels. The optics(lenses) severely limit the spread of the lights, they are directed practically straight down. It is just not a practical solution to my lighting needs right now.

 

[Anonymous]

in costs and replacement alone these would almost make it worth it to do these on any tank then sticking with MH. I already have 14k bulbs for my MH so I think when I start things back up (this summer I hope) that this might be the road I go for. and if they were dimmable that would be very awesome! Yeah I can see this being a very good thing for the hobby.

Send an email to the manufacturer, they may be dimmable.

 

[drhyne]

Has anyone looked at the new 50 or 55W panels that are on eBay. I am strongly considering it. My MH is aging and is due for replacement. I need more light. I am looking at getting 3 of the 50 watt panels for $269. They would totally cover the top of my 65g AGA and hopefully fill in where my centered MH misses.

I am also looking at the 13 watt red blue to replace the CF's in my fuge. It would probably cut my electric by $50 a month.

Opinions?

D_.

 

[Microcosmos]

Intriguing!!! I like the concept, but I'm not a DIY'er either by any means. If I had the extra cash laying around though, I'd definitely put it into some LED's! I like the brightness of MH but I like the low heat and lower electricity use of LED's (and comparable brightness? that one I'm not sure about).

 

[Anonymous]

There are really powerful 3W LED's out now. The 1W ones aren't going to put out as much light as a MH, unless you have a LOT of LED's.

There's tons of info on DIY LED's. I'm about to build an 8.5"x8.5" fixture for my 20" cube. It should rival a 250 MH, and only cost about $200 when said and done. I'm guessing it's gonna use about 70W.

Build thread to follow, once I start.

B

 

[drhyne]

There are 2 fixtures that I am looking at. There is a panel that uses 32 1 watt LEDs for avout $150. There is another that uses 225 LEDS for a total of 50 or 55 watts for under $100. That one has a rated output of 1100 lumen at 2 very specific temperature ranges.

http://cgi.ebay.com/WHITE-BLUE-LED-Aqua ... 1e582d5c79
http://cgi.ebay.com/LED-Aquarium-Reef-G ... 335838891e

I have heard of people having success with the 1 watt version. DIY is a bit more difficult. The 225 LED panel is ready to be hung on mounted on rails. Professionally built systems that have 45 watts worth of light claim to be as bright as a 250W Halide. I am guessing that having 3 of these chinese made 55w should give me the equivalent to 3 halides. Also, I find that my corals that are directly below the halide bulb do very well. Anything off axis more than a few inches suffers. These panels are 12 x 12. That would give me coverage 1 foot wide over my entire tank.

BTW, my neighbor is a reefer ... THE OTHER KIND! He uses a red blue LED panel for his choice home grown. It's only 13 watts and keeps his plants very well lit in a sealed box!

I was just hoping to find someone else that has experimented with this before I plunk down $269 for 3 panels. It looks likeI might be the first! Well, maybe next month! I definitely want this done before summer. I fight High temps all summer long!

D_.

 

[Anonymous]

If I were the seller, I would pick a photo with more uniform bulb. See the black horse at (2,3) position?

 

[Anonymous]

Thing about LEDs is you can not simply do a watt for watt comparison and expect the same amount of light, 60 watts of 3W LEDs might put out more light than 60watts of 1W LEDs simply due to the inherent efficiencies of each LED.

One of the locals built his own setup, 130 watts or so of the Cree LEDs (36 total), cost about $300 for all the parts, he said it's equivalent/replacing a 250W radium. Personally I wouldn't use anything less than "3W" LEDs.

 

[Anonymous]

If I were the seller, I would pick a photo with more uniform bulb. See the black horse at (2,3) position?

I tried these leds they were not very bright and the lenses kept falling off. Cheap from China.

 

[drhyne]

The problem with building these on your own is that the components cost a fortune. I found 3W LEDS for about $15 EACH! At that price I will just stick with my halide and buy a better chiller! Output measurement on these are goofy too. If you ask for a 20K LED then you will get a device that gives you a huge spike of intensity at 20K and very little else. I am trying to just go by lumens so I can compare apples to apples with the factory fixtures that cost thousands!

Discuraging news about that panel. I expect poor quality. I was hoping someone would say it was comparable to a 250

D_.