Par 38 LED spotlights

[beeker]

 

[beeker]

last pic is the FTS

 

[nvdiz]

Yes, they would, providing that the outer shell/housing of the clip on desk lamp didn't block or cover the heat sink of these bulbs. Sometimes, a little modification is required.

Thanks! I'll definitely look into trying it as supplementation in my nano.

 

[l0ngb0arder]

Finally got my PAR38 12k 80 optics after reading some of your guys reviews. I trying to find a fixture for my 37 cube tank. Would a fixture from ikea such as "Tertial Work Lamp" work? Or what fixture do you guys recommend? Thanks.

 

[SHOmuchFUN]

All you need is something with a regular light socket.

 

[spleen93]

nice color, beeker. I suspect it looks even better in person since LED light color is so hard to capture on a camera.

 

[*reefermadness*]

Beeker, is that an orange digi in the middle of your sps patch? If not what is it?

 

[beeker]

that's an orange montipora setosa, and it has been doing wonderful under the leds since it was placed in the tank over 2 months ago, growth on it has been decent as well

 

[*reefermadness*]

It looks great, do you get any shimmer from your LEDs?

 

[beeker]

yeah plenty i get plenty of shimmer it all depends on surface agitation and if you have them at the right height you don't get the crazy disco effect everyone else seems to talk about having, think thats a problem with having the led focused too closey to the top of the water

 

[j-dizzle]

i love the way these lights look and savings in cost is great. i am getting ready to upgrade to a new lighting and am still undecided to go hqi or led with an sps dom. tank.

 

[beeker]

many ways to skin a cat, and everyone has a different approach

if heat and exlectricity and bulb replacement aren't a concern 250w MH's always work out well on lager tanks

granted i have 3/4th of my tank lit with PAR38's only running 12 bulbs, granted i still need another 4 customs and 4 20ks to finish the tank, puts roughly 10 bulbs per each side, but it isn't nesccessary i could do it with less bulbs but i want the right color/coverage that i'm looking for to provide adaquate lighting to all the rockwork as well as using the 8 customs to add the color spectrum needed to keep and enhance sps color

so far i'm happy with the customs, i'm noticing a lot better color on the sps with only a week of running the customs, hopefully in 3-4 more weeks all the sps will have shifted to their "proper" colors and i can put up some more pics showing this

 

[plancton]

Is it good for planted tanks?, I want to use only one bulb with 60degree optics for a 23"x23"x18" cube tank.

My question is, can it cover the whole tank?, perhaps raising it to high?, how much light intensity would be lost by setting it that high?, perhaps it can be enough for the plants as they dont need as much light as corals. Also would the spectrum work?. Thanks.

 

[beeker]

at 33 inches with 40 degree optics spread is a 13 inche circle

i assume with 60 optics at the same height the circle would be between 15-17 inches in spread, and for 80 optics would be 17-20, you'll lose PAR with wider optics but for an 18 inch tall tank 2 60 optic bulbs will give you the PAR and growth you are looking for, i wouldn't use anything less than 2 bulbs

1 20k and 1 12k will work or 1 12k with 1 custom 4 cool blue and 1 neutral white par38 will work well

i notice colors of sps need the cool blue and neutral white to keep color, the cool white that comes in the standard PAR38 is too yellow/white and dulls and browns sps out some (not all sps just some) the cool white and royal blue are a great combo for any LPS, chalice, Zoa's or Acan's, but if you do sps you'll want cool blue leds in the mix to keep their color

growth with leds is great as well, hope that helps

my custom PAR38's are beautiful i totally reccomend anyone who wants to keep sps color to go with cool blue and neutral white leds with the mix of 12k or 20k standard PAR38's

 

[xiaoyu04]

Hi, I've been following this thread for a while. I'm thinking about setting up a 18" x 18" x 18" cube and using exclusively the par 38 lamps.

I want to keep tridacna maxima and a variety of SPS and LPS in the tank, and was wondering if 2 of the 20K par 38 lamps with 60 optics would suffice?

Thanks

 

[ALIFER]

Hi, I've been following this thread for a while. I'm thinking about setting up a 18" x 18" x 18" cube and using exclusively the par 38 lamps.

I want to keep tridacna maxima and a variety of SPS and LPS in the tank, and was wondering if 2 of the 20K par 38 lamps with 60 optics would suffice?

Thanks

If you want to keep SPS your usable light with a PAR38 will be about a 9' or 10' diameter spot of light, so two is not really going to fully light a 18" x 18" x 18" cube.

 

[xiaoyu04]

If you want to keep SPS your usable light with a PAR38 will be about a 9' or 10' diameter spot of light, so two is not really going to fully light a 18" x 18" x 18" cube.

So, I'm looking at around 18" -> 20" combined diameter with dark spots on certain spots? or simply spots with lower PAR reading?

Since I'm planning on doing a mixed reef, would I be able to locate my SPS under the areas where there's a stronger focus of light, and perhaps zoanthids and some LPS in the lower PAR areas?

Also, are we talking about the 60 degree lens for the 9' diameter, or the 40 degree lens?

Thanks again, I'm new to this, so I have lots of questions

 

[Crab Rangoon]

If you want to keep SPS your usable light with a PAR38 will be about a 9' or 10' diameter spot of light, so two is not really going to fully light a 18" x 18" x 18" cube.

This is only going to be true in the sense that you won't have the entire tank in full illumination with a pair of them. These lights are very directional and focal, so expect for a rock to be strongly lit on one side, and sort of shadowed on the other side. In the sense that I don't believe anyone should be filling a cube tank chock full of coral, covering all surfaces of the rock - sure, 2 of these should work fine. You just have to be willing to scape the tank around the lights, and properly aim the lights based upon the placement of your corals. That said, I would strongly suggest going with the 40 degree optics rather than 60, as the extra par will help ensure the health of your Tridacnids and SPS. You can further the spread by adjusting the height of the bulb as needed, but I'd rather start with the stronger bulb and raise it up, than the lesser bulb and need to move it closer.

Photos really don't show how illuminated the aquarium is when using these lights stand-alone. I've got 6 of them over a 36x36" tank, and cannot correctly photograph the tank with all 6 lights on - I wind up with far too bright a picture even when compensating with post-process of the photos. I've got mine mounted to racks on adjustable suspension, so I can change the distance they are raised from the water, as well as turn them & angle them to aim everything as I please - and getting the light where I want, and shadows where I want, has been very easy to achieve.

Regarding the use of these in a freshwater planted setting - I wouldn't worry about it - so long as you're using the 12k option. In fact, you might want to inquire about doing a pair of custom bulbs, rather than out of the box - you'd benefit a lot more from bulbs that are 4:1 for white/blue ratio, or perhaps even an all white bulb. If you could get two different colors/types of white in one bulb, I think it would be most beneficial - but in person my 12k's don't appear to be very blue at all, quite the opposite really. Certainly much more of a shallow shoreline type appearance for the color in my tank, than blue like a moderate depth. Again, opting for the 40 degree optics would ensure a better PAR out of the box, and raising them up as needed to illuminate the aquarium to your satisfaction is the route I'd go on this one - but to each his own.

 

[xiaoyu04]

This is only going to be true in the sense that you won't have the entire tank in full illumination with a pair of them. These lights are very directional and focal, so expect for a rock to be strongly lit on one side, and sort of shadowed on the other side. In the sense that I don't believe anyone should be filling a cube tank chock full of coral, covering all surfaces of the rock - sure, 2 of these should work fine. You just have to be willing to scape the tank around the lights, and properly aim the lights based upon the placement of your corals. That said, I would strongly suggest going with the 40 degree optics rather than 60, as the extra par will help ensure the health of your Tridacnids and SPS. You can further the spread by adjusting the height of the bulb as needed, but I'd rather start with the stronger bulb and raise it up, than the lesser bulb and need to move it closer.

Photos really don't show how illuminated the aquarium is when using these lights stand-alone. I've got 6 of them over a 36x36" tank, and cannot correctly photograph the tank with all 6 lights on - I wind up with far too bright a picture even when compensating with post-process of the photos. I've got mine mounted to racks on adjustable suspension, so I can change the distance they are raised from the water, as well as turn them & angle them to aim everything as I please - and getting the light where I want, and shadows where I want, has been very easy to achieve.

Regarding the use of these in a freshwater planted setting - I wouldn't worry about it - so long as you're using the 12k option. In fact, you might want to inquire about doing a pair of custom bulbs, rather than out of the box - you'd benefit a lot more from bulbs that are 4:1 for white/blue ratio, or perhaps even an all white bulb. If you could get two different colors/types of white in one bulb, I think it would be most beneficial - but in person my 12k's don't appear to be very blue at all, quite the opposite really. Certainly much more of a shallow shoreline type appearance for the color in my tank, than blue like a moderate depth. Again, opting for the 40 degree optics would ensure a better PAR out of the box, and raising them up as needed to illuminate the aquarium to your satisfaction is the route I'd go on this one - but to each his own.

So, in essense, there will still be light around the aquarium, its just that the PAR levels are only high in certain spots due to the spotlight effect correct?

I figured since I'm not doing an SPS only tank, this would work to my advantage, since I can put LPS and softies in lower light areas and it would give me a way to methodically acclimate new arrivals slowly to the higher PAR areas.

Thanks again for the input

 

[*reefermadness*]

Im thinking of setting up a 10 gallon boicube, would one par38 bulb be enough light? I want to do a mini reef, complete with sps, lps, zoos, acans, and a couple of nano fish