DIY Lighting question(s)

[SeymourDuncan]

Ok, i am looking into lighting for all my tanks...Lying around i have a few ballasts....some for PC lighting and some for t5. I believe the PC ballast is 4x55w and I have 2 of the 2x54w t5ho ballasts. I also have a 400w mh ballast.

I really like LEDs and was wondering if there was a way to use any of these ballasts to drive them? I am clueless electronically, but am good with instructions, and if i really think its too hard I have an electrician friend who can make what (if possible) we can figure out.

I also plan on wiring all the lights on all my tanks to an industrial timer after i redo the wiring in my house. I have a pool and a pond already sucking off my existing breaker, so im still limiting my reef tanks power usage until I know it wont flip out the breakers lol.

That too is being done by the electrician and not me.

If not I am just going to buy enough of the REEF BREEDERS DIMMABLE LEDs for all my tanks...not all at once of course lol...they seem great for the price. With a purple actinic They look amazinger. LED is soo cool.

 

[mfinn]

I am not a electrician, but I am fairly positive none of the ballasts you have will work for leds.
I think your best bet is with Reef Breeders.
They are awesome and it would be hard to beat the price and customer service.

 

[SeymourDuncan]

I have heard that as well, rbd it is...Would 2 of those work fine on a 125g? its 6ft across...I would also have a 40w purple actinic in the middle...(i just really love this bulb and cant find an alternative of the same color lol)

I know depth wise they will be ok. I dont have anemones or clams...but may someday want a clam. maybe anemones if my girlfriend never stops asking lol.
I would probably use 2 on a 4ft tank as well shouldn't i? I am not sure they have optics...in fact i dont think they do.

 

[mfinn]

I would go with 3 on a 6' tank. Most do a 24" x 24" area, although one on my 30" x 20" tank looked great.
2 on a 4' tank.
They have a couple different optics to pick from or none like mine did.

 

[SeymourDuncan]

ok, cool. I will look into hooking these up. I wont be buying 5 at once, so if I put corals strictly below the lights as I bought them, would that be ok?

 

[mfinn]

I'm hoping more will chime in on this.
I'm pretty new to leds myself, but been looking and asking about them for months.

 

[mfinn]

I'm sure you can create areas of light that will be good for the corals.

I'd shoot for complete coverage one tank at a time.

 

[SeymourDuncan]

yeah, i will probably do that if i can fit everything. I could probably get 2 lights at a time, So i could fill the 75 temporarily.

ITs a newer light, but i do hope there are some out there with experience

 

[SeymourDuncan]

ok, the reef breeders get more expensice every week....which has led me on another light search. as far as LED---bridgelux is lesser quality than cree? and are these kessil lights worth anything? they look like soup cans