cato
New England
The LEDs in a tube with fans works well for me. Over my 75g I have 3 tubes of 24 LEDs each. The LEDs are mounted on a 1/8" aluminum bar with Arctic Alumina adhesive, with small black heatsinks on the opposite side of the bar also with adhesive. That slides into the fluorescent tube carriers (from Lowes), with push/pull 12v ducted fans on each end (40mm computer fans). I have one tube with 24 RB XR-Es, and the other two tubes have 12 CW XP-G and 12 RB XR-E each. Plenty of light for my 75g, and wonderful color.
I didn't want the typical 'massive heatsink' approach due to my custom canopy, and I like the ability to just wipe down the plastic tube to remove any salt accumulation. Another benefit of the tube is placement - I have one tube right at the front of the tank angled back slightly, and it illuminates the front sides of my corals way better than the MH did. And after all, the front sides of the corals is what I'm looking at!
Some people have complained that cool white don't give you the ability to render reds and oranges, but maybe that is a difference between the cool white XR-E and the newer XP-G (or just that I got a bin that is slightly warmer).
Any pics of your unit? Your LED unit that is.
BTW just spent 2 days going through this thread from beginning to end. My head aches lol.
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