SWC Xtreme LED lights

I just picked up a pair of these lights. wondering if anyone has used them and what you all think of them?? i'm running 2 over a 4 ft 55G tank and im not sure i can use just these lights to support my corals. apparently they can out perform a MH 400W fixture by 10X on a par meter. I'll add pictures of my tank with the new lights. I must admit it looks pretty slick...nice shimmering water like you would get with a MH bulb but only uses 60w of power. Went with these two fixtures after my old t5 lights almost lit the house on fire....somehow got some moisture between the bulb and end cap and they started melting and smoking then lit on fire right as i was walking by...talk about good timing. You guys think I would need a secondary source of light for supporting SPS and LPS corals??

 

Several other companies are offering the same fixture. If the claims seem too good to be true then they probably are. 60w of LED will not outperform 400 watts of MH and certainly not by 10x. Can you make it appear so, sure.

 

well par meters don't lie..I am just more curious as to what spectrum of bulbs these are and if the blue bulbs are actually an actinic bulb or just blue... it was a rushed decision because of the situation i was in. I usually would have done some research first. I'm just wanting to determine if anyone know much about LED lighting for aquariums, and more specifically the one SWC is putting out..

 

Correct. This is a typical re-branded, mass produced, low quality fixture. A quality LED fixture will generally emit a similar amount of energy while using 1/3rd or 1/4th the power of a halide. A fixture using nearly 1/7th the power won't do it with current tech.

 

the thing with the par meter is probably measuring MH underwater and the leds in the air but they don't state it so the par meter does read 10x higher they just don't tell you how it is measured. about 140watts of leds equal 250watt MH just a rough estimate. I have 144watts of leds over my 75 and they will grow any sps I want.

 

This is what frustrates me so much. The optics of LED can be so focused that they can play tricks with the PAR meter. LED companies have found that they can say just about anything and someone is going to buy it. If you recall the PFO solaris I5 was said to be equal to a 400 watt MH but really only a 250 watt MH (kind of). PFO came to our club to pitch their product. Our, then, club President asked me if I had a 24" long 20 gallon tank I could bring them to demo the light on. I said sure! You should have seen the look on their face when I brought in a tank that was 24" x 24" x 12". Here is a picture of the tank when they finally set up the light.



Notice that outside approx 15" wide strip there is no light. Not a drop off, not less light, NO light. In that area only, The light's highest par was really only as bright as a a middle of the road 250 watt MH and pendant. I asked the question, what are us large tank owners to do about lighting a tank that is wider than 18". The owners response, "Buy two!" that meant my 72" x 30" x 24" tank might even need three to have seamless light. The truth was that this fixture sold as 40% more efficient than a 250 watt MH achieved these results by only lighting 50-60% of the area.

 

Yeah that makes alot of sense. each fixture from SWC is rated at 60W and i have to making it 120w of LED over a 55G tank.

 

gcarroll knows his stuff about lighting and makes lots of good points.

For all lighting especially LED's, don't just look at PAR readings but pay close attention also to the spread of the light output. Many advertise that "their LED fixture" is as strong as a 400W MH but then again its only directly underneath the light fixture. Ask for a PAR graph of their fixture, regardless if some companies say that PAR is useless through air. We say its better than not having one at all!

 

Thanks for the compliment BoostLED.

Exactly! At the moment, PAR and lumens are the only means we have to measure lighting for our tanks. To ignore it in some cases and embrace it in others is crazy. Measuring through air is the best method of measurement as it the only measurement that can be controlled. By claiming that their LED light is as bright as a 400 watt MH, I should not only have the PAR of a MH, but the spread of a MH. A common trick of LED makers is to compare their lights to a 20K MH even though their fixtures are no where near 20K. Many of these are more like a 14K. Not Phoenix 14K (which is really 20K+), but Ushio 14K which is crisp white! Here is some food for thought:

LED is not 7-10x more efficient than Metal Halide. Only 1-2x more efficient. Anyone telling you otherwise IMO is just not being truthful.

Metal Halide produces 65-115 lumens/watt

White LEDs produce 4.5 to 150 lumens/watt

Just realize that the least efficient halides are 15 times more efficient as the least efficient LEDs

The most efficient LEDs are only 1.3 times more efficient than the most efficient halides.

Keep in mind that LED theoretically are limited to 300 lumens/watt so that is less than 3x more efficient that the most efficient halide.

 

One thing not mentioned here is placement and heat generation- this is where LED does very well vrs. halides.

But like gcarroll said, how the light is presented makes a big difference. Any measurement of light can always be preferential- but when you have it over the tank is where you really get to see just what is what.

I run halides because my tank is 32 inches deep, but for folks under say 20 inches- LED might be a great way to cut your power usage, and heat input.

My only reason for wanting LED is heat and power reduction- other wise I really like my quad T5/twin halide set up. What I would like to see is an LED, T5, Halide test using real data over a deep tank such as mine, with bulbs and colors we all use- maybe then a combination of light using any mix of the three.

BTW: As for lumen output have a look here- LED is the future, but it's gonna take time. http://led.linear1.org/brightest-led-array-record/