LED'S

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Chuckhenry407

Aquarium Advice Newbie
Joined
Jun 8, 2013
Messages
5
Location
Miramar, Florida
Hello, new to forum. Spent some time reading past post about LED's and looking over the entire page. Did not find what I wanted to know. Still have some unanswered questions on getting new LED's. I presently have a Currents Satellite 48" with two double compact fluoresent lamps(The Smart PAQ) has 65watt 10,000K daylight and 460nm Actinic blue. Fixture came with led strip of lunar night light. I was very happy with it but its about 6yrs old and have replaced many bulbs during that time. At $50 each from my local pet shop. It has gotten expensive and I wanted to upgrade to a new LED system.

My 55gal. saltwater tank is fish only dead colorfull coral. The present Currents light system brought out the colors of the coral. I wanted the same intensity from the new LED's.

My local pet shop sold me a Marineland Single Bright LED. It has 135 white 6000K daylight LED's and 9 blue 460nm lunar LED's with total 800 lumens. They told me that would be all I would need for a fish only tank. When I got home and installed it under my hood then stood back and looked at it I was very dissapointed. It was knowhere near the brightness of the compact fluoresent. Everything looked light brown. A hue of brown from the algae on the coral. The color on the fish was blanched. Nothing was inhanced by these lights.

Do I have to sacrifice light intensity and color inhancement if I switch to LED's. Has this happened to others on this forum? I want to save money by not having to buy bulbs and cutting down on heat to the tank but don't want to loose the beauty the compact fluoresent lighting gave me. Any suggestions.

Thank you
 
Hello, and thank you for comments. I returned the Single Bright and the store manager told me to try the Double Bright that I would be happy with those. After installing and looking at it for two days. They don't convince me. The Double are a lot brighter than the Single was but no way as bright as the compact fluoresent I had on before. The Double Bright does bring out the color of the fish and coral but not as sharp as fluoresent did. You get a subdued kind of brightness with a water shimmering effect. I really loved the lunar effect that this fixture came with. It was very intence. Mimic the moon glare in the ocean at night and brought out iridecent glow from the fish. They cost more than I wanted to spend at $200 but will be saving on bulb replacement and heat transfer to the water.
I don't want to steer anyone away from LED's because obviously I bought them. But if you are use too very bright lights from fluoresent as I was, Don't expect the same light intensity to an equivalent LED. You would need to go way up in size and price to get equivalent light output and like NANO12g suggested you would need two LED fixtures to get the same bright light. I chose to go with a little less brightness and save some money. I'm new to forum and need to find out how to post a picture. When I do I will submit a comparison pic between fluoresent and LED on my tank. Till then thank you and your comments and advice is welcomed.
 
If you were into brightness and didn't care about getting all white LEDs... You could have gotten a Finnex Ray 2 LED fixture. They're very bright. They also come in double daylight and 50/50 actinic.
 
You can get a couple led+ strips as suggested or the true lumen pro marine fusion strips.
Or if you want real intense light look into the kessil LED lights. I got a pair of those over my 90 gallon planted and its very bright and has great penetration.
 
Thank you Nano12g and Gravereaper0 I will look up both of those suggestions. Remember since i have fish only with colorful dead coral. I don't want to spend a lot of money to swicth to LED. Even though I know high intial investment but will save money in the long run. I have 7days to try out the Double Bright with the pet shop I purchased from. So I will compare with the ones you mentioned to get any pros and cons. Thank you for your help.
 
Glad we can help... but if your goal is "color enhancement" I suggest not getting a LED fixture that is all white (6500K to 10,000K) or 50/50 for that matter. All white or actinic will make colors look washed out. You need an LED fixture that incorporates reds, blues, with the white... You can add a Finnex Monster Ray which has RGB chips to work with that double bright or you can return the double bright and get 1 Finnex Fugeray (Ray 2 for higher brightness) + 1 Monster Ray. Or you can do the two Current Satellite LED+ fixtures (6500k/RGB) or try a BML fixture that has 6500K and 450nm and 660nm chips... basically getting more reds and blues in there.

Custom Reef Spectrum - Build My LED, LLC

Here's a video I found on the Monster Ray "color enhancing" LED.
Finnex Monster Ray Color Enhancing LED Review - YouTube
 
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The current led + has led red green blue cistomizable LEDs. Good light and reasinable
 
Hello again, okay I had a few days to research your suggestions. All were excellent choices and all had the comparable light intensity I was accustomed too with my 48"Currents Satellite (2)double 65watt compact fluorescents with 10,000K white/460nm actinic blue. I decided on the 48" Currents-TrueLumen Pro LED Strip light (marine fusion) at $215. Because of my past experience with this brand name. I wanted to stay with a true and tested manufacturer. Not that the Fennix Ray2 Led or the Kessil LED lights weren't as good or better or worse. They all were comparable in light intensity and color enhancement. Another factor for choosing the TrueLumen Pro was it had a little more white light at 12,000K and it's customizable. Allowing you to add more strips in series as your lighting needs change. You can add (2)30watt strips to one 60watt/24v transformer.

The Kessil LED was the brightest and most expensive due to manufacturers recommendation for two fixtures for the size of my tank. At $225 each that would have been a $450 investment. The Fennix Ray2 was also comparable with 10,000K white/454nm actinic blue combo. Intensive PAR LED to promote coral and plant growth. at $175.

Now for the BAD news. After doing my research and being well within the 7day return policy from my local pet shop. When I went back to return and exchange the Marineland Double Brights. They did not carry any of the LED's mentioned. They would not refund my money. The best they could do was to give me store credit. I was very upset but I could understand. It was my fault for buying something without doing a little research. Next time I will get on this forum and wait for all the great advice before I buy anything for my tank. I will take Nano12g advice from that video he posted on the Fennix Monster Ray "color enhancing" LED. I will just add it in conjunction with the Double Brights in a couple of months when more funds become available.

I want to thank all of you for all your help on this LED issue. You made a believer in me on LED's. I think LED's is the way to go. They will replace T5, Compact Fluorescents and even Metal Halide. The save on electricity, they save on no more bulb replacement and save on heat transfer to your tanks water. With some more time they will be more affordable and a win-win situation for the aquarium hobbyist. Again many thanks.
 
Thank you gravereaper0. I will just use the timer for now with the Double Brights.Since the pet shop did not carry any of the lights suggested here and would not refund me the money back. I will buy the Currents-TrueLumen Pro strip in a couple of months to add in conjunction with the Double Brights. The controller is to expensive for what I have right now. Thank you for the suggestion I will keep it in mind.
 
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