LEDs to replace halides?

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From their website:

All Pacific Sun Lighting products come with a one year limited warranty on the internal parts of the product and two years warranty for LED chips installed in our lamps.

And when I checked their website I am finding that I'd probably be more inclined to use this light fixture over my display tank at a price of $2,900 US dollars? So in theroy it will take me close to 10 years for this to start paying off. I know there would be electrical cost benefits too, so I am just looking at the units cost factors as Total Vapor did above.

Pacific Sun Lamp "Phobos CRP" - 2x160W + 2x39W T5 - Cree Powered
http://www.aquariumled.eu/shop/inde..._id=29&zenid=1d3d141d5eb59f53d682da223a3752fa

Cheers,
Alex
 
Last edited:
spllbnd2 said:
From their website:

All Pacific Sun Lighting products come with a one year limited warranty on the internal parts of the product and two years warranty for LED chips installed in our lamps.

And when I checked their website I am finding that I'd probably be more inclined to use this light fixture over my display tank at a price of $2,900 US dollars? So in theroy it will take me close to 10 years for this to start paying off. I know there would be electrical cost benefits too, so I am just looking at the units cost factors as Total Vapor did above.

Pacific Sun Lamp "Phobos CRP" - 2x160W + 2x39W T5 - Cree Powered
http://www.aquariumled.eu/shop/inde..._id=29&zenid=1d3d141d5eb59f53d682da223a3752fa

Cheers,
Alex
Click to expand...

The unit you linked is 2799.99 and is roughly equivalent to 2x400w halide w/ the two t5's. With the computer control abilities it has moonlight and timer functions amongst other options. It is also a complete halide/t-5 combo hood rather than retro units like Total vapor used in his comparison. To compare initial starting price you would need to use a comparable Sfiligoi unit with the same bells and whistles. You're gonna end up somewhere between $1500-$1800 for the same kind of performance. Maybe more:D Say $25 for each T-5 and $90 for each halide and you are at $230 for bulbs each year (roughly). Thats 4-6 years before you make up the difference. Plus, ignoring the electrical cost difference is really short changing the whole point of LED's. A 400w halide run 8 hours per day costs $115 per year. An LED with similar output is more like $18. Multiply that by 2 and add the T-5's in and its huge over 5 years. You also have to consider chiller, fan, air conditioning costs in there as well.

Your point about single LED's burning out early is great. It would be terrible if they can't replace single bulbs. I don't have an answer to that, but I do know that it has reported multiple places that Pacific Sun is going to make their warranty three years very soon:eek:

If I wanted to grow SPS I would probably buy a halide/t-5 unit at this point in LED developement, but man are they starting to get my attention. We are getting this display unit in to start to experiment with what they are capable of growing and maintaining color on:D

Hope this helps!
 
FWIW, there is also a fairly large thread on RC about Maxspect LED lighting, made & shipped from China. I am in no way endorsing them as I've never used or seen Maxspect LED lighting. However, from reading the thread on RC, it seems the maxspect units are worth considering, especially since the price point is very close to DIY. I believe this is the primary distributor, which is out of Hong Kong:

http://www.fish-street.com/maxspect_programmable_led_aquarium_lighting?category_id=118
 
roblou said:
FWIW, there is also a fairly large thread on RC about Maxspect LED lighting, made & shipped from China. I am in no way endorsing them as I've never used or seen Maxspect LED lighting. However, from reading the thread on RC, it seems the maxspect units are worth considering, especially since the price point is very close to DIY. I believe this is the primary distributor, which is out of Hong Kong:

http://www.fish-street.com/maxspect_programmable_led_aquarium_lighting?category_id=118
Click to expand...

yep, those maxspect units, the LEDwholesale units, and even some of the uber cheap weipro units are tempting me(all under $300), because I only have a 12" tall tank... I'm almost thinking the AI led/pacific sun is overkill.
and all i really want is to turn off the white and blue LED's independently as far as control.
 
skimerwhisperer said:
yep, those maxspect units, the LEDwholesale units, and even some of the uber cheap weipro units are tempting me(all under $300), because I only have a 12" tall tank... I'm almost thinking the AI led/pacific sun is overkill.
and all i really want is to turn off the white and blue LED's independently as far as control.
Click to expand...

I don't think the Pacific Sun units are overkill at all! With the cheaper units, you only have the ability to turn on/off a bank of LED's. The whole point of being able to control the LED's for me, is to be able to dial in the kelvin rating where I like it. If I want 18K during the day and 20k at night then I can do so, If I want to simulate natural weather patterns, then I can do that as well. You also have to look as Cy said, the warranty as well. Pacific Sun is going to to 3 yrs on the LED board as to where alot of the others are far less than that.

As Cy found saw first hand, these LED units do not put out any heat and the fans on them are dead quiet! Think about the added cost of having to run a chiller much less buying one!

For me, these were all deciding factors while researching lighting for my new setup.

Jeff
 
Any lights - and I mean any lights - it is not always about money.

the same thing can be said about skimmers, controllers, live rock, fish and corals. why do you get skimmer for $1000 when you can get $300 that is almost the same? is one chalice worth $150 per eye and the other colony $150? why would you pay $99 for controller when other controller starts at $799? plenty of examples.

but when the lights make a difference? when you set the lights to your preferences and will be able to see colors that you have never seen before.

You can talk about savings, technical differences, etc there are differences between LED lighting fixtures and conversation can go on for pages. from the internal drivers, bulb rations, bulb selection, focal lenses, controllers, cooling systems etc. is this or that worth extra money? do you need this or that? --- thats personal call. in this hobby - usually you get what you paid for.

but my advice - see Jeff's tank in 2-3 months once everything settles down and first corals come in. go in the evening when only light in the room comes from the lighting fixture. Pictures will not do the justice. than take a look at scolys, acans, zoas, sps etc. you will get the idea why is something worth or not, than you will see the differences between different fixtures but you must see them in person to appreciate them.

my best kick out of leds - when you get a cheap acan frag that has grayish and dull colors and becomes multi color acan frag based on different Kelvin ratings of the lamp, when ORA red planet can be seen as red or green depending on your settings, when zoas have different colors depending on your settings.
 
i am going to get leds for my small tank to see how my zoas do with then i heard that they make zoas small is that because there is so much par i have been reading on nano reef and they look good so i will try one any one have one they are running and do your zoas go small they also were small when i had a 400 watt over my cube and i got great color out of them so i am going to light my pico with them and see what happens and will post the results my first one will be dyi and then if all goes well i will get a bigger one for my cube
 
Nobody has mentioned anything about UV output of these newer LED fixtures. Corals are sensitive to UV, but do however need it. Do these LED's provide any UV at all? I'm not sure they do - how might this affect coral growth and sustainability? Just curious to hear more regarding UV if anyone knows or has info.
 
i think im going to buy them but i wont be setting my tank up anytime soon i have to get settled in my new house in whidbey first then decide where we are going to put tank. but i will post about them when i start my build thread
 
i have heard lots of people getting them jest want to get one and make sure it will be good enough to grow corals first
 
DolphinLVR said:
Service is done in New York from what I understand Cali
Click to expand...

Is that what your warranty agreements says? I would need 4 units to light two tanks I have, hate to drop that kind of money and not have the ability to get these "high end" lights worked on state side.
 
cali_reef said:
Is that what your warranty agreements says? I would need 4 units to light two tanks I have, hate to drop that kind of money and not have the ability to get these "high end" lights worked on state side.
Click to expand...

When I purchased the lights from a group buy from Manhatten Reef Club, I was told by the vendor that all of the service would be handled there in New York. That was a huge selling point for me as If something went wrong with the light, I didnt want to have to ship overseas to have repaired.
 
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