BigCountry74
New member
Nahh plenty of room for more
ahh you have yours sitting vertical. i mounted mine horizontally. you takes looks deeper than mine for sure. makes sense why 4 is not a problem for ya. :beer:
chinese led lights
- Thread starter stevercleeze
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ahh you have yours sitting vertical. i mounted mine horizontally. you takes looks deeper than mine for sure. makes sense why 4 is not a problem for ya. :beer:
TropTrea
New member
the picture looks to like it one of those where he is using the Warm White LED's on. The Warm whites will make the reds pop more however they do produce more light in the red end of the spectrum. Numerious stidues have confirmed that light in the 685 nm (red) part of the spectrum is needed for good coral growth but when delivered in excess will cause bleaching and browning is many specific corals.
Basicly there are three White LED's the so called Warm Whites, Neutral Whites, and Cool Whites. The warm whites are heavy in the blue end of the spectrum, the neutral whites should have a flat spectrum. and the cool whites are heavy on the Red end of the spectrum.
Peole concerned about coral growth more than color will often use the cool whites. This will give them max light in the Blue Green end of the spectrum. People looking to retail display where the corals are kept for a short period of time will usualy use a Warm white since it will show the best reflective colors of the corals. The average aquarists will use the neutral whites as it is a comprimise between other two extremes.
Now be warte when we say Warm White, Neutral White, or Cool White as there is no true standard that all manufactures use for these definitions. I will go back to my first experiment with 3 Watt LED's. I set up three LED's all claiming to be Cool White 3 watt LED's identicaly on a strip. Each were dialed in and calculated at exactly 3 watts. Comparing Colors to each other one looked Purple, one Looked Blue, and one looked Yellow as they sat next to each other. But there was also a big difference in the brighness between the three LED's as well. The no brand name Chineese LED was the Yellowish colored one and I would extimate it would take three of them to match the brightness of the Cree XP-. I would also say the brightness was probably 100% proportionat to the price I paiud for these LED's.
Now on the color do not get me wrong there was not a big difference between these LED's If I would have had Neutral Whites to compare them to they all probably would have looked more blue that the neutral whites.
Ucyibd1
Member
Yeah, I got them on Monday. I will post some pictures and my thoughts when I get home tonight.
oceanarium
New member
Cree has a good reputation for efficy I don't use cree in my fixtures so wont comment on how great the difference is. I have seen good results from these lights running cree emitters.
Hey guy's just trying to demonstrate you can get some reasonable results from these lights. A good way to run a tank if funds are limited IMO.
A few more pictures if it helps....
Daisy corals we started with a three polyp head and continually harvest this tank.
12 months growth on a hammer coral.
12 months on a daisy
10 weeks on a acro.
TropTrea
New member
The general standard is using a PAR meter which is realy great for terestial plants and even good for fresh water plants that grow near the surface. The problem with a PAR meter for Reef tanks though is that it evaluates red light and blue light on the oposite ends of the spectrum equally. Therefore you can get a fantastic high PAR reading with a Warm white LED and a Red LED. however corals can only ise a small amount of that red light which you have an abundance of and they will be getting insufficient Blue light which is there main form of natural light.
The spectrum anylizers for light are the ideal way to measure whatt you realy have. However for even the most advanced aquariuasts this equipment is very cost prohibitive.
So we basicly end up using a comprimise with the PAR meter realizing that the light distribution needs to be Blue heavy for the readings to be realistic. There is also an argument that we should be using PUR however there are no reliable meters regardless of price that will give us a true PUR readng. The PUR reading is also misleading as every type of coroal will use slightly or even drasticly different amounts of light compared to another.
Lightt is mad up bsicly of red, green and blue. If you know you have a ratio of roughly 1 part red to 3 parts green and 1 part green to at least 3 parts blue that the PAR can be a valuable guide. When I look at an advertisement that claims a said ligh produces a said PAR the next thing I look at is the type of light sources they are using. If there getting the high PAR a lot of Warm White LED's and only have an equal amount of blue LED's I know they designed the fixture more for the PAR numbers rather than actual coral growth.
If you lo0k at horocultural high PAR lighting fixtures you will notice they are extremly heavy in the yellow to orange part of the color spectrum. While they do produce great PAR numbers and results growing Tomatoes they are useless for the Reef tank with corals.
Ucyibd1
Member
They came packaged very well. No damage.
Pictures of just the whites on and then just the blues on.
On the left is the lowest setting and on the right is the max.
Now keep in mind these pictures were taken with my iPhone and it is hard to explain how bright the lights are, the light is very intense and crisp. These fixtures have he Epistar led's in them. Coverage is good on my tank (48x24x24). The ripple effect on the sand bed is pretty mesmerizing too. The fans are just a bit quieter than what was in my T5 fixture. I guess the only real complaint I have is with the hanging hardware it is kinda hoaky but picking a hanging height is made easy due to the dimmers. Mine are 6" off the top of the tank and I may move them up a little. I made a DIY hanging setup by hanging a 48" long piece of conduit between cables on either end made of picture hanging wire, so I just clip the lights on the conduit, and I can move them side to side if I have to, works rather well for now. I really like the lights, they are pretty light and seem to be made well. Take it how you will but I think they will be just fine. I first saw these on Ebay, contacted the seller and he works for the company that makes them, and the rest is history. Hope this helps some of you if you are on the fence about them, either way it guides you. Have a good night and happy reefing.
I"m am trying to decided between E.shine or Houyi LEDs. There is fair bit of info on peoples experience with E.shine 4G lights but I haven't seen much on the Houyi LEDs (link below).
http://3ledaquagrow.hyt3.61916.org/en-view-cp364.html
Does anyone have any experience?
Cheers
Andrew
http://3ledaquagrow.hyt3.61916.org/en-view-cp364.html
Does anyone have any experience?
Cheers
Andrew
TropTrea
New member
I looked up the web page and the fixture sound great but in reading the details I have some real questions.
"white10000k18pcsx3w,
white14000k18pcs*3w,
white18000k12pcs*3w,
blue460nm24pcsx3w,
moonblue453nm8pcsx3w,
purple427nm8pcsx3w "
Neither Cree or Bridglux make a 14,000K or 18,000K LED, yet they say they are using Cree or Bridglux LED's.
The second question is many companies claim to be using 3 Watt LED's but are not driving them anywhere near 3 Watts. So you may want to find out what they are driving the LED's at.
If you have a choice of the color distribution I would go with:
22 neutral whites CREE
22 Royal Blues Cree
33 Blues Cree
11 Cyan Philips
Note if the Cyan are not available go with 24 Neutral Whites, 28 Royal Blues and 36 Blues.
Finaly there is a question of if you get Cree or Bridglux LED's. Crees are basicly costing 50% more per LED and producing about 10% to 30% more light at the same wattage depenedent on the individual LED. If price is the same you want the CREE's.
jrp1588
New member
I wonder if there would be any benefit to upgrading the drivers on these lights so they could use all 3 watts per LED. They seem to stay exceptionally cool with their heatsinks and 3 fans. Drivers are a bit pricey though. I think these have 55 LEDs split between 2 drivers. What kind of driver would be needed to drive these to 3 watt?
Phishguy
New member
I looked into these too.. Would have went this way if they werent out of my budget. Eshine offers the same thing really just that the layout and dimensions are different. I think you are taking the se chance on either light. They are made in the same place and both can use under driven Crees. It seems you need the controller with each light so that can get a bit steep. Also, people with the controllers say that when power goes out, that the timers reset.
BigAirHarper
New member
My eshine experience
My eshine experience
Sorry for the delay on getting pics up, but here is my lights that I received from eshine, they are the 4G 24x3W Cree lights. Took exactly 1 week for me to receive them after I ordered them. No damage in shipping. I have 2 of them over my 57G rimless (36"x18"x21"). They are non dimmable and 1:1 color ratio hanging approximately 6" off the water.
Lights are a crisp 14K with all lights on. Blue is ridiculous. Way more blue than T-5 actinics I have had in the past. I'm running the daylights for 6 hrs and the blues for 12 hrs. I also bought their digital 3 way timer. Works well, only quirk is if you say turn on the lights manually to show people, it waits until the start of the time cycle to turn back on when put in Auto mode. No big deal and still works well.
As far as coral response goes, I have GSP, acan, gorgonias, and shrooms as well as a random SPS (digitata i think). All are doing well after 2 weeks. Shrooms and acan have lost some color on the areas that directly face the LED's, but as we have all read, this is expected and color will hopefully return like others have. All in all, I'm extremely happy. The its amazing how intense they are and how cool they are, you can just walk up and grab the fixture if you like. The exhaust fans run unbelievably quiet and I can only hear my return pump running. LMK if you have any questions, I'll be happy to answer.
My eshine experience
Sorry for the delay on getting pics up, but here is my lights that I received from eshine, they are the 4G 24x3W Cree lights. Took exactly 1 week for me to receive them after I ordered them. No damage in shipping. I have 2 of them over my 57G rimless (36"x18"x21"). They are non dimmable and 1:1 color ratio hanging approximately 6" off the water.
Lights are a crisp 14K with all lights on. Blue is ridiculous. Way more blue than T-5 actinics I have had in the past. I'm running the daylights for 6 hrs and the blues for 12 hrs. I also bought their digital 3 way timer. Works well, only quirk is if you say turn on the lights manually to show people, it waits until the start of the time cycle to turn back on when put in Auto mode. No big deal and still works well.
As far as coral response goes, I have GSP, acan, gorgonias, and shrooms as well as a random SPS (digitata i think). All are doing well after 2 weeks. Shrooms and acan have lost some color on the areas that directly face the LED's, but as we have all read, this is expected and color will hopefully return like others have. All in all, I'm extremely happy. The its amazing how intense they are and how cool they are, you can just walk up and grab the fixture if you like. The exhaust fans run unbelievably quiet and I can only hear my return pump running. LMK if you have any questions, I'll be happy to answer.
jeffesaurusrex
New member
Does anybody have more details on hanging one of the aquariumleds.com units from the ceiling? Will I have to buy a different hanging kit like the Radion one to hang the units using two points? I heard the stock ones are designed for one point hanging, but they can be modified for two point hanging using a carabiner - how is that done and can it be done using something other than an ugly carabiner? Also, what about adjustment for light acclimation?
I want to hang them from the ceiling probably using either toggle bolts through the drywall, or a piece of wood screwed to the studs but I don't want to hang them from one point each if they are going to twist around, and I DEFINITELY don't want to drill for one point hanging then have to drill again to switch to two point.
I was kind of toying with the idea of using keyhole shelving brackets attatched somehow to the lights - you could raise and lower each fixture simply using the keyhole brackets.
Any advice?
I want to hang them from the ceiling probably using either toggle bolts through the drywall, or a piece of wood screwed to the studs but I don't want to hang them from one point each if they are going to twist around, and I DEFINITELY don't want to drill for one point hanging then have to drill again to switch to two point.
I was kind of toying with the idea of using keyhole shelving brackets attatched somehow to the lights - you could raise and lower each fixture simply using the keyhole brackets.
Any advice?
jrp1588
New member
Don't waste your time with the 1 point hanging system. It will twist like crazy. Here's my setup.
I have the chain hanging from some ceiling hooks and you adjust the light height my moving it up or down a rung on the chain.
I tossed the janky carabiners in favor of these S hooks. They are a lot easier to work with. I plan to eventually invest in a grip-lock light hanging system.
http://www.usalight.com/griplock-system-s/1927.htm
I priced it all out at around $50 to hang 2 lights. This hanging system will look a lot better and be much easier to adjust height.
I have the chain hanging from some ceiling hooks and you adjust the light height my moving it up or down a rung on the chain.
I tossed the janky carabiners in favor of these S hooks. They are a lot easier to work with. I plan to eventually invest in a grip-lock light hanging system.
http://www.usalight.com/griplock-system-s/1927.htm
I priced it all out at around $50 to hang 2 lights. This hanging system will look a lot better and be much easier to adjust height.
jeffesaurusrex
New member
This looks like it works very well. I like the idea that you can basically adjust the height within seconds. How did you attatch the chain to the ceiling? With toggle bolts or were you able to screw into ceiling joists?
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