LED Lighting Getting On My Nerves

W

walnuts24

Member
Well I am setting up a 40B and I am going to get some LED lighting for it. I have been shopping around for months now and have gone through all of my options and cannot find a unit that is worth buying.

Originally I was trying to keep the cost around $300, but that budget quickly got blown up to $600 which really makes my options open to about anything. I am gonna give you a run down of what I cam up with and the reasons I didn't pull the trigger.

Keep in mind this is a 40B and the dimensions are 36L x 18W x 16D.

Options:

1. Four Par 38 bulbs: Did not like that they were not controllable and that there is no moonlight options on them.

2. DIY 48 LED: I suck at electrical DIY and did not want to make such an investment into something that I would probably screw up and ruin. I also want it to have a nice finished look and DIY probably wouldn't give me that.

3. AI SOL Super Blue: Probably one of my two leading candidates at this point, my only concern is coverage as one of these units is onle 12" L.

4. Acan LED: I am from LI and the LFS here has them over there tanks and they look great and I was going to pull the trigger, however, after doing research I found that these are just extremely marked up Eco-Lamp KR92's. I am not saying these are bad quality but the fact that this company just changes the name of some Chinese Manufactured Companies lights and sells them in the US for more than triple the cost ****es me off so much that I have pretty much written them off as an option. :furious:

5. Ecoxotic Fixture: I hear there is a new fixture from Ecoxotic coming out soon but I have heard a lot of people that have had problems with their bulbs and am concerned about quality. Also can't wait much longer as I wanted to get it done in the next couple of weeks.

What would you recommend for my system? Sorry for venting my frustration.

Thanks
 
Number 5.

I bet the 24" fixture would work well for you. They will be up on the website next week and should be shipping soon after that. I have been using Ecoxotic stuff for 8 months without a single issue thus far.

The only problem I had was one my LED strips was kind of pulsing but it was very random. It would go dim and then back to normal and then dim again and just stay dim for 10 minutes then back to bright for the rest of the day. Ecoxotic was ready to send me a new power supply, no questions asked.

I did a quick troubleshoot and found my connections were a little loose. I must have pulled on the wire one day and not realized it. I unhooked everything and hooked it all back up. The light went back to normal and never had the issue again.

Great lights and great company!
 
DIY 48 LEDs would be too much on that tank. I have 28 on mine and it's turned down. I would go with option 5 of all your options
 
The AI would also work, you might just have put it up a bit higher or order one with wider optics. You didnt mention what you are going to put in the tank. The AI would support sps in the middle portions of the tank and less light hungry coral toward the sides. Im using these lights now and they do work well.
 
If anything the Acan LED is more expensive than the AI. The unit I was looking at was the 18" A104 that retails for $750 but was on sale for $600. As far as corals I was gonna start with LPS and Softies and really want an anemone but since I am relatively new at reefkeeping I want to keep my options open to maybe a clam or some easy SPS in the future.
 
I would go with #2 but drop it to 30-36. That's what I'm doing for my 40B. 36 crees would give the output of a 400w radium. I might be going with about 42 to add some low par leds for color though (I'm doing mainly sps so I need more light than you). AFAIK not many companies sell anything with leds other than a w/b combo other than maxspect. Have you looked at them? That and double the price of diy is what made up my mind for me.
 
hobbzz said:
I would go with #2 but drop it to 30-36. That's what I'm doing for my 40B. 36 crees would give the output of a 400w radium. I might be going with about 42 to add some low par leds for color though (I'm doing mainly sps so I need more light than you). AFAIK not many companies sell anything with leds other than a w/b combo other than maxspect. Have you looked at them? That and double the price of diy is what made up my mind for me.
Click to expand...

Both ecoxotic and acan offer different spectrums. The acan fixture is terribly overpriced though.

With ecoxotic you can use 8k white, 12k white, 445nm blue, 453nm blue, UV, magenta and their RGB system.

Maxspect is about the only other company that offers multiple spectrums, like you mentioned.

It seems Ecoxotic isn't mentioned here on RC because they aren't considered "elite" or top of the line. When in reality, they beat out every other LED company I've ever seen and they don't take your arm and leg in the process.
 
I'd say DIY led. 48 leds is probably overkill though. Since you don't have a lot of diy experience I'd look at the plug and play/solderless leds from rapidled, I have a feeling I'm going to go towards that just for simplicity sake and swapability. You can make them look really nice with just some simple trim around the heatsink if you need.
 
btingle85 said:
I'm sure expense has to do with it. The radions seem to be nice but at $750 a piece, and you don't get much more spread than the AI.
Click to expand...
Actually, per several posts the Radion seems to give better coverage than the AI. Of course, the AI comes with 40 & 70 degree optics & the Radion is 130 degree (I think).

The Radion has a better color option than just white/blue. Just throwing another option out.
 
btingle85 said:
I'm sure expense has to do with it. The radions seem to be nice but at $750 a piece, and you don't get much more spread than the AI.
Click to expand...

Yeah you are right, only about double! :hammer:

PAR plots and readings show that the Radion puts out a much more even spread of light. The AI is powerful right under the fixture but quickly falls off within 6" of center.
 
If you are even CONSIDERING the AI just go with an Apollo fixture. They are more powerful, have better spread, and can be sent to Apollo to have Red, Green, Warm White, or UV LEDs swapped out at almost no charge.

I just don't see ANY reason to purchase an AI SOL fixture any longer with these Apollo fixtures out there.
 
Are the Apollo fixtures controllable? Now that I jumped up in price range I realize that I really like the controller that is available with the Acan and AI fixtures.
 
do yourself a favor and check out the lighting at

eshinesystems.com - my friends use them, i use them, we grow everything.
Before radions/ai/and illuminatas there were turn light on.... turn light off... worked great for 30 years. but in case you get the itch.. the eshinesystems are electronically dimmable.




btw... - the Apollo Led's that are dimmable through the Apex or Pentiometer are the SAME EXACT CHINESE ESHINE SYSTEMS shipped WITHOUT ballasts... to which Meanwell dimmable ballasts are added and pre-wired with the 10v serial cable that works with the Apex.. ESHINE also has the ability to add optics to them.
 
Out of curiosity Asonitez is that what the owner said on Saturday at the swap? I know his dimmable versions are coming out in roughly 2 weeks. I bought one of his test models at the show that was 40 cree leds & were dimmable for $325.00. I know the models he went w/ use Bridgelux. I don't have the unit up yet but the dimmer feature seemed to work nicely & figured for the price I'd give it a shot, supreme overkill for a 27g cube so it will be dimmed alot.

Edit: Don't get me wrong I know they're chinese units, the spec sheet w/ mine had a chinese company name on top, they really weren't my top option by a long shot but I'm willing to give it a shot for the price for a dimmable unit.
 
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