What to consider when buying LED's

kniquy

kniquy

New member
It is time for me to replace my 6 T5 bulbs for my 75 gal. My wonderful husband said -- why don't you look into LED's -- they last forever (not really I know, but much longer than anything else). I told him they were pretty pricey but his response was if you love your tank and plan on having it for years to come then why not just get LED's -- So i am not going to argue.

I have looked at LED's but have never really investigated the different brands types features of LED's, so I really do not know where to start. I do want a mix reef so a lighting system that can handle various corals is a must. One thing I need to factor in is -what can fit in my hood - do they sell retros that can be mounted in a hood? The tank is a focal point in our living room and no offense to anyone -- I just don't want an open tank with lights hanging from the ceiling.

Please get me in the right direction. I have searched different threads but am still confused as to where to start. I don't think building my own is an option as i don't want to risk having issues playing around with electrical

TIA!!!:D
 
Most if not all LED units are going to be small enough to fit in the same place as a T-5 unit.

Not surprised you are confused. LED offers a lot more variation than MH or T-5. It is part of their appeal and problem.

I use AI hydra 52's and 26's. If you have an specific question on those I would be more than happy to answer them. There are other options that will perform just as good.
 
What corals do want to keep or currently keep? Do you have a digital computer for your tank? Would you like to use a custom color spectrum over your tank? These questions will help you decide what you need.
 
Wazzel said:
Most if not all LED units are going to be small enough to fit in the same place as a T-5 unit.

Not surprised you are confused. LED offers a lot more variation than MH or T-5. It is part of their appeal and problem.

I use AI hydra 52's and 26's. If you have an specific question on those I would be more than happy to answer them. There are other options that will perform just as good.
Click to expand...

Wassel - I am just wondering if or how those could be mounted on the inside of the hood. Right now my T5's are retro and mounted inside the hood. I see a fan on the LEDs but my hood also has an open vent space in the middle of the hood, which i could mount so the fan is inline with that vent.

It would be for my 75gal dimensions are 48W x 18D x 21 H would 2 of the 26 size work or could you go with one 52. how are those particular lights controlled. I know i have read that some people run at a certain percentage/strength. Can these work with an apex controller. I don't have that controller yet but was considering getting one.
 
kniquy said:
Wassel - I am just wondering if or how those could be mounted on the inside of the hood. Right now my T5's are retro and mounted inside the hood. I see a fan on the LEDs but my hood also has an open vent space in the middle of the hood, which i could mount so the fan is inline with that vent.

It would be for my 75gal dimensions are 48W x 18D x 21 H would 2 of the 26 size work or could you go with one 52. how are those particular lights controlled. I know i have read that some people run at a certain percentage/strength. Can these work with an apex controller. I don't have that controller yet but was considering getting one.
Click to expand...

The hydras have two threaded holes so I am sure there are options. Yes you will need ventilation

26's could work. Control can be done by apex, director (AI web controller) or the stand alone controller.

Also keep in mind they do not cover the manufactures spec well. A hydra 26 does not cover 24x24 like AI says, more like 20x18 of useful light, give or take.
 
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Worth mentioning, but I wouldn't do less than 2x of any of the Hydras, Radions, or Kessils over 48". Either buy a longer fixture, make one with the MakersLED heatsink, or one of the retrofit kits from RapidLED for a tank your size (maybe a 36" fixture?).
 
ReefWreak said:
Worth mentioning, but I wouldn't do less than 2x of any of the Hydras, Radions, or Kessils over 48". Either buy a longer fixture, make one with the MakersLED heatsink, or one of the retrofit kits from RapidLED for a tank your size (maybe a 36" fixture?).
Click to expand...

I agree, my last tank was 36" long and my current is 40" long and I used to Kessil A350W's over both tanks. If I was setting up a 48" long reef I would probably go with three Kessils
 
The best advice I can give is to use as many fixtures as you can fit in your canopy. The manufacturers ALWAYS overstate what their lights are capable of. If they say 2 x 52's, go with 3-4. The spread is the biggest battle you have with LED's. With more units, you may dim them a ways, but you will have the coverage needed to keep everything happy and healthy.

A better fit may be 2 x 52's and 2 x kessils, or a similar combination. Or 4x Kessils, they are small, so you would have no problem fitting them all in your canopy. Also running them at a lower power will extend their life.
 
There are a several brands out there that sell 32" and 48" led fixtures. I had a 32" over my 75g and it worked so well I now have 2 over my 180g mixed reef. Two that are sponsors here are OceanRevive and ReefBreeders (read about them in the sponsor forums below). I understand there is a unit sold on ebay called MarsAqua as well. Any of these fixtures will allow you to keep any kind of coral, anemone or clam. They all do sunrise and sunset timing as well.
 
Agree that in almost all cases you will need more fixtures than the manufacturer recommends, obviously your choice of corals will affect this choice though.
Having said that, LEDs aren't cheap so I wouldn't buy as many fixtures as you can to start with, maybe buy what the manufacturer recommends and then add one at a time.
What I would HIGHLY recommend to any LED user is to make use of a quantum meter to measure PAR. You will find that the tank will look well lit but once you measure PAR you may find areas that aren't sufficient as LEDs generally don't have the same spread as MH or T5.
 
kenpau said:
Agree that in almost all cases you will need more fixtures than the manufacturer recommends, obviously your choice of corals will affect this choice though.
Having said that, LEDs aren't cheap so I wouldn't buy as many fixtures as you can to start with, maybe buy what the manufacturer recommends and then add one at a time.
What I would HIGHLY recommend to any LED user is to make use of a quantum meter to measure PAR. You will find that the tank will look well lit but once you measure PAR you may find areas that aren't sufficient as LEDs generally don't have the same spread as MH or T5.
Click to expand...

Deffinately plan to expand. What happened with my tank was the manufacturers reccomendation worked for about a year. After that the corals had gotten big enough and dense enough to shade the ones around them. I added a unit and all is right again. I did not plan to expand so I had to spend money on mounts twice.
 
What worked for me was to get a bunch of lower powered units (30W Aquabeams) and spread them out along the tank. I used 7 of them and could only fit one more.
I started off my current tank with quite a few corals I've had for years so shadowing was not an option.
Those lights do not have fans.
 
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Steve Atkins said:
What worked for me was to get a bunch of lower powered units (30W Aquabeams) and spread them out along the tank. I used 7 of them and could only fit one more.
I started off my current tank with quite a few corals I've had for years so shadowing was not an option.
Those lights do not have fans.
Click to expand...

Steve - just curious where your purchased those aquabeams from?
 
Esage said:
I'm running Kessil A350W's in my canopy
Click to expand...

After looking at the Kessils I am wondering how you have them mounted in your hood -- could you take a picture and post? Do they sell a mounting kit? I have seen the goose neck, but i think that would be too high to fit under my hood. It is tough to figure out not actually seeing it in person.
 
Best advice I can give on the subject is quality of the light and support. I chose Kessils because the support is great, the quality is great, they are Apex controllable and Kessil invested heavily in R&D to come up with a true reef light capable of growing corals. When you look at most of the cheaper Chinese fixtures, they are nothing more than rebranded "full spectrum" lights that are generally unreliable. Short of Reef Breeders, the support is also horrible. Reef Breeders is the rare exception in terms of Chinese fixtures.

My choices came down to Ecotech Radion Pro's, AI Hydra's and of course the Kessils. I love the natural shimmer that the Kessils provide. It was the closest look to natural sunlight and metal halides so for me the decision was relatively easy. I ended up with 8 Kessil 360WE's over my 4'x8'x2' tall display and absolutely love them. The Radion's are also excellent lights. On the other hand, I've heard of many failures with the latest AI fixtures so I'd be a bit leary. As for the TMC 's, everybody I know that has them inlcluding a freind who's sold a number of them have issues with the power supplies. They seem to fail after a year and while they advertise a great warranty, the power supplies only include a minimal warranty (here in the states) which is only mentioned in fine print. They also have a relatively low output so you need more than the typical light but they are priced reasonably so that isn't much of a big deal. I do however feel that there are much better options as I mentioned above.

kniquy said:
After looking at the Kessils I am wondering how you have them mounted in your hood -- could you take a picture and post? Do they sell a mounting kit? I have seen the goose neck, but i think that would be too high to fit under my hood. It is tough to figure out not actually seeing it in person.
Click to expand...

The articulating mounts that I used on my light rack for my Kessils are designed for canopy mounting.
image_zpsdc81cde3.jpg


These are the same mounts on a friends tank.
20141211_150612_resized_zps177894cd.jpg
 
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Slief - thanks so much for the pictures!! Definitely helps me picture how I could do that in my hood. Did you have a particular retailer that you purchased from?
 
Me, personally I'm a fan of the Chinese leds, I run reef radiance on my two tanks, but there are other companies with very similar products, fully adjustable and everything. They are mounted to my ceiling using chains
 
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