chinese led lights

[salsipuedes]

I just went by a not so local LFS in lakeworth, FL... they have a bunch of LED black boxes, 55 - 3watt leds ran at 2 watts on their frag tanks. Looked fine to me, colors were great, full polyp extension, good growth.... on the other hand, these are frags tanks (shallow) and its at a lfs, so no gauging of the long term aspects of it. I'll take pics next time I go if the owners say its ok.

 

[jrp1588]

I just ordered a couple of the ebay black boxes. 55 3watt epistar chips running at 2 watts. They claim to have a mix of 90 and 60 degree optics. This will be replacing my ATI sunpower 6x54watt unit that I'm tired of buying new bulbs for. I'll be sure to update the thread with my impressions.

I'm not positive if the lighting will be brighter or more dull than my ATI. You think I should hang it higher just in case and work my way down slowly?

 

[Snausy]

link?

Well after spending the night last night looking at DIY threads I think it'd be much easier and not much more expensive to go this route. I'm not an electrician and after buying all the equipment for the DIY the "black box" route seems the easy win. Maybe I'll go DIY eventually just because it'd be a fun project but for now this is it. I hate that I need 4 because that's 4 times the possible trouble. Warranty needed.

Now I wonder if there is a concensus on which are the best boxes...especially for my 31" deep tank. 3w crees that actually run 3 watt maybe? There seems to be about five favs to choose from in this thread. A US dealer with a warranty would be nice.

I like the seller rating of http://www.ebay.com/itm/15072602937...NX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649#ht_5696wt_984 but 120 degree optics for such a deep tank might not be optimal.

Can you guys that have them help me come to a decision so I can just get this done and over with please! haha :headwally:

4 boxes at 165.00 is just about the same as I paid for my 4' T5 fixture. Lighting a 300 gallon with LED for less than 700 seems like it's finally worth it.

I think they make stunner-strips or something like it with reds and actinics if we want to enhance the color later. Heck I have a huge amount of space up there to put strips. Bang for buck these boxes are looking good to me. New kids in the family have a way of changing where your money goes eh. Daddy doesn't get the good stuff anymore.

 

[jrp1588]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/160736616961?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649

In the specs it states the "view angle" at 60/90 degrees. I'm guessing this refers to the optics, I can't imagine what else it would be.

 

[BigCountry74]

You think I should hang it higher just in case and work my way down slowly?

Yes.

You can mount these lights on simple adjustable shelving you can buy at Home Depot or Lowes. That makes it easier to raise/lower the lights.

You can check out my build thread if you like.

 

[jrp1588]

Shelving would be an awesome idea if the tank didn't have a window behind it. I wish I could have sound a better place for it. haha

 

[Boxfish]

Hey little off topic anyone know where I can buy one of those light hanging wire kits that come with all these lights?

 

[convict3]

I got my 120 watt ebayy led
fixture today . All i can say is its really bright.

 

[Snausy]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/160736616961?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649

In the specs it states the "view angle" at 60/90 degrees. I'm guessing this refers to the optics, I can't imagine what else it would be.

Ok whoa that has a 3 year warranty...got my attention. Epistar though? I know nothing of epistar. Why can't they use Cree? bah

 

[Boxfish]

I know nothing of epistar. Why can't they use Cree? bah

They can make them with Cree's if your dealing with them direct from China but its about an 80 dollar mark up or more.

 

[jrp1588]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epistar

Sounds like a pretty legit maker or LED's to me. The LED light offered at reeffiltration .com use these LED's.

Not sure if linking to another forum is allowed, but this is very pertinent to the discussion.
http://www.*********.com/forums/large-aquariums-180g/43713-swannyson7s-180g-mixed-reef-3.html
This is the reeffiltration unit that uses the epistar LED's in action. It looks like the very same unit I purchased on ebay for way cheaper

http://www.*********.com/forums/ree...h-progression-under-reef-filtration-leds.html
this shows the growth in his tank with the lights

 

[BigCountry74]

Cree/Bridgelux/Epistar are your big 3. They are all good chips.

and it all depends on who you talk to as to which one is best. My buddy runs his own commercial lighting company and he competes against Cree, so of course he has nasty opinions against them....lol

 

[rixhater]

Not to sure who made mine but i do know they are cheap LED's i got off Ebay for around $150/ea from a place called sun valley out of california. I was very skeptical at first but I had a good friend swear by them. My friend has several tanks running halides and swapped them all out for these LED's. I figured what the hell if he did that and has had them for a while and loves them then it couldn't hurt for me and my one tank so i gave them a shot and to my surprise i actually really like them. I am no light expert and do not know the par or any of the detailed specs. I only know that they are the 3 watt LED's running at 2 watts for a total of 120watts per fixture. i have a 4ft 90gallon tank and it lights it up great. I am working my way further and further into SPS but don't have too much of it now. So far it seems like corals that like it are zoo's, frogspawn, colt, red cap monti, star polyps, candy coral, green/red chalice, i just added a birds nest, chili pepper monti, sunset monti, unknown green/blue acro and they all seem to be doing well. The only corals that seemed bothered were the mushrooms i had to move them to the bottom and a little under a ledge. Not sure if this helped you any since most of the spa are new other then the red cap monti. Heres a few pics:

my corals are opening up a lot better with these LED's then they were with my previous 4x54 T5HO.

 

[rixhater]

htt

I added a few more pics just to try and let you see how some of the different colors look. i suck with a camera so that doesn't help. they look a lot better in person then in the pics. i tried with flash and without to try and show the colors better. the zoo'z i obviously used the flash. It would probably help a little more if i knew how to use this fancy camera, lol. hope this helped.

 

[lil_man72]

i think i'm going to give these lights a try.
there's several local guys on saltcity running these and love them.
most of them got there's from ebay seller smartlaptopparts
the black boxes have 30 blues and 25 whites, the white box the opposite.
i've seen a few in person and they look great. i don't know much about par and spectrum but the tanks they were on looked great and they have been running them for several months.

 

[rixhater]

2 of the LFS near me use the cheap LED's as well. 1 of them has 5 of them on their display tank with several SPS and it looks great. The corals have been doing well and is actually the tank where most of their mother colonies are that they frag from. Like i said before i can't lecture on details or specifics or technical aspects of these lights but i am very happy with them especially for the price. i like them better then the 4x54w T5HO i had and better then my old 2x250 14k hamilton halides but thats just my opinion.

 

[TropTrea]

2 of the LFS near me use the cheap LED's as well. 1 of them has 5 of them on their display tank with several SPS and it looks great. The corals have been doing well and is actually the tank where most of their mother colonies are that they frag from. Like i said before i can't lecture on details or specifics or technical aspects of these lights but i am very happy with them especially for the price. i like them better then the 4x54w T5HO i had and better then my old 2x250 14k hamilton halides but thats just my opinion.

Be careful here as your comparing apples to oranges. With the t-5's there are so many variables.

On my 75 gallon I had two 400Watt MH's plus 240 watts of atinics
Then when I switched to a 120 gallon I went with a 8 bulb HOT5 fixture and I'll tell you it was much brighter than the MH's I had and using way less power.

I have been switching out my smaller 30 and 40 gallon breeder tanks one at a time to LED's from 4 HO-T-5 units. I have found that 24 LED's running at about 2.5 Watts each is considerably brighter than my 4- 39 Watt HO T-5 lights were. And look at the electrical difference was 156 watts and now it is
60 watts of light.

but time will tell as far as how great the corals do or do not do on this LED light. In 3 months I'm seeing some color shifts some making corals look better other making them less appealing.

 

[TropTrea]

link?

Well after spending the night last night looking at DIY threads I think it'd be much easier and not much more expensive to go this route. I'm not an electrician and after buying all the equipment for the DIY the "black box" route seems the easy win. Maybe I'll go DIY eventually just because it'd be a fun project but for now this is it. I hate that I need 4 because that's 4 times the possible trouble. Warranty needed.

Now I wonder if there is a concensus on which are the best boxes...especially for my 31" deep tank. 3w crees that actually run 3 watt maybe? There seems to be about five favs to choose from in this thread. A US dealer with a warranty would be nice.

I like the seller rating of http://www.ebay.com/itm/15072602937...NX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649#ht_5696wt_984 but 120 degree optics for such a deep tank might not be optimal.

Can you guys that have them help me come to a decision so I can just get this done and over with please! haha :headwally:

4 boxes at 165.00 is just about the same as I paid for my 4' T5 fixture. Lighting a 300 gallon with LED for less than 700 seems like it's finally worth it.

I think they make stunner-strips or something like it with reds and actinics if we want to enhance the color later. Heck I have a huge amount of space up there to put strips. Bang for buck these boxes are looking good to me. New kids in the family have a way of changing where your money goes eh. Daddy doesn't get the good stuff anymore.

If someone is going from scratch with a new tank to me it become a no brainer today to go with LED's.

However when it comes to upgrading form HO-T5 it is another story completly. Depending on the effeciency of the system your getting you will be reducing your electric bill in half with the most effecient LED's or if you get a poor LED set up will end up with the same electric bill.

There is the savings on replacing light bulbs with LED;s over T5's. On average I was spending $50.00 per month on new light bulbs. If I spend $128 to put in the equivelent light in LED's to the two bulbs I'd be replancing I'm spenidng more now but ill start getting my money back on just bulb replacement after 2 1/2 years. But besides this there will also be a savings on my electric bill. Now that is with a DIY project that I'm doing phase by phase.

With comercioal fixtures it can be another thing completly. Your forking out X dollars and cent initialy that could rang from $100 to $2,000. How long will it take you to recover that cost on your own set up. It will vary for everyone. You may get your money back in 2 years or it might take a full 10 years after which time some newer better lighting fixture might already be out.

If your switching over is all can advise is that you your math for your situation. Then way the risks and choose what your comfortable with.

 

[jrp1588]

I'm selling my ATI sunpower for about the same money I'm investing into my Ebay LED's. By my math, I'll save about $200 a year in electricity and bulb replacement. Pretty immediate ROI for me. haha

 

[rixhater]

I plan on selling my 4x54w T5HO as well. although i wont get my money back since i just put all new bulbs, lol. In my defense tho my LED's werent initially meant for this tank or as replacements they were suppose to be for the new 240g that im working on from scratch. I did enjoy my t5's and dont really have any complaints but i do like my LED's better. just my opinion. Ill have a better opinion once the LED's have been running for a few more months so i can see if there is any change with my corals.