What's your thoughts on LED lighting?

[Brie]

Just curious what everyone thinks about LED reef lighting.. Has anyone here used it? Opinions? I've just been looking into more energy saving ways of lighting a reef tank... I've stumbled across various sellers on ebay selling either the large LED "grow panels", not unlike the Solaris hoods, for MUCH MUCH less money... Like, under 300 bucks. lol. As well as some nice looking spotlights, like this one... 90watt LED spot light The only thing I don't like is the color...

 

[MC Lighting]

I use high powred LED's for accent lighting at night on my tank the white does nothing for getting corals to open howver the blue makes things go nuts! the problem with the LED technology is that it is very focused light so if you do not have a ton of them you do not get an even amount of light. They are cool and they do work but it is still expensive....

 

[Maxx]

I think LED lighting is still in its infancy with regard to reef keeping. In a few years, I suspect it will be pretty much the main thing going, but until it gets past the high price tag, and low intensity, it will be on the periphery of the hobby.

I have an combination LED/incandescent flashlight for work, (one button triggers the three LED lights, the other triggers the normal incandescent bulb). The LED's are bright up close, but dont throw light very far....but its about or 3 years old, and I know they've made several improvements on LED flashlights...

I would stay away from the less expensive LED lights for now, yes its cheaper than the reef designed ones, but you need to keep in mind that corals use different wavelengths of light than plants do, and most grow lights arent geared towards hanging over a salt spray environment.

Nick