LED Light Strips

I've never heard of them, but that doesn't mean much. Spec wise, they sound like they have potential. A concern I would have would be the 90 degree optics. With 90 degrees, you have serious potential for the disco effect unless they are raised much higher than they are pitching at 3". Especially in a "bar" configuration versus a condensed "puck". So, with that said, the higher you raise the bar, the lower the PAR values they are claiming will be in the tank. If you read EcoTech's Coral Lab study (January '15), they show their Radion fixtures mounted substantially higher than many times seen. By raising the fixtures and cracking them up, a nicer blending of colors occurs, hot spots reduced, and shadowing lessened. I've seen the "bar" configuration more commonly implemented within a specific spectral frequency, such as Royal Blue. Due to how slim these are, they may be a good candidate for integration into a T5 hybrid fixture.
 
Yeah i was concerned about the 90 degree optics as well. I can remove the optics which should give me about 120 degree. I expect to lose some PAR but will be able to mount them lower towards the water surface. With 2 of these i plan on running them side by side with some space in between them but one going left to right and the other right to left. that way the color spectrum's are mixed up better. How much PAR should i be shooting for to grow SPS like Acro's with LED's?
 
Don't you already run T5? If so, integrate these. As far as the PAR for Acro, it really depends on the specific acro you're looking at keeping. Then it will be placement in the tank, not only make it happy with water flow, but either up or down in the column for the intensity it prefers. Since moving off of solely LED to MH/T5, this has been the case for me big time. Although the MH/T5 has been fantastic, since we're getting closer to warmer weather we'll be running a T5/LED solution through the summer months. I've been working on that build for the past couple of months. Almost done, op test was good this past weekend.
 
Yeah i run 10 t5 bulbs on my tank but looking to lower my electric bill. I guess i will have to see once they come in and i get them installed. if nothing else i can use the led strips and just run half my t5's and see what that does.
 
Is it a single 10 lamp fixture? If so, they likely run in pairs. I think I would continue with either 4 or 6 T5 and add in your LED strips.
 
Its 2 light systems. Since i have a Bow front I run a 72 inch 6 bulb fixture with 60 inch bulbs on the middle tank and for the curve in the front there is a 4 bulb 32 inch fixture.
 
Ah, gotcha. With the 90 degree optics they have real punch power, so integrating shorter LED bars in the 24" may be helpful due to most tanks being deeper in the front whereas the back of the tank is usually shallower due to the rock work. Just a thought
 
They will be here Monday. So probably won't have them installed till the weekend. I will let you know my opinion on them. Been reading the discussion in the main forum about people going back to MH from led. Pretty interesting stuff
 
Yeah, I've followed it for awhile as well but then it starts getting rediculous. Always turns into a battle as to whose solution is the best. Some people even get down right nasty. Oh well.
 
Yeah, I've followed it for awhile as well but then it starts getting rediculous. Always turns into a battle as to whose solution is the best. Some people even get down right nasty. Oh well.
 
I think they will be ok. I like that you don't have 55 leds or high intensity setups like a "puck" type led focusing the light in a limited space. With those type I feel that too much light is focused in to narrow a space. With this "bar" type you can space them out as needed to achieve an even spread versus one area of focused light. Plus I plan on removing some of the lenses to spread out some of the led energy. We will see
 
Check back in and give us your review after they are up and running. I will be curious as to how they blend. Are you planning on running these standalone or with your t5s?
 
Going to try standalone for at first. Then I'll see. If it's not enough add some t5's back in.
 
So did your LED strips come in? If so, how do they look and do they appear that they will work out for you?
 
They came in yesterday. The construction of them is pretty solid. Once got them installed and set up, Wasn't to happy with the color output. The green corals look really good but reds and purples were off. They looked really orangeish/brown. Ended up adding 2 tubes of ATI Blue+ bulbs to help balance the color a bit, may add one more tube of purple + or coral +. The Blue channel of the lights have 5 red leds in the same channel. This creates a weird purple moonlight/evening color that i don't like as well. I asked the vendor if he could send me some additional blue LEDS so i can switch them out. Still have some playing around to do with the setup so i will let you know.
 
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