Sanjay Joshi's Halide/LED Comparison

Chances are many of you have read some of Sanjay's great articles on lighting in ReefKeeping Magazine. Well those of us at BAYMAC recently were a lucky crew as we got a chance to hear Sanjay speak on a few common LED lamps out there compared to a 250w halide lamp. Some of these lamps included the now extinct Solaris and the newest Eco-Lamp and Aqua Illumination LED fixtures. Many of the LEDs did well in terms of efficiency as they produced nice par for the watts required to run the lamps. But Sanjay had an interesting observation. More below.


Sanjay Joshi's Halide/LED Comparison





What Sanjay drilled home was light spread. Halides have an advantage still as the DE Ushio bulb was able to get at least 100 PAR across the bottom of the tank. Sanjay has LEDs over most of his tanks now and says that if you can afford them and prefer their features, the current ones out will work for average to small aquariums, but his large 6' tank still has halides for that reason. Sanjay says it would take a lot of the current LED fixtures to light up that tank properly and the PAR value drops off significantly after 30" deep. A very interesting talk and another reason to go to these aquarium shows.



matt

 

Good to know, nice to get some data on LED's from a reputable source

 

i was at his house last month and i can happily say that his 6' tank is really AMAZING

 

OK, but what's the issue of getting 100 PAR spread across the bottom?

Compared to a point source like MH, you put a equal mix of Kelvin LED's per/area at about 1-2 inches apart, and you should get the best light distribution possible, right?

 

My guess is the issue is cost. Some of the new higher end units are quite expensive so getting those to cover every inch of the aquarium may be relatively expensive.

I've been reading about LED units lately a little bit, mostly the MaxSpect and AquaIllumination units, and my biggest concern is the life expectancy. Although until lots of people have used them for a few years I'm not sure we can be sure how they will hold up to a wide variety of conditions, unfortunately.

 

Matt,

Is there any way you can post that slide show? The pictures are difficult to see.

Thanks for posting this. It is nice to know that there are some third party numbers floating around out there.

 

FWIW Sanjay has had articles in more mags then just Reef Keeping and you won't find his articles in RK any longer. He still does articles in Advanced Aquarist and Reefs Magazine.

View | Advanced Aquarist's Online Magazine

Reefs Magazine: Winter Issue - March 1, 2010 - May 31, 2010

His MH guide lives on Manhattan Reefs now...

Manhattan Reefs - Sanjay's Lighting Guide

 

Thank you. Found what I was looking for on the first link. K+

 

Man if I had those I wouldn't have used my crappy pics!

Dingo may be our man here as he knows Sanjay. (I just met him briefly after the talk)
Can you make this happen Dingo? ;D

Thank you for this G!