3Reef LED Lighting Review

This is one of the first posts on here that I read! Very informative!
I just got the taotronics one so I do not have any long term info to give, but it makes everything look sweet with just the blues on!

 

Welcome to 3reef!! This is a great thread to start on!

 

Welcome to 3reef! Im glad someone is reading this thread...

+1!

 

Bump..

I know a lot of people have installed lights since 2-29, lets get some feedback.

 

TANK SIZE: 65 gallon

TANK DIMENSIONS: 36" x 18" x 24"

LED BRAND: Orphek PR-156XP+

WATTAGE AND NUMBER OF FIXTURES: 1 fixture 120 watts

BULB WAVELENGTHS/NUMBER OF LEDS: 60 LED's combination of:

26 –white 12-16K

26 – 450-460nm blue

4 – Wide spectrum red

4 – High range UV 410-430nm


OPTICS: 120 degree optics

DRIVERS: Meanwell

SUPPLEMENTAL LIGHTING USED: None

DURATION OF LIGHT CYCLE: 1300-2200 day and actinics, 2200-0600 night lights

FIXTURE HEIGHT FROM SANDBED: 36 inches from sandbed suspended from Ceiling

TYPES OF CORAL IN THE SYSTEM: Mostly LPS softies, some SPS

HOW LONG HAVE YOU HAD THEM (LED'S): 2 months more or less

PLEASE SHARE YOUR EXPERIENCE: Much brighter system than my T5 setup. Amazing shimmer, looks like the real ocean. Corals have exploded in size and color.

PLEASE POST SOME PICTURES OF YOUR SYSTEM:

 

TANK SIZE: ~50 gallon

TANK DIMENSIONS: 36" x 24" x 15"

LED BRAND: DIY -- Various, Rapid LED, ModularLED, etc...

WATTAGE AND NUMBER OF FIXTURES: 1 fixture 132 watts

BULB WAVELENGTHS/NUMBER OF LEDS: 44 LED's combination of:

18 - Cool White
18 - Royal Blue
8 - Red

OPTICS: 60 degree optics on White & Blue, 80 degree optics on Red

DRIVERS: Inventronics

SUPPLEMENTAL LIGHTING USED: None

DURATION OF LIGHT CYCLE: 12 hours

FIXTURE HEIGHT FROM SANDBED: 18 inches from water

TYPES OF CORAL IN THE SYSTEM: SPS

HOW LONG HAVE YOU HAD THEM (LED'S): ~6 months

PLEASE SHARE YOUR EXPERIENCE: I have been experimenting with DIY LED systems for years now, and this is just the latest creation for a custom Frag tank build. Frags were just recently added (waited 6 months for tank to properly cycle). Light output is fantastic, using dimmers to determine optimal light output. Will be some time before I can comment on SPS coral growth rates, overall health, etc…

 

TANK SIZE: 180 gallons

TANK DIMENSIONS: 24x24x72

LED BRAND: Cree

WATTAGE AND NUMBER OF FIXTURES: Two Fixtures with 5 strings each. 3 are dimmable and 2 are not.

BULB WAVELENGTHS/NUMBER OF LEDS: 126 x 3 watts each. I dont have a count of the mixture of the lights but I have Royal blues, cool whites and warm whites.

OPTICS: Mixed as it was DIY from several people.

DRIVERS: Mixture of Thomas Research Products and Meanwell dimmable and non dimmable.

SUPPLEMENTAL LIGHTING USED: None, but have option for T-5

DURATION OF LIGHT CYCLE: 10 Hours for the dimmable ones with a 90 minute ramp time from 0-80%. Non dimmables run for 6 hours

FIXTURE HEIGHT FROM SANDBED: 28"

TYPES OF CORAL IN THE SYSTEM: SPS dominant with Softies and LPS

HOW LONG HAVE YOU HAD THEM (LED'S): 7 months

PLEASE SHARE YOUR EXPERIENCE: I love them so far. The TRP drivers very easily hook up to the RKE ALC module to allow for dimming. you can string many of these to the ALC but only a total of 2 Meanwell dimmables ( I have one). I am getting incredible colors and growth .
Look here for they building of the fixtures.
http://www.3reef.com/forums/show-of...e-growth-pics-added-92475-47.html#post1264980

They are mounted on slides so I can easily pull them for maintenance and cleaning.

PLEASE POST SOME PICTURES OF YOUR SYSTEM:
Good photos of the corals and a FTS a few posts down.
http://www.3reef.com/forums/show-of...e-growth-pics-added-92475-50.html#post1367920

Click the image for a Larger version.

 

Thanks guys for continuing to update this thread!!8)

 

New here, but with lots of experience of different led fixtures, including DIY

TANK SIZE: 34 Gallon

TANK DIMENSIONS: 24x18x24 ish?

LED BRAND: Cree XT-E, Luxeon ES, Semileds UV

WATTAGE AND NUMBER OF FIXTURES: 180w 1x

BULB WAVELENGTHS/NUMBER OF LEDS: 48 CW:NW:WW:RB:B:Cyan:G:R:V420nm

OPTICS: 90 degree

DRIVERS: 4 Meanwells

SUPPLEMENTAL LIGHTING USED: Ha

DURATION OF LIGHT CYCLE: 10-14hrs

FIXTURE HEIGHT FROM SANDBED: 34"

TYPES OF CORAL IN THE SYSTEM: Mixed

HOW LONG HAVE YOU HAD THEM (LED'S): A few months

PLEASE SHARE YOUR EXPERIENCE:

I do not feel Sols and Radions provide enough output and spread for their prices, so I went with both DIY and chinese fixtures to test out the best I could get for the money. My DIY light puts out an insane amount of Apex controllable output, and looks amazing, with corals popping some incredible color from even the reds and oranges. I'll have to post separate threads because the amount of info is too much to read. Overall extremely happy with the switch from MH/T5 to led.

PLEASE POST SOME PICTURES OF YOUR SYSTEM: