LED lighting question

[Bill_B]

I'm working on a 12 gallon Eclipse tank that i bought last night. it is setup with a handful of coral frags, and live rock. I'm not impressed with the stock lighting and was looking at a possible LED Upgrade.

225 Blue + WHITE LED Aquarium & Plant Grow Light Panel - eBay (item 390212082715 end time Jun-23-10 22:58:08 PDT)


what about something like that? anyone ever try them out?

 

[BigJim]

I doubt that'd be powerful enough for corals. SW LED systems use 1W and 3W LEDs which usually go for several dollars a piece. Google DIY LED aquarium light and there are some good links out there. I imagine that for a 12g, you could do some pretty awesome LED lighting for less than $50 if you've got some basic soldering skills.

 

[Bige]

+1 You could make it cheaper and better yourself. There are few manufacturers that make a good led light.

 

[cmor1701d]

My LED's are 1w units (PacificSun BT-EX). There are 120 1w LED's per unit. Each unit covers a 2' x 2' section of the tank.

The unit you posted is 13.8 Watts total for 225 LED's. Not quite enough light for corals.

 

[Jimbo7]

I'm planning a JBJ 12g LED build. I'm hoping to get the stuff ordered in the next couple days. I'm going with 18 3w Cree LEDs but i think 12 is plenty. I'm just getting them while they are on sale, they are easy to transfer to other builds later. Nanotuners makes a decent barebones kit that should get you started, though I found its slightly cheaper to part it out.
Nanotuners.com