Par 38 LED spotlights

[SHOmuchFUN]

Erik-
These lights have been proven to grow corals, max out a par meter, run cool, consume way less energy than any other light, cost less than any other set up, and just look great overall.
What more do you expect from them?

Just for the sake of a friendlier argument:

These lights have been proven to grow corals - Ok, but you can get a 6500k floodlight from home depot and grow coral.
Max out a par meter - Directly underneath the light beam perhaps. These PAR charts do not necessarily paint a very diffuse par pattern AT ALL: https://www.nanotuners.com/pages.php?pID=4
Run cool - Ok, but it's not like T-5's are running "HOT"
Consume way less energy than any other light - "WAY" is subjective to your objective. I can light my 180gal tank using a 6x80w T-5 retrofit kit at 480 watts. To light my 180gal tank with PAR38 bulbs, I'm going to need to use at LEAST 10, more than likely 12 with 60 degree optics. At 20-30 watts a piece, I'm looking at say, 250 watts. A difference of about 230 watts over the course of 8 hours vs. T-5's.
Cost less than any other set up - Not true. At least not initially... 12 PAR38 bulbs are going to cost me $1200 for just the bulbs. Not to mention the track lighting, or whatever I use to set them up. A 6x80 TEK retrofit kit WITH bulbs is going to cost me under $700. A difference of at least $500. That's a lot of T-5 bulb replacements. At $20/bulb that's at least 4 years of bulb replacements.
and just look great overall - Again subjective. I've seen some beautiful T-5 color combinations. Yes they lack the shimmer, but couldn't I get that with just a couple PAR38's and not have to buy 12 of them???

 

[spleen93]

I think PAR38 lighting should be looked at as a philosophical difference in lighting methodology. Since the PAR38s have a natural inclination towards being spotlights, it's best to look at them as focused lighting - hitting corals that need the highest intensity in the tank and using the spillover for the less intense light needing corals. Certainly, they can be used for whole tank lighting as well as but as you mentioned, in that case, the cost breakdown argument gets stronger in favor of other lighting technology. The look of a PAR38 lit tank using focused lighting is very different than a more conventionally lit tank - I and many others think it looks much more striking, beautiful, and natural lookingi but as always, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. (I'm speaking as a person who also owns a ATI Powermodule fixture)

And as for me, a difference of 230 watts over 8 hours daily is a very significant difference - both ecologically and financially.

 

[beeker]

overtime leds will become the norm and will end up being cheaper or just as cost effective as running a MH/T5 setup with upfront cost

the initial cost is high for leds but the pro's outway a lot of that cost IMO, plus as soon as i determine wether it's a different blend of leds needed for color or just having excellent water quality that is needed then there won't be many people on the fence as to wether LED perform just as well as T5 or MH

i noticed this past week that my larger red planet colony is getting it's green base back under the 12k PAR38 after it lost it's color for 3+ weeks after i introduced it to the system

so it might finally be adjusting to the switch from MH to the LED's but so far i'm happy with the results, and it's leading me to believe water qaulity plays a lot bigger role with an LED setup but i'm still going to get some custom blue bulbs made to see if that doesen't help improve the colors any further

 

[Akwarius]

There's one aesthetic drawback to the par38 spotlights that no one is talking about. They are extremely directional. The lack of reflectors or fill light leads to corals that are blasted with intense light on top and shaded black underneath. Your tank looks great top down, but way too contrasted from the front. Color aside, some other light source, such as t5 needs to be used as fill light unless you want half of your tank to be a dark black shadow.

 

[JTL]

There will always be different opinions but I have both T5's on one tank and Par 38's on another. My corals under the Par 38's are doing just as well as they were under the T5's. I can assure you that half of my tank is not shadow, in fact very little is shadow that wouldn't be there with T5's like under rock formations. The look is much nicer and more natural without the spillover. Part of the problem I think is that people are using too few of these lamps and expecting too much coverage. The par will drop off significantly with higher optics, but if you stick with 40's and use more lamps the Par is plenty good for even demanding corals. Granted you may need to consider placement since the light is not even but that is the natural beauty of a reef. JMO

 

[flameangel88]

Ya I noticed that. But it says 50w next to the picture so I am assuming a typo. I think just the 30w in the title is wrong cause the lumens say 4000, the 30w says 2200.

Thanks again. I was rushing out the door this morning that I didn't read both specs other than noticed the price difference.

I'll probably try 2 (50W) on a 48"X24"X24" first before dishing out for more. I'm going to read a bit more over the weekend before placing the order so if anyone have any suggestions please feel free to share with me.

 

[zygote2k]

On my home system, I'm using 3) 40's and 1) 60 plus an 453 panorama strip. I get the same amount of shadows with these as I did with the 400w mh.
If you don't like the directional look, use wider optics like 60's or 80's or even stretch it way out with a 120. If you're buying these in bulk, they cost a little less too. As far as trying to light a tank the standard way and flood the whole box with light, these aren't the lights to do that. In fact these lights are for those of us that can think outside the box in terms of how to illuminate the highlights in any given system. I'm not trying to sound snobby, it's just a valid argument. Maybe some of you don't remember when there were halide spotlights that had the same issues- they were directional and used for highlighting. Some of those incredible Japanese tanks still use mh spots to achieve the look.
If you have some imagination and can structure the rock in a way that takes advantage of coral placement in regards to directional illumination, then these are the lights for you. If you need the box full of light, there are plenty of other methods out there.
These lights aren't for everybody-yet.

FWIW, excellent water quality is what grows my corals- not necessarily the light source. Fans aren't needed with the PAR38's- but they are with T5's...

 

[Akwarius]

Zygote, we already debunked your claim that white and blue LEDs can replicate any t5 spectrum, so I will take your advice with a grain of salt.

I have eight of these units, love them, but am humble enough to admit their shortcomings.

 

[beeker]

the only short commings i see with these bulbs is the fact that you can't get 100% of the entire color spectrum in just 1 bulb, but to me that just means you have to be more creative with how you set the lighting up or what leds you go with

over my 200g i'm shooting to run a mix of 12k's, custom blue bulbs (4 cool blues, 1 neutral white) and then maybe a few 20k bulbs as well to get 100% the effect of what i'm going for

I'm a huge fan of T5 and MH just wanted something more pleasing to my eye's, and honestly the PAR38's are just plain beautiful in person, the 12k color isn't too white and isn't too blue it's honestly a really nice color blend, but with that said i do kindof feel they lack another 2 types of color spectrum that is needed to keep all sps colorful, i don't have issue's with 100% of my sps really color is only an issue with about 15% of the sps i've added which isn't bad at all

Sure i could add T5's and MH but that would defeat what i'm trying to acheive with LED's

eventually all the issue's and bugs with Leds will be worked out, and at that time T5 and MH will be phased out and Leds will become the norm

I'm not on any high horse i realize that there are many ways to skin a cat, and many ways to light a tank

leds just hit the market and i wanted to reinvent the wheel so to say with having a setup that is cutting edge as far as lighting goes, so when i figure out what other leds are needed to cover the full spectrum and improve the color on the 15% of sps that have issue's then the problem will be solved and more people will be leaning towards Led's for far more than their life expectancy or their power consumption

 

[Anemonebuff]

Here are the PAR38's in action:

Here are the two 30 watters:

It looks like the bulbs are brighter than the floodlights.

 

[beeker]

the PAR38 bulb is probably brighter because of the optics used on it, the flood lights have no optics and a reflector is a horrible way of trying to focus LED light, it's not like a MH bulb or a T5 so the optics/reflector have to be designed differently to get the most concentrated light out of the leds

 

[Anemonebuff]

The 30 watters will supplement the PAR38s. The PAR 38s have 60* optics on 12x3 watt crees. I am impressed by their strength.

 

[ganjero]

Can you light a nano cube 12g(13x13) with one of these or do you need 2? Can I keeep SPS under these?

 

[spleen93]

One should be fine. I'd go with a 40 degree optic version and mount high. Give the PAR values listed, SPS shouldn't be a problem directly under the light.

 

[Anemonebuff]

Can you light a nano cube 12g(13x13) with one of these or do you need 2? Can I keeep SPS under these?

These would be great on a 12 gallon nano, but you will need actinic supplements. One would be sufficient.

 

[Anemonebuff]

One should be fine. I'd go with a 40 degree optic version and mount high. Give the PAR values listed, SPS shouldn't be a problem directly under the light.

These are only in 60* optics. But would support anything in a 12g nano.

 

[spleen93]

If you're using a Nanocustoms 20K bulb, no actinic supplement is needed.

 

[Psionicdragon]

Just for the sake of a friendlier argument:

These lights have been proven to grow corals - Ok, but you can get a 6500k floodlight from home depot and grow coral.
Max out a par meter - Directly underneath the light beam perhaps. These PAR charts do not necessarily paint a very diffuse par pattern AT ALL: https://www.nanotuners.com/pages.php?pID=4
Run cool - Ok, but it's not like T-5's are running "HOT" Actually if you touch a t-5 while on for awhile, you can burn yourself if you leave your finger on the bulb. If i left my finger on the optics, my finger only feels warm
Consume way less energy than any other light - "WAY" is subjective to your objective. I can light my 180gal tank using a 6x80w T-5 retrofit kit at 480 watts. To light my 180gal tank with PAR38 bulbs, I'm going to need to use at LEAST 10, more than likely 12 with 60 degree optics. At 20-30 watts a piece, I'm looking at say, 250 watts. A difference of about 230 watts over the course of 8 hours vs. T-5's. the bulbs run at 19-21 watt per bulb. I don't see why you need 12 bulbs unless the tank is very long. I have 8 on a 5 feet tank and I get good spread with 40 optics. 230 watts an hour is a lot if you do the whole math. I don't know where my calculation is, but i'll look for it later. from what i can find, a 6 foot t5 is around 28-31 a piece minus the fragile shipping charge x 5 changes x 6 bulbs per change
Cost less than any other set up - Not true. At least not initially... 12 PAR38 bulbs are going to cost me $1200 for just the bulbs. Not to mention the track lighting, or whatever I use to set them up. A 6x80 TEK retrofit kit WITH bulbs is going to cost me under $700. A difference of at least $500. That's a lot of T-5 bulb replacements. At $20/bulb that's at least 4 years of bulb replacements.
and just look great overall - Again subjective. I've seen some beautiful T-5 color combinations. Yes they lack the shimmer, but couldn't I get that with just a couple PAR38's and not have to buy 12 of them???

don't know why you need 12 bulbs still

 

[Psionicdragon]

knowing me, i am going to try the plasma light in a year or two.

 

[flameangel88]

Thanks again. I was rushing out the door this morning that I didn't read both specs other than noticed the price difference.

I'll probably try 2 (50W) on a 48"X24"X24" first before dishing out for more. I'm going to read a bit more over the weekend before placing the order so if anyone have any suggestions please feel free to share with me.

I was about to order 3 of the 50W units till I saw the shipping charge to NJ is $327 plus $360 for the 3 lights. I opted for 3 PAR38 21W 12K from Premium Aquatics with free shipping. I'll supplement with T5 actinics if needed.