Cheap LED solution???

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I take it that's an L shape tank?? I want to see some pics please please. I just got a 450 gallon L shape tank



audifusion said:
Hey Tom what's the depth on your tank.

Mine is 30", do you think the 20w with have enough power to penetrate that deep.

Also, how many do you think I'll need for the following dimensions,

8ft long 42" wide front section
7 ft long 36" wide side section

Total 800 gallons

I ordered a bunch of led stuff but got destroyed in shipping.

Have you tried the 50 w?
 
Ya I remember reading all the info for your tank now that I looked for it. 450 is going well. About to get all the sheet rock done then build the stand and get it all in place. of course all the plumbing and everything else. Lol it takes time but it will all get done. Takes more time for a custom tank setup.
 
mr_X said:
Do you have any growth/color pics since you've added these lights on your existing tank?

I will try and get some up soon, the iphone app isn't letting me upload pics for some reason... The birdsnest frags are growing well.
 
audifusion said:
Hey Tom what's the depth on your tank.

Mine is 30", do you think the 20w with have enough power to penetrate that deep.

Also, how many do you think I'll need for the following dimensions,

8ft long 42" wide front section
7 ft long 36" wide side section

Total 800 gallons

I ordered a bunch of led stuff but got destroyed in shipping.

Have you tried the 50 w?

My tanks around 21" deep, i think the 20s would penetrate but you would probably need about 6 for an 8'x42" tank. And space them out like a 6 on a dice. I would suggest going with 30-50w mainly for a larger spread because that's a BIG tank. You could maybe get away with 4 30-50s. If I were you and your not in a mad rush to get the lights I would buy one 30-50w and test it out before committing to more than you may need. However you light it, it's going to be a bit pricy, then again you do have an 800g tank so it's expected! Let us know if you decide to try them out, I have never used one over 20w and would love to see how they differ (may try them on my future shark tank!).
 
I'm really interested in pics I'm also, wondering if these lights would support an RBTA
 
Tried a 30w today, only have one, the light penetration was pretty good. Will post up a pic tomorrow after the sand settles( did some fine tuning on aquascaping )

I have a bunch of 10w 20000k, they are nice colour but not powerful enough.

I would go with 16000 - 20000k though.
 
you can even just buy the smd led chip itself without the housing and such.

Much cheaper that way.

Then you just need to mount it on a heatsink and get a power supply.

But the housing is completely maintenance free.
 
audifusion said:
Tried a 30w today, only have one, the light penetration was pretty good. Will post up a pic tomorrow after the sand settles( did some fine tuning on aquascaping )

I have a bunch of 10w 20000k, they are nice colour but not powerful enough.

I would go with 16000 - 20000k though.

Look forward to seeing a pic of the 30w.

I'm debating whether to try out the 20000k.. Might go for it on my other tank.

Yea I use a 10w just to get rid of the slight v shaped shadow in between my 2 20w on my 55 but I agree it's penetration is no where near as good.
 
Marquis said:
I think a billion of us are waiting to find out that answer :(

I am slowly trying to test this. My birdsnest coral is growing well under the 20w 12000k and I need to get some pics up here for you to see.

Now my 55g is up and running I am saving up for some SPS frags to try out.
 
audifusion said:
you can even just buy the smd led chip itself without the housing and such.

Much cheaper that way.

Then you just need to mount it on a heatsink and get a power supply.

But the housing is completely maintenance free.

Good point! I looked at these and they are much cheaper but I liked the housing for my particular application. I may try these in the future.
 
Why are you thinking of trying a 20k spectrum vs the more normal 12k-15k ?? I want to see a blue one for night lighting and other fill like the antinic lighting
 
didysis said:
Why are you thinking of trying a 20k spectrum vs the more normal 12k-15k ?? I want to see a blue one for night lighting and other fill like the antinic lighting

Well currently on my 55g reef I have that canopy with the 12000k whites and 2 10w blues and it looks great. But now my 72g FOWLR is without a light so I am thinking the 20000k might have the right mix of both white and blue so I could get by with just using 2 20w 20000k.
 
TomStav said:
Well currently on my 55g reef I have that canopy with the 12000k whites and 2 10w blues and it looks great. But now my 72g FOWLR is without a light so I am thinking the 20000k might have the right mix of both white and blue so I could get by with just using 2 20w 20000k.

I have decided to get 2 16000k 20w for my 72g FOWLR, I'll post some pics when they arrive.
 
I'm still wondering about growth shots from these.
I considered Ecoxotic Cannon pendants for a tank a while ago and I contacted them asking how many I would need. They told me that I would need a lot of these 50 watt pendants to make my project work. They were confident that just one every 2 feet or so would not support corals.
These are the ones I am speaking of
Cannon LED Pendants
 
What about using fluorescent tubes @6500k for good growth. You could put the tubes closer to the back or middle .

And then using the LEDs @ 12000-20000k closer to the front to optimize the look of the tank visually.

like a combo set-up, with the best of both worlds,

Good growth with the 6500k, but since the light colour is yellowish and doesn't look visually appealing, adding in the higher k LEDs for visual impact.

Thoughts?
 
mr_X said:
I'm still wondering about growth shots from these.
I considered Ecoxotic Cannon pendants for a tank a while ago and I contacted them asking how many I would need. They told me that I would need a lot of these 50 watt pendants to make my project work. They were confident that just one every 2 feet or so would not support corals.
These are the ones I am speaking of
Cannon LED Pendants

The spread of light out of those cannons looks pretty narrow
 
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