first impressions par38 led

[skiformance]

on the 120 i have 2 250 watt lumenbrite pendants with radiums. however due to the way i built my light bar i was limited, very limited as to any supplemental lighting. however i ended up on nanotuners and came across their par 38 21watt led spotlights. so the wheels started turning. i had nick change a 20k to all royal blues and change the optics to 80 degrees since it would mount between the pendants, for maximum coverage.
i'll be modding a tracklight fixture as soon as it come in. i took one of my shop lights and removed the reflector and clipped it on the 80... all a can say is wow.. i love the spot light effect, the contrast between light and shadow is awesome. also i have never seen my corals fluoresce so much. im so impressed with this light that i'm going to add 2 more with 40 degree optics.
i just want to be clear that in my case these are being used only for supplement and for dawn to dusk effect. i'm not convinced that these would replace a m/h or a quality t5 set up no matter how many are used. this is jmo. however there are people using them as their main lighting source

 

[InsideJoke]

I was looking at those for my new cube, but figure I'd be much better off with an actual LED pendent.
I love the LEDs and I'm glad they are catching on.

 

[cody6766]

They work well for smaller tanks but you'd have to spend a fortune to light a big tank with them. I have seen a select few larger tanks that are all DIY LEDs using the same LEDs the par38 uses and they look awesome. They are very expensive when you move past the 24" cube sized tanks though. As far as lighting performance goes they're probably better than MH and T5s due to color control, PAR/watt, heat, life span, etc. They certainly aren't the best bang for buck initially though. I think they'll drift beyond the DIY realm for larger tanks before long. It'll just take a while before they become mainstream because of the cost.

hopefully that wasn't too incoherent. I was multitasking on a large scale for that post

 

[Lytehouse]

Yes, very coherent

The par is awesome on these guys.

I'm really looking forward to the talk at CRASE.

I understand Cody's point on cost for a big tank. When you consider the 10 year lifespan and no bulb replacement--- how much are the 300 gal tank guys spending a year on bulbs-- it gets interesting for a 75 gal maybe.

But the color pop, like Mike said is phenomenol.

They work well for smaller tanks but you'd have to spend a fortune to light a big tank with them. I have seen a select few larger tanks that are all DIY LEDs using the same LEDs the par38 uses and they look awesome. They are very expensive when you move past the 24" cube sized tanks though. As far as lighting performance goes they're probably better than MH and T5s due to color control, PAR/watt, heat, life span, etc. They certainly aren't the best bang for buck initially though. I think they'll drift beyond the DIY realm for larger tanks before long. It'll just take a while before they become mainstream because of the cost.

hopefully that wasn't too incoherent. I was multitasking on a large scale for that post

 

[skiformance]

like i said these are in my case supplemental. i'm still a h/m guy at heart

 

[InsideJoke]

Yes, very coherent

The par is awesome on these guys.

I'm really looking forward to the talk at CRASE.

I understand Cody's point on cost for a big tank. When you consider the 10 year lifespan and no bulb replacement--- how much are the 300 gal tank guys spending a year on bulbs-- it gets interesting for a 75 gal maybe.

But the color pop, like Mike said is phenomenol.

Thats why they will eventually become main stream. Is the lack of bulb replacement, heat, electric cost. Depending on how many bulbs you have to replace, and how much the bulbs cost. They could eventually pay for themselves from that alone. Not counting the reduced heat to the tank, and electric cost.

 

[cody6766]

the down-the-road cost is a no brainer...but people think in shorter time lines most of the time. It's a lot easier to stomach the thought of a $300 light with $80 replacement costs each year than it is to swallow a $700 up front cost for an LED light. The logic is flawed....but that's why I have a TEK light over my tank! haha. With time the cost will come down. It has some already.

These have to be wonderful for spotlighting, like mentioned earlier. I think they would lose some drama trying to spotlight, say, a 40 or 50g tank, but when you start looking at the footprint of a 120 or other long/deep tank it seems like it would be worth it. I bet on a tank like Paul's it would be even more dramatic. You could have a more or less natural looking tank with a few choice pieces glowing like a tie dye shirt at woodstock, haha!

In short...get some damned pics up!

 

[khaosinc]

If I ever run out of bulbs (I got a deal on over 100 unused ones) I will be making the switch..

Between my tanks, I have almost 70 T5 bulbs.. but I should have another couple years before I'm out.

 

[gimmic]

I expect in a year we'll be seeing LED moving into standard reefkeeping technology. AFAIK, currently compared to T5s they are superior in every way aside from cost.

 

[gregzbobo]

Love 'em, and the dimming abilities are icing on the cake. EVENTUALLY, I'll finish the wiring of my DIY setup on my 28 'cube, mostly just lack wiring up the drivers, and building a dimmer circuit to test them, but once I get the tank running I'll use a Digital Aquatics ALC module to control dimming/light output. There's a forum on another SMALL reef aquarium site that has GOBS of info on LEDs from the LED guru who also designed the PAR38 that Nanotuners sells. Easy to find, google evilc66 and you'll find it.

 

[khaosinc]

Now if they would just make some like the par 38's with some real power ans spread. 40 square ft would take a heck of a lot of them to light it up. Been eyeballing some of the 10w and 30w chips....they come in some decent color options now. should only take 100 of them or so...