Chinese LED Lights

monkiboy said:
kindcoals, they have the 120 degree optics available now. they come "stock" with 90 optics and yes it can spotlight too close to the waterline. i have mine above slightly were i would like them to avoid this but i am also running two units over a 36" wide tank.

try to not overthink your setup. get some extra leds and realize you can use the potentiometers to create the look you want. just get a nice full spectrum and you'll do great.

i had incredible algae growth in just a few days when the lights were on the higher end of intensity but after using a PAR meter and seeing my SPS sizzle away, i backed the lights off and the algae growth completely halted, actually.

i don't like the effect green has on the coral and would replace them with whatever works for you. i'd swap out a couple 450s for 440s and swap two or four whites for UVs and blues. a small ratio of whites provides a ton of visible light.
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Thats weird, Helen said they have 90 but not 120 but she said I can easily remove the 90's and from what I've read, no lens is similar to 120. How high above the water are yours? I can probably get away with 90 optics and having them higher up as my tank will be a shallow one at 18" deep so I dont think it will be a problem.

thanks for the feedback and advice, I think you have helped a lot of us out on here and I appreciate it :)
 
you're welcome, no worries. this is from sunny i believe as of yesterday as told to in a GB i am participating in soon. mine are about 12-15 above the water line at any given time. there's a lot of lot spillover tho. when you get them, just play with it and you'll find the sweet spot assuming you have enough coverage/units. mine is a 40B so not too deep, either.
 
that's pretty expensive, 29mixedreef. even reefbreeders sells them cheaper (albeit with a different layout). if you go through a GB you can get them around $130 shipped.
 
can you send me the link to the light your talking about and what is GB?? also my tank is 30''L x 24"W x 12"H will that light cover my tank looking to have chalices zoas and sps mostly thanks!
 
it's the exact same light. they are all the same light from different retailers and outfits. the are evergrow units rebranded or resold/retail. GB = groupbuy. go to the reefbreeders site and click "value LED fixtures". one of those will cover your tank, yes.
 
bhazard451 said:
All of those users just happened to have used AI Sols, old Radions, or other led fixtures that were not full spectrum, or never used leds at all. I have not seen one person who has run a full spectrum fixture for an extended period of time complain about keeping SPS. I have had no issues keeping SPS under my leds, and they grow just fine.

Since I was one of the first few that actually tried and tested NW/WW and full spectrum combos, actual users that have run them for awhile and know how to run leds correctly are extremely limited. It is not as simple as popping in a MH bulb.

As long as you know what you are doing and plan your LED lighting correctly, LEDs can grow SPS and keep vibrant color.
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Not to doubt any of your findings, you have done a lot in research of these china black boxes, but based on what I have seen you have not experienced growing a full SPS reef tank with any LED setup. So while they may work for you so far does not mean you have the experience to say they will work for everyone.

With that said I do agree that the proper full spectrum LED's will keep corals just fine I think people using the blue/white combos have the ability to grow corals as well, with the proper wattage. I think that most people just seriously over estimate the power of their LED's and buy some of the old 1w led fixtures which were not sufficient to keep SPS corals.
 
YoungREEFA said:
Im getting by alot of users posting up that leds cant keep sps, mainly 3 watt fixtures, i still beg to differ but wonder if any one has grown sps under these, i might go t5s but dont wanna
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I haven't... yet. But one of the guys in our group buy has a 224g DT with 4 old D120 style fixtures (unknown led supplier) that are just 1 shade of blue and 1 shade of white and not dimmable. The PAR values aren't great even at 18", but he has sps, lps and softies all doing just fine and even growing well. He just wanted to go new for better leds (Bridgelux), the ability to do his own color layout and the new timmer/controller on the IT2080. :thumbsup:

Tmoriarty, I was very much in the same place you are now about leds a few months ago. But I got a use Radion and put it over my frag tank and it did just fine. Then I met the guy I talked about above. And then I got a used D120 w/Bridgelux leds and no dimmers. I put it over my anemone tank (75g hexagon and 24" deep). I'm getting 250-300 readings on my PAR meter at about 20-22" deep. I have lots of happy anemones and a very fine branching gorgonian that is happier now than it was under a 250w 14K MH. I agree that leds had some growing pains and cost issues. But with better full spectrum leds, 3W leds, lenses and Chinese getting on the better quality bandwagon, leds are going to wash over all the other lighting systems in the next couple of years.
 
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I notice people are using the smaller units on tanks that are bigger than mine, is the 32" too much for my 36" long tank? Thanks
 
lbannie said:
I notice people are using the smaller units on tanks that are bigger than mine, is the 32" too much for my 36" long tank? Thanks
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The 24" IT2060 is probably big enough, but for the difference in cost, I'd much rather have the IT2080 and with 80% more leds you'll be keeping the power levels turned down. My tank is 6" long and I'm getting 2 of the 32" IT2080's.
 
Question - I have an IT2040. I still have the old controller with the time that is off...the replacement is in the mail but i was on vacation this weekend and the power went out. It seems that my custom setting has reverted but to the default custom setting. Is this normal with power outages?? Or is it just the controller I have and the new one shouldnt do this?? Please help.
 
1.) Are the LED-drivers in the it2040 dimmed by an analogue signal or by a PWM signal?
2.) Does anyone know the name of the drivers?
 
fsu1dolfan said:
Question - I have an IT2040. I still have the old controller with the time that is off...the replacement is in the mail but i was on vacation this weekend and the power went out. It seems that my custom setting has reverted but to the default custom setting. Is this normal with power outages?? Or is it just the controller I have and the new one shouldnt do this?? Please help.
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Email Sunny and ask her this. There is a way to fix that. I had to do it with mine. It is in the settings. But I do not remember what I had to do. Very easy fix.
 
I am running one of the new dimmable Tao-tronic units. 1:1 ratio blue/white. Been on the tank for 3 months now. Tank is 24x24x24, 60gal cube. The light is currently growing birdsnest, galaxia, cynarina, zoas, palys and a large squamosa clam and elegance coral on the sandbed.
My only issue with this light is the algae growth. I have macros growing that I have never seen in this tank before. The system is 4 yrs old and was previously run under 20k 250w halide with actinic supplimentation. The macro growth is not out of control just interesting. I assume the white leds are 65k or so to be emitting the spectrum algae likes.
Can the Tao-tronics lights have the leds interchanged? They are bridgelux 3w being run at 2w. I was pleased that the dimmers on this unit allow complete control 100% to off.
There is a programmable fixture available from them now, can my fixture be altered to install the programmer?
Thanks
 
16" evergrows

16" evergrows

Looking at what some others have done i am thinking that maybe 2 of the 16" side by side, ran with the length going front to back may be a better option to get the most coverage on my 54 gallon corner. Let me know what you think.

So 1 24" light or 2 16" lights to get the most coverage and best look on my zoas and mushrooms.
 
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Ron Reefman said:
The 24" IT2060 is probably big enough, but for the difference in cost, I'd much rather have the IT2080 and with 80% more leds you'll be keeping the power levels turned down. My tank is 6" long and I'm getting 2 of the 32" IT2080's.
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Hey ron,

I am going to go with 2x IT2080's for my 125g reef tank. I was thinking about 3x IT2040's because I have two cross braces on the tank. But after measuring and mocking up a couple boards above the tank. I think that the 2x IT2080's would look just fine. I am a little concerned about the two braces but the unit has 99 LED's, I think that the tank will get more then enough light using two units.

Did you have any concerns with cross braces on your 180g??

I talked a rep at reefbreeders and they said they would throw in a few extra LED's. I thought that was pretty cool.

What kind of time frame is your GB going to ship from china in??
 
YoungREEFA said:
Im getting by alot of users posting up that leds cant keep sps, mainly 3 watt fixtures, i still beg to differ but wonder if any one has grown sps under these, i might go t5s but dont wanna
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My two cents....

I started keeping SPS in July (started the tank in January under T5s). I switched to 2 D120s in August after I realized I needed more light than 4x48" T5s would provide (75G standard tank). So, all of my SPS frags have grown out under these lights (just the RB/10K combo, no UV, no red, no green, etc). These lights will definitely grow SPS.

What these lights won't do (D120s): thunderstorms, clouds, moon cycles, sunrise/sunset, they don't have a remote and you can't access them on your smart phone.

They basically light your tank adequately to grow anything for a fraction of the cost of other brands.

Are the other brands a rip off? Not at all, if you have the cash to spend on them, go ahead. The Radions have some awesome features. But, if you are on a budget and looking to light your tank for a reasonable price these are a quality option.
 
okay you guys have really boosted me up from all these people using these "name brand" fixtures and expecting there sps to grow out the water!

Now im not sure what white is the best to use? i have alot of 65k and 2 35k, should i be using 8500k to 10k instead? full spectrum whites increase algae growth>
 
I'm not really sure why theres still doubters about leds growing sps. Its been well documented that they will grow sps. As for the whites to use 6500k should be just fine for growth as well as a mix of 8500-10000k.

For my whites, I'm currently waiting on my IT2040 thats only using the cool whites they provide and I'm not a bit worried about not being able to grow anything.

I grew SPS well with my old T5 set up with 14k whites, blue+, and fiji purples.
 
On an another note, I see some people have stated they dont like the look that green gives off and theres not much benefit from the green LEDs. Though, I've included two 520nms in my layout for the IT2040. The only reason being that I was attempting to mimic the radion layout.

I read on another thread that cyan (480nm) maybe be better for the color temp and it helps pop out the reds better since it is a complementary color to red.

Has anyone swapped out the greens for cyan yet?
 
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