LED lighting

[hotshot619]

I have 4 Rapid LED Par 38 bulbs over my 46 bow and everything from SPS to zoas love them. I also have Reefbrites as night lighting.

I wish someone local would lend out a PAR meter I have always wondered how my par levels are at the bottom but either way the corals love them.

 

[eamike261]

Just set up a 24 LED DIY setup from RapidLED yesterday to replace a 2 bulb 20" T5 fixture over a 20 gallon tank. If you're going to do something like this you pretty much need to get the dimming build, you will have major regrets if you don't. We are getting a greater light output with the white string of LEDs set to about 30% and the blues set to about 40% than we got with the T5s. If we just got the constant current build I'm sure it would have completely burned and destroyed the corals, it is intensely bright, even at half power! So acclimating is really important. The whole thing was about $300 with all parts included, and could've done it for more like $250. It costs a little bit more than a MH + T5 fixture but the money you save in bulbs is nice. Plus when we turn on the blues only and dim them way down it makes a really cool moonlight.