looking for experienced LED user advice

[fredo008]

Due to their age and power consumption, I'm about to get rid of my four 72" VHO's and two 400W MH's and go with two 36" x 12.5" 64x3W fully controlable LED lights on my 180 gal. reef. Is a 3:3:1 (white, blue, violet) configuration suitable for these lights? These are Bridgelux chips with 90 degree optics and will be about 14" above the water. For an additional $128 I can switch to Cree diodes but I'm not sure if it's worth it because this is going to be pretty intense lighting as is. I'll probably only start off at about 50% power until I see how the livestock reacts to it. Any comments??

 

[Ron Reefman]

I did some 3:2 blue to white bridgelux leds and at 100% power it's very, very white. I have to dial the whites back to 40-50% to get any blue tint.

 

[pwreef]

Have you seen these lights over a tank in person? You may or may not like them. Also be very careful. Lots of people lost a lot of coral by switching to LEDs. Over time few corals I have changed their color under even "full spectrum" LEDs.