Is this fixture good for the the price?

wayner

wayner

Member
this is why I never got lights a couple months ago, I couldent make up my mind between LED and T5... I really like the idea of saving energy but I want to support some pritty corals in the future when I decide to get some.
This may or may not help but when I do get corals I plan on getting ones that I do not have to spot feed and can survive on light alone.
But any fixture I get I want to have moon lights.
 
btldreef

btldreef

Moderator
How handy are you? The DIY kits from RapidLED are really, really nice, and you'll save a lot of money going that route.
If you do an LED fixture the right way, the lighting will support anything. Unfortunately, the cheaper pre-made models are usually garbage. With LED's (with exception of the DIY kits), you get what you pay for.
 
wayner

wayner

Member
sweet, thats the kind of response I was looking for... I am very handy with soldering and following instuctions.
 
btldreef

btldreef

Moderator
You should get on ManhattanReefs. Good deals over there for locals, and it's basically got people from all over the tri state area selling stuff. The forum can be a little rough, especially to unconventional newcomers
I have the same username over there, but rarely post, it's usually my husband on that forum. There are some really good LED threads. Camanuch built the basics of my LED unit and then my husband modded it. We had intended to build it completely by ourselves, but he was selling his unit with everything we would have needed for much less than we could have bought it, so we just went from there.
 
wayner

wayner

Member
Okay yea I just made an account, Got a question for you
You said that " Unfortunately, the cheaper pre-made models are usually garbage" I am guessing you are talking about the marineland reef capable. Well what im wondering is what makes the marineland component suck compared to a custom? The number of leds? or what?
Also the unit you bought from manhattan reefs, why and what did your husband modify on it?
 
btldreef

btldreef

Moderator
Quote:
Originally Posted by wayner http:///forum/thread/386867/is-this-fixture-good-for-the-the-price/20#post_3400794
Okay yea I just made an account, Got a question for you
You said that " Unfortunately, the cheaper pre-made models are usually garbage" I am guessing you are talking about the marineland reef capable. Well what im wondering is what makes the marineland component suck compared to a custom? The number of leds? or what?
Also the unit you bought from manhattan reefs, why and what did your husband modify on it?
As a general rule, most of marineland's line, with exception of tanks, is just not that great. The quality of their equipment is just not up to par with everyone else. Their LED units are 1 watt LEDs. For almost all reef applications, you really need 3 watt bulbs. Do some people do it with 1 or 2 watt led bulbs? Yes, but the vast majority do not have success. Other cheap, garbage LED units are a lot of the Ebay ones and the Chinese knock offs. There is a guy on MR, his name is WIngo, he has the knock off LEDs, stay away, they're not that great. He has a couple good "PAR 38" bulbs meant for nano's, but everything else really isn't that great. I've seen the things he sells personally, and I'm not impressed at all.
He ended up redoing the wiring/programming. The basic build itself is fine, but the programming and wiring to the programmers was terrible. In defense of the guy who built the unit, he's not a programmer, and got really far for someone who really doesn't know programming. Everything else was okay. He built a clean, functional unit. A lot of people have copied his design. He's trying to start his on business building them, so he's been a little stingy about helping others build their units lately. We also plan on changing out for different drivers in the future, but it won't be happening any time soon. The technology is changing on these so much, that we figured we'd wait it out a little while longer.
 
wayner

wayner

Member
so for a 75 gallon, how do you decide weather to use alot of 1 watt's fewer 2 watts or even fewer 3 watt's? Because the lower the watt the more your need and the higher the watt the les syou need im assuming.
what part of a led build needs programming?
 
btldreef

btldreef

Moderator
Quote:
Originally Posted by wayner http:///forum/thread/386867/is-this-fixture-good-for-the-the-price/20#post_3400802
so for a 75 gallon, how do you decide weather to use alot of 1 watt's fewer 2 watts or even fewer 3 watt's? Because the lower the watt the more your need and the higher the watt the les syou need im assuming.
what part of a led build needs programming?
Even using 36 1 watt LEDs, is not going to have the same effectiveness/PAR as 12 3 watt bulbs, especially if you go with the better 3 watt bulbs.
For a 75G, I'd probably do a two pendent setup, each having 24-36 or so 3 watt Cree (or similar quality) LEDs. That's just me, see what others say as well. My 180 has 3 pendents with 40 3 watt bulbs each (20 white, 20 blue). If you do dimmable drivers, I'd say go with 36, you can always turn them down or up according to your likes/tank demands.
We have dimmable and programmable drivers. Our program does lighting storms, cloud coverage, etc. None of it is really necessary, just cool features. The program also has the timer for when the lights come on and off. We wanted dimmable drivers though, so that we can change the look of the LEDs. We have have the tank look like it has 10K bulbs or 14K or 20K just by adjusting the output of the whites and blues. The nice thing about LED's is that even if you dim them, they don't loose their PAR values, so your corals still thrive, but you don't have a washed out tank.
 
wayner

wayner

Member
yes if I do this I am definitely going the dimmable route so I can change the coloration to my liking. Do you have a program that dims the leds accordingly to mimic the sun? Like coming on slowly to mimic the sun rising and going off slowly to mimic the sun setting. That would be cool.
 
btldreef

btldreef

Moderator
Quote:
Originally Posted by wayner http:///forum/thread/386867/is-this-fixture-good-for-the-the-price/20#post_3400806
yes if I do this I am definitely going the dimmable route so I can change the coloration to my liking. Do you have a program that dims the leds accordingly to mimic the sun? Like coming on slowly to mimic the sun rising and going off slowly to mimic the sun setting. That would be cool.
Yes. First the blues gradually come on and once they're at a certain percentage (I think 60-70), the whites start to gradually turn on. The reverse happens at night. We have separate moonlights that we built into the fixture for night time. The moonlights are on a cycle with the actual moon, so at certain times, they're very dim, others they're very bright. We're trying these out right now to see if it makes a different, supposedly corals thrive more like this, but I'm not completely buying it. We just figured since we have the option, we'd try it out. If you PM my username on MR, my husband can help with the LEDs, he knows far more about them than I do.
 
wayner

wayner

Member
L0L wow that sounds technical, with the moon phases and all. Do you have the tank in your room? Just wondering because when I sleep it has to be pitch black.
 
btldreef

btldreef

Moderator
Quote:
Originally Posted by wayner http:///forum/thread/386867/is-this-fixture-good-for-the-the-price/20#post_3400811
L0L wow that sounds technical, with the moon phases and all. Do you have the tank in your room? Just wondering because when I sleep it has to be pitch black.
No, we have a designated fish room. I have tanks in other rooms, but one moonlight isn't bright, the 180 reef is bright, it has 9 moonlights.
Quote:
Originally Posted by wayner http:///forum/thread/386867/is-this-fixture-good-for-the-the-price/20#post_3400813
you used the term "but you don't have a washed out tank." What does this mean?
a 10K tank is usually very yellow, and is often called "washed out". On the opposite side, a 20K tank is very blue. Most people settle for a 14K look, you still get some colors to glow from the extra blue, but you don't loose the growth you get from a 10K bulb. You can see a quick color comparison here: http://www.reefland.com/forum/reef-aquariums/12633-10k-vs-20k-de-comparison-shots.html
 
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