LED setup

I recall a few different conversations on LED’s. Has anyone invested in a setup yet?

I am interested in switching to LED’s from my MH’s and find it difficult to locate vendors on the internet. Most everything seems inadequate for larger tanks.

I found this 72” set up at reefgeek: http://www.reefgeek.com/lighting/LED_Lighting/AquaIllumination_LED_Light_Systems/72_inch__6x90W_Modular_LED_Light_System_w!_Controller_by_AquaIllumination

It has a sizable price tag of about $3,600 – but is also suppose to run for 10 years (only 2 year warranted)

<snip>
Features:
1. Intensity is adjustable from 0 to 100%.
2. Color is adjustable from warm white (approximately 6500K) to deep blue (greater than 20000K).
3. Two control settings: Automatic and Manual. In Automatic Mode the sun rises and falls at pre-determined times and the fixture automatically transitions into the corresponding moon cycle for the duration of the 24-hour period. In Manual Mode the light may be set to the desired intensity and color and turned on-off manually.
4. Moon intensity automatically adjusts to follow the actual lunar cycle of ~29 day.
5. Fixture is cooled by blowing air across heat sinks located above each bank of LED lamps preventing salt, moisture, dust and dirt from entering the fixture and harming the LED lamps and other internal components.
6. 100V - 240V Universal Power Supply allows fixture to be used on a wide variety of power sources.
7. Seamless integration with GHL ProFiLux Controllers.
</snip>

Anyone know of other options for LED to span a 6 foot tank ?

Tnx !

 

you can set up a very quality nano reef for that amount of money! wow! hell of an investment...

 

there is a 72" LED setup on RC for under $1000. Here's the link if that helps any . . .

Reef Central Online Community - 72" PFO Solaris H4 LED Light Fixture - Abilene, TX

~Will.

 

For me thie lighting is way to new and way to costly. i havent seen (i could be wrong) any tanks have these lights for long term. id wait a little bit if i where you and see how they go. just like everything else the price will also fall.

 

Roger says that the technology is not "there" yet so he's holding off on trying it out long term yet.

 

I've been researching LEDs lately. I ultimately decided against it. Here is what I took into consideration:


1. Initial expense. Most that I've seen would be 800$+ (bare-bones minimum) to light my 55. I can get an overdriven T5 retro for >400.

2. As far as I know, the growth in SPS is not as good as MH or ODT5. ( Reef Central Online Community - anyone running led over sps ) I don't know what coral you plan on keeping, or if that specific higher end lighting system would be different.

3. 10 year life span w/ a 2 year warranty (for an example) doesn't sound like they have much faith in it. It's so new. I don't know if anyone has successfully kept one since 1999 and there is only a limited amount of information on them/support. It's an unknown and a gamble.

4. All of the nifty gadgets such as: " -Intensity is adjustable from 0 to 100%.
-Color is adjustable from warm white. . deep blue.
-Two control settings: Automatic and Manual.
-Moon intensity automatically adjusts to follow the actual lunar cycle of ~29 day.
-Fixture is cooled. . .
-100V - 240V Universal Power Supply allows fixture to be used on a wide variety of power sources.
-Seamless integration with GHL ProFiLux Controllers."

5. It's really, really, flippin sweet- bagging rights n' such.

6. Energy savings.

7. It is, IMO, the future of aquarium lighting. That's a two way street though: It will probably become cheaper and more efficient in the future. Does anyone remember how much computers used to be and how crappy they were?

8. This is the one I was looking at- Aquawave Brilliance Marine White

I emailed them as follows:

"I am interested in your aquarium LEDs but have a few questions.

-1710 lumens in a 850mmx300mm space is only about 6700lux (pretty low), if my math is right. How far away from the bulb was that reading taken?

-Has it been tried with SPS coral?

- Everything included, how much would it be to light a 300mmx850mm space of reef aquarium?

-Do you ship to the States?

Thanks!- Logan"


They replied:

"Hi,

Thanks for your interest in our products.

The Aquawave Brilliance K2 has the highest lumen output of any available production led light at the moment and is extremely bright.

Lumens are calculated by the led manufacturers under strict controls so we take their word that the lumen output is as they state and certainly visually they are brighter than anything we have seen; you certainly cannot look at the tube!

The 300mm is for guidance only and shows the absolute max the light will penetrate to.. If tanks are reef or heavily planted we recommend a second row at that point but you may need more. A tank 400mm would certainly require two rows.

Feedback from reef users has been excellent, most have expressed how much brighter the lights are than their expectation.

For your tank it would depend on if you prefer to have shaded edges for your fish to rest in or if you want complete bright coverage. When the controller comes out (around 2 – 3 months) you will be able to control the sections and dim the ones you need to independently.

If you require full coverage you will need 2 x 850 K2’s £459.99

We can supply a 5 amp adaptor at £32.99 but you would need to fix a US plug to the end of it.

P&P for the states is £5.99

We will be opening a US version of the site in the future, but not very sure when.

If you have any further questions please get back to us


Kind Regards-


Customer Service

Aquarium Led Lighting"

I was pretty impressed w/ their response. All in all it would be about 820$.




Conclusion: I think some people make it almost a matter of self-worth on how efficient their system is. I think what needs to be figured is how the total savings would effect you + the saving mother earth feelgood stuff, compared to how much it improve your tank.

10-13 years (is it does last that long) would add up to a lot. But would your/my aquarium be better off with that than MH in 10 years time? This is an expensive hobby any way you dice it and I think it's far easier to pay over a longer period of time even if it is total, more money.

Very few people keep all the lights in their houses (except in the rooms they are not in at the time) off like they are "sopposed to." That would save money in the long term too. Flossing 2x/day adds like 7 years to your life span. Eating 9 servings of fruits vegetables/day is good. Not to many people do that either. "Nielsen's 'Three Screen Report' for the fourth quarter says the average American now watches more than 151 hours of TV a month." If they spent 1/2 that time at a 7.25$/hour job over 50 years that would be about 328,000$ extra. No one gives a hoot about it because if you stretch most things out over a long period of time the total cost is stretched out of proportion and looks like a lot. Look at it from a month to moth basis. Very, very few people run their lives at maximum efficiency.

How much better off would your aquarium be with all of those effects compared to MH? How much would the energy savings be per month? How much does that amount matter to you personally?

EDIT: sorry, that was kind of long

 

I believe the reason it's so cheap is that PFO is out of business so any maintenance/repairs are going to be your responsibility entirely.



There's a local reefer using the Aquaillumination LEDs from ReefGeek on an SPS tank and he's getting great growth.
9 months of amazing growth - pics included - TCMAS

I think from the electricity savings since the initial cost is so high it takes quite a few years to pay back that initial investment. So if you're planning on keeping the tank running for 10-15 years it might be worth it from a cost perspective only.

I will be waiting before jumping on that bandwagon, personally. Especially with some other lighting technologies due to come out somewhat soon, like plasma.

 

I have been running leds on my 90 gallon mixed reef tank with good results. I have 2 hot5 lamps to help change up the color since my diy leds are not adjustable like a lot of the ones on the market now.
I have been running it now for around 9 months and have been able to keep just about any corals without any problems.

 

Here are a few photos of my tank

 

A few with just my blue leds on. I have only had my sps corals for about 2 months but they have already almost doubled in size. My clam I have had for around 9 months and it too has doubled in size.