New LED lighting.

forcrz6

forcrz6

Member
Ok I am all out of the loop, so I am looking for some info on the new LED lighting. Here is my situation. I have a 150g tank with a 55g sump on it. It is mainly FOWLR, but I have some coral, anemones, and also mushrooms. Tanks has been up and running now for 6 years. Currently I use MH and t5s. Now we just had a home standby generator installed 10k Now this is powerful. But with some of the winters we have here in Buffalo we tend to have power outages. Now the generator will run our house and the pumps and heater for the tank, but the MH (Mainly) and the T5s eat the power, and it was suggested that the gen might not be able to handle the rest of the circuit with them on.
So I am looking at something more energy eff. LED obviously is this. But I do not have any information on them. Do you still need to run T5s or MHs? how good are these LED? will they really be good for my tank? How is the look of the tank with these LEDs? Any and all info would be great if you could please. Thanks.
 
reefraff

reefraff

Active Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by forcrz6 http:///t/388125/new-led-lighting#post_3420732
Ok I am all out of the loop, so I am looking for some info on the new LED lighting. Here is my situation. I have a 150g tank with a 55g sump on it. It is mainly FOWLR, but I have some coral, anemones, and also mushrooms. Tanks has been up and running now for 6 years. Currently I use MH and t5s. Now we just had a home standby generator installed 10k Now this is powerful. But with some of the winters we have here in Buffalo we tend to have power outages. Now the generator will run our house and the pumps and heater for the tank, but the MH (Mainly) and the T5s eat the power, and it was suggested that the gen might not be able to handle the rest of the circuit with them on.
So I am looking at something more energy eff. LED obviously is this. But I do not have any information on them. Do you still need to run T5s or MHs? how good are these LED? will they really be good for my tank? How is the look of the tank with these LEDs? Any and all info would be great if you could please. Thanks.
I haven't seen an LED fixture I would use simply because I haven't seen a mix of LED's I like used in one yet. My DIY unit is doing great over my 120. 96 3 watt LED's, no optics and the BTA hides in a cave LOL!
 
forcrz6

forcrz6

Member
So are you saying that all LED will replace t5s and MH if you have the right color/Light range with the LEDs? I see that they use about 1/2 of the electric that MH does. So does this mean that if i felt the need, I could do a DYI with a mixture of 8, 10, and 15k along with moon? Or do the LEDs come in only 10k?
I also seemed to have read somewhere that 24 LED = 1 250 MH Is this correct?
I was reading up on mowzers build and it does not seem hard, but I still just would like to know if you still need other lights or what I should look for in these LEDs.
Thanks ahead of time.
 
meowzer

meowzer

Moderator
I am replacing my MH/T5 unit on my 225 with ONLY LED's.....so yeah.....YOU CAN replace those units with the APPROPRIATE type of LEDS
 
forcrz6

forcrz6

Member
Hrmmm. If all that space and electric can be saved, it seems like a good Idea. So for meowzer your thread has been very informative. Really does not look all that hard, but do you happen to know what the Kelvin on the whites and blues that you are using are, or are they just listed by color for LED? Ill be honest, if I was to do this I would prob look to mimic yours. But I would need to figure out what materials I dont need for my 150. By that I mean yours is for the 225 and with mine being 150, I would think your material list would be to much for mine.
 
btldreef

btldreef

Moderator
I replaced my 3-250 watt halides with 4 96watt PC atinics over my 155 with ALL 3 watt LEDs and it's been going great. I've since upgraded my tank to a 180, and everything is thriving. I have 120 3 watt LEDs (60 blues, 60 whites) running on dimmable drivers with no optics and I absolutely love the results I'm getting.
 
2quills

2quills

Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by forcrz6 http:///t/388125/new-led-lighting#post_3421142
Hrmmm. If all that space and electric can be saved, it seems like a good Idea. So for meowzer your thread has been very informative. Really does not look all that hard, but do you happen to know what the Kelvin on the whites and blues that you are using are, or are they just listed by color for LED? Ill be honest, if I was to do this I would prob look to mimic yours. But I would need to figure out what materials I dont need for my 150. By that I mean yours is for the 225 and with mine being 150, I would think your material list would be to much for mine.
You can get leds in a variety of colors. Whites from Warm, Neutral to Cool. The standard combination used by most everybody has for a while been a 50/50 mix of royal blue and cool white. But there are a lot of people not satisfied as they say the colors in their corals look a bit washed out with that combination. So folks have been adding in a little bit of neutral white and cool blue to help balance things out and fill in some of the other areas of the spectrum that aren't being hit by just the royal blue and cool whites.
 
forcrz6

forcrz6

Member
Well that explains a little more on Meowzers light. I remember that from the 1 page about her not wanting yellows, and then the explination of using Neutral colors and wanting to stay away from warm.
Meowzer, would you mind if I did build 1 If I use your plans?
So by the way everyone is talking the Kelvn is out and the color of the light tells you what you need, is that correct?
Also looking at meowzers plans, it seems that these LEDs run hot. Is that a correct assumption?
 
2quills

2quills

Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by forcrz6 http:///t/388125/new-led-lighting#post_3421150
Well that explains a little more on Meowzers light. I remember that from the 1 page about her not wanting yellows, and then the explination of using Neutral colors and wanting to stay away from warm.
Meowzer, would you mind if I did build 1 If I use your plans?
So by the way everyone is talking the Kelvn is out and the color of the light tells you what you need, is that correct?
Also looking at meowzers plans, it seems that these LEDs run hot. Is that a correct assumption?
The leds themselves run hot, yes. They should be mounted to an alluminum heatsink to help dissipate the heat, which keeps them running cooler and lasts longer. Other than that though, they don't radiate heat like halides do. So there is virtually no heat transere to the tank itself. Just the fixture.
Color temp really all depends on type of leds used, bin numbers and ratios. The typical 50/50 cool white and royal blue gives you approximately a 12K look. If you use dimmable drivers than you can control the intensity or output of each color which will allow you to fine tune them to a color temp that you like.
 
meowzer

meowzer

Moderator
Quote:
Originally Posted by forcrz6 http:///t/388125/new-led-lighting#post_3421150
Well that explains a little more on Meowzers light. I remember that from the 1 page about her not wanting yellows, and then the explination of using Neutral colors and wanting to stay away from warm.
Meowzer, would you mind if I did build 1 If I use your plans?
So by the way everyone is talking the Kelvn is out and the color of the light tells you what you need, is that correct?
Also looking at meowzers plans, it seems that these LEDs run hot. Is that a correct assumption?
NOT AT ALL...That's why I have been documenting everything....I WILL SAY....Shawn (Acrylic 51 & Corey 2 Quills) did a lot of the brain work...LOL....and my husband is doing all the other work
I just got online, ordered everything, asked questions, and posted the progress
 
tur4k

tur4k

Member
I just wanted to mention that you can get a Aqua Illuminations Sol Super Blue LED fixture for about the same price as a DIY. I don't have any experience with these fixtures, but they seem decent from what I've read online.
 
forcrz6

forcrz6

Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by 2Quills http:///t/388125/new-led-lighting#post_3421151
The leds themselves run hot, yes. They should be mounted to an alluminum heatsink to help dissipate the heat, which keeps them running cooler and lasts longer. Other than that though, they don't radiate heat like halides do. So there is virtually no heat transere to the tank itself. Just the fixture.
Color temp really all depends on type of leds used, bin numbers and ratios. The typical 50/50 cool white and royal blue gives you approximately a 12K look. If you use dimmable drivers than you can control the intensity or output of each color which will allow you to fine tune them to a color temp that you like.
NICE!!. I tend to lean a little more blue, it does tend to make the tank look "Deeper". Me thinks I will have to start buying materials. If I give the dimentions of the tank, do you think anyone here can help me plan out the materials that would be needed for this? Like maybe (Acrylic 51 & Corey 2 Quills)? thanks ahead of time.
5 feet long
18 1/4 " wide
25" High
Sorry it is a 120 not 150
 
forcrz6

forcrz6

Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by tur4k http:///t/388125/new-led-lighting#post_3421183
I just wanted to mention that you can get a Aqua Illuminations Sol Super Blue LED fixture for about the same price as a DIY. I don't have any experience with these fixtures, but they seem decent from what I've read online.
True. But from what I have read, you do not have to options of the diffrent colors, and or spectrum.
 
meowzer

meowzer

Moderator
Quote:
Originally Posted by tur4k http:///t/388125/new-led-lighting#post_3421183
I just wanted to mention that you can get a Aqua Illuminations Sol Super Blue LED fixture for about the same price as a DIY. I don't have any experience with these fixtures, but they seem decent from what I've read online.
Quote:
Originally Posted by forcrz6 http:///t/388125/new-led-lighting#post_3421187
True. But from what I have read, you do not have to options of the diffrent colors, and or spectrum.
LOL...I was just about to type that...and I will add...if you are a smart shopper you can actually DIY somewhat cheaper
 
acrylic51

acrylic51

Active Member
The AI units have proven the can sustain a reef. I think there are just to many variables between tanks to say what truly is mixing or not. There's a 340 gallon tank that has used nothing but the AI units from the tanks start, and honestly speaking the tank is stunning!!!! That's were I draw the conclusion when you you here guys running same lighting systems but their tanks don't exhibit the same results. Again this is where I think the variables are a little more than the lighting.
Curious to see how the Eco Radion actually performs. These systems do have other colors other than the blue/white mix, so it will be interesting to see how they pan out. Again for these upgraded Radion LEDs your talking $800 per unit. Really not in the average hobbyist budget for something really untested at this point. Time will tell!!!!!
 
tur4k

tur4k

Member
There's a DT at one of my LFS running an Acan lighting fixture. It seems like a pretty sweet fixture and there has been good SPS growth with it, but it is super expensive.
 
1guydude

1guydude

Well-Known Member
acan lighting is the brand...seen em in person and they are made in japan i do believe. I know a fellow with 4 AI sol super blues over his shallow reef and he seems to love em. I think dimmable is a must with the leds...also the shimmer is amazing, ive never done Mhs so i cant compare but i love LEDs...
 
btldreef

btldreef

Moderator
Acan Lighting is made on Long Island, my reef club is hosted by the facility where they're made. They are by far the best manufactured LEDs systems I've seen available on the market, but they're pricey.
 
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