LED lighting

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http://dallas.craigslist.org/ftw/for/3036763790.html
What about this one?
I had posted this one earlier but decided to do a T5 fixture instead because my dad doesn't want to pay the huge bill each month for the electricity costs of the T5(but I'm sure I can talk him into letting me get a T5 fixture)
Do the pros of a LED fixture outweigh the cons?
Does anyone have any tanks that they can take pictures of that have a LED fixture on it?
 
image-1229882606.jpg

Tank with 250w metal halide (phoenix 14k)
And 4x 24w T5HO's (2x455nm & 2x 420nm)




image-3739778058.jpg

Tank with 90w of LEDs (9x10w hybrid blue & white LEDs)
 
Saratj1 said:
Tank with 250w metal halide (phoenix 14k)
And 4x 24w T5HO's (2x455nm & 2x 420nm)

Tank with 90w of LEDs (9x10w hybrid blue & white LEDs)
Click to expand...

The tank water looks more clear with the metal halide! I like that...is 90w growing all your corals just as well as the 250w metal halide?
 
Well the halide is brighter, which it should be 346w vs 90w, and the leds are a little more blue. As far as growth I'm not sure. Ive only had a saltwater aquarium since January , I've had the halide for around 3-4 months and I've been running the leds for about 6 weeks, so growth is hard to say.
I don't know if it looks any clearer in person, just the way it appears in a pic.
Maybe this can give you a little idea, I happen to have both halide and LEDs so easy to compare pic wise. My corals ( I have a little bit of every type of coral sps, lps, polyps, shrooms, anemones, ect) all seem to respond well to both lights.
 
Saratj1 said:
Well the halide is brighter, which it should be 346w vs 90w, and the leds are a little more blue. As far as growth I'm not sure. Ive only had a saltwater aquarium since January , I've had the halide for around 3-4 months and I've been running the leds for about 6 weeks, so growth is hard to say.
I don't know if it looks any clearer in person, just the way it appears in a pic.
Maybe this can give you a little idea, I happen to have both halide and LEDs so easy to compare pic wise. My corals ( I have a little bit of every type of coral sps, lps, polyps, shrooms, anemones, ect) all seem to respond well to both lights.
Click to expand...

Okay, I'm probably gonna try and find a LED fixture on Craigslist for under 200...my dad will be happier with the electricity costs and I will be happier about the less heat and changing bulbs every 9 months.
Is 174 watts on a LED fixture good enough for a standard 75 gallon tank?what is minimum wattage?
 
He also says the bulbs he has are 6700K and comes with the 8 already in it and 8 replacement bulbs
 
The only issue is that the bulbs are for plants not for corals, may do really well for growing algae in your tank. 6700k is natural sunlight color, which is good for everything really it just tends to grow algae better than the bluer bulbs . Replacing 8 bulbs will be kinda costly unless you get the cheapest bulbs you can find, which will kinda defeat your whole purpose.
 
Saratj1 said:
The only issue is that the bulbs are for plants not for corals, may do really well for growing algae in your tank. 6700k is natural sunlight color, which is good for everything really it just tends to grow algae better than the bluer bulbs . Replacing 8 bulbs will be kinda costly unless you get the cheapest bulbs you can find, which will kinda defeat your whole purpose.
Click to expand...

Ok, what temperature of bulbs am I looking for? The replacement ones might be a different temperature..but is this a good fixture? I mean can it grow any corals if I get good bulbs?
 
You want bulbs that are 10000k plus, as far as that fixture goes, couldn't say, don't know anything about it.
 
Then it looks like I will be holding off on this fixture, I'm not in TOO big of a rush to get a fixture but I am passing through san Antonio where this guy is located tomorrow so it would work out well!
But I am on the hunt to find a light because I don't want to get any corals until I have the light that will be permanent...hoping to find a T5 or a LED.
 
Saratj1 said:
I know you want led or t5 , but check this out. Metal halide is the gold standard to which all other lights are compared.

http://item.mobileweb.ebay.com/viewitem?itemId=140722145804&index=19&nav=SEARCH&nid=22260019941

Well I thought it was really cheap, but it doesn't come with ballast or bulbs, so I don't know. Maybe another fixture may be cheaper that comes with those.
Click to expand...

That's actually a pretty good price and a nice fixture! But I actually think I'm gonna get this fixture:
http://dallas.craigslist.org/ftw/for/3036763790.html
It doesn't have a fan but the guy said he had it running for 12 hours and it didn't get warm
He took a pic of it over an aquarium and it looked pretty good, even has a dimmer on the blues
 
Don't confuse the wattage of the emmitter with the quality. LEDs come in sizes as small as those in watches to much larger like those in stop lights. The LEDs he uses are strip lights. They make WATERPROOF strips, which may be why he used those instead of 1w LEDs. Additionally, other than the controller, there is NO additional electronics needed, which is NOT the case with multiple 1w LED lights. As for the power supply, that is in fact a standard LED power supply. He has built a very simple to construct LED system that doesn't look half bad, but I'm not sure if I'd want to limit to the 10K lights.
His numbers do seem to add up tho as far as lumines go vs wattage and number of lights.
 
Ingy said:
Don't confuse the wattage of the emmitter with the quality. LEDs come in sizes as small as those in watches to much larger like those in stop lights. The LEDs he uses are strip lights. They make WATERPROOF strips, which may be why he used those instead of 1w LEDs. Additionally, other than the controller, there is NO additional electronics needed, which is NOT the case with multiple 1w LED lights. As for the power supply, that is in fact a standard LED power supply. He has built a very simple to construct LED system that doesn't look half bad, but I'm not sure if I'd want to limit to the 10K lights.
His numbers do seem to add up tho as far as lumines go vs wattage and number of lights.
Click to expand...

Haha man I understood about half of what you said! I'm more of a carpenter than an electrician haha
Are you saying its a good one?
 
Ingy said:
Don't confuse the wattage of the emmitter with the quality. LEDs come in sizes as small as those in watches to much larger like those in stop lights. The LEDs he uses are strip lights. They make WATERPROOF strips, which may be why he used those instead of 1w LEDs. Additionally, other than the controller, there is NO additional electronics needed, which is NOT the case with multiple 1w LED lights. As for the power supply, that is in fact a standard LED power supply. He has built a very simple to construct LED system that doesn't look half bad, but I'm not sure if I'd want to limit to the 10K lights.
His numbers do seem to add up tho as far as lumines go vs wattage and number of lights.
Click to expand...

I do not agree. I believe that the power or wattage of the individual emitter does matter with regards to making the best light for a reef aquarium. If you take this concept to the extreme then Either a single 100w emitter is just the same a 10x10w emitters or 100 1 w emitters or 333 x 0.3w emitters. I think there is a significant difference in these different setups .
 
Actually the point of the source does not make any difference to the ability to penetrate when it comes to light. There is a measurable attenuation per inch of water the light travels thru.
If you have 100 x 1 w bulbs and a 100 w bulb they would both halve the same penetration or more correctly, attenuation as measured in Db loss. The only difference would be the definition of the shadows
 
Could you post links outlining what your saying, I am interested in this subject and could not find any good info in a basic search supporting my point or your point. Thanks.
 
I don't know about links. I am an electronics technologist with a major in communications which includes the traveling of light.
As electromagnetic pulses pass thru a medium there is a measurable loss of signal strength based on a number of factors. This includes light passing thru water. Frequency of the light has a huge impact on attenuation. That is why the blues penetrate better than reds and yellows.
But the size of the light source has no impact on penetration. The losses are measured in dB losses with a 3dB loss being a 50% loss in strength. We can overcome this loss by focussing the transmitter to the target area. The number on focussing lenses represents a 3dB loss compared to the center of the light. That is to say a light with a 40 degree beamwidth would have 1/2 as much light at the 40 degree edges as at the center of the beam.
So having 100 x 1 w LEDs would get the exact same amount of light to the same depth as 1 x 100 w led if they have the same lenses. Of course the 100 watt led would have all the light more centered under the bulb and the array would have the energy more spread out with fewer shadows. higher strength bulbs tend to have narrower focussing lenses which may lead some to think they penetrate better because of their size rather than their lenses.
If you had a coral with higher light needs you could certainly place a few LEDs closer to that target.
 
Ingy said:
I don't know about links. I am an electronics technologist with a major in communications which includes the traveling of light.
As electromagnetic pulses pass thru a medium there is a measurable loss of signal strength based on a number of factors. This includes light passing thru water. Frequency of the light has a huge impact on attenuation. That is why the blues penetrate better than reds and yellows.
But the size of the light source has no impact on penetration. The losses are measured in dB losses with a 3dB loss being a 50% loss in strength. We can overcome this loss by focussing the transmitter to the target area. The number on focussing lenses represents a 3dB loss compared to the center of the light. That is to say a light with a 40 degree beamwidth would have 1/2 as much light at the 40 degree edges as at the center of the beam.
So having 100 x 1 w LEDs would get the exact same amount of light to the same depth as 1 x 100 w led if they have the same lenses. Of course the 100 watt led would have all the light more centered under the bulb and the array would have the energy more spread out with fewer shadows. higher strength bulbs tend to have narrower focussing lenses which may lead some to think they penetrate better because of their size rather than their lenses.
If you had a coral with higher light needs you could certainly place a few LEDs closer to that target.
Click to expand...

So your saying that I will have more shadows with less powerful bulbs?
And these bulbs are strong enough to grow SPS corals right? Here's another pic of the specs:


View attachment 100413
 
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