chinese led lights

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bigkenny76 said:
I looked at these also , i have heard horror stories that people switched to the higher3 watt lights and ended up cooking their corals that were high on the rocks, i went with the ebay LEDs because of the 3 watt LEDS being driven at 2 watts, IMO it was a good choice for my tank, i have a softie dominated tank with large leathers right below the surface of the water (well 2-3" ) the lights from aquariumleds.com are nice lights , but i did not want the 1 watt leds and i did not want the full 3 watts . and also figured at 2 watts maybe they would last a little longer. And since all three were less than 500 shipped and it was time to replace bulbs, it was a no brainer for me.

So thats how i rationalized my purchase in my crazy head,

But i can say i LOVE the new leds and im glad i switched
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply. I'm curious tho, do we know 100% that the 3W aquariumleds fixture is being driven at 3W each? I've heard that most companies put out a light saying 3W but it's commonly driven at 2W. Any ideas if this is the case with them as well?

Oh and bigkenny you get a chance to snap some pics of your new lights?
 
Quote from BigCountry74: "I will be hanging the lights. Not from the ceiling though - wife put the ax on that...it's bad enough I have "butchered her kitchen decor" with this tank as it is...lol"

Bwahahaha!

I feel for your wife. After MANY debates, my husband finally convinced me that an aquarium would be a fun hobby that would add to the aesthetics of our home. I've had to fight tooth and nail to keep this beast from turning our home into a fullblown "bachelor pad," and we're just getting started (If he starts bringing in leather sofas and black lacquered furniture, it's over.lol.)
The compromise is that I'm building a stand to match our (my) decor, and there will DEFINITELY be a canopy up top. I would die just thinking about wires and suspension systems detracting from my artwork and creating an eyesore (no offense folks, it's not for everyone).

So far all I have to say is- I had no idea this was such a pricey hobby!:headwally: But we've jumped in with both feet and are gleaning so much from this site!

Thanks SO MUCH for this thread. I've been trolling ebay all night and came over here before I made any quick decisions ( I get "the fever" when it comes to auctions:spin2:). Between this thread, and a convo with my local fish guy, it sounds like LED's are starting to make the curve from "not there yet" to "worth it." But man they are expensive, even the cheap ones! Like I said, I guess I wasn't prepared for the cost of reefkeeping.

I've been cruising a couple of the DIY LED threads looking for a way around the $, and I think my brain is going to explode trying to figure out how to learn the electrical skills to make that happen. However, I did come across an ebay auction that is somewhere in the middle:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/280825159887?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649

I don't mean to hijack the thread or anything. Anybody feel like chiming in on this one? It's not completely from the ground up, doable for myself.
If I can't make this happen, I think I will most definitely go with the 3W units on ebay.

I've bought tons of stuff direct from China over the years, and my feeling is that if it comes from China, it's all the same. I rocked my Orkley Sunglasses with confidence and no one was the wiser. I bought my husband the knock-off version of Brookstone's $400 foot massager for a 1/3 of the price and the only difference was the decal (five years later and she's still going strong). Tao-Tronics will be my new best friend too.

If we went with tube lighting, we would be replacing bulbs and ballasts on a semi-regular basis so I hope we would come out even investing in the LEDs first. And the energy efficiency lower temps are a plus too. Not to mention how crisp the lighting seems. I think the only downside as mentioned is the choppiness that appears in the reflection as opposed to the glow you get from a solid light source. These off-brand prices make it worth taking a chance! I love ebay, and I know how hard those sellers try to keep a stellar 100% feedback rating, along with a 3 year warranty, I feel good about the purchase.
 
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Ok guys i ended up having to post the cell phone pics, looks like my digital camera is shot for now, im guessing the 6 and 7 year old boys took it for a spin since there was a peanut butter and jelly fingerprint still on the lcd screen, oh well, here we go, at least it gives you an idea, the color is alot crisper in person and has a blue tint.(sorry about the glare and the crappy pics)

also everything was starting to close up

This is how they are setup above the tank

2012-02-16_19-01-49_309.jpg


And here is the right side (kinda)

http://i750.photobucket.com/albums/xx150/draggonk76/2012-02-16_18-21-22_2261.jpg

Left side

http://i750.photobucket.com/albums/xx150/draggonk76/2012-02-16_18-14-26_958.jpg

Middle,

http://i750.photobucket.com/albums/xx150/draggonk76/2012-02-16_18-14-33_477.jpg
 
That looks like great coverage bigkenny! How far above the water are they? How has your most light demanding coral on the sandbed reacted to the new light?
 
Phishguy said:
That looks like great coverage bigkenny! How far above the water are they? How has your most light demanding coral on the sandbed reacted to the new light?
Click to expand...

Thanks Phishguy,

They are about 10" above the water, every thing is doing good , i have a large green brain on the sand bed and its puffed up nicely and loves it, but mostly i have chalices and my war coral right on the sand, everything looks like it loves the new lights , i have one leather that's a little mad right now, but it gets mad when i clean the glass and deflates for a couple of days , so i guess we will see how it does in a week or so.
 
Are the fans on these loud? My father in law has one for growing things other than corals from the same maker but the fans are really loud. I may also add the first one he got only worked for about 10 min then died. The replacement is working nicely.
 
BigCountry74 said:
How do you get in and out of the tank?
Click to expand...

Well BigCountry74, when my wife has not decorated the top its not that bad, the whole front of the hood has 2 hinged sections one is for just the front to lift and if you keep lifting the top 6" fold back also , BUT as you can see at the moment if i have to do anything other than feed , then i have to take all of the crap off of the canopy, but the lights are not effected bty the hinges, it will open without bothering them.
 
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allsps40 said:
Are the fans on these loud? My father in law has one for growing things other than corals from the same maker but the fans are really loud. I may also add the first one he got only worked for about 10 min then died. The replacement is working nicely.
Click to expand...


allsps40,

The fans are louder than the ones in my last fixture, they are noticeable but not too bad, but they do push/pull a lot of air, so much that when you are standing in front of the tank , you can feel the slight "breeze" from the side vents on your face.
 
I am on the verge of switching to LEDs as well and eyeing the "black boxes." I'm admittedly leaning towards the AquariumLED website rather than ebay, if nothing but for the customer service.

One of my local shops sells some very popular custom ordered fixtures and priced me a 180W setup (3w bulbs) in a 14K spectrum for $299. I figure I'd need 3 of them as I'm lighting a 7' 230g softie reef.

Am I correct in understanding that this would merely be a few more bulbs in the assembly? (60 vs 40, right)

And is 120W enough? Is 180W too much? Here I finally thought I had "lighting" figured out, and I have a whole new system to learn...

I'm currently running 3 250W Phoenix 14K moguls on Lumenmax Elite reflectors, and the bulbs are, ahem, older than I'd care to admit, but I love the coloring. The thing I am most concerned about is getting the color right. I've run everything from 6500 Iwasakis to 20K Radiums (well, for a short while), +/- actinic VHOs, and I don't want to be unhappy with the color.

I plan to suspend them on chains in the canopy. I have 11" of space, and figure that a small fan in the canopy blowing across the vertically mounted fans in the fixtures should ventilate it enough.

Any input appreciated.
I have been waffling on the tank for quite a bit lately, and figured I needed a big change.
 
If you go back a couple of pages, you'll see my comments and pictures. I used to run 250 radiums under a lumenbrite reflector (coralvue ballast) and switched to the 120watt 20k aquarium leds. The led color is not an issue for me; its a little bit whiter than the radiums but i like how it looks. The leds don't appear to be as intense as the MH, but spread is actually better. My tank is 24" deep and the leds are fine for that depth so far (although its still early for me).

If you have MH now, then heat obviously won't be an issue. Not cool to the touch, but not hot either.
 
I had five of these 120w 1w panel. Three over my 210g (30" depth), two over my 75g. I started them at 15" otw on the 210g and 24" otw on the 75g. I moved them down in 3" increments weekly over the 75g and from 15" to 7" otw on the 210g after apx 2 months.
8 hour cycles on both.

I may have had other tank issues going on as the 210g has only been set up for a total of about 4 months. The corals and fish were moved from one 125g (main), into a temporary holding 125g while the 210g was installed in place of the original 125g. This process took about 10 days.

The 75g has been set up for over 2 years and was using 4 t5ho bulbs in an aquamedic fixture.

Sorry for all the back story.

When the 210g was initially stocked and ready to run I had definately noticed some die off due to the move. I was quickly surprised when sps that I thought were totally dead seemed to come back to life. Zoas popped LPS seemed happy. This trend continued for about a month.

Growth stopped, zoas, even the ones at the top, started getting 2" long stalks and were really reaching for the light. Tips on the sps that had gotten color were now turning white. I thought the lights were too intense so I tried lowering corals. Death continued. Things that weren't dying, weren't growing either. Did some reading and found that the corals might not be bleaching but might actually be "browning out" due to lack of light. Tried moving several corals, up, down, probably too much. All my chalices are now gone. All but one acan is gone (it went from a bright red to now an orange-its only half alive). In 4 months I went from extremely happy with my leds to distraught. Maybe its not them? maybe its the "penetration". I ordered a new panel with 3w leds and 80 degree optics. While it was being made i decided to try metal halides. Three days in and I'm not happy with the color (possible bulb issue, possible burn in) but my corals are already getting puffier.

The 75g had a more drastic result. Lost two anemones almost right away. Got frustrated and left the leds where they were. Some green leather loves it and grew like mad same with kenya, xenya not so much. One rainbow nem doesn't seem to mind although he was moving around alot more then with the t5s indicating un happy. I'm currently breaking this tank down due to expected increase in operation costs of the 210g with halides.

I can't positively tell you that the LED panels caused everything to die that did. I can't tell you why some of my friends with these exact same panels are having great results. I can't tell you I won't get mad with my electric bill and go back to LED. The 210 is newer, maybe thats the reason? The 75g had been established for a long time, maybe too established? I have no clue.

I can tell you that the varied results from different keepers had/has me nervous enough to go back in time and try halides. I can also tell you that merely three days in and I am noticing an improvement in coral apperance (much like I had when I initially went to LED).

Could be that I am just looking for something to blame and the LED panels seemed like a good target. I honestly do not know, I just wanted to share my story as I see alot of people jumping on this train. Just be careful people. Sorry if you feel my post is out of line.
 
BigCountry74 said:
Probably. You would need the driver. But that at point you might as well DIY the whole box? Since you would be losing money on the non-dimmable driver it comes with?
Click to expand...

I'm thinking of DIY but was just curious as this could be cheaper depending on price of controller. I seen a sweet DIY Cree 3wt fixture today but it was at a coral farm here near me do he could afford it!
Lol.
Trying to figure out how many LEDs I need over my 220
Corey
 
BigAirHarper said:
Thanks for the reply. I'm curious tho, do we know 100% that the 3W aquariumleds fixture is being driven at 3W each? I've heard that most companies put out a light saying 3W but it's commonly driven at 2W. Any ideas if this is the case with them as well?

Oh and bigkenny you get a chance to snap some pics of your new lights?
Click to expand...

These lights are driven at 3w. Feel free to contact them with your questions. I emailed back and forth with them for quite some time before buying mine.
 
bigkenny76 said:
Ok guys i ended up having to post the cell phone pics, looks like my digital camera is shot for now, im guessing the 6 and 7 year old boys took it for a spin since there was a peanut butter and jelly fingerprint still on the lcd screen, oh well, here we go, at least it gives you an idea, the color is alot crisper in person and has a blue tint.(sorry about the glare and the crappy pics)

also everything was starting to close up

This is how they are setup above the tank

2012-02-16_19-01-49_309.jpg


And here is the right side (kinda)

http://i750.photobucket.com/albums/xx150/draggonk76/2012-02-16_18-21-22_2261.jpg

Left side

http://i750.photobucket.com/albums/xx150/draggonk76/2012-02-16_18-14-26_958.jpg

Middle,

http://i750.photobucket.com/albums/xx150/draggonk76/2012-02-16_18-14-33_477.jpg
Click to expand...

what leds where these could u post a link of where u got them.
 
Just an update on these lights.

My RBTA, Blue Tenuis, Green Birdsnest and Hammer are all doing fine under my black box of LED's, so far. :)
 
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