Anyone else see/use the LEDs at Exotic Aquarium?

At Exotic Aquarium in Sacremento, they have LED units rather cheap that they use on their aquariums. Although the results, prices, and PAR readings are really convincing, I cant help but think that there is a catch? Anybody know anything about them?

 

they use led for day time use as the main lighting u sure not as moon lights

 

Yes they are using them as daylights.

Cement Skis - go to the Reef Central reef club for for MARS, that is the local club in Exotics area and there is a long thread in it about

 

Jeannie and Jeremey are (or at least were by my last visit) using them as supplementation for their PC's. They had a gorgeous tank. The thing I don't like is there is no PAR or significant facts about the lighting that is NOT from Exotic or a biased source.
Have you been to Exotic Aquariums CS?

 

No I have not yet, but they are on the list of stores I plan to visit when I have the time in Sac. I plan on talking to exotic about them, but like Pac mentioned I would like to get info from a non-biased source.

 

Then go see the thread I'm talking about. Some biased reviews and some non biased reviews. You can always count on the local club to dig deep

 

We were in there on Saturday. After a long discussion with an undisclosed source from the store, this is my conclusion. They work really well along side high powered lighting (halide or T5s etc.) They CANNOT in any way replace metal halide lighting. The LEDs at Exotic are still under trial and error. They are the best I have seen, but still, I rate them as GOOD not GREAT. The PAR ratings come in high; personal use with them is the best judgment. We have used them in conjunction with our T5s or our PCs. The LEDs we have are phase 1. Exotic is currently manufacturing Phase 4. Phase 4 is for sale now. We purchased phase 4 for our 125g and our 55g corner tank. The reason we made this purchase was because of esthetics. You cannot beat the color and bio-luminescence of your coral and fish. We use our T5s for power and stability and the LEDs for actinic lighting. It seems to be the perfect system for our needs and wants.
These are the pros: Heat emissions are extremely low with the LED. Wattage is low making them very energy efficient. Installation is a breeze. They last for 5 years. Exotic has one of the best return/no question asked policy I have ever seen.
These are the cons: Algae blooms (we have not experienced this) long term use of LEDs seems to be producing algae blooms we have never encountered in our 13+ years in this hobby. The electrical ends are exposed. The guy that deals with them a lot down there gets shocked quite frequently with 110 voltages. We installed ours in a hood and sealed the end caps eliminating that risk. They are fine for a fish only tank (like our 55g), but I would only trust LPS under LED lighting solely. Five months ago Exotic moved their LEDs from their SPS tank to their LPS tank and put Metal halide on their SPS. That has got to count for something.

Our new LEDs will be here around Christmas. I'll post pics with the new lighting once it’s all set. At that point we will let our trial begin.

 

From what i seen the whole tank was lite with the led's and it looked awesome. I frequently go to Exotic and the tank has had sps and i have been impressed with the tank under the led's, and i have been an avid fan of metal halide's.

 

do you have values for the PAR and for watts consumed? I can crunch some numbers with this info to see if its legit