LEDs, yea or nay?

[Wijic]

Hey everyone. It was great to meet all of you last night and boy was it cathartic to be able to geek out with other fish people who also get excited when you say things like 'I finished building my first sump!'

Anyhow, I have been considering lighting for a while and I really like the idea of LEDs, both for their potential longterm-ness and also for the amazing amount of flexibility that some of the units offer. Specifically, I am saving up towards a pair of Pacific Sun units.

But, talking with a couple folks after the meeting, we were going over the positives and negatives of investing that much money into such a new technology. I'm of the opinion that somebody has to be the guinea pig, and if the tech seems worthwhile (and comes with a warranty), I'm willing to take the risk. On the other hand, being new to the hobby and still building my first tank, maybe it's better to stick with the tried and true?

So, fellow Pittsburgh reefers, where do you fall in the LED debate? What do you think of the technology? Anybody currently using LEDs as their main source of lighting? What have you observed as far as coral health and growth since to switched?

Thanks!

 

[Raceimage]

Wet Pets on route 19 past South Hills Village installed LED's on their display tanks if you want to see what LED's look like. I don't know of anyone locally that uses LED's as the main light source.

 

[SirusX1721]

Most of the LEDs I've come across are DIY due to the current costs of them. I've been reading a lot of the projects in the DIY section of RC, and hope to be going down that road shortly (Small scale though of course). Check out the section or do a search for LED's. A lot of good reads...

 

[Drone]

I have LEDS on one half of my 90 and a 250 MH on the other half for now.

I LOVE the LED's just don't have enough time to rebuild the second board after my wife or kids knocked it into the display tank......AAHHHH!!!!!!

I have good color and growth and under the LED's and actually like the looks better than the MH.

If I could afford an AI setup I'd get one but am looking at a MaxSpect setup instead. For 2 160 or 180 watt panels the cost will be just over $1000. They aren't very tunable but you can physically change the LED's to a configuration that meets your taste.

If you'd like to see the current LED/MH tank let me know....I'm just north of Harmarville.


Kevin

 

[cloakerpoked]

The surfline tank on the left at Elmer's is a combo LED/t-5 unit (t-5's being the actinic suppliments.) That particular fixture is a large LED bulb, and I feel makes too much of a spotlight in the tank which would deter me from doing it.

Personally, unless I had the wherewithall like Kevin to do my own, cost and unprovenness would be prohibitive at this point for me. I'd go with a proven technology, and wait 5 years while they fine-tune the tech and it becomes much more common in the market. At that point, I would expect to see the prices come down tremendously, to the point where it would probably almost pay for the discrepancy in the light bill, and you'd get a quality product (more so than now) at a fraction of what it would cost now. That's just my 2 pennies.

 

[acer]

+1 on cloakers 2 cents