LED lights

[Reefing4Fun]

Hi All;

I was out of reefing for a few years and now getting back into it. I've been hearing about this new LED lights and would like to know more about them and how are they compared to T5's and metal halides.

My last tank was 65g with 6 T5's. How are LED's compared to them? Are they better for the corals and how would decide how much LED or what type of LED would you need.

I've heard good things about AI and Kessils. I'm setting up a 120g tank and would like to keep a mix reef but mostly LPS. Which one would you recommend and how would you configure it?

Thanks,

Reef.

 

[asid61]

Most people on this site don't like leds. If you go led, a reefbreeders fixture is you best bet. You get a good spectrum and they are dirt cheap.

 

[MHG]

Just take a few minutes to google reefcentral led's and you will fing dozens of posts where you may find opinions on those lights and everything led...the reefbreeders do give you the best bang for the buck. I like the ecotech radion pro but big money...

While "most" people on in reef keeping in general don't use them (not just reefcentral) those days are numbered. They are taking over.... So read on.....there is tons of info here...

 

[pmcarbrey]

First generation LED's were sub PAR (haha) at best, they had spectrum and reliability issues, because of this many people were driven away, the fact of the matter now is that there are a number of more than reliable LED fixtures which are capable of growing anything you would wish to grow

 

[that Fish Guy]

Most people on this site don't like leds. If you go led, a reefbreeders fixture is you best bet. You get a good spectrum and they are dirt cheap.

Why would you say that?

I think most people on this site love LED's.

Now which LED's to get that is where people argue as there are so many options out there.

Yes, there are people that like T5 and Metal Halide too but a ton of people are switching to LED.

Some are waiting for more advancement in LED Technology and / or the price to come down that is all.

 

[asid61]

First generation LED's were sub PAR (haha)

This made me laugh so much. Reefer lighting buff puns.

@ That Fish Guy:
Trust me, nobody likes leds here, or at least none that speak out. You get people that say they bleached their corals with leds and will never go back in every one of these threads.
I just can't figure out, with all the awesome dimming capabilities fixtures have now, how people even manage to bleach their corals. It's not that hard to turn the knob to the 50% mark.

 

[invertinoob]

kessils look great with lps and zoas. the color really pops. some of the best pics i've seen of sps has been under t5's though. another option would be t5 led combo. the only bad thing about leds is the amount of coverage you get from one fixture. i for one would love them but couldn"t afford the two fixtures it would take to light my 56 gallon...

 

[mariusmeyer]

I have been running my mixed reef with a vertex illumina led unit for the last 10 months and have never regretted the purchase. I was fortunate enough to get a unit but the price of most fixtures are high. Especially is a country such as ours (south africa) where electricity prices have gone up by about 100% over 3 years it made sense to switch. So far i have not noticed and issues with regards to growth rates and so on. Only addition i would like to add to the unit is uv leds as i suspect that uv can help with colouration on some sps corals.

 

[MHG]

People bleach their corals because they don't have 20 years of data to reference on how much light a given wattage bulb will produce in 27" of water like they do with halides or t5's... That is why access to a par meter is so important. My first led fixture was putting out 900 par and clocked off all the coraline. Once I adjusted it down to about 400 at the top of the rocks, everything changed.

Out of the two units the OP mentioned, go with the AI....

 

[Ron Reefman]

Reef,

How long is your 120g, 4' or 5'? Despite what asid61 says, there are a lot of led fans here. I was a big MH and t5 user (over 4 tanks) and in December made the switch over all 4 tanks. I'll never go back. They run cool (no MH heat), they have their own timer/controllers, they are basically set it and forget it. I do a 4 hour sunrise that is a bit blue, then 5 hours of midday at 90% power to the blue and 50% to the white and then a 5 hour sunset that is way more blue... it's almost like having 3 different tanks! Reef Breeders sells lights made by EverGrow and they are well made and as good a deal as you can get for good quality leds. You can buy them direct from EverGrow or save yourself the hassle of dealing with people in China and get them from OceanRevive out of Portland, Oregon. OceanRevive is a new start up and has their own basic fixture now and more advanced fixtures about to be released, but to fill out their line up, they are a distributor for EverGrow as well.

As I said, I switched in December and have 2 EG IT2080 fixtures over my 180g sps, lps & softie tank. They have run 24/7 for 7+ months now and have never given me any issues! And as much as I love them, I'm seriously waiting for the new OceanRevive fixture with "Master & Slave" controller system. If they work as well as the OR Arctic S026 basic fixtures I got a couple of months ago for my frag tank and QT (replacing EverGrow D120 basic fixtures), I'll be switching to new leds for my 180g DT and 70g anemone tank. Here is what I have now.



It has 2 of the EverGrow IT2080 fixtures. OceanRevive sells them for $449 delivered. Here you can see the lights.

 

[mariusmeyer]

This is my 60x24x26 tank after 8 months of leds.

And this was the day that i switched over

 

[mikeatjac]

This made me laugh so much. Reefer lighting buff puns.

@ That Fish Guy:
Trust me, nobody likes leds here, or at least none that speak out. You get people that say they bleached their corals with leds and will never go back in every one of these threads.
I just can't figure out, with all the awesome dimming capabilities fixtures have now, how people even manage to bleach their corals. It's not that hard to turn the knob to the 50% mark.

You can't make statements like that! It is very misleading.There is a huge move to LEDs.

So I guess we can not trust anything you say!

 

[that Fish Guy]

This made me laugh so much. Reefer lighting buff puns.

@ That Fish Guy:
Trust me, nobody likes leds here, or at least none that speak out. You get people that say they bleached their corals with leds and will never go back in every one of these threads.
I just can't figure out, with all the awesome dimming capabilities fixtures have now, how people even manage to bleach their corals. It's not that hard to turn the knob to the 50% mark.

Seriously?

Just because you do not like LED's does not mean that others do not like them either.

I do not like Justin Beiber and personally I do not know of anyone else who likes him either so should I assume that because I do not like him that nobody likes him even though he does sell millions of records?

New LED's come out all the time and are still expensive.

If nobody bought them why would companies invest a ton of money into a product that nobody bought?

That would be very silly and all these LED companies would go out of business.

I do not see companies pumping out new T5 and Metal Halide Fixtures.

I don't know maybe I live under a rock and have no clue what is going on and somehow am missing all these new T5 and Metal Halide Fixtures.

I know plenty of people who love LED's.

Some of the longest posts have been on LED's and people who love them.

Just look at the ReefBreeders LED Page.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2256795

There are over 1,000 posts with over 65,000 views.

And I do not recall anything in that very long post to be negative towards LED's.

Every post there has been positive.

And every big name LED has a thread here on Reef Central where owners of the LED post pictures of their Aquariums, Growth, Color, and have many good things to say about LED's.

Have LED's killed corals.

Sure.

But it is the operator.

If you run high end LED's with no acclimation period and at full power you are going to kill corals.

You have to take it slow.

And that is common knowledge.

Anybody buying an expensive item (In regards to anything expensive not just Reefing - Car, Computer, Camera, etc.) should research that item before buying it. That is just common sense.

And there are plenty of threads and plenty of posts that talk about LED's and coral bleaching, killing, etc.

Everyone needs to research and if you are indeed on Reef Central then you have an advantage over those that are not meaning you really really should know about acclimation and LED's.

Many people are switching to LED's every day.

And no I am not saying you have to switch that is a personal choice.

There is nothing wrong with T5 or Metal Halide.

Yes, some people tried LED had a bad experience like you and went back.

Some people will never change as either they do not like change or they believe in the old saying, " If it is not broke do not fix it."

And there is nothing wrong with that either.

There is plenty of praise of LED everywhere especially on this site.

 

[invertinoob]

leds are awesome. if you have the money do it!!! the ati powermodule is pretty sweet new t5 system though. it has a bulb dimming effect that is sweet!!

 

[wildman926]

If you want a simple, clean, yet effective setup, no shadows, brackets, steel cables, etc., BuildMyLed.com. I have 3 strips on my tank, 150g, and they are awesome. They are dimmable, either manually or with a controller using 0-10v, and a 3 year warranty. They are made by people that have been in the lighting industry many years, mainly LED. And, they are made here in the USA. You can buy preconfigured units, or make your own layout. They come with tank mounts for optimum light angle, or can be mounted in canopy with supplied brackets, suspended, or placed directly on the glass.


Here is mine. I am only using half of the tank mount, as the 90* optics cover the entire tank. These pics are from my IPhone, untouched, so are a little bluer than what appears. I have one of each of their preconfigured units, 14000k, Custom Reef Spectrum (true 12000k), and Super Reef Actinic. Note, I still use my glass tops, and have 2 braces and no shadows. -

 

[wildman926]

BTW - HERE is a thread on their forum, that shows the level of service and expertise offered by BML. You won't get that from any Chinese company. You may "think" you are getting a certain wavelength from the Chinese lights, but are you really? I have seen first hand the tools and software that they use to ensure you get the light spectrum they advertise for their lights, or what you configure.

Also note in that the thread compares their lights to a 400w Radium bulb. Notice how evenly distributed the BML lights are as compared to the MH. Great comparison.

 

[asid61]

Seriously?

Just because you do not like LED's does not mean that others do not like them either.

I do not like Justin Beiber and personally I do not know of anyone else who likes him either so should I assume that because I do not like him that nobody likes him even though he does sell millions of records?

New LED's come out all the time and are still expensive.

If nobody bought them why would companies invest a ton of money into a product that nobody bought?

That would be very silly and all these LED companies would go out of business.

I do not see companies pumping out new T5 and Metal Halide Fixtures.

I don't know maybe I live under a rock and have no clue what is going on and somehow am missing all these new T5 and Metal Halide Fixtures.

I know plenty of people who love LED's.

Some of the longest posts have been on LED's and people who love them.

Just look at the ReefBreeders LED Page.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2256795

There are over 1,000 posts with over 65,000 views.

And I do not recall anything in that very long post to be negative towards LED's.

Every post there has been positive.

And every big name LED has a thread here on Reef Central where owners of the LED post pictures of their Aquariums, Growth, Color, and have many good things to say about LED's.

Have LED's killed corals.

Sure.

But it is the operator.

If you run high end LED's with no acclimation period and at full power you are going to kill corals.

You have to take it slow.

And that is common knowledge.

Anybody buying an expensive item (In regards to anything expensive not just Reefing - Car, Computer, Camera, etc.) should research that item before buying it. That is just common sense.

And there are plenty of threads and plenty of posts that talk about LED's and coral bleaching, killing, etc.

Everyone needs to research and if you are indeed on Reef Central then you have an advantage over those that are not meaning you really really should know about acclimation and LED's.

Many people are switching to LED's every day.

And no I am not saying you have to switch that is a personal choice.

There is nothing wrong with T5 or Metal Halide.

Yes, some people tried LED had a bad experience like you and went back.

Some people will never change as either they do not like change or they believe in the old saying, " If it is not broke do not fix it."

And there is nothing wrong with that either.

There is plenty of praise of LED everywhere especially on this site.

Sorry if I gave the impression that I didn't like leds. I was saying that many people on this site don't like them.
I love leds. I always suggest them to new reefers and try to point them in the right direction to get the best spectrum for the least money.

I agree with your entire post, especially the part about research. Unfortunately, a lot of research is often flawed with parts being left out.

"If it is not broke, don't fix it" really applies to those with multi-year sps tanks that don't want to risk it. In their case, I say to stick with leds. But for new tanks, leds are taking over.

 

[mikeatjac]

Sorry if I gave the impression that I didn't like leds. I was saying that many people on this site don't like them.
I love leds. I always suggest them to new reefers and try to point them in the right direction to get the best spectrum for the least money.

I agree with your entire post, especially the part about research. Unfortunately, a lot of research is often flawed with parts being left out.

"If it is not broke, don't fix it" really applies to those with multi-year sps tanks that don't want to risk it. In their case, I say to stick with leds. But for new tanks, leds are taking over.

What you said was "Trust me, nobody likes leds here, or at least none...", do you read what you write? The trust me is a dangerous statement!

 

[asid61]

What you said was "Trust me, nobody likes leds here, or at least none...", do you read what you write? The trust me is a dangerous statement!

"Nobody" is not literal. I'm saying that the haters outnumber the lovers.
Plus, bad reviews are worth a lot mroe than good ones. If you read two good reviews and one bad one, are you going to buy the fixture?

 

[wildman926]

"Nobody" is not literal. I'm saying that the haters outnumber the lovers.

"Say what you mean, mean what you say" - good saying to live by. Makes it easier on everyone.

Plus, bad reviews are worth a lot mroe than good ones. If you read two good reviews and one bad one, are you going to buy the fixture?

I wish making decisions were that easy to make when basing it off of reviews. For example, the AquaMaxx EM100 I reviewed was a great skimmer, but it had all bad reviews due to the splashing of the output. The directions were wrong, stating to run it in 6-8" of water, instead of 8-10" of water as it should be. No one figured it out, just complained about it. You have to take everything into account when reading reviews. Most people do good brushing their teeth once a day, much less figuring out new equipment