400 gallons of saltwater running through my house.

[dsmhero]

See what I mean? Overpriced....for ****s and giggles I will price out a DIY for Devons tank just to see what the price would be....

Just because I like to play devils advocate, in a DIY the only thing that would go out would be either a few LED's(doubtful if soldered correctly and cooled correctly) and a driver...an LED is $3.50 and a new driver is $34. I just don't see much of an advantage with a warranty.

 

[CarlaW]

did you read the articles that Kevin posted about what Sanjay says. According to him, they really haven't made a system for large systems, and that is another thing that holds me back. I don't know what the long term would be, as far as to what the coral would do with them.

 

[DevonM]

Holy *****************, Lets see..................... 3 grand, is 15 months of total electricity for the house. I am gonna wait until the cost comes down. I am sorry, them things ain't that golden. They are nce tho

Thanks for the compliments! I just designed and set this up for a gentleman in Polson. It was my old In-wall display, with some serious eupgrades.

Well, they have been on the tank for a few months now and they have their pros and cons... mostly pros

Love the adjustibility when used in conjunction with a controller... He is using a ReefKeeper Elite with the ALC module to control them, and between the sunrise/sunset dimming, and lightning storm mode they are great. I love the idea of placing corals and reducing light VS placing them at the bottom and moving them up. They are a ridiculous amount of light... compared to a 400W MH setup, still can burn corals and coraline algae and even a piece of paper.

They are upgradable, if AI makes a better LED puck you can swap them out.

Also did another build with the PAR 38 spotlight LEDS, these are hands down better if you can come up with the cash.

Dont like that you have to make your own cord, and setting that up was a PITA.

We will see how they do with coral growth over the next few months! Heres my power usage run downs, and pay off time using an LED fixture over a MH, T5 or Combo MH/T5 for this tank.

Inital investment to buy equipment:
Metal halide : 1032$
T5: 779$
Combo T5/MH 1299$
MH/Plasma 1678$
SOL 3200$

POWER USE PER YEAR @ .10 KWh (you might pay more?)
MH 1040-1240w = 374-446$ @ 10 hrs per day
T5 468W = 202$ @ 12 hrs per day
combo 738w = 265$ @ 10 hrs
plasma/ MH= 568W = 201-360$ @ 10 hrs
SOL 75wx6 =450w or 190$ @12hrs

Cost in bulbs per Yr
MH 420$ (heh heh)
T5 360$
combo 540$
Plasma/MH 320 MAX
Sol 0$ for 10 years

Total per yr (bubls and power after initial investment)
MH 866$ max
T5 562$ max
Combo 805$ max
plasma/mh 680$ max
SOL 190$

Yeah you need to factor in the cost of bulbs too.

 

[dsmhero]

Rough estimate but still inflated:

DIY with 324w of LED's with optics, splash shield, heatsink, fans: $1500
x3 EcoTech Radion's: $2250

Savings of 33.3%, which I think I could still build it for cheaper....but just to get a general idea.

 

[DevonM]

did you read the articles that Kevin posted about what Sanjay says. According to him, they really haven't made a system for large systems, and that is another thing that holds me back. I don't know what the long term would be, as far as to what the coral would do with them.

I look forward to seeing how "Mr. Saltwater Tank" (Mr. Saltwater Tank) does with his 90 full of SPS.

 

[CarlaW]

Yeah you need to factor in the cost of bulbs too.

Good point, but what I am looking for is long term RESULTS. I know what my halides do, been with em for 8 years now. I want someone to do a long term on the use of LED and growth on sps coral over a longer period than say 1 year, that don't mean nuthin. You see where I am coming from. I know the long term electric and bulb costs are less. Will my sps do well is another story. And I guess until someone design an affordable (?) LED system that will go over my 300............................., I am kinda in limbo.

 

[CarlaW]

I look forward to seeing how "Mr. Saltwater Tank" (Mr. Saltwater Tank) does with his 90 full of SPS.

dammit, you beat me to the punch

 

[CarlaW]

I look forward to seeing how "Mr. Saltwater Tank" (Mr. Saltwater Tank) does with his 90 full of SPS.

especially over a 3 year periode

 

[dsmhero]

Here is a tank that has ONLY had LEDS...3years....

340g LED SPS tank from Brazil - Reef Central Online Community

 

[DevonM]

Here is a tank that has ONLY had LEDS...3years....

340g LED SPS tank from Brazil - Reef Central Online Community

Damn, that's a good looking tank.

 

[CarlaW]

Here is a tank that has ONLY had LEDS...3years....

340g LED SPS tank from Brazil - Reef Central Online Community

that is one tank, got more?

Don't get me wrong, it is a beautiful tank, but to be honest, would you invest what he did in LED on the basis of seeing 1 tank that looks like that?

 

[dsmhero]

I think there is a lot of people like you who are waiting it out to see the results and for prices to go down, so having multiple people who have a setup like this is rare at this time. There are hundreds of year old tanks doing great, but anything past that is scarce. But does show that LED's have the capability to grow coral.

 

[CarlaW]

agreed, they can grow coral. it is really to soon for the LED product to show long term results over large systems. I know there are folks that have smaller tanks are things grow well.

 

[CarlaW]

I think there is a lot of people like you who are waiting it out to see the results and for prices to go down, so having multiple people who have a setup like this is rare at this time. There are hundreds of year old tanks doing great, but anything past that is scarce. But does show that LED's have the capability to grow coral.

Just for grins, when you have time figure out a DIY system for my 300, chances are it is gonna be about the same as devons

 

[dsmhero]

Can you give me the dimensions? and how many 400w halides are you running?

 

[CarlaW]

96x30x24

6 400w

 

[DevonM]

96x30x24

I wish my tank was 30 wide, not tall!

 

[CarlaW]

I wish mine was 36" wide

 

[dsmhero]

That is a ton of light...so instead of the 324w of LED's for Devon's tank, I went with 576w.

In all honesty I do not think the Radions would cut it for your tank, I bet you are getting somewhere in the 300-400par on the bottom of your tank while Mr.Saltwater tank's Radion was only doing 180.

DIY rough estimate is around $2300

 

[CarlaW]

devils advocate

How much do you think my cost would increase by having to put more heaters on the system .

It seems to be a 6 of one.half dozen of another