LED who hs the bug.

ade

New member
Ok so even I am not as active as I used to be, sorry, with still my cube barely hanging on I would like to go with an LED fixture.
So please post your 2c.;)
 
I like them. Corals definitely need to be acclimated. Controllability is awesome. The lack of heat is also very nice. Did you catch the bug at my house?
 
I have the bug lack of heat, low power consumption, no changing bulbs every year.

Eugene I had the bug before you got yours but now that you took the plunge I will see how it works out. Hopefully it works well so I can go LED on the 150 DD I am planning.
 
I'm waiting to see some reviews on the Ecotech fixture than will probably dabble in it. Im not liking the T5 only look I'm on now, miss the shimmer of MH :eek: Atleast with your size cube Ade it won't hurt the wallet to awful bad :)
 
I have two AI Sol super blues on my 70g. They are awesome. I haven't had any bleaching or browning (I've only had them up for a week). I have my AI Sols running at 30% to acclimate and I will turn them up as time goes on. I'd recommend mounting them length wise on the tank so you need less units.
aisolblue2.jpg
 
just got done couple of days ago on a diy LED fixture for my cube, 8 royal blue, 6 cool white cree LED w/ dimmable driver, looks nice on the 18x18x18 cube
 
Nice Michael would love to see them one day, but really do not have the time to do a diy. Yes Eugene that just blew my mind, what is the size of your cube? Roger love the look on the ecotech fixtureand yes with my 45 cube I should be able to swing it without signing my life away.
 
There is a guy in richmond who bought some 3 watt cree units, they are cheaper than the RapidLed kits and built in China. I am trying to get 2 fixtures but need someone to split shipping costs. If youre interested send me how many leds you want and the size. I think he said you can do any combo of white/blues.
 
There is a guy in richmond who bought some 3 watt cree units, they are cheaper than the RapidLed kits and built in China. I am trying to get 2 fixtures but need someone to split shipping costs. If youre interested send me how many leds you want and the size. I think he said you can do any combo of white/blues.

can you provide a bit more details like what kind of led, neutral white, cool white, royal blue, blue, bin # ect b/c they vary a lot even down to the bin #
 
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I have a elos midi which is 36 gallons. The light fixture is a vertex illumina 260. It is nice and very easy to program and the fans are silent. I did not get to show you, but it also has a storm and cloud feature. I have a 5% incidence of cloud cover that last 2-60 minutes. The lights just dim a bit and sometimes the clouds will move east to west or vice versa. For every cloud cover I have programmed a 5% chance of lightning. That is pretty cool when your reef has a lightning storm. It does not phase the fish at all.
 
I used to have heat issues and now my tank stays within a 2 degree range. The fan on the LED units never comes on and power consumption went from 644W to 150W (really 30% of that or 0.3*150W = ~50W). With the apex I can control the blue and white independently, set the percentage for cloud cover, and storm lighting feature. AI Sols are $399.99 a unit (2 required for a 70g) while the vertex illuminas are at least $2,000 (probably way more). Vertex illuminas do look more professional but that is a personal preference. I couldn't agree more with Eugene on if you upgrade to LEDs, you HAVE to buy a unit that is dimmable. Otherwise you're going to have to do acclimation by starting from 1 hour of light and add an additional hour of light every 3 days (1hr day one, 2 hrs day four, etc).
 
http://www.xilll.com/en/
Thats the link, I think everything can be custom made, you tell them what leds you want and they put them in the fixture, I think just the sizes are set in stone. The guy in richmond is familiar with one of the people in the company and will have to order through him. Ive seen a few on ebay that have a similar design, most likely from a chinese manufacturer. The guy who bought them says they are great and colors have colored up. I was going to go with 50/50, and get separate chords for the blues and the whites. Yea dimming is nice and if you have the money go for it but im not going to pay a few hundred extra so my fish can have a lightning storm.

I had one of the 48" vertex 50/50 strip light, it was nice and was expensive 459 new. Leds are not my main source of lighting, I was going to use them to supplement my 400 watt halides, so I don't need a fancy fixture, the Chinese product will be fine. I just think DIY kits are a waste now because you can have someone assemble it for you for less.
 
Tim- Dimming is not just for lighting storms. If you use them in supplement with a MH then non-dimmable will be fine but as a primary fixture going without dimmable fixtures is probably not the best idea... read around and you'll see the mass majority of people familiar with LEDs agree.
 
I agree dimming is nice and if I was running all Leds I would definitely want that feature, but I dont need it with the metal halides
 
Eugene why the vertex 260 and not the 200, it seems like unless you have a deep tank the 200 should be adequate?

also what systems have good cohtrollable features without an apex?

I know the vertex are cotrollable as well as the acan LEDS, but it seems from what I have seen the vertex controls are the best but maybe I am missing some.
 
just got done couple of days ago on a diy LED fixture for my cube, 8 royal blue, 6 cool white cree LED w/ dimmable driver, looks nice on the 18x18x18 cube

I am interested in more info on what and how you made yours. I don't have enough room above my tank to fit my lights so I am looking for other options.
 
Eugene why the vertex 260 and not the 200, it seems like unless you have a deep tank the 200 should be adequate?

also what systems have good cohtrollable features without an apex?

I know the vertex are cotrollable as well as the acan LEDS, but it seems from what I have seen the vertex controls are the best but maybe I am missing some.

Flexibility. A bit more light intensity in the Vertex 260. Also a decent more actinic in the 260 compared to 200. I have an APEX but control the light through bluetooth with my Mac. It is very simple and I did not have to call in someone smarter than me to figure out how to program it.
 
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