Chinese LED Lights

 
Mikefromaz said:
Hello all, I'm setting up a new reef tank. This one is not too large, a 30 gal. with a 20 gal sump. I ran an 80 gal. for years with 300 W. of CFL's and had a lot of fun and success with my corals. I have been out of reefing just long enough to have no experience with LED systems. I am leaning toward a 10k 120 W. Maxpect Razor, hoping to keep sps, Lps, and softies. My tank is a pretty generic 30 in. I am trying to avoid "spot lite" effect with dark corners. Any opinions on this setup, especially how far above the water is recommended for the light height would really be appreciated. Thanks!
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I just returned to thank the half dozen or so folks who seem to own this topic for ignoring my post. Nice not meeting you all.
 
Aello, you had mentioned in an earlier post that you changed out 18 leds on each unit and that you liked the green leds. Which color leds did you replace. I assume you added green and blue because the picture is very blue or was the picture taken with the white leds at less than 100%
 
No that picture is with everything at 100% I like the darker blue tanks vs the 50/50 or more white tanks, it reminds me of the ocean more, plus I get really bad migraines from injuries that I sustained over in Iraq while in the army and blue is a lot softer on the eyes than red or white so it's nice to relax and look at my tank while on my meds because I cant do anything else until I feel better.
 
Ron Reefman said:
mr. pluto said:
It shouldn't make any difference in the color given the ratio of blue and white leds. It just allows the white light to 'spread' over the bottom a bit more (and it's not a lot more). My D120 covered 30" with 90 degree lenses and 36"-38" without lenses.
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i just took all the Channel II optics off & the color was real blue..
i had the balance at 85b 40w before & when i took off the optics,
i had to re adjust the ratio & it ended up being 100w 60b.
i put all the optics back on except for the reds & 2 whites in the middle. you lose too par
without optics.
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You do see that an 85% to 40% ratio is almost the same as a 100% to 60% ratio don't you? It's not exactly, but it's close. It would have been a better comparison if you could have gone to 85% blue again and just adjusted the white to whatever higher setting you would need (I'm guessing about 50%). That's a pretty small difference.

Removing lenses may change the color mix a small amount, but hardy enough to even talk about and the loss of PAR is more the deeper you go in the tank. At the water surface the PAR with 90 degree lenses and the PAR with no lenses will be almost the same. Go 24" down and the PAR may be different by as much as 50 (wild a$$ guess on my part).
 
asid61 said:
For a 30g tank, you could use a single D120/ Reef Breeders Value fixture, or a Photon 16 or 24. All will give decent spread.
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Thanks Asid61. I am going to take another look at my budget here and proceed accordingly. I have looked at the Reefbreeders since your advice, and I have to admit the price has a lot of influence! Thanks again, much appreciated.
 
Ron Reefman said:
You do see that an 85% to 40% ratio is almost the same as a 100% to 60% ratio don't you? It's not exactly, but it's close. It would have been a better comparison if you could have gone to 85% blue again and just adjusted the white to whatever higher setting you would need (I'm guessing about 50%). That's a pretty small difference.

Removing lenses may change the color mix a small amount, but hardy enough to even talk about and the loss of PAR is more the deeper you go in the tank. At the water surface the PAR with 90 degree lenses and the PAR with no lenses will be almost the same. Go 24" down and the PAR may be different by as much as 50 (wild a$$ guess on my part).
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the ratio maybe the same but the blues's will have hot spots due to Led placement but the whites are maxed out. & i is noticeably duller. i don't like it.
 
 
1mbrews8 said:
lol!
this http://www.ebay.com/itm/3-Dimmable-...902?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item43bf482fbe
is $648

this http://www.ebay.com/itm/3-Dimmable-...734?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item46129e4bee
is $348


$300 diff but can't figure out diff other than "box" is black???
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Haha, i think a seller post wrong price. or their trick to make more money.
They are 100% same IMO
I'm thinking about get 2 Blue/White or 2 full spectrum for 125g FOWLR. I wonder later will i put some coral in there like red/green cap, Montipora, etc. to bring some color to a tank :fun5:
 
So the consensus is Chinese LED is adequate for sps/softies? Sorry, didn't have time to go over the entire threads now that it's a zillion pages long ;0)
 
DrewBrees713 said:
So the consensus is Chinese LED is adequate for sps/softies? Sorry, didn't have time to go over the entire threads now that it's a zillion pages long ;0)
Click to expand...

IMHO, if you are considering EverGrow, OceanRevive or ReefBreeders, yes, these Chinese leds are very good and more than enough.

Just be sure you get at least dimmers (if not built-in controllers) and at least a 2:1 ratio of blue to white leds. A mix of several blues and maybe even a mix of 2 or 3 whites is a nice step in the right direction as well.
 
Took a chance on this led light from Ledzeal. It was mentioned by another member on this thread and after multiple questions with China I was convinced. The unit itself comes in 24, 36, 48, and 60 inches. It's made up of clusters of 24 3watt leds. A 24 inch has two cluters and a 36 has three and so on. Mine is 48 inches and has 96 Bridgelux leds. Total power is almost 300 watts. Each cluster can be controlled independently or all four together. There are four channels and six modes. In the DIY mode you can customize your own power settings. You can do increments as little as 1% but you only have eight settings within a 24 hour period. It also has the fancy features which I don't use, Flash, Cloud, and Sunrise. There is also a manual mode to set a fixed setting for each channel.

The unit looks modern and sleek and well constructed. It does come with a power supply that is a stand alone. The controller comes in hard wired or wifi. Wifi is $50 more.

The led layout and spectrum is fully customizable. I took Ron Reefman's advise and chose a 2.5:1 ratio on the blue to white: However, I did get one red and one green led on each cluster. I did it more for color. For color growth there are plenty of blues which I chose two kinds, 450nm and 460nm. I also have UV and 12000k. The customized break down for each cluster is as follows, Ch: #1 six blues, two 450 and four 460. Ch:#2 six 12000k. Ch:#3 four 450 and two UV and Ch: #4 four 460, one red, and one green.

I'm very satisfied so far. It's been only a few days but first impression is good. As far as par, no idea cause I don't have par meter. According to manufacture on a 24" deep tank, par should be around 200 at 100%. All I know is that I had DIY Bridgelux leds prior to this unit and this is way more powerful. I still have my T-5's running next to it while in the transition period. No channel is higher than 50% until all corals are acclimated. Eventually I should be able to remove the T-5's and use just the led unit.

Total cost for the fixture was $450. That includes customized layout and spectrum, hard wired controller, remote, and shipped to my door. I got a break in shipping because I ordered two other units for my friend. If you order two or more you save $40. I believe that this unit in the USA is worth way more than what I paid for it. Here are some pictures.
 
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Just got the photon and am looking for someone to share their schedule and settings with me. No coral yet, just live rock. Coral will come later. Primarily interested in getting the coralline going. Right now I'm at blue 20 white 60 max, but i have no clue if that is good or not. Thanks!
 
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