The Light has arrived!!!!!!!!!!!!
- Thread starter LtPiper
- Start date
Altpers0na-old
Reefer
im constantly tempted to do the diy led lights, my buddy and i put em in xboxs and things...
i dont know what the problem was with the diy thread i read on here, i know they kept loosing led's , it should be a very simple build..
the only trouble we ever have with them is getting them pointed where we want...
i dont know what the problem was with the diy thread i read on here, i know they kept loosing led's , it should be a very simple build..
the only trouble we ever have with them is getting them pointed where we want...
xinumaster
reef addict
The LED used on solaris is Philips 3-watt Luxeon Emitter LEDs. Is this the same LED you used for your DIY. I think I'm gonna try a LED light diy for my 30g tank.
grendl
New member
then I glanced over at his occupation & figured out how he could probably swing a DIY like that.
I cant remember what the deal was with the lights burning out, but I seem to recal that perhaps it had something to do with the soldering??? Or maybe spikes in the flow of the power across the LEDs???? Its been ages since I read it.
xinumaster
reef addict
Or they might have forgot to add a resistor. You need a resistor so as not to overload your LED.
dippin61
New member
yeh.. but 3000 dollars worth of bulbs is around 50 bulbs.. thats around 50 years worth of bulbs if you buy 1 per year, or 25 years worth of bulbs if you buy every 6 months/or 2 bulbs a year for a dual setup for halides. and pc bulbs arent really that expensive. vhos in that size run about 30 bucks.
i still dont think the price justifies the switch.
nice setup though.
prance1520
Member
Yeah, but think of it this way. He would have had to bought the MH/T5 fixture as well, which aren't very cheap themselves. 48" Hover around $1000. So once you buy that fixture and bulbs, your down to $1500 worth of bulb prices over 5-11 years, which comes out about even if you change your MH/T5/PC bulbs at recommended times.
Nano Chris
Active member
i want one 
i just am wondering if it really lasts up to 11 years... i doubt they have had it running for that long.
i just am wondering if it really lasts up to 11 years... i doubt they have had it running for that long.
grendl
New member
IMO thats not a fair assessment. He would have two MH setups over his tank, lets not even include the prices of ballast... I think that $50 is a low on the avg for a GOOD bulb. You also have to factor in energy savings of : more stable temp (both in the room that the tank is in, & the water column as well), more variation in the light intensity, a more even coverage of lighting, & lighting intensity that YOU can vary, AND a moonlight. You are also not dealing with combo lights like MH/VHO combos, etc.... I think that it is a wise decision.... IF you are in love with the hobby, & have the cash to spare.
It also looks cool. hehe
Hella
New member
Im going to be getting the 72in one @ $3,300. And this is the way I look at it, the cost of the Coralife 72 MH/PC set up would be $1499.99 with three 250w MHs and four 96W PC. With a avg price of $80-100 per bulb for the MH and 30ish for the PC bulbs and your looking at $330 a year for new bulbs. Tag shipping on those cuz you know youll never get those kinds prices at a pet store in your town. So in 5 years I will be even and the next 5 years ill be saving almost 2 grand in just bulbs.
Next is the power part of it, the 72in setup has 450 watts of LED light VS the Coralife 72 that has 1134 watts of so its going to cost me less then half to run the light.
So mix in the cost of the bulbs and the cost of power and and ill be breaking even in just over two years. So to me its well worth the extra money up front.
Just my two cents
Rob
LtPiper
Active member
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8233652#post8233652 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Criminal#58369
i want one
We had a earlier thread on this and a guy in the sign industry who has been using the LEDs in the light say that their experiance with the LEDS that they lasted 11.5 years running 24/7.
Oops yeah I went back and looked at my figures and I had included a dual MH fixture with 4 PC actinic bulbs.
So far all my corals are looking fine. The one finger leather I got from phil looks the best it's been since I got it and it's been in my frag tank and my 39 gal. It's all nice and dark and polyps out farther than I've ever seen them.
The anemones that we got from Greg are the only thing that seem to not like the light and it's wild because they are on the very bottom and trying to retreat from the light!
I've also noticed that during the day while the light is on I'm only loosing about 1/4 gal of water and at night when the florecent light is on over my refugium I'm loosing almost 3/4 gal of water!! There was also the inital temp drop too of about 8 degrees from a 48" compact PC 4x65 light.
firefish2020
New member
I dont agree with that particular statement and I think there are a few others here who would agree not all petstores and LFS are cut from the same cloth.
As for the Coralife 3X250 that's my next light. After seeing what the 2X150 and the 3X 150 can do Im convinced the 3X 250 will be well worth it's cost.
If the LEDs can produce the same growth and color and reliability then I agree they are worth every cent.
Problem is that this light solution is new and there are no long term studies out there yet, only speculations of bulb life and potential so far. Piper is among the few that will lead to valuable feedback on this product which will lead to much better and superior LED systems in the near future.
If you have the spare $$$ I say go for it but IMO you will be shelling out even more for the new upgraded model in a few years and thats the one I want
Meisen
Premium Member
Yeah I have to say that IMO the jury is still out on these. I participated in a fairly sophisticated scientific study of LEDs as reef lights and the initial results were not encoraging. Most of the corals did not survive long-term and the bulb life was not better than 20K metal halides (significant spectrum shift and PAR decreases at 12-16 mos).
I do think that the phillips has a better LED product than what we were using and PFO certainly has done a lot of homework (the luxeons werent around when we started our project). The questions that I thought still needed to be answered though are:
1. Do the 3 W LEDs do a better job of punching down into the water? 1 W light panels showed a very significant drop off in intensity once they were 12"+ from the corals. Even lower light corals such as star polpys didn't grow very well at 24" of depth.
2. Since LEDs have such little spread compared to halides, on wider tanks such as 120s and 180s, will there be enough light for things? Especially corals and clams outside of the relatively narrow beam of the lamps?
3. Many of the LEDs we tested had no UV output whatsoever. While we can all agree that UV can certainly be too much (think unshielded DE bulb), is a small amount needed? There is certainly significant amounts of UV in nature....does it contribute to some of the outrageous colors we see in freshly collected/radium 400 illuminated corals?
4. LEDs still look very flat to me, even in that nice video that was posted. This is probably purely aestheics but still, what are our tanks for if not looks
PFO is a great company IME. However its hard to tease this info out from their marketing material and since they likely arent going to publish their testing, we will have to wait until folks document their experiences.
Anyway, good thread and please keep us updated, I am certainly keeping my eye on this one. Bravo for taking the 3G plunge so the rest of us can sit on the sidelines and watch!!!! Really want to see some long-term results however ie someone taking a bunch of frag off some beautiful halide-grown sps colonies and growing them out under the solaris to compare.
I do think that the phillips has a better LED product than what we were using and PFO certainly has done a lot of homework (the luxeons werent around when we started our project). The questions that I thought still needed to be answered though are:
1. Do the 3 W LEDs do a better job of punching down into the water? 1 W light panels showed a very significant drop off in intensity once they were 12"+ from the corals. Even lower light corals such as star polpys didn't grow very well at 24" of depth.
2. Since LEDs have such little spread compared to halides, on wider tanks such as 120s and 180s, will there be enough light for things? Especially corals and clams outside of the relatively narrow beam of the lamps?
3. Many of the LEDs we tested had no UV output whatsoever. While we can all agree that UV can certainly be too much (think unshielded DE bulb), is a small amount needed? There is certainly significant amounts of UV in nature....does it contribute to some of the outrageous colors we see in freshly collected/radium 400 illuminated corals?
4. LEDs still look very flat to me, even in that nice video that was posted. This is probably purely aestheics but still, what are our tanks for if not looks
PFO is a great company IME. However its hard to tease this info out from their marketing material and since they likely arent going to publish their testing, we will have to wait until folks document their experiences.
Anyway, good thread and please keep us updated, I am certainly keeping my eye on this one. Bravo for taking the 3G plunge so the rest of us can sit on the sidelines and watch!!!! Really want to see some long-term results however ie someone taking a bunch of frag off some beautiful halide-grown sps colonies and growing them out under the solaris to compare.
I think at the very lest they will replace PC lighting in the near future. I had only 2x55 w pc over my 50g before I put on my new DIY canopy with my 250w mh. The temp in my tank dropped 2 degrees!!! The bulb is 9 inches off the water and there are 2 toyo 4" fans in the canopy, but for the light output that MH gives I will indure the loud fans. If these new LEDs have even close to the PAR of a 250 mh bulb they should grow coral well. But even if they have 3/4 of the PAR they will be better then PCs. The heat that PCs seem to produce is not on par with the performance ratio given the choice between them and MH. What im trying to get at is even if they arn't all they are cracked up to be they are probably better then PC lighting and maybe even T-5's. So either way I think its a great leap in Reef tech. And given the cost of replacing PC bulbs in larger setups (like my 120 with 770w pc lights wich was almost 400 bucks a year for 6x55w and 4x96w) LED's I believe will be here to stay and get better over the next few years. Maybe perfected and cheaper for my next tank 
Solaris
Solaris
Mine should be here tomorrow. $2100.00. I feel so much better that you like them. Man, so many mix reviews based on nothing. No one has them but loves to comment on how much they suck!! I sprang for the big bucks and PFO and Jeremy at Premium Aquatics convinced me my 24" high x 48" long 90 gallon will not only be fine but feel free to put clams on the sand and acro's galore. I was almost ready to cancel the order and go with MH's. Forget it I'm staying with Solaris and will keep everyone posted on livestock and growth. Keep us posted too. I can't wait to program the cycles.
Solaris
Mine should be here tomorrow. $2100.00. I feel so much better that you like them. Man, so many mix reviews based on nothing. No one has them but loves to comment on how much they suck!! I sprang for the big bucks and PFO and Jeremy at Premium Aquatics convinced me my 24" high x 48" long 90 gallon will not only be fine but feel free to put clams on the sand and acro's galore. I was almost ready to cancel the order and go with MH's. Forget it I'm staying with Solaris and will keep everyone posted on livestock and growth. Keep us posted too. I can't wait to program the cycles.
spineshank385
New member
an LED might BURN for 11 years, BUT, what is its output at the end of that time period vs. its original output?
you might find that after 11 years, its only putting out 25% of what it originally was. LED's dim after time just like all other bulbs.
Keep in mind, they compared the LED fixture to a 250w 20k mh.....shielded. If they would have compared it to a 250w 10k, unshielded, the mh would have won hands down. According to sanjay's site, a 20k shielded 250w has less (on average) than an iwasaki 175w 15k unshielded.
fwiw, i set up my 175w halide for under $200, and will spend lass than $1000 on bulbs in the next 10 years, if its even set up that long.
LED lighting might be the future, but it certainly isnt ready yet for the masses. It's price tag outweighs the benefits, especially considering equal performance can be had for thousands less.
you might find that after 11 years, its only putting out 25% of what it originally was. LED's dim after time just like all other bulbs.
Keep in mind, they compared the LED fixture to a 250w 20k mh.....shielded. If they would have compared it to a 250w 10k, unshielded, the mh would have won hands down. According to sanjay's site, a 20k shielded 250w has less (on average) than an iwasaki 175w 15k unshielded.
fwiw, i set up my 175w halide for under $200, and will spend lass than $1000 on bulbs in the next 10 years, if its even set up that long.
LED lighting might be the future, but it certainly isnt ready yet for the masses. It's price tag outweighs the benefits, especially considering equal performance can be had for thousands less.
Too pricey? Maybe/Solaris
Too pricey? Maybe/Solaris
Yeah I'm hearing so many bad things about these things but I work my *** off and have no kids and my girlfriend actually loves the current tank. She likes the water motion and the light to read by. So screw the cost I got it The real issue is will it grow the corals and clams. If it does and its less expensive to run overall it's ok. Keep in mind if the light output is at 85% in 5-6 years thats cool for me. I like the programability and hopefully the corals will thrive. If not I have 60 days to exchange it for MH. 60 DAYS ! I should be able to see if my corals are digging it or not. Believe me on day 59 the lights will be boxed up and in the mail! I'm keeping an open mind. Also Dana Riddle did extensive testing and has a better review than Sanjay. So who do you believe? I'll believe the coral. Whats 2 grand anyway? Reefing is like boating it's better to have a friend with a tank cuz this hobby is a money pit. I'm over 6000.00 on a 90 gallon and still have some fish and coral to buy and who knows what else. Shoot me now. The 90 is too small. I should have gotten a 180 hahahahahaha!
Too pricey? Maybe/Solaris
Yeah I'm hearing so many bad things about these things but I work my *** off and have no kids and my girlfriend actually loves the current tank. She likes the water motion and the light to read by. So screw the cost I got it The real issue is will it grow the corals and clams. If it does and its less expensive to run overall it's ok. Keep in mind if the light output is at 85% in 5-6 years thats cool for me. I like the programability and hopefully the corals will thrive. If not I have 60 days to exchange it for MH. 60 DAYS ! I should be able to see if my corals are digging it or not. Believe me on day 59 the lights will be boxed up and in the mail! I'm keeping an open mind. Also Dana Riddle did extensive testing and has a better review than Sanjay. So who do you believe? I'll believe the coral. Whats 2 grand anyway? Reefing is like boating it's better to have a friend with a tank cuz this hobby is a money pit. I'm over 6000.00 on a 90 gallon and still have some fish and coral to buy and who knows what else. Shoot me now. The 90 is too small. I should have gotten a 180 hahahahahaha!
