Bridgelux led's after 18 months

[turbo21]

almost 18 months ago i made the move from halide to led's. I built my own rig using bridegelux leds from aquastyle. i used 96 leds with a ratio of 2-1 blue to white. this is over my 220, all leds had optics.

my first thought is wow how much i saved over bulb replacement and energy savings.
the second is i can't believe how little growth i have had since switching. I have a good buddy using crees over his tank and we gotten frags at the same time and his growth blows mine away!!

i know i underbuilt the fixture a little bit using only 96 leds but thought that sps would be fine in the top third. everything is alive and growing, just growing very very slow.
after using these leds for 18 months i can say that if you are going to use them add a third more than what you think you will need. i think with the cheaper led's there is also something missing (more narrow spectrum)

over the weekend i installed 6 36" t-5 bulbs into my fixture to run along with the leds. and all i can say is wow, there are the colors that i am missing. i used geismann bulbs. actinic, actinic + and blue+.

i will keep this thread updated to document my growth after the switch. any body else using bridgelux long term?

bob

 

[ReeferBob]

Interesting! I have been looking at rapid LEDs offerings. Maybe look at them they do the Cree LEDs and have fully dimmable drivers that will interface with your dusk/dawn simulator controller. What watt are the bridgeluxes?

 

[Dave A]

Sadly, your results are fairly typical of a RB/CW build. Your problem is probably not with the quantity of light, but you are severely lacking in spectrum. Mixing in some violet, cyan, orange and red would be a huge improvement (skip the orange if you used a neutral or warm white).
I'd be interested to know what LEDs your buddy used. Just using Crees of the same color won't make a big difference (Cree's CW may have a slightly wider spectrum but it's not a big difference and their RB may be worse, depending on type and bin).

 

[Dowtish]

almost 18 months ago i made the move from halide to led's. I built my own rig using bridegelux leds from aquastyle. i used 96 leds with a ratio of 2-1 blue to white. this is over my 220, all leds had optics.

my first thought is wow how much i saved over bulb replacement and energy savings.
the second is i can't believe how little growth i have had since switching. I have a good buddy using crees over his tank and we gotten frags at the same time and his growth blows mine away!!

i know i underbuilt the fixture a little bit using only 96 leds but thought that sps would be fine in the top third. everything is alive and growing, just growing very very slow.
after using these leds for 18 months i can say that if you are going to use them add a third more than what you think you will need. i think with the cheaper led's there is also something missing (more narrow spectrum)

over the weekend i installed 6 36" t-5 bulbs into my fixture to run along with the leds. and all i can say is wow, there are the colors that i am missing. i used geismann bulbs. actinic, actinic + and blue+.

i will keep this thread updated to document my growth after the switch. any body else using bridgelux long term?

bob

All I can say is.....Duh?

Bob, now that the T5's are on you will have great growth and options for color combos like never before. I would keep the actinic +'s and add some ATI Coral plus.

 

[turbo21]

i am using the 3w leds.
my buddy has a mixture of some red and green and some other colors but originally he had just whites and blues and still had crazy growth he added in the other colors to get a better color to the eyes.

i am not liking the geisman auablue + bulb it is crazy bright but i thoguht it would be ummm blue haha but it is like a 10k daylight look to me

i cant wait to see the difference it makes

 

[turbo21]

her is a picture from a few weeks ago. i will try to get an updated pic of how it looks now. color is almost dead on in the photo

bob