please explain to me THOROUGHLY the difference between LED's, t5's, and metal halides

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Fish_freak23 said:
So 2 of them would be fine for 48"? And your saying by buying 2 of those $189 fixtures, I'll be absolutely fine with those? All for $400? Really....
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People cant gloat enough when talking about how little they spent on lighting
 
Wow. Looks like I'm going with LEDs. I might buy another one just to have 3 since they're so cheap lol.
 
tagging along on this as i'm in the same boat about my lighting.
 
I started the move to Chinese panels and got the snot kicked out of me on this forum early on. Time has passed and more people have taken the plung, so yes, there is more support using these panels. Tautronics is just a importer that sells on EBay and Amazon. Their panels seem to work fine. I got mine directly from the factory in China as I import things in my business sometimes. They all look identical even though built by several plants. When I distributed them, I also got spare parts so I could fix them as well. But the Internet price was so cheap, I abandoned the resale of these to build my own light. Besides the forum moderators gave me heck every time I mentioned I sold them. I sold panels from 60 watts to 400 watts.

The panels you showed use the same emitters powered at 3 watts each. The first of these used 120 emitters powered at only 1 watt each, then they went with 2 watts, now at 3 watts. Same parts generally. If the factory has done a good job of heat sinking these parts, all will be well. I have 840 watts of LEDs split between the display tank and the algae turf scrubber system. Running for 4 years, I have had one panel fail. 1/3 of the panel went dark. It was a early panel, so the LED was not replaceable. Since then, the panels have been upgraded (some of it at my insistence) and should not have this issue anymore. My tank is shown in pictures and videos that LED can and will grow about any kind of coral you want.
 
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So to sum all of that up....you're telling me to go with what kind of LED lights?
 
The taotronics led panels are extremely powerful. I hang mine a foot above my tank with a layer of window screen over the lights. This still enables me to grow all of my corals (including an SPS). I would get the dimmable version if you can.
 
Sweet. I'll go with 2 of them then. I just don't want one to break or something happen where I'd waste money where I'd just need to go out and buy something better anyway.
 
I'll add my 2 cents, spend $20 extra and get the dimmable taotronics, you will not regret it, that way you can tune the color and intensity that you want, and look into a DIY led setup, it may not be for you, but with a little research and work you can build your own led to your exact specs. Although it will be hard to beat the taotronics in price per watt. It's something I believe is worth looking into. I built my own 120w led panel using 10w hybrid blue/white emitters for a 47g column tank, I am now building a 135g reef tank and I'm debating between the taotronics and another homebrew light. I bought a taotronics dimmable fixture for my sisters 27g cube tank and she is very pleased with it.
 
I have a thread running on a custom DIY dimmable 200 watt LED light. Will be finishing the project by end of next week. Paused waiting for parts to arrive.
 
Gregcoyote said:
I have a thread running on a custom DIY dimmable 200 watt LED light. Will be finishing the project by end of next week. Paused waiting for parts to arrive.
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Hey Greg can you post a link to that thread, I'm interested in something like that. I'm thinking about either a DIY 360w-460w led set up for a 135g tank that I'm setting up or just going with three of the Taotronics. I've been thinking of using either the 10w hybrid emitters that ive already used, 20w versions of the same chip, or maybe like 3x100w emitters with maybe some 3w or 10w blue LEDs.
I like the super high power LEDs like 10w plus emitters because easier to work with and cost effecient. I love the color I get with the hybrid LEDs perfect blue to white ratio for my taste, and my coral has responded well to it going from a 250w metal halide with an ice cap ballast and phoenix 14k bulb.
 
Tagging along because I wanna use these for my 100 gallon reef build soon.
 
Speaking of DIY, where can I find a GOOD plan for a canopy. I have the stand pretty much done and I need to find one for a canopy and it seems impossible on the Internet. I have googled it and everything. I just can't seem to find anything at all.
 
Many of us build our own. Most only have them to hide the lights.

There are a few suggestions:

Easy access, you will be in the tank more than you think. You may want the canopy to be removable.

Good air exchange...I don't like glass tops for this reason and use the mesh BRS sells in window frames to keep fish from jumping but provide minimal light blockage and maximum air exchange.

My canopy weighs in at over 100 pounds as I have mounted a lot of support gear in it. It tips up like the top of a beer stein using a inexpensive hydraulic jack.
 
No offense, but that didn't explain to me where I can find good plans lol.
 
I don't know where you would find them as each tank and setup is different.
I googled "build aquarium canopy" and got lots of DIY hits.
 
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