Opinions needed about LED lighting fixture ASAP

btldreef

btldreef

Moderator
I am currently running 250watt metal halides (3 of them) moguls on my 155, 30" high tank. The heat from these and our electic bill is getting out of hand, so I'm going to be moving my SPS into a different tank with a halide setup and put my 72" Aqualight 3x150watt HQI's back on this tank.
I will soon be moving and the 155 will be upgraded to a standard 180. I want to do LED lighting on the 180. We were going to go the DIY route, but my husband came across ECORAY LED's for a good price. I have no experience/knowledge when it comes to LED's. He's looking at the ECORAY 60D light. I believe we'd need three of these as far as size for the 180. My plans for the 180 are mixed reef, basically I want SPS up top, then LPS, then some lower lighting softies on the bottom.
Would the ECORAY 60 work for this kind of application? If not, could you recommend something similar?
 
btldreef

btldreef

Moderator
Quote:
Originally Posted by acrylic51 http:///forum/thread/381500/opinions-needed-about-led-lighting-fixture-asap#post_3323642
How much cheaper are these units vs DIY???? Are they controllable?
I can purchase them from someone near me for $300 a piece.
http://reefbuilders.com/2010/03/04/ecoray-led-lighting-system-join-reefstock-led-showcase/
^That's really the only info I have on them. Someone in my reef club swears by them, but they're not a seasoned hobbyist, so I don't fully trust them.
 
acrylic51

acrylic51

Active Member
Honestly the price sounds a little to good IMO.....I would try posting over on the other big forum and see what kind of review you get there...Is there any way you can see these over a tank before you purchase? Dimming would be a major considering factor IMO as well. You might not be totally pleased with the light rendition you get, and without being able to turn 1 or the other up or down also is a drawback.
 
acrylic51

acrylic51

Active Member
Honestly if you go over to my build thread I had posted an excellent link as far as DIY LEDS, that is really neat.....Again we get what we pay for, and it's just an option.....
 
king_neptune

king_neptune

Active Member
My array I built blows that out of the water, and you would save over $400 if you went the DIY route. I demo'd a similar array built buy the same manufacture. Only the unit I got was 120 1w LED's instead of the 60 your planning on getting. THey are garbage color, garbage growth. Poor poor made in china quality. DIY I promise, you will be much happier.
https://forums.saltwaterfish.com/forum/thread/377353/neptunes-72-custom-led-system
 
king_neptune

king_neptune

Active Member
Remember you will need 2 of these per 250w MH you are replacing...and thats a gross gross exageration, I dont think 2 will cut it. So your at 2x6=6.
6 Units at $300+ each. Ya, a DIY array based of Cree XRE and up LED's will blow that store baught one away.
 
btldreef

btldreef

Moderator
That's what I was figuring, that these were garbage. They're trying to convince me (already suckered my husband) into believe that I would only need one unit per 250watt halide that I'm replacing, which would be a total of 3 units. I'm not believing that.
Pricing out the DIY option right now, just isn't going to happen. I'm moving soon (please keep your fingers crossed for us because if our house isn't done soon, I'm going to jail for murder). The moving expense is going to be so great and I know there is going to be a huge draw on the electricity. I don't think the electricity in that house is going to be able to handle the 3 250watt halides, plus all my other tanks/equipment so I need to find another option. The room the 180 is going in doesn't have the best ventilation as well, so I'm really worried about heat, and adding a chiller is only going to make things worse on the electrical end.
If I were to go the DIY route, for a 180 tank mixed reef, what would you recommend? I'm trying to get as many suggestions as possible, since everyone seems to tell me something different about LEDs.
 
king_neptune

king_neptune

Active Member
A diy array non dimmable would run you about $1,200 for your system. Add $200 if you want dimmable. TO me it was rotht the extra, but honestly your going to run these either on or off 99.9% of the time. The dimmable is just something I use to create the occasional "mood".
 
wangotango

wangotango

Active Member
That's a pretty reasonable cost estimate. I figured about 120ish LEDS w/ drivers, etc (with rapidLED.com prices) to be around there, then just add the price of heat sinks. Consider that an AquaIlluminations unit for that size tank is gonna cost over $3K.
BTLD, have you been looking at some of the really big LED threads on some of the other forums? There's a wealth of information out there.
Quote:
Originally Posted by King_Neptune http:///forum/thread/381500/opinions-needed-about-led-lighting-fixture-asap#post_3323805
A diy array non dimmable would run you about $1,200 for your system. Add $200 if you want dimmable. TO me it was rotht the extra, but honestly your going to run these either on or off 99.9% of the time. The dimmable is just something I use to create the occasional "mood".
 
2quills

2quills

Well-Known Member
Yeah I've been keeping an eye on those ecorays. Over on reefbuilder they took a test unit and opened it up. I know they are only 1 watts bulbs and everything but they didn't use any type of heatsink for the LED's and only one fan in the unit (I wonder how long they'll last). The splash gaurd and pcb are both glued in, so thinking you could half way easily swap out a bulb if one goes out is out of the question. If I was gonna spend that much money on a light, I'd rather put in a little extra elbow grease and build something myself that could produce far better results and that I can easily fix, myself? So I agree with the others...it's cheap china made stuff.
Try looking into the Pacifi Sun LED fixtures...if not, DIY it.
 
king_neptune

king_neptune

Active Member
The pacific sun are pretty deascent units. My LFS has one over a 40g shallow frag tank.
Its a nice unit for a midrange cost. They even have clams under them and they are doing fine.
 
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