Going LED Reef

[vickiNaz]

So who is doing this? It seems like a slam dunk. 9 hours a day at 1000 watts vs 9 hours a day at 500 or less with the same light intensity. Also replacing halides every year is very sucky and expensive - especially when you are doing 4 250 DE's

 

[maynardjames]

from what i have read very high price for tech still in development, not perfected yet.

 

[Jova]

I haven't heard much about the whole LED reef lighting concept, but I don't see how LED's could put out enough light to do the job. I work in the music industry, and the new thing is LED stage lighting, and although it is really cool and provides much less power usage and little to no heat, the LED lights just don't cut it like the tradition incandescants do. But that's just my two cents...

 

[Snailpowered]

There are many different types of LEDs. The LEDs that the light manufactureres are using are called Philips Lumids LEDs. The way that the companies are getting the intensity are with special opticals or lenses. I have made a few DIY lights and they look geat and are brighter than my 400w. Its all in how you use the light to your advantage. And these lenses are what is doing it. Now from what i hear they are comming out with a new 10w LED that should revolutionize just about every thing that has a light it in the near future.
(FYI) The LEDs that are used in the aquarium light fixtures currently are either 1watt, 3 watt, and 5 watt. I used the 3 watt because they had a good output and they came on a "star" which made then easier to mount. I plan on running 24 of them on a 20gallon long frag tank really soon. If their is anyone with any questions just PM me and ill answer your question if i know the answer... but i really have just scratched the surface of LED lighting.

 

[wrestle1952]

LED is very new technology for use as primary light in the reef tank. Eventually I want to use it. However it is far to expensive initially for me. I will wait a couple of years until they are perfected. Think of all the electronics when they first come out, (HDTV, ipod, iphones, etc) are very expensive. Eventually the price will drop dramatically and the technology and quality control will improve. One need only to look at how metal halide and T5 prices have dropped from when they made their initial appearance. If you are one of those people that have to be the first on the block, go for it. In this economy I am being careful.

 

[vickiNaz]

So you are saying that nobody on RC is using LED? I want to do this for my next tank and various manufacturers are claiming big time benefits. 50,000 hours (10 years) bulb life, etc. Also the cost is crazy. My house is 3800 sq/ft. My electric bill is $650 a month in the summer in Arizona. My neighbors are paying like $200. In the coldest months when I use no AC or heat, my bill is still $280. I think my 300 gallon tank and my 240 together generate that much electricity.

 

[luisagos]

This is one of my thread I started awhile back.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1561930&perpage=25&pagenumber=1

PG 4, I stated I am building my own LED System.

Its going to have over 100-3 WATT LEDs. Planning in writing a very detail report while I am making it and do some PAR measurement once completed.

All the parts are on order, some of them will take a couple of weeks to get.

Going to be fun.

 

[JStorey]

I have been running the Aqua Illumination LED lights on my 300 gallon reef tank for over a year now and really like them. You can control the intensity and sunrise, sunset times and duration and the biggest plus in my opinion is they put zero heat in the tank. A bit pricey up front but without having to run a chiller and no bulb changes I expect to recoup my money.

 

[Imzadi]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15020340#post15020340 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Jova
I haven't heard much about the whole LED reef lighting concept, but I don't see how LED's could put out enough light to do the job. I work in the music industry, and the new thing is LED stage lighting, and although it is really cool and provides much less power usage and little to no heat, the LED lights just don't cut it like the tradition incandescants do. But that's just my two cents...

I use them, Jova... and from what I have seen in these Reef lights, they are tooootally different. The LEDs these guys are using are 3-10x brighter than the ones in the cans.