torn between LED or Plasma Arc light

[tat2z_21]

I don't like any of you. I thought I was cool because I finally got a power compacts. Slow it down and let me catch up. JK

 

[thatguy559]

haha......

well i would assume that plasma heat is comparable to halide but im not sure

 

[thatguy559]

here is a chart

 

[thatguy559]

here you go freakinreefin
http://reefbuilders.com/2010/05/15/sfiligoi-vision-lifi-light-plasma-arc-beautiful-fixture/

http://http://reefbuilders.com/2010/07/07/sfiligoi-vision-cycling-power-levels-italian-plasma-arc-light-fixture/

 

[thatguy559]

I'm interested in this, how does plasma compare to LEDs heat wise?

my buddy who is running 2 of them on his tank said the heat is comparable to a 150w mh.

 

[FreakinReefin]

Okay so we are in agreemnt that you still have to dim LEDs to acheive that certain look you want.

I have a 48" tank so I would be paying around the same if not more in led lighting. all I would need is 1 plasma arc light and maybe 2-3 led units to acheive the same coverage. Does that make sense

Not technically...it states that the plasma lighting at less than 50% power has a "pleasant blue hue"...'dimming' is one thing but turning down 'intensity' is another. I do not have to turn the intensity of the light down in order to acheive blue hue. Plus with 100% 'power' there is still blue and white with LED. On another level, plasma seems to use more power and emit more heat, although not to a level of much concern.

 

[thatguy559]

dimming is decreasing intesity.....so you mean to tell me that when you adjust the color ration on your unit you are not dimming your lighting therefore turning down the intensity.....im pretty sure if you adjust the leds you will vary in par.

 

[FreakinReefin]

dimming is decreasing intesity.....so you mean to tell me that when you adjust the color ration on your unit you are not dimming your lighting therefore turning down the intensity.....im pretty sure if you adjust the leds you will vary in par.

Huge difference...for instance the difference between moonlight blue intensity versus full on 23k blue at 100% intensity. Plasma will not have the ability to control how intense the blues are, or at least have the ability to individually control that spectrum of light. But this is just what I understand of it...

There is a huge difference between the plasma and LED and aside from the functionality and such, it is mostly what your application is. For me, I see plasma being used for a very deep freshwater tank(freshwater only because of the majority of the time the kelvin will be <10k). LEDs would not be able to go even close to as deep as the plasma could go. Perfect example is the picture of the tank they have at the Manterey Bay Aquarium. Way deep tank and I could not see LEDs going that deep unless you have some serious directionals and a lot of fixtures.

 

[thatguy559]

okay so here it is....the time has come to choose between the 2.

leds 2x180w fixtures 1:1 ratio total of 360watts uses 4 outlets= $1000 +tax

plasma 290watt fixture dimable down to 20% heat output of a 150watt mh = $1070 +tax.
http://www.straylightoptical.com/res/seashine/pdf/aquarium-brochure.pdf

what am i going to choose!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[ac7av]

So what you could do is get the 400 watt fixture and run the dimmer to get the blue in there. Running at full power is very bright but the K is so low on it.

 

[tat2z_21]

I will tell you what you need to do. I say that you buy me 3 LED setups, 1 Master and 2 slaves, and then you buy me 2 plasma arcs. I will hook them up and compare them for you guys. I will post ictures of me smiling as the corals grow and are happy. Again still kicken it old school style over here with incadescent lighting.

 

[thatguy559]

haha i thought you had candle lighting

 

[thatguy559]

So what you could do is get the 400 watt fixture and run the dimmer to get the blue in there. Running at full power is very bright but the K is so low on it.

what 400w fixture?

 

[ac7av]

Sorry, my mistake, 290 watts
In the reviews they keep comparing it to the 400 watt MH lighting.

 

[thatguy559]

i was thinking that same thing would save me some money.

 

[ac7av]

The only thing I can see with them is the K factor. You can see in the photos that the light intensity is greatly diminished when you adjust it down to get the nice blue we like in the reef tanks. I have not seen anything talking about the average K to a percentage out put power. If they could come up with something like that it would be a better choice. The spectrum analysis is with the light bulb on 100%. What does the light spectrum look like as say 50% or 75%. Do they know? Certainly running them at 100% @ 5,500K is going to be on the yellow side. As we all know this could lead to algae problems. It is nice to think that if you just run the bulb at 75% all the time if the K factor was at say 12,000K the bulb life would be longer and run cooler. Have you come across anything stating the actual output ratings other then 100% and saying that if you dim them you can get the blue we like to see?

 

[thatguy559]

well i dont plan on running them at 100% anyways i believe that will be too much light for my tank. i have a buddy who runs his at 80% and he said its compairable to 12k i dont like my tank wo be blue i liek mine more white with a slight blue tint

on his build thread he posted par values for the different percent value

 

[thatguy559]

this is from his thread:

Pics are the PAR readings from this past weekend. The lights are 16 inches over the tank. The lights at 50% dimmed lost about 45 % PAR readings - I guess the blue spectrum hold a bit more PAR? Top of the tank out of water 12 inches under light was 1250 - 4 inches under light was 3000. If I decide I need more PAR in the tank, I can just drop the lights six inches, I can't imagine going closer than that. Getting outrageous growth from my Millis under these lights! The pictures really do not show good perspective - with 24 inches front to back it is hard to tell how shadows are cast from the rockwork. Enough talk, here are the pics:

 

[NC2WA]

nice charting...do you have any wellsi ?? if so, how are they doing.

most wellsi i know like dimmer lighting and LED will burn them..just curious what u are seeing.

thanks

 

[thatguy559]

that is a friends tank these lights are on