sell me on LEDS!

[michaellee64]

Personally I'd rather boil my head than go from t5 to full led.. However, I can appreciate the heat and bulb savings they provide, so how about opening that ATI up, rewiring it and then taking a circular saw to it. Drop in something like two wide angle kessils in the middle and bam, you have nice spectrum, spread and shimmer and you can run it with four or six tubes. Or just go for an ati hybrid which I'd be inclined to see as the most interesting light on the market today.

I have one tank left on T-5's with ATI bulbs. To bad I don't get as good as growth as I do with my LED's! I have taken corals that have been under my T-5's for almost 2 years and put them under LED's and my growth has exploded. I am now giving frags away to friends and selling locally to people that the LFS recommends me to. I came from MH and T-5's to running DIY LED's.... will never go back!

 

[michaellee64]

60* optics are good for up to around 30". And you can always switch out the optics for 45* or 30* ones.

I've been running 60 degree optics on 24" tanks, and have just recently switched out to 90 degree on a 60 cube. I've found that I can run my lights at full power now, and am not "cooking" any of my SPS in that tank. I'm finding that 90 degree optics on a 24" deep tank, hung 10" to 12" off of the water is the way to go.

 

[asid61]

I've been running 60 degree optics on 24" tanks, and have just recently switched out to 90 degree on a 60 cube. I've found that I can run my lights at full power now, and am not "cooking" any of my SPS in that tank. I'm finding that 90 degree optics on a 24" deep tank, hung 10" to 12" off of the water is the way to go.

Actually, you can even run no optics up to 24" off the sandbed.
I know I had a table somewhere...
Oh, and what fixture are you running? Sounds like a DIY.

 

[kissman]

How about some people post some pics of there LED tanks and what fixture they are using? There are so many positives and negatives it seems to all fixtures. Reefbreeders scare me simply because every time I have gone cheap I have regretted it, Radion seem over priced, maxspec seem to have issues with blue bulbs, AI very few people like.

 

[Swip]

Yeah, LEDs are just bad. That's why it looks like this in many LFS in Europe. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGaYZNfOYD4

 

[kissman]

Yeah, LEDs are just bad. That's why it looks like this in many LFS in Europe. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGaYZNfOYD4

great video, looks like I should stay away from LED's lol! I wish they said which fixtures they had

 

[deepseadan]

Yeah, LEDs are just bad. That's why it looks like this in many LFS in Europe. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGaYZNfOYD4

I was trying to look for shimmer, but I don't think there were any. Must not be mh or led, unless the camera just didn't show it. I've never thought much about what the Europeans are using, but I do know the Germans have the best t5 and mh bulbs. Seems almost all led companies are either us or Chinese.

 

[sirreal63]

Kissman, one more thing and don't take this the wrong way, but after taking part in your other thread titled "help with sps color" which had 539 posts, I probably wouldn't go led if I were you. They will add even more instability to your reef. If you had sps issues with t5's, trust me, you will really struggle with LEDs. And to your comment on $120 bulbs every year, you will still save money since LEDs are so darn expensive to start and my ai's, and ecoxotics both had LEDs go bad almost immediately. I do disagree with your time period of one year though, I would change your t5's every 9 months at least.

This is the best advice given in this thread. With all of the issues you had the last thing that would be advisable is to go with a tech that has a very high learning curve. Your current lights are not the issue you have been having. They may not be fantastic but they are more than capable of doing the job. Do you really want to add another variable just when the tank is starting to do well?

 

[Swip]

I was trying to look for shimmer, but I don't think there were any. Must not be mh or led, unless the camera just didn't show it. I've never thought much about what the Europeans are using, but I do know the Germans have the best t5 and mh bulbs. Seems almost all led companies are either us or Chinese.

I've seen the first tank several times in person, i can assure you it is lid by LEDs and nothing else. The LEDs are Triton Lanis.
Triton Lani and GHL Mitras are both made in Germany so it's not like all LED lamps are made in US or China.

 

[deepseadan]

I've seen the first tank several times in person, i can assure you it is lid by LEDs and nothing else. The LEDs are Triton Lanis.
Triton Lani and GHL Mitras are both made in Germany so it's not like all LED lamps are made in US or China.

Good info, didn't know they are made in Germany. That alone makes me like them. I will have do some research on those suckers now. The Germans always seem to be ahead of everyone else when it comes to saltwater.

 

[Ron Reefman]

How about some people post some pics of there LED tanks and what fixture they are using? There are so many positives and negatives it seems to all fixtures. Reefbreeders scare me simply because every time I have gone cheap I have regretted it, Radion seem over priced, maxspec seem to have issues with blue bulbs, AI very few people like.

Six months under EverGrow IT2080 (480w) after 3 years of MH, t5 and led stunners (1260w). The lights are cheaper to run, my chiller runs about 1/10th as much as it did before and my A/C won't need to run as much either. Oh, and my corals (all of them, sps,lps and softies) are growing as fast or faster than before!



Two weeks before I switched to leds (the end of Dec 2012) this hanging colony of birdsnest was barely an inch long with one broken end and 3 VERY tiny tips at the growing end. Less than 6 months later it's 5" in diameter and 4" tall and still growing like a weed.



This is why I've been a big advocate for EverGrow fixtures. The work, they run cool, you can swap out leds, they have nice built-in controllers, they are the best deal going in led fixtures. kissman, I know you fear the inexpensive Chinese hardware, but look at OceanRevive (a US West Coast company) and the warranty on both EverGrow lights (OR is a distributor) and their own OR fixture (the first of a new line coming over the next year). :thumbsup:

 

[kissman]

This is the best advice given in this thread. With all of the issues you had the last thing that would be advisable is to go with a tech that has a very high learning curve. Your current lights are not the issue you have been having. They may not be fantastic but they are more than capable of doing the job. Do you really want to add another variable just when the tank is starting to do well?

I have to make plans for a new fixture, this fixture is 4 years old an from what I have read it seems its lasted longer than any other NEP, lol! Sooner rather than later i will need to buy a new fixture. I don't want the fixture to die and then need to do research and find one. I am trying to avoid all that. I want the best fixture that I can buy that can be mounted on the tank.

 

[YHS]

I've seen the first tank several times in person, i can assure you it is lid by LEDs and nothing else. The LEDs are Triton Lanis.
Triton Lani and GHL Mitras are both made in Germany so it's not like all LED lamps are made in US or China.

I upgraded my china made LED with German's Mitras. Heaven and earth kind of difference. Germans certainly way ahead in reefing.

 

[fltekdiver]

When I bought my ai sols almost everyone here at reef central were raving about them. They had just come out with the royal blues and I was hard pressed to find an unhappy review. Boy, a couple years down the road and now it's rare to find a positive review. I dropped $1400 on three fixtures. If I was to buy 3 radion pro fixtures at $900 each, that's $2700. That would be a lot of $120 bulb replacements, what maybe 20 years or so. Currently I have a wavepoint t5 4 bulb fixture with ati bulbs. Everything in my reef, including sps are super happy. My wavepoint fixture was $245 out the door + $90 for new ati bulbs. There's also electricity. My ai sols were around 70 watts each. That's 210 watts. My wavepoint fixture uses around 230. Not much savings there.
I not trying to be a pain, I've just been there and done that. I do have to say though, if LEDs came way down in price, I might give them another chance. For me, they would have to be priced comparable to a standard t5 fixture, which "I" know for a fact will grow any coral I put under it.

Yes, but you didn't factor your running a chiller also with your T5's correct ?

 

[DavidinGA]

I'm running two reefbreeder Photon32's on my 210gal and chose led for the following reasons:

No bulbs to buy EVER - saves $
Lower electric bill - saves $
No need for a chiller - saves $
Grows everything I want to keep

 

[kissman]

Yes, but you didn't factor your running a chiller also with your T5's correct ?

You don't need to run a chiller with T5's

I'm running two reefbreeder Photon32's on my 210gal and chose led for the following reasons:

No bulbs to buy EVER - saves $
Lower electric bill - saves $
No need for a chiller - saves $
Grows everything I want to keep

Got any pics?

 

[GSMguy]

Yes, but you didn't factor your running a chiller also with your T5's correct ?

LOL. Way to create a myth. I have run 640w of halide over a sumpless 50g tank without needing a chiller. If you plan correctly you there is no reason for a chiller. I don't even have AC in my house.

 

[fltekdiver]

LOL. Way to create a myth. I have run 640w of halide over a sumpless 50g tank without needing a chiller. If you plan correctly you there is no reason for a chiller. I don't even have AC in my house.

Sorry, didn't mean to start a " Myth ". I'm setting up my first SW aquarium, a
120G Reef tank, and everytime I see lights others then LED's, I always read people using chillers.

I'm about to set up my sump ( 40G breeder ) and order lights for the DT tank, so I been reading a bunch on lights last few days

 

[Michigan Mike]

Either you have heat issues or you don't.
95% of the time the lights aren't an issue, if you have heat issues already than lighting may put it over the top, but needing a chiller with T5? Lol. That's funny.

Buy efficient pumps and keep the heat in the tank as low as possible.

 

[Khemul]

Sorry, didn't mean to start a " Myth ". I'm setting up my first SW aquarium, a
120G Reef tank, and everytime I see lights others then LED's, I always read people using chillers.

I'm about to set up my sump ( 40G breeder ) and order lights for the DT tank, so I been reading a bunch on lights last few days

It really depends on the setup. For some, it isn't the lighting that causes the chiller to be needed (and sometimes it isn't even needed but considered a useful tool). Sump locations, equipment used, location of the tank. And even then, sometimes it's just a backup to plug into the controller in case something else goes wrong.

Even an 8-bulb T5 shouldn't heat a tank enough to require a chiller. Maybe enough to keep the heaters off (which is the flip side to LED energy savings, less heat in the tank means the heaters run longer). Even a MH, if the setup isn't enclosed and has the air-flow to push the heat away. An in-wall or canopy setup may need a chiller, but even those could be setup to not need one. It just may not be worth it for the builder, since they may want the chiller anyways for backup.