Led lighting

[Master plumber]

Okay so I've been tossing around the idea of LED lighting. I have upgraded from Metal halide to T5 Recently but still not pleased. I have spent months researching them Everything I have found is way overpriced I have done my homework and have come across a company called rapid LED Further Research has showed me the Apex programming system Between these two systems a hole programmable LED light can be accomplished for close to $1000 I am talking about rainclouds lightning storms and all If anybody has some advice please advise thx

 

[mr_X]

Rain clouds, lightening storms, and all do absolutely nothing for photosynthetic creatures, so if you are concerned about overall cost, skip that nonsense. All you need is a fixture that puts out enough PAR/PUR for enough time. Many of us are using LED units that can be found on ebay or amazon that work just fine for cheap. I've seen them for as low as $129.00 per fixture. What size tank are you trying to light?

 

[Master plumber]

90 gallon reef

 

[Master plumber]

Yes I agree none of that helps the growth of my corals. It would be more for aesthetics I came to the Conclusion I would be spending at least $600 On a decent LED light That is when I came up with this system Further research of the apex system has blown my mind with its capabilities

 

[Ericwm]

I am going to set up a 90 gallon this month, I already have the lighting. I went with rapid led and currently have half of it over my 29 gallon. My coral is doing great and I am very pleased. I am controlling it with an Arduino UNO micro-controller and some code I threw together. The lights look amazing, I would definitely recommend them.

 

[IslandHopper]

Get 2 of the dimmable TaoTronics 120w units from eBay ... perfect for 90 gallons! (and less than $400 including shipping for the pair)

 

[mr_X]

Get 2 of the dimmable TaoTronics 120w units from eBay ... perfect for 90 gallons! (and less than $400 including shipping for the pair)

But he will not have his lightening storms or any of the other options listed above.

 

[IslandHopper]

But he will not have his lightening storms or any of the other options listed above.

Once the novelty wore ofthe wouldn't care about that stuff anyway.

the fish themselves are WAY more interesting than any lighting effects.

 

[Master plumber]

Way true I got caught up in my research finding nifty items at the end of the day I'm looking for an inexpensive way to retro fit my metal halide fixture with led lights for now I have the t5 but that is my ultimate goal as for the controller I really like the idea but that can be a discussion for another day so any advice on dimmable retro fits would be great full