Advice for making the LED switch from T5s on a budget??

Discussion in 'LED Aquarium Lighting' started by mdbannister, Nov 4, 2012.

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  1. Slacking02

    Slacking02 Astrea Snail

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    lol yeah it’s the angle it took it at, you can’t really see them when you stand next to the tank. Your right about the led colors, wish it had more color spectrum but for the price I paid I’m happy and can’t really complain!
     
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  3. mdbannister

    mdbannister Flamingo Tongue

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  4. mdbannister

    mdbannister Flamingo Tongue

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  5. oyf709

    oyf709 Bristle Worm

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    The first light is not gonna be enough for SPS, 96w over a 4 feet tank is really little light.

    The 2nd fixture is good for 4 ft tank but I don't see anywhere it shows the brand of the LED chip, can you tell what they using?
     
  6. oyf709

    oyf709 Bristle Worm

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    That should be enough for the tank. However, Just a quick look at the price, it would be cost you another maybe 100-130 on top of the kit itself for extra things like timers, hanging kit and heat sink. Not to mention Heat sink's shipping cost usually can be very high. So at the end of the day, you might find a premade fixture cost maybe just a bit more than this kit.

    The only differences are, for DIY, you saved some money, but you need to be quite handy. It is not that hard to connect all the wire and LEDs. The hard part is to make it very clean and tidy looking so that it won't end up looking like a piece of scrap metal with wiring flying everywhere sitting on your tank. That might mean that you have to either have an existing canopy or you will need to spend more to build one to hide the DYI light.

    For premade, down side is you pay a bit more, but you don't have to worry about poor DYI job and everything should be clean and tidy already.

    I don't against DYI, I just can't make the fixture sit on my tank nicely. I wnat people look at my display tank and enjoy the coral and fish in there, not wasting time to talk about how funny my DYI looks like.
     
  7. mdbannister

    mdbannister Flamingo Tongue

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    Thanks! These are excellent points. I do have a canopy, so I'm not tooo worried about the appearance of the lights (although, I'm still planning to try and make the look as symmetrical as possible). You mentioned that I will need more than the kit?? :confused::shocked2::( I was thinking that would be all I needed (and I was hoping I had found a really inexpensive way to do LEDs). So it seems like your saying that I may just be better off buying 3 120w fixtures...guess I'm back to hunting... :computer::juggle2:
     
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  9. 1.0reef

    1.0reef Giant Squid

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    Watts doesn't matter, PAR and PUR is a better way to tell hat you can grow. 96watts of crees would put out more par than 96 watts of brigelux.
     
  10. 1.0reef

    1.0reef Giant Squid

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    Just saying that kit has...
    Terrible spectrum whites
    Not the best ratio of B:W
    and you have to solder and put together A LOT of leds.
    There are some better DIY places/kits and some spectacular non diy fixtures for a higher price.
     
  11. mdbannister

    mdbannister Flamingo Tongue

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    What is "terrible" about the spectrum? I'm not doubting you. I really don't know. I thought that 3w at something over 6500k was what I was looking for. I was thinking 10000k was a good spectrum. What should I be looking for?

    As far as ratio B:W I was hoping to do 3 blues to 1 white (I read that this is pretty close to 20000k and would make for best coloring). Is that a good idea? I know these guys don't offer that option (closest they come is 2 to 1), but I was thinking maybe if I contacted them and made the request they would adjust since they do offer several different options.

    I'm definitely NOT looking forward to soldering, but I figured I'd do it to save the money...also I figured it'd be better than buying multiple fixtures because of not being able to have the multiple fixtures all on one dimmer switch (which I figured I could do with these).

    I agree that there are much better lights available for a higher price...I just don't think my budget can handle a much higher price. I'd be interested in some suggestions.
     
  12. oyf709

    oyf709 Bristle Worm

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    I understand it need PAR/PUR for coral grow, but since it never mention what brand the LED are made of, I would of assume it is not CREE. I don't see any other brand LED can be high in PAR reading.

    I don't believe a 96w CREE fixture is enough for a 4ft tank, not to mention that light most unlikely using CREE.

    You are right the Lux/Watt mean nothing to coral, but it does make a different to human eyes as how bright the light is. 96watt of CREE is like 1 and half AI which if you thinking 1 and half AI fixture on your 4ft tank. It just simply not enough