LED light comparison?

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IWishIWasAFish

IWishIWasAFish

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 27, 2009
Messages
119
Location
Kirkland/Bellevue, WA
So, I'm looking at a few options for my new aquarium, and was hoping some of you had used or had advice about the lights I've been looking at or even suggestions on alternatives.

My aquarium is about 36''x20''x15''.

I have a 2x36'' T-5 HO fixture I'd like to use with the LEDs. Together they would form my daylight lighting. At night I could leave on one or a few of the LEDs.

I really love the look of LED lighting, especially when the light is unevenly distributed so that it appears more like bars of sunlight.

I'd like to spend about $100 or less.

I can get some help to do the minor DIY needed for those I've picked below, but building from scratch is beyond me.

I've been looking at these:

R2 Solutions 36'' fixtures - 18LEDs each, $50 each - would want to buy two, and place one on each side of the T-5s. Would run daylight bulbs in the T-5s.
Biggest question: do they have a reflector? May e-mail the company to ask.
http://www.marinedepot.com/R2_Solut...uariums-R2_Solutions-RM00045-FILTFIML-vi.html

LED Tubes Blue - 11.8'' acrylic tubes, 12 LEDs per tube, set of 4 for $37
LED Tube - 18 LED White - $19 each, use one or two of it with the 4 blue.
Biggest question: is it a good light spectrum?
http://www.plasmaled.com/ledtube.htm

5LED PODS, 4 for $28.99, get one set of 4 in Blue and one in White. I like that these lights give beams at different angles. Would install around inner wall of hood pointing in at an angle.
Biggest question: is it a good light spectrum?
http://www.plasmaled.com/ledpods.htm (2nd listing on page)

IceCap Blue LED Array Retro - 33.4 inch $58+ each
Biggest question: how many LEDs per strip? From this picture(http://reefbuilders.com/2009/11/24/icecap-lunarlite-led-retrofit-comming-december/) it looks like 1 LED per inch, making about 32 LEDs total. May need to e-mail the company for an answer.
http://premiumaquatics.com/store/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=PA&Product_Code=ICE-RLEDB36
 
 
I would just stay away from LED's and stick to T5's...i've used various LED setups on about a dozen tanks all with the same effect...poor coral response overall...for small tanks and large alike, T5s are more then enough...JMO
 
Thanks for taking the time and research :) I have the hardest time with it. I've spent hours looking at lights online, and even went to the LFS to see some in person.

Hmm...I do like this one - http://www.reefshops.com/weipro-led-lighting-led-f-series-wide-edition-en.html - and it's only a little more $...this of course is why I'm poor ;)

I think the power off the others might be okay, though the ones you suggested look way better, and who wants an "okay" reef system when they could do better? ;)
I've been using 24'' 4xT-5s, 2 actinic, 2 daylight on a 30''x21''x12'' tank, and growing stuff all the way down on the sand. I should have mentioned I don't have any of the super-high light requiring corals. Have a happy RBTA and some acropora and pocillopora, a hammer, but no fancy SPS or clams. The new T-5s(which maybe I shouldn't have bought, but it's too late now ;-) are high output 36'', and the new tank is much shorter, so I was thinking I might be okay. I'm willing to be wrong, in fact I probably am - the fixtures you suggest are 3-4 times as powerful, and no DIY work ;-) so probably even a better deal. But wanted to offer my reasons for thinking it would work out.

...so should I stick that WEIPRO one in front of my T-5 pair, or behind it? ;-)
 
Oh, my corals have been happy with T5s - the LEDs are for me ;) because I love the way they look. The other day, the back classroom door was open when the afternoon sun was shining, and it shone in on my 15 gallon making dappled light all over it. It was the most beautiful thing, and I saw a very similar effect created in the store with LEDs, so I've just got to have them ;)


treehugger said:
I would just stay away from LED's and stick to T5's...i've used various LED setups on about a dozen tanks all with the same effect...poor coral response overall...for small tanks and large alike, T5s are more then enough...JMO
Click to expand...
 
I've only seen a couple real in depth threads on LED lighting, for reef tanks. Both of these are on other forums, unfortunately. It seems that the manufactured LED systems just aren't up to PAR yet (Pun intended). DIY LED fixtures have shown a lot of promise and some studies are even comparing them to 400 watt MH, when run at full power. Here's a few great threads to read through, but one is a VERY long thread.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1794967
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1794967

Here's the really long, but worthwhile one.
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1587273
 
There are tons of people on Nanoreef.com that use custom built LED systems they are expensive even as DIY. Most of them have great results using them and their intensity is unreal. Most of the LEDs they are using are CREE XRE high output LEDs. One for your size reef would most likely cost you around $600+ the ones you listed are low output regular LEDs that are really only good for fish only tanks.
 
my next step is a DIY LED fixture. i love my metal halides but the LED effect is supposed to be unreal and amazing in color pop. look into diy led more you might get hooked! then write a detailed diy so i can emulate it =) GoodLuck!
 
i will be building a led for my new tank so i will get pics of the build for you ok
 
Just coming back here to let everybody know how things ended up... :)

So I researched, and asked advice, and price compared, and wattage compared, and...until my head was spinning.
I did learn some good things(and I'm sure that what I learned will reveal much about my ignorance to you ;):

-Not all LEDs are created equally bright. They now come most commonly in 1 watt and 3.something watt.

-There are two ways electric power can be delivered to a strip of them. One reduces the total light output of the strip.

-I really like the "sun beam" or "shimmer" effect that can be created by them when each individual LED is bright and spaced apart from the next, and when the water's surface is riffled.

Other than that, it was too much for me. I'm finally learning that my brain only has so much bandwidth for incoming information, and other things already take up a lot of it. So, I called it a day as far as my LED education and bought the one I liked best at my LFS, using a bunch of store credit to offset the cost. My research did help me avoid several poor choices, and whether it was the best choice or no, it is a great light.

I got an Ecoxotic Panorama LED light module(http://www.fosterandsmithaquatics.c...ubref=AA&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=0072150000000)
It did exactly what I wanted in terms of shimmer, "sunbeams" and it shifted the spectrum just a little to one more warm and sun-like. It's a white+blue LED. The housing for the bulbs appears well built and well designed for water resistance. It has mounting screws, not legs. The corals and RBTA were doing fine under just the HO T-5s, so I'm sure the low power of the LED won't matter to them. It looks beautiful to me.Even more amazing, I think I can see the colors of some of my creatures better now:)

It added light to about 20'' of my tank, so I think I need two for my 36'' tank unless I want to have a "spotlight" effect in the middle. Once I'm in a better place financially I may buy a second of this light, or I may decide to try ordering one of the online ones because I like to try new things. If I do get one of the other lights, I'll come back here and write about it :)
 
moto826 said:
pics please
Click to expand...

So demanding ;) Here you go, on Flickr, pics 1-5 are as exact of copies of settings, distance etc of pics 6-10 as I could make them. Other pictures show how disturbed the water surface is from underneath, and then from the top what it looks like just under the LED (I stuck a K4 on the left side of the tank, pointed up ;)
Tank is a 37 gallon tall, glass. LED is actually resting on a moderately thin sheet of acrylic, since I won't have a hood until I set up my new tank. 30'' T5s are, of course, too long for this tank ;)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/48989330@N02/sets/72157623645383235/detail/
 
Those are some great pics IWishIWasAFish!!! LED lights are hard to understand and figure out whats right for your tank. Looks like you have a good thing going now. Keep us posted.;)
 
There are several LED light fixtures on the market right now. There are only a couple that are built well enough to replace T5/T12/PC/Halide lighting.

The draw back is that they are still very expensive initially, but there are many great benefits to the higher end units. They can simulate weather patterns, they follow a full 28 day moon cycle, have a true sunrise and sunset simulation, and you don't have to worry about replacing bulbs for years. Did I mention that you can even adjust the color temperature of them to your liking?

LED light fixtures are coming a long ways and I think they will probably be more popular and more affordable over the next 2-3 years.
 
Thanks! I'm always pleased to hear someone else likes it. :)
I'm going to move to a sump system in June, but I'll still keep some macro on the rocks - have to "prune" it back every week or two, but I love how it makes everything look so alive. Especially since most of my corals are still small. I'm actually trying out having "groundcover" on my rocks ;) I've got the (eventually) larger coral frags mounted on little plug pedestals, and splotches of yellow polyps, PSP, GSP, purple clove polyps and bright green zoanthids growing to cover the rocks. I've heard that those can all cause trouble, but I want to see what I can do with them. I've seen a couple tanks where one or more of them were "out of control" and I loved the way it looked.

MGDMIRAGE said:
Wow i gotta say i love your tank, all that macro algae looks fantastic in the display!
Click to expand...
 
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