The Great LED Debate

225g

1400+ was to make a point about heat. I run that much because I can, not because I have to. I could easily run the tank with 3 x 150 or 175 watt MH and be successful to the point that most here would agree

 

I still haven't heard a response to my question? On the heat, what temp is our house?


It is starting to get silly when some people demand details yet provide none. I also think if the posters truly cared for debate there would be less "gang banging" going on

 

is there an echo in here?

 

I would like to post a summary of the situation thus far

there are people on this thread that are very happy with their choice of using LED to illuminate their aquariums, and I am pleased for those people

there are people on this thread who have made a desicion to use alternative means of illuminating their aquariums , I am happy for those people also

there may be some points being overlooked and that unfortunately is often the case when several people are contributing to a conversation , you do not always hear or in this case read, every comment made by every participant

Nobody has to justify their choices in my opinion

 

I run my entire 150 gallon system on about 800 watts, I tested this with a kilowatt meter at midday, when the lights are on at their highest, 60% power. I could easily use the same pumps and filtration, and add 100 gallons to my display tank, and use the same lights, maybe with optics to grows sps to the bottom. 2 mp40s and about 800gph on the return would be okay for flow, on the low side, but enough, correct? So with LEDs, you could run the whole system on 800watts, which is very low for such a large tank, and get the same, or better results. Why is this not a good thing? I could light a tank that size spending only about $6-800, so the prices are not horrible, a nice mh/t5 system can cost you $1000+. How would that translate to LEDs being worse than metal halide? I just don't get what you are saying.

 

Sorry I missed your question.

What fixtures on the market do you consider cutting edge. Many on my list are widely regarded as some of the best available (and some not yet available)

Who is to say they would not compete. Is that fact based. If Logan’s is the end all be all, I advised him in the other thread on how to have it tested using the widely respected test methods from Dr. Sanjay Joshi.

See the other thread for my response and others (I’ll copy them here) Another point is that Sanjay’s Licor meter does not have the same flaw of the Apogee so the results are valid!

My response on another thread…

A far more informative response from nc208082!

 

Please refer to the graph I linked, several times, to find where the 20% scew comes from.

Apogee Instruments Quantum Sensor - Spectral Response

The average hobbiest cannot afford sanjays test equipment, therefore the 20% is a good rule of thumb. Please do not dwell on the par meters, that is irrelevent! Both you and Sanjay said that LEDs have sufficient par to keep corals, and sanjay's research is over a year old, his opinion may have changed since then, I would love to see what he has to say, he sounds like a great, knowledgeable guy, and was 100% right when his research was conducted. Like I said before, cree averages a new LED series every 6 months, not to mention the discoveries made by hobbiests as far as adding supplemental colors goes over the course of a year, so by now, a good part of Sanjay's experimentation is irrelevent, that is the way science and technology works, it moves faster as more new things are discovered. In the 1700's, doctors believed that draining blood would drain the disease out of a person, now, that idea is plain crazy! What I am trying to say, is that what was correct a year or 2 ago, is not applicable now. The part of his research that remains relevant is the growth spectrum for corals, which can easily be created with LEDs.

 

When adding up my filtration calcium reactor and return pumps it adds approx 225 more watts. Add that to the fact that If I chose I could liter the tank with 3 - 175 watt Iwasaki 14K bulbs and that would put me at 750 watts. The fact is I don't want to light my tank with 525 watt, I choose to light it with 1400+. I am currently interested in pushing growth. When I want growth to slow down I will go back to my bulb of choice the 250 watt Radium. That move will move me down closer to 1000 watts for light.

 

I use dosing pumps, which do just fine using barely any power, but that is not what the debate is about. You could use 250watts of mh, or double up on the LEDs, and have the equivalent of TWICE that, still using slightly less power. Growth would not suffer, trust me.

 

Sanjay's opinion has not changed as of 8/30/12 at 8:32pm if that helps.