so im thinking about upgrading my lighting...

the bro

the bro

Member
Ever since i first got my Biocube 29g i been wanting to upgrade my lighting. well that day is in the near future im just torn on what to go with. So i created this post to get some expert opinion. There are currently 3 different options im considering. Im looking for opinions, Pros, cons on these before i dish out $300 . I tired to post picture but photo bucket wants to be a tard atm!
Current Sunpod 150 watt MH

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$300
Been around for a while, powerful, but HOT!
* 150 Watt HQI System
* 14,000K Lamp Included
* 6 White and 6 Blue LED's
* Independant Power Control
* Fan Cooled
* Mounting Legs Included
* 20"L x 8.25"W x 4.5"H
Nova Extreme Pro T-5 6 x 18 watt bulbs (108) watt -- $300
Dosent seem that powerful but 6 bulbs packed into a 20" fixture has got to do something, They say the reflectors contoured to each bulb make up for only being 108 watts of light ( could I grow clams or sps with this thing?)
* Additional photos
* Three 18 Watt SlimPaq 10K and three 18 Watt 460nm Actinic lamps
* Individually contoured reflectors for maximum light intensity
* Cool running, performance-driven electronic ballasts
* Two cooling fans
* Independent controls for dawn/dusk applications
* Dimensions: 20" x 12" x 4.25"
Exocotic panaroma 12w Led strips --- $100 per 12inch strip
I can fit 3-4 of these thngs in my stock hood, just pull out my CP's and mount them down. Still keep the original Bio cube look. No heat land will last forever. But will these grow sps , clams etc?
Each module has 12 LED lights powerful LED lights, so you get unbelievable light while running about 50% of the power of your existing lamp. The best part is – they produce virtually no heat. In fact, if you have an all-in-one, chances are you can turn off your fan!
* LED’s last up to 50,000 hours
* Modular Design – upgrade your existing fixture
* 12 LED light module, 8 white lights, 4 blue
* Low heat transfer
* Water resistant
* Does not promote nuisance algae
* Quiet – no cooling fan
 
wangotango

wangotango

Active Member
There is a LED fixture that can be put into the existing Biocube top from Nanocustoms that costs about $300 (maybe a little more depending on what features you add).
 
blackjacktang

blackjacktang

Active Member
i currently own the sunpod 150w, very nice setup but there are some down sides to MH. they create alot of heat and will raise your electric bill. But the the good side is your are almost unlimited to the kinds of corals you can get
 
king_neptune

king_neptune

Active Member
Problem with those LED's is you don't get to dim white or blue.
Also they aren't telling you what LED's are in them. Not a good thing.
Ive experimented with a couple LED arrays already. My experience has is that store bought pre-made Arrays suk.
Now I havent had any experience with your particular one. But at a quick glance it doesn't mention they are based off Cree lights. All the reading and research form the community agrees that the Cree lineup is the one to get. Luxeon was the second one. I don't remember the third off hand. But definitely hands down the Cree XR series are by far the most popular. Furthermore they dont offer a dimming feature, or independent lighting color switch. So you only get one choice. A soft white color. So its only real pro is a simple installation that makes it easy for you because its plug and play. But in the long run, I predict overall disappointment. Especially since you dont know the performance of these LED's.
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Now the one from nano customs is a better unit by far. But again, they aren't Cree lights. Just edison opto emitters based off a cree dye. They aren't real cree's. So your getting a cheap off brand that I personally don't have any experience with. Not saying they are bad, but do your research and use caution. One dinky little cooling fan. Probably does the job, but it is a small fan that doesnt cover the whole heat sink.
The mean well drivers are good drivers. I have meanwells on my system. The one listed is the constant current driver, so your not getting the ability to dimm. Also you only get one driver, and it is powering 18LED's off it. IMO that is not cool. Ive spoken with many people, and they recommend 12LED's per Meanwell driver, 14 is doable, but don't go past that.
So my final thoughts on this kit:
It is definitely better than the previous, but they are putting an awful lot of pressure on that one single Meanwell. They aren't giving you a dimming feature, so your stuck with a single tone(btw it looks amazing dont get me wrong). I have not read anything on edison lights, cree based dye or not, its not a cree, so do your research. One heatsink, would like to see at least two. Overall, go with that over the first one.
 
king_neptune

king_neptune

Active Member
Well Neptune, your pessimistic views left me not wanting LED's.
Worry not! I have a recomendation:
Check out rapidled.
I just ordered my second kit from them.
Here is my first:
https://forums.saltwaterfish.com/vb/s...tom-LED-system.
Its got panels #1,#2 out of 4 done. I have independent dimming for each panels, I can make my own custom color schemes.
More white, less blue? More blue, less white? How bout all blue for an AMAZING glow in the dark looking setup. Really makes corals look like they are made of neon gas, or under a black light. It simply cant be put on camera.
The nice thing about Rapid LED, is they have a large selection to choose from. The DIY retrofit kit's offer you a choice for just about every tank type. The nano kits are fairly priced. In fact, for $300 you get:
* 5.8" x 10" black anodized heat sink
* 10 Cool White Cree XP-G R5 LEDs
* 10 Royal Blue Cree XR-E LEDs
* 1 Mean Well LPC-35-700W driver
* 1 Mean Well LPC-60-1050W driver
* 2 x 60mm Vantec Stealth Fan Kit
* 2 power cord
* 4 water resistant wire nuts
* 19 pieces of pre-stripped wire
* 10 Cord Ties
* 1 Tube Thermal Grease
* Screws
The website has a typo and lists 1 cooling fan. You actually get 2 fans, and a power supply with a "Y" split to power them.
The main pros:
2 meanwell drivers meaning you are putting 10LED's per driver(not 18 like the other).
750ma driver for the Blues. 1050ma driver for the whites. The nanocustoms kit had a single 750ma driver for 18 LED's.
Independent drivers per color means you can flip a switch and have all your whites on, or all your blues on. So now you can have a significant addition to the color of your tank.
Dont forget these are true Cree lights.
The XRE's are the standard favorite.
And the XPG's are the newer brighter version(unfortunately only come in white atm).
Now, one thing I forgot to mention about meanwell drivers...they have an onboard screw that turns down the MA rating. So you can adjust this way to bring them down all the way to 350ma. It involves removing the cover, and hooking up a meter to make sure your at the right setting, and turning the screw one way or the other. Not practical for dimming.
There is however a way around this. Getting a dimmable Meanwell. This is a little more complicated,but the rewards are a dimmable system, that lets you be in total control.
The Mean Well ELN-60-48D dimmable driver lets you use a potentiometer to dim($2.00 at radio shack). Basically you have a $20 powersupply that is set to 10v(mine is a 9v). That signal goes to the pot, which tuns the voltage up or down(min 0v-max9v). That signal runs into the driver and tells the drivers on board computer to go from 0% power up to 100% power. Voila you have a dimmable light.
I personally dont care for the Retrofit kits they offer. They are deffinatly better than the previos two, but I dont like the features. I would jsut go and order the individual parts myself and build it from there. I just ordered a nice nano setup for roughly $225.
It included:
1 Drilled and Tapped 5.9" x 9" Heat Sink for 18 LEDs @ $27.50 = $27.50
2 Mean Well ELN-60-48D dimmable driver @ $32.00 = $64.00
9 CREE XR-E Q5 Cool White 3W LED with White Lens @ $6.75 = $60.75
9 CREE XR-E Royal Blue 3W LED with White Lens @ $6.75 = $60.75
1 Arctic Silver Premium Thermal Adhesive @ $13.99 = $13.99
1 DC Jack Adapter @ $3.50 = $3.50
Ill go to Fry's and get myself two 10kpots, a $20 power supply, and a $15 200mm coolermaster cooling fan(these fans are AWESOME!).
Altogether cheaper than the $300 kit. Comes with 2 less lights, but you get your own dimmable feature. So you wont be burning corals under intense light, and you will get to make your own custom color's.
Ok that was long and winded, I hope you appreciate the 30 min I spent putting that all together for you ^_^
 
the bro

the bro

Member
Wow thanks for all the input guys! Especially king Neptune your feed back is "GREATLY" appreciated! Im def leaning toward LEDS and im glad I now have some good insight on what im getting into. The thing I hate is what my buds at my lfs say ..... yea you can buy LEDS now but LED technology is so new what you buy now will be dated in a few months /sigh.
 
king_neptune

king_neptune

Active Member
They are right. On the bright side, your getting in with a couple years of practical application already laid out before you.
The Cree XRE series and more recently XPG, and Q5's are really top of the line LED's.
I dont see the tech getting much better till they come out with 50k blues(ive heard rumors of prototypes already(but that was almost a year ago), and LED's that produce UV light.
In short, your pretty well at a major plateau in the tech. It will be a few years before you see anything that makes these obsolete.
Dont forget to consider LED's are a significant reduction in both electrical, and heat. Not to mention you wont be replacing bulbs every 6-12 months.
 
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