reef capable LED's for $365.49?
- Thread starter saltburns
- Start date
mim37204
New member
Or rapidled, boostled, or nanotuners (they are the ones exoxotic took their par 38 design from). The guy that designs those LED setups REALLY knows his stuff. Of course, there is always the DIY side of the deal.
Personally, I'd expect to see more modular LED stuff in the future. Especially now that the bridgelux LED's are starting to get their recognition for being a great counterpart to the cree royal blues. It's stuff like that which have led to things like the photon cannon from exoxotic. Seeing pictures of reefs lit with those is really clean and cool, imho.
Personally, I'd expect to see more modular LED stuff in the future. Especially now that the bridgelux LED's are starting to get their recognition for being a great counterpart to the cree royal blues. It's stuff like that which have led to things like the photon cannon from exoxotic. Seeing pictures of reefs lit with those is really clean and cool, imho.
Mako Shark II
Fish are Friends not Food
Richard had an LED rig set-up on one of his tanks today.
My only concern is growth vs. PAR values. IF the LED's can support growth, it get's my vote.
My only concern is growth vs. PAR values. IF the LED's can support growth, it get's my vote.
scarson61
New member
going by there chart mounting 12 + inches I should only need 2. I am mounting them longways because I have an overflow that runs entire back side of the tank and chops off 2 inches of that 18 inches that can be lighted, so I hope 2 will be enough and if I have to get a third that will be ok. Do you know where they suggested 1 per 18 X 18 area
rbredding
I HEART BUILD THREADS!!!
I think it was on a forum somewhere.. the guy had a standard 90 and bought 2..
ended up needing 3, but it was a very heavily dominated sps tank..
mim37204
New member
Looking at them, I notice it's a mixed lens system with 40's and 70's. calculate from the "weakest link" which in the terms of coverage will be the 40's. Basically, your area covered will be at an angle at 20 degrees from the side LED. It's basic trig, where you just plug the height off the sand desired to find the area of coverage it will produce. Keep in mind that the higher the more the light spreads and the lower PAR available will be. 18X18 seems do-able, but most of the advice I see pertaining to PAR38's is on the order of no more than a 14 inch circle.
scarson61
New member
it will be interesting too see I am prepared to order a third if I need to and from what I have read on the forums the Par from 12 inches to the surface of the water is around 1100 and that is close to what I see MH being able to do, but the proof will be in the results. I don't have a lot of sps but do keep a bubble tip anemone. If that BTA starts moving or you see mushroom corals streatching to get more surface area I'll know I need more light.
Mako Shark II
Fish are Friends not Food
Okay, Mim, so here's a question:
Where MH's require between 9-10" of height Over the water's surface, what (if any) is the nominal space required for LED's? (Trying to avoid salt spray)
Where MH's require between 9-10" of height Over the water's surface, what (if any) is the nominal space required for LED's? (Trying to avoid salt spray)
mim37204
New member
Ugh, tried replying to this earlier but danged nightly site maint. Oh well, keeps this wonderful repository of info up and running I suppose. 
As for your question, it really depends. As far as maximum height, you could go as high as 36" or 48" with no ill effects, but it all depends on optics. You could also push them all the way very close to the water surface(you'd use an acrylic sheet as a shield to protect it from the saltwater), again depending on optics.
With tubes or halides, the lights are flood type lights. They flood an area with light, and we use reflectors to try to intensify and reflect the light to where we would like it. LEDs on the other hand are spotlights. With tight optics a tight yet intense beam is given, and with wide optics the area can be quite wide yet the intensity of light diminishes. The problem is that while you can cover the sandbed fine, you could leave the upper levels of the tank with thin spotlighted beams separated by dark areas. The goal is to balance lighting your corals/rockwork/sandbed while keeping the light focused so that it does not leave the confines of the tank so that all the light intensity is used for it's purposes.
The spotlighting aspect is a clear problem for many trying to figure out LED's, however it does have great upsides as well. It can allow a tremendous diversity in lighting. My ideal setup would be a mix of LED par 38's and some custom LED par 16's in par cans ( http://www.fluxitylighting.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/standard-par-can.jpg ) set as track lighting above the tank focused downward at angles into it. Set in combination with a controller, even some of the simple DIY ones, some absolutely beautiful(such an unmanly word) moonlight and sunrise/sunset effects can be achieved. I'm not sure of RC's policy on referencing other forums, so if I offend I do apologize, but one of the best examples of that nature which I can think of can be found on nano-reef.com's post from evilc66(the king LED guru, creator of the LED par3x for reefs and the reason many have come this far with using them for lighting their tanks) in post #205 of his 40b build. http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?s=&showtopic=169131&view=findpost&p=2172527 a moonlight beam effect wasn't what he was going for, but you get the idea of the possibilities.
As for your question, it really depends. As far as maximum height, you could go as high as 36" or 48" with no ill effects, but it all depends on optics. You could also push them all the way very close to the water surface(you'd use an acrylic sheet as a shield to protect it from the saltwater), again depending on optics.
With tubes or halides, the lights are flood type lights. They flood an area with light, and we use reflectors to try to intensify and reflect the light to where we would like it. LEDs on the other hand are spotlights. With tight optics a tight yet intense beam is given, and with wide optics the area can be quite wide yet the intensity of light diminishes. The problem is that while you can cover the sandbed fine, you could leave the upper levels of the tank with thin spotlighted beams separated by dark areas. The goal is to balance lighting your corals/rockwork/sandbed while keeping the light focused so that it does not leave the confines of the tank so that all the light intensity is used for it's purposes.
The spotlighting aspect is a clear problem for many trying to figure out LED's, however it does have great upsides as well. It can allow a tremendous diversity in lighting. My ideal setup would be a mix of LED par 38's and some custom LED par 16's in par cans ( http://www.fluxitylighting.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/standard-par-can.jpg ) set as track lighting above the tank focused downward at angles into it. Set in combination with a controller, even some of the simple DIY ones, some absolutely beautiful(such an unmanly word) moonlight and sunrise/sunset effects can be achieved. I'm not sure of RC's policy on referencing other forums, so if I offend I do apologize, but one of the best examples of that nature which I can think of can be found on nano-reef.com's post from evilc66(the king LED guru, creator of the LED par3x for reefs and the reason many have come this far with using them for lighting their tanks) in post #205 of his 40b build. http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?s=&showtopic=169131&view=findpost&p=2172527 a moonlight beam effect wasn't what he was going for, but you get the idea of the possibilities.
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