LED light from ebay for reefs?
- Thread starter protoxeno
- Start date
looser
New member
Your welcome. Its 14K. Its a little early to tell if I like it or not. What I did was just a pure apples for apples comparison with the MH. Same height and location. I have to do some experimentation with height and the mix of VHO bulbs that I run to get a color temp and light dispersion I'm happy with. The blueness I can deal with by adjusting the mix of other bulbs, and by raising it up I will probably get a wider spread of light (although I'll have to see if that reduces the depth of light to much). And if I were to swap out my other pendant that would help with the light dispersion as well.
The thing that I'm not sure any of the above will address though is the kind of eerie glow that I mentioned earlier. Its hard to describe and I'm not sure the pic does it justice. Even my 12 year old daughter said "that looks weird" when I first turned it on. We'll have to see if fooling with the height, and VHO bulb mix changes any of that.
So far I would say I'm cautiously optimistic that it will work for me. (I sure would like to save 50% of my electric bill). But if I had only MH now and was swapping it out with only this LED light"¦... to be honest I don't think it would work because I wouldn't have the flexibility to adjust the color temp to what I like and I don't think I could overcome the glow issue. But we'll see. I will keep updates and pics coming as I fool with it.
If anyone has any suggestions on what causes the glow and how to correct it I sure would appreciate it. (I know... the LED causes it, and if I turn on my MH instead it will correct it. I hoping there is another solution
)
looser
New member
I just emailed with the seller (Paul) hoping he might have some suggestions. He apologized that I wasn't happy with the color, said there really wasn't much I could do about it and offered a refund. Very fast response. Seems like a great guy to do business with. He did say that he checked with the manufacture and that these are actually 20K units. I'm going to give the mix of VHO and LED lights a shot tonight and see if I can get it looking the way I want. Although I was really hoping to swap out all of my lighting with three or four of these units. Ahhhh.. Guess we'll have to see how it goes tonight.
looser
New member
It sounded like the manufacture wasn't very clear originally if they were 14K or 20K but he was able to confirm they are 20K. So I don't think 14K is even an option, at least not anymore.
bigdog0598
New member
Are they 1:1 blue and white or 2:1 blue to white?
looser
New member
They are 1:1 blue and white.
I will try to get some more pics loaded. I have a few more, but they don't show much that you can't see in the pics I posted. Looks like I'm not going to be able to try much with raising it or a mix of lights until tomorrow night now at the earliest. To much going on.
fiftyfiveg
New member
looser
New member
Well you've given me some hope. The color temp looks great and no strange blue glow. I notice you've to your light fixture a lot higher off the water than mine. I will have to give that a shot as soon as I'm able. Thanks!
fiftyfiveg
New member
It mounted about 12 inches off the water surface to cover 48 inches tank. I will get another one soon. A member of our club have 3 over his 220 and I think he mounted them about 7 inches off the water.
david1983
Member
How long have you been using this?Looks good:inlove:
PAS Photography
New member
So this LED light is not as good as the one discussed in the thread I am assuming?
http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230577797138&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT
If so what or how is it not applicable?
http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230577797138&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT
If so what or how is it not applicable?
Completely different type of LED. Stay away from those type.
looser
New member
Any update on your light Looser?
I just tried a quick experiment on my way out the door. Had my son hold the light about a foot off the water. Still blue.. but a lot better. Turned off the blue LEDs and looked a lot like my MH. So I'm pretty confident that if I swap out my actinic blue VHO for a day light bulb this LED light will work out fine. Now I just need to modify my light hood so this unit will sit on top of it. Basically just need to cut a rectangular hole over where the MH bulb is now so I can rest it on top, and swap out the actinic VHO bulb for a daylight, and maybe raise it up a bit. Not a big deal... hopefully I can get to it tomorrow. I will be sure to post some new pics.
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