Looking at new led lighting

SaltwaterDan said:
How many of these "120 watt" units do you think I would need over a 125 gallon standard tank with mixed reef inhabitants? 3 or 4?
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3 of the units should provide good coverage. If you wanted more light, you could do 4, but 3 should allow you to grow SPS mid to high in the tank.

I have my unit about 18" off the water surface and sps half-way down in my 40b and getting great growth. Most of the corals I picked up from the swap bleached when placed in the center of the tank. (Even with no optics).

There's a HUGE thread regarding these chinese lights here on RC and the consensus is they're great lights for the money with no optics needed as there are numerous LEDs spread out across the device and not bunched together like many other units. The only downside is the lack of dimming. They're making a dimmable unit, but it requires a manual dimmer and not a programmed controller like the AI. So if you don't want to ramp up the lights, then these will work out great.
 
TACoraled,

Which unit do you have? The one droberts linked?

Which is the one Blues Aq. is using?
 
scarolina01 said:
I am also looking into the jump to LED. I've looked into the AI Sol's for my 120 (4x2x2). Though the LED's that Ryan is selling at Blue Fish Aquariums are pretty nice, and a lot more affordable then the AI's. The ebay link above looks interesting, but like was stated earlier, I'm worried about "getting what I pay for" with LED's. I'd rather spend a little more to get a better quality product, then skimp and get something that is cheap.
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When you are getting to that $100 range of those chinese units you have to consider them as "throw aways" like a used halide bulb. You can buy 5-7 of these units for the same price of one pricey unit. From some of the early experiences you should be able to get a couple of years out of them & when the overall price drops on LED's you can go for one of the more sophisticated units with domestic support & a few more options.

For my considerations I think all the dimmable capabilities are worthless............of course I'm also the guy that just likes my phone to do nothing but make phone calls. I never bothered with night & day with supplements on halides. I just used the halides all on or off.

From what I know of the reefs near the equator, once the sun comes up over the horizon its at full intensity very quicky.

Just treat that whole LED unit as a big bulb, adjust intensity with height & screening for acclimation if you need it..................at least that's my thinking. I'm just reading & researching so just throwing out thoughts/ideas.
 
I saw DRoberts lights in action the other night. I know what I'm doing with my Christmas money in December!
 
Thanks to everyone for their responses. After getting burned by the Auraled purchase, I want to make sure I get this right. So if I get a couple of good years out of them there will probably be something new and better then anyway. Just want to get lighting that will help my corals grow, not force them to struggle to survive.
 
I wouldn't do led's unless I could dim them. Full blast there just to bright for some corals. Plus not needing extra lights to do dawn to dusk effect. Other then cost, it doesn't make any sense to me to not have that feature. Just means you'll end up needing other lighting to get that effect. I like to see the corals under blue light for about a half hour or so.
My 2 cents
Erik
 
These chinese units don't have optics, so burning corals would only be an issue if the unit is too close to the surface.

So basically you have to raise or lower the unit to accomodate your corals & like every single lighting source available right now, including LED's some corals will have to be moved to the right level to make them happy.

The dawn/dusk thing is a matter of preference..........some people like the effects & different view. I could care less...............I just want to see the corals in full light.
 
Two things to consider on the less expensive units! Can they be fixed in the USA? second are the LED replaceable and truly will you get the longevity out of these cheaper builds? I would go either with AI or Radion LED's IMO
 
I look at it different I guess sort of like would you buy a luxury car without power windows? You get what you pay for in this hobby I've learned that over anything else
 
Most of my tanks over the years had Canopy's I never had the luxury to move lights up or down until now with the inwall setup
 
the lights i got im loving them sure they are the cheap chinese ones but for the price im buying an extra one so if i do have a problem i will have a back up while i ship mine back to califonia for repairs or replacement. i made sure i bought the units that came with a 2 year warrenty. but here are some pics of my light and tank.
http://

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