New lighting systems for the hobby

[Justin74]

Ive heard talk, but that was it. Blew me away when I saw this and there claimed capabilities. Check it out, pretty amazing. Im sure Pico's probably already aware, but Im sure theres a few of you that'll be sureprised like I was.

Solaris

Guess LED's arent just for moon lighting anymore

-Justin

 

[GreshamH]

Saw the prototypes at IMAC, look great. I'd be all over it, if I had $2.5K to drop on a "250mh style" set up :lol:

 

[Unarce]

I'd give it a few more years, until the concept is perfected. And of course when the prices go down

 

[robertloop]

Huh? Twenty five hundie for a light? Right, man. Cool and all, but really.

 

[Unarce]

It could almost be a wash, considering what you spend on MH bulb annually and the amount of hours you get out of the LEDs. Thing is, I think some of the LED cylinders have a tendency to burn out. If that's the case, than the cost of replacing and soldering is a PITA.

 

[fishsoldseprtly]

someone calculated the cost and how many years it would take to make your money back and it came out to be 8+ yrs, IMO totally not worth the money to invest in one of these.

 

[late2wake]

lol - just buy several dozen Surefires =)

 

[RxBandit]

Changing the LED banks wouldnt be very difficult. Oftentimes sets of 3-9 LEDs are held on an individual bank and all you need to change them are a Philips head Screwdriver. It comes off as a whole and then just screw back in another one.

 

[Pico1]

funman1 and I are working on making an LED retro-fit, he's has experence working with LEDs and I am looking where to find the kelvin rated LEDs since I know a couple of people on n-r.com who have LED lit pico reefs.

 

[funman1]

Here is my LED mod with my xbox.
Check out the videos of it too..
http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=253316&hl=landing+lights

Once we find some good LEDs we will have some really cool lighting things to show off to you guys.

 

[CaptiveReefSystems]

also, this thing puts out some heat too. not like a MH, but it does make some heat. Saw it at IMAC too.

If you are wanting some very trick lighting, wait, the vari-ballast will be released at MACNA. complete systems.

 

[Pico1]

Can you tell us a bit more about the vari-ballasts?

 

[CaptiveReefSystems]

goto vb1000.com for all the info on the ballast. These systems will not be cheap, what is in the aquarium hobby, but there will be nothing like them.

 

[Brian Prestwood]

I see Dana Riddle is testng these. I wonder is Sanjay if testing them too? Be interesting to talk about them in November.

 

[boviac]

I am curious if the 8 year cost calculator included the energy savings? MH/Ballast vs LED? Of course that varies depending on PG&E/SMUD and how much overall one uses. I estimate my average KWh is 12-14 cents depending on summer or winter. That's for my whole electric bill (house and tank).

Further even if it does emit some heat, does it really compare to MH? If one currently runs a chiller to combat the light/ballast heat or runs an room or house AC to remove that heat, wouldn't the cost benifit from running LED's help out here too?

Finally no need to worry about unnecessary UV.

I agree that right now it is still too expensive and brand new technology in this application warrents reviews and price stabilization but there are many benifits to this that excites me. Especially the controller aspects.

I want to upgrade to a bigger tank (don't we all) but the lights (currently PC and most likely need to go with MH) is my main drawback oh and yeah... I don't have the cash. Further the energy demand of a MH bulb/ballast plus the heat clearly there's got to be a better mousetrap out there.

Bring on new technology-springboard of other's ideas-and bring down the cost so everyone can enjoy.