Those pucks look quite a bit different than the ones I seen on cutters. I'd have to check them out again. If there is an easy way to remove a chip without damaging the contact underneath then it should be pretty easy to simply solder a new chip onto the puck.
I don't think there's any doubt the A.I.'s put out some nice par. I think on Meow's tank though in order to get the kinda numbers that would allow her to keep whatever she wants wherever she wants she'd have to order them with the 40 degree optics. But once you do that you sacrifice alot of coverage. She'd need probably 6 of them to get the coverage that her diy plans would give her. What are they about $600 per module? So $2400 for 4 pluss tax, shipping and the extra for the controler. And 6 would be upwards of $4000 there abouts.
When it came down to reasoning and determining how many to go with on her tank we followed the recommdations for a general rule of thumb set put out by one of the well known websites that sells the products needed for DIY. That information has been gained by the combined experiences of DIY'rs from places like the site we're not supposed to talk about or link to. As well as their own observations. The way it breaks down is this.
400watt halide equivalent: 36-48 leds
250watt halide equivalent: 24-36 leds.
Leaning towards the higher end for her 30" deep tank. The plan would be to do 3 banks of 48 leds a piece for the equivalent of 3 - 400w halides. Her tank has 2 braces - 3 openings. One for each opening. This would allow her to have the flexibility of whatever she wants if she needs it withought having to sacrifice par or coverage. Again, the equivalent of this would be like 6 A.I's. So half the price round abouts.
She'll be able to dim manually. Or she could purchas a rapid pwm controller for about $70 bucks which would give her dawn to dusk control ramp up and ramp down and moonlight schedule I believe as well. With these drivers she could choice which ever way she wants to go. If random thunderstorms is her poisen she could upgrade to a profilux, apex, or reefkeeper controler down the road for additional cost.
So not dissing A.I.'s, I think they are great fixtures. But still think for a comparibility then you still come out cheaper on diy. Pluss the 4 colors is a nice benefit. Having the neutral whites on there is going to give her not only better color pop out of reds, oranges in the tank but the added area of red spectrum that they put out will help maximize growth to. That's an area of the spectrum that the cool whites and blues just simply don't produce. Or at least not enough to really be noticed.
Just my .02 All we can do is make recommendations. Lois and Hubby can chose for themselves. You know me, I like a good diy project. I think that fact that Hubby who isn't even in the hobby offered to build it for her is pretty cool. Good learning experience for all.