Par 38 LED spotlights

[msr224]

msr,
You got a link or more info on thos ebulbs? I just did a goole on them but can't find them, even on the Orphek website. They seem like they may be a better bulb than the rapid or boost as they are a new design of LED that penetrates deeper.

I raised the lights to get better coverage. I also pointed them straight down now that they are higher and they are giving more than adequate coverage. They are now 9.5 inches above the water (Orphek recommended 12")and 27 inches above the sandbed. I will raise again if I notice any issues at this level.

So far everything is reacting well. I cannot wait to get everything used to these lights and growing. I will say that my blue tub zoas have popped out 2 polyps in the last few days....... My coraline algae is finally spreading too. I am starting with small coral frags, not existing mother colonies.....I also started 6 months ago with 1/2 dry marco and 1/2 aqua cultured marco from PA. (They just throw a bunch of marco in their rock pools....) So coraline was non existent on my LR. Came in on a couple of coral frags. I'd noticed some spread under old LEDs but very very slow. In the last week at least 15-20 spots have cropped up.

 

[Crusty Old Shellback]

Thanks for the info. Please keep us informed on the progress and if you find out any more info on when the lights will be available. They sound promising.

 

[Anemonebuff]

Here is a monti two weeks ago:

Here it is a month ago:

There is obvious growth in a two week period.

Here it is today:

 

[Anemonebuff]

These are a new bulb from Orphek and they are dimmable with a common household dimmer switch. It's their PR-25.

I would just like to see what they look like going through a cycle of dimming.

So far I am VERY happy with the look of them.

All of my corals are reacting well to the light so far.

Very cool. It seems the next gen PAR30/38s will be dimmable.

 

[msr224]

Anemonebuff,

I am guessing that the cap is one the one in the left of the old picture....Pretty nice growth.

I have a small frag a little bigger than a quarter. Haven't seen any growth out of it yet but it spent some time under my old LED panels so it may not make it. It still hasn't lost it's color but it doesn't have the white new growth on it that it had originally.....

I'm looking forward to growing out these frags......

 

[Crusty Old Shellback]

Nice growth there Anemone. I have similar growth on my Orange Monti under 400W MH so yours is doing great.

MSR, don't worry, just give it some time. Once they get setteled in, they will grow. It took mine about a month to get settled in. Plus I had to pick it up a few times after it got knocked off it's rock. But now that it has grown onto the rock, it's doing great.

I'm think, after reading the site for your LED's, that they might be my best option for my depth of tank. So I'm real interested in when they become available.

 

[Noobeef]

So I currently have the 72” version of this on my 125 gallon tank. I want to add a couple of these PAR38’s to my main islands for the shimmer effect. From what I’ve read, my current lights coupled with two of these things could very well fry my corals. I was planning on buying a couple desk clamps and adding them to the tank, but I’m afraid it’d leave the lamps too close to the water.

What are my options? Would five of these across the tank be a better option? Maybe put a shelf over the back of the tank and hook 4-5 of these over the top.

 

[msr224]

So I currently have the 72" version of this on my 125 gallon tank. I want to add a couple of these PAR38's to my main islands for the shimmer effect. From what I've read, my current lights coupled with two of these things could very well fry my corals. I was planning on buying a couple desk clamps and adding them to the tank, but I'm afraid it'd leave the lamps too close to the water.

What are my options? Would five of these across the tank be a better option? Maybe put a shelf over the back of the tank and hook 4-5 of these over the top.

There are all kinds of things that you could do. It depends on what look you want. How much adjustability you want and if you have to see them all the time or if they are hidden.

Here is the light pole from Lowe's that I used. You can see in the pics above what it looks like now suspended from the aircraft cables..... you could do two of these fixtures for a total of six bulbs maybe? You'd have to modify the middle can on each pole but I don't think that would be too hard to do.....

 

[msr224]

Nice growth there Anemone. I have similar growth on my Orange Monti under 400W MH so yours is doing great.

MSR, don't worry, just give it some time. Once they get setteled in, they will grow. It took mine about a month to get settled in. Plus I had to pick it up a few times after it got knocked off it's rock. But now that it has grown onto the rock, it's doing great.

I'm think, after reading the site for your LED's, that they might be my best option for my depth of tank. So I'm real interested in when they become available.

Here is what the raw bulbs look like.

I have no idea when they will be coming to market....sorry....

 

[Anemonebuff]

So I currently have the 72" version of this on my 125 gallon tank. I want to add a couple of these PAR38's to my main islands for the shimmer effect. From what I've read, my current lights coupled with two of these things could very well fry my corals. I was planning on buying a couple desk clamps and adding them to the tank, but I'm afraid it'd leave the lamps too close to the water.

What are my options? Would five of these across the tank be a better option? Maybe put a shelf over the back of the tank and hook 4-5 of these over the top.

You could use PAR30 LEDs like BoostLED that uses 3 watt LEDs driven at 2 watts. Uses a little less power, but ensures the LEDs will not overheat. This will also make the LEDs last longer and slow the degradation of the diodes.

 

[Fish'InMN]

BoostLED's bulbs don't run the LEDs at 2W each, it's closer to 1.5W. A strip light like the Stunner would be a much better bang for the buck.

 

[Anemonebuff]

BoostLED's bulbs don't run the LEDs at 2W each, it's closer to 1.5W. A strip light like the Stunner would be a much better bang for the buck.

The stunners will not cast enough light to overpower his currnet lighting and the glitter lines will be barely noticable. Panoramas would be strong enough to see, but PAR38s will show much more.

 

[Noobeef]

The stunners will not cast enough light to overpower his currnet lighting and the glitter lines will be barely noticable. Panoramas would be strong enough to see, but PAR38s will show much more.

See, that's what I want. The glitter lines/shimmer are the MAIN thing I want. I can grow monti's and even some acros in the high places of my tank under the T-5s. It's 6 feet wide so I would need at least 2 to get enough spread to get some glitter across most of the tank. It sounds like the Stunner strips are going to get overpowered by my current setup. Hmm. Quite the predicament.

 

[Fish'InMN]

The stunners will not cast enough light to overpower his currnet lighting and the glitter lines will be barely noticable. Panoramas would be strong enough to see, but PAR38s will show much more.

The Stunner strips provide the same power of LEDs that the Boost bulbs do, so we're both 0-for-1 on recommendations. The BoostLED PAR30 bulbs use 1W LEDs driven at just over 1W each. They're not 3W LEDs that are under driven, they are 1W LEDs that are overdriven. Frankly the Boost bulbs are overpriced for their power and won't get anywhere near the 35000-hour life span.

Noobeef: FYI, nanotuners has Evil's 12K/40degree PAR38 bulbs on Xmas sale for $88/each. The 20k/60degree bulbs would be better but they are out of stock. Those would be your best bet for adding shimmer at a reasonable price. You would need two at the minimum, probably three or four. (IMO, if you want to add shimmer to a 6 foot tank, use metal halides. Don't mess around with adding LED spotlights around a T5 fixture, which will cost you more money and more headaches.)

 

[Anemonebuff]

The Stunner strips provide the same power of LEDs that the Boost bulbs do, so we're both 0-for-1 on recommendations. The BoostLED PAR30 bulbs use 1W LEDs driven at just over 1W each. They're not 3W LEDs that are under driven, they are 1W LEDs that are overdriven. Frankly the Boost bulbs are overpriced for their power and won't get anywhere near the 35000-hour life span.

Noobeef: FYI, nanotuners has Evil's 12K/40degree PAR38 bulbs on Xmas sale for $88/each. The 20k/60degree bulbs would be better but they are out of stock. Those would be your best bet for adding shimmer at a reasonable price. You would need two at the minimum, probably three or four. (IMO, if you want to add shimmer to a 6 foot tank, use metal halides. Don't mess around with adding LED spotlights around a T5 fixture, which will cost you more money and more headaches.)

I do not know where you get your misinformation from, but BoostLED uses 3 watt Edixeon LEDs. 5x3 watt LEDs run at 2 watts a piece for a total of 10 watts.

Plus, stunners use 6 watts of power for 12x0.5 watt LEDs. Panorama modules use 12x3 watt Cree LEDs underdriven at 1 watt.

IMO the PAR38s would be better than the Ecoxotics, but overall 2 Reefbrite 50/50 strips would probably work best for you app and be the most cost effective.

Here is the BoostLED site:

http://www.boostled.com/products/par30-reef-lamps

 

[Anemonebuff]

Either 2 of these oe 3x24":

http://premiumaquatics.com/aquatic-supplies/RB-PM36-5050.html

 

[Higgy2010]

Thanks to threads like this, I've acquired a lot of knowledge and fine-tuned my options. I just took the plunge and ordered Evil's PAR38 12K lamp for my FOWLR cube. I plan to slowly transfer LPS from my smaller cube and eventually upgrade to SPS and test out the PAR38 lamps. I'll post the progress on the forum as I go along.
Thanks for lively and in-depth discussion.

 

[Anemonebuff]

Thanks to threads like this, I've acquired a lot of knowledge and fine-tuned my options. I just took the plunge and ordered Evil's PAR38 12K lamp for my FOWLR cube. I plan to slowly transfer LPS from my smaller cube and eventually upgrade to SPS and test out the PAR38 lamps. I'll post the progress on the forum as I go along.
Thanks for lively and in-depth discussion.

You will not be disappointed. Keep us updated. It will also help others here.

 

[bohannbj]

The best LED thread on RC. I was really hoping these bulbs would be a viable solution for LED lighting, since I don't want to be electrocuted in a DIY accident. I think I will take the plunge after seeing Beeker's success. Has there been any research done to see if the LEDs used in Boost are better than Rapid's. Another thing I thought of around page 18 is that with this type of lighting system, it is feasible to have SPS, LPS, softies and NPS all in the same tank. No MH can do that. This thread should be a sticky.

 

[Anemonebuff]

The best LED thread on RC. I was really hoping these bulbs would be a viable solution for LED lighting, since I don't want to be electrocuted in a DIY accident. I think I will take the plunge after seeing Beeker's success. Has there been any research done to see if the LEDs used in Boost are better than Rapid's. Another thing I thought of around page 18 is that with this type of lighting system, it is feasible to have SPS, LPS, softies and NPS all in the same tank. No MH can do that. This thread should be a sticky.

I have both the Boost and the Rapids, but the Boost is PAR30 and the Rapid is PAR38. You can tell by your eye that the Crees are more powerful than the Edixeon, however, the Rapids may be run a little closer to 3 watts. So the comparison may not be fair.
To me the Boosts look more 14K and the Rapids look 12K.

I have SPS, LPS, and softies all in the same tank. You may need to move them around to protect them from the powerful PAR LEDs give off. I burned some Palys and a leather coral.