Par 38 LED spotlights
- Thread starter goodtimes
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I decided to take the PAR38 plunge to replace my four energy hog 250 watt MH's
I ordered 8 bulbs (4x12K & 4x20K 40 degree) which should arrive on Friday. My tank is a 160gal cube (36x36x30) center overflow mixed reef with SPS spread all around. I'm now wondering if 8 bulbs will be enough? My lighting is also supplemented with T5 actinics which will remain. Any thoughts?
I ordered 8 bulbs (4x12K & 4x20K 40 degree) which should arrive on Friday. My tank is a 160gal cube (36x36x30) center overflow mixed reef with SPS spread all around. I'm now wondering if 8 bulbs will be enough? My lighting is also supplemented with T5 actinics which will remain. Any thoughts?
Crab Rangoon
New member
While GBD is not a vendor of anything, I'm still not sure how prohibited or well-received off-site blog links are.. but GlassBox did make a post a few days ago about a new acrylic unit that will mount your lights cleanly to your rimless aquarium, called the Clifter light stand: http://glassbox-design.com/2010/snm-clifter-stand-spotlight/
And the link to the original Japanese blog post for the stand: http://minakaisui.exblog.jp/14726778/
You should be able to contact a Japanese purchasing agent, or perhaps find the item on Rakuten, if you were interested in purchasing it - but beware that it is ONLY the acrylic mounting assembly, and you still need to purchase the actual light socket / electrical components.
Beyond that, it would appear that Aquatouch still sells the clip-on fixture piece, which is all you need besides the bulb
Crackerballer
New member
Where can you order the aquatouch lamps?
Edit, found them, called the "LED Neo Arm"
I have to agree, $100! Where are the other companies doing their best to make these better and cheaper?
Edit, found them, called the "LED Neo Arm"
I have to agree, $100! Where are the other companies doing their best to make these better and cheaper?
Crab Rangoon
New member
You want a knock-off lamp with a non-knock-off bulb, am I right? Haha, in all seriousness though - I don't understand why spending $100 on a single light fixture that is DESIGNED and WARRANTIED for using on/over/around saltwater is such a big deal. It really is the only fixture that I've come across that is designed to be attached to the tank like this - everything else is truly just home/commercial lighting appliances set up over an aquarium. Also, being a Japanese product, you have to be aware that that the dollar is at it's weakest YEN value... like, ever
and EMS shipping from Japan is not very cheap (believe me, I deal with it all the time). You have to consider our poor exchange rate, and the cost of shipping for AquaTouch to receive the goods, and consider that this is probably a Y5999-7699 unit.When you do the math, running one or two of these w/an EcoXotic or NanoTuners bulb is all you'd need on any small cube-ish rimless aquarium (think 15-35gal). I'd rather spend $100/ea on 1-2 of these arm fixtures in that situation, than spend around $40-75 on a self-made rig and then find a way to mount/hang it in a manner that would actually LOOK nice. It took me a month to finalize my plans for my light rig and be happy with it's appearance - but obviously this will be up to personal opinion.
It really comes down to what you want.. and I prefer nice, clean, and integrated - for $100/ea you can have that. If I weren't utilizing so many bulbs over my aquarium, I would love to use the Neo Arm units - but the sheer cost and appearance of 4-6 of these on a tank is ridiculous
I have been watching this thread for a while and I would like to try these PAR 38 bulbs out. I have a 6' X 3' X 4' tank with three 400 watt Ushio 14ks. I really need supplementation. Does anyone have any suggestions on how many and what type of LEDs to use? I looked at a couple of the LED strips but they don't produce enough light to reach the bottom.
Anemonebuff
New member
Track lighting will rust quickly over that tank. The contacts are open to the air and the damp salt air could pose a problem.
Also are those fixtures even worse for cooling? If you're gonna use a track lighting fixture you probably should use one that leaves the bulb, or in this case the cooling fins, nearly completely exposed to let the fins radiate the heat in open air. The fan is nice in there but those cans are going to trap the rising heat and make little ovens.
khaosinc
The cyborg reefer
for fairly cheap and easy solution that has seemed to hold up well so far I used the plastic outdoor floodlight mounts mounted on a 2x4 over my tank. Not the most attractive set up but you can't see it unless you are 8' tall either. Holds 2 bulbs and you can adjust where they are aiming for the best spread. I'm not using the par 38's yet... but its coming. Gotta knock my power bill down somehow.
Thanks for the tips.. I been thinking about completely removing the cones on the fixtures.
Crab Rangoon
New member
If you are trying to supplement with bluer light, you shouldn't be looking at LED's - unless you want a solution for the hours when the 400w's are off. You won't find an affordable LED solution that will penetrate through your existing daylights, though.
If you're talking about, say, pre & post MH usage, these would apply.
Regarding not penetrating to the bottom, I don't know what to tell you. Even my Stunner Strip unit's used as supplements have no problem penetrating the bottom of my 27" tank, and they are mounted about 24" from the water..
Crab Rangoon
New member
I don't believe you'll see a difference, or any hint of the LED at all, when competing with the 400w 14k bulbs.. If you were using, say, 20k halides and had a few of the 12k PAR38's to mix in, you would probably see a hint of them. However, the 12k or 20k (or 455nm for that matter) bulbs probably won't bleed through your current get-up. You could certainly try, though.
For the purpose of your pre/post-MH lighting, I would definitely say these are going to work. Just be aware, the 12k versions are usually brighter than people expect them to be, and 20k seems to be bluer than people expect. I would suggest doing a mix (2:1 of 20k:12k), or all 20k/455nm, this way you don't have bright 12k LEDs filling your tank around a 6hr period of bright 14k MH's - unless you WANT that. Ideally, you'd be able to find a local reefer who has one of these lamps, and convince them to come by with it and test the theory out.. But I really can't prove this theory to you with photos - my tank at work w/400w MH setup has too shallow an overhead space in the wall-build to allow for me to photograph any possible difference w/both bulbs on - and my friends MH's are 10k, which are too similar to the 12k to notice much in photos
Mustang Boy
New member
earlier in this thread Evil posted PAR plots for these bulbs at varying heights, distance from the bulb, and with the different optics offered.
these do give good PAR for about 12" circle around the bulb(depending on height and optic choice of course)
I will recieve 16 Par38's for my 200g (7x2x2) BB this Saturday. I ordered 3x 20K@80*, 7x20k@60 and 6x12K@60. I used the 12"x12" coverage plus a couple of more for blend. My tank is in wall and although track lighting is good, I felt the elements would affect the track lights fairly quickly. This may not be the case for open systems that I have seen but for me I did not want to replace the track every year or so. It was also difficult to break up the lights on different circuits (will use an RKL) while keeping a uniform look. Anyway, I decided on going with a 16" wide heavy duty PC rack suspended from the cieling where I can hang the weatherproof sockets 6" from the perimeter of the tank and 12" spacing between bulbs. I am planing to start the assembly of the rack tonight and show pics later.
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