LED Lighting

[slipondajimmy]

Does anyone use LED as there main light source? I recently seen a 72 inch Solaris LED fixture on a large reef tank and the reef was thriving. But at around $4000 for the lighting it better be.

Anyone have experience using LED on a smaller scale or maybe even on prop tanks?

 

[TyreeUM]

I have never seen this lighting in action, could some one post some pics of their tanks using this as a main lighting source?

 

[thincat]

Read this: (halfway down the page)
http://www.reefbuilders.com/?show=slide&pageid=3926

 

[slipondajimmy]

I have been reading about those patent issues on various forums. Really I was just curious if anyone was using LED and what they thought. The light intensity from the setup I seen was amazing.

 

[TJ15]

I think you would save yourself a lot of money and have better overall lighting, if you went with Metal Halide lighting instead of LED. MH will give you better light spred (LED lighting just goes straight down) and will give you better coral growth - especially from SPS.

Not to mention it gives a better shimmer effect.

 

[slipondajimmy]

Well I currently have 150W MH on my Nano. I can say the system I seen running LED was a great looking reef tank. Coral thriving.

I am thinking of setting up a small prop tank with a few zoas and see what happens under LED

 

[cparka23]

I have the Elos eLite LED on my Mini and have dabbled in LEDs in general. Did you have anything that you specifically wanted to know?

You can get very intense lighting with LEDs, but there are some constraints that must be included into the layout and design. These factor into the initial cost of a fixture, but I think LEDs in the long run (~4 years) easily recoup the expense. Most fixtures out there do not use very good LEDs, since the higher bin versions of LEDs are super difficult to acquire in bulk and cost more. That's the biggest problem with every LED fixture out there.

Honestly, there is no commercial fixture on the market that I would recommend. The DIY method is churning out some NICE results, but a lot of it is too technical for most people to attempt. It's not hard if you can solder and know how to apply Ohm's Law, but math scares a lot of folks.

 

[slipondajimmy]

Hey cparka,

I really did not have anything specific. I notice there are a lot of growlights out there using LED as a replacement for MH. What sort of white/blue light would you need and how much power would you need for an LED panel on lets say a 10g tank?

 

[cparka23]

The type of LEDs for this purpose is the 3W LEDs, not the 5mm kind that can be seen on eBay or Current USA Sunpods.The CREE XR-E series is the LED of choice. They are driven by buckpucks @ 750mA and powered by a laptop power supply (my elos power supply is probably one too). They can be driven @ 1A, but it requires a well ventilated, large heatsink. You could do a passively cooled heatsink when driving them at 750mA unless everything is in an enclosure.

As for color temperatures, the good news is that it's somewhat adjustable. A 1:1 ratio of cool white to royal blue LEDs is the starting point, according to the guru. Buckpucks have a version that accepts a potentiometer, so the series of LEDs on that particular buckpuck can be dimmed as needed. The Elos uses 15 white and 3 blue luxeon LEDs, which is a pretty 10000K look. It's not yellow, but it's not very appealing either. I'm planning on supplementing this with some additional blue LEDs, but it's still on the drawing board so to speak.

Without seeing a 10g fitted with LEDs, I can only go off of what's been posted online. 7 or 8 LEDs each of cool white and royal blue, perhaps. If you're very interested in getting an opinion based on more practical experience in reef lighting, PM the LED guru himself, evilc66. He's the one who turned most of us to LEDs for reefs. Very helpful guy on another forum.

 

[Mya]

Okay, So I got a couple pennies to add...

I got a friend with a 40 gal tank that is thriving and doing well with LED lighting.
You don't have to spend 4k on LEDs to have a nice set that work well. A 48" fixture runs about 1k and that includes the LEDs... Blue bulbs... and blue moons.
There is a new set that is coming out with even brighter bulbs... for even less.. roughly 600-750 dollars.
I think that LEDs in the long road are much better personally then MH because of the overall costs.

 

[slipondajimmy]

Very good info from everyone. I think I will set the 10g up and play with some lighting. I would say I am pretty handy so maybe I will give it a go. I have been looking for a reason to fill this 10g up anyway

 

[evilc66]

I think you would save yourself a lot of money and have better overall lighting, if you went with Metal Halide lighting instead of LED. MH will give you better light spred (LED lighting just goes straight down) and will give you better coral growth - especially from SPS.

Not to mention it gives a better shimmer effect.

I'm going to argue with you a little here. LEDs cost comes up front. It is getting better, especially now that there are more unkowns out of the way (like the required spacing for proper coverage, which doesn't mean side by side like the Solaris fixtures). The savings long term can come up pretty quick, depending on the setup you are trying to replicate.

Light spread from an LED by itself can be a problem. Light spread from multiple LEDs can create exactly the same effect as a MH, including the shimmer.

Jury is still out on whether or not LEDs can truely support sps like a MH or T5 setup can. I think it can, but there needs to be a departure from the normal lighting conventions that other manufacturers have taken. Everyone talks about the fact that there are missing color elements in the spectral output of an LED array. Everyone seems to miss the most important one: UV. Sps and clams still respond heavily to UV light, all the way down to about 350nm. This is one of the primary reasons MH has done so well for many years keeping sps, and the reason that many of the new T5 bulbs are dipping more into the UV regions and becoming more successful at keeping sps. The only unkown here is how much UV to add before it becomes a problem.

I have been running UV in my fixture for a while now, and the two sps corals I have in my 4g are doing quite nicely. The birdsnest is showing visible signs of growth everyday, and the blue acro is encrusting the plug and has killer polyp extension. Both are keeping their color beautifully.

 

[droblack]

I have sustained all kinds of sps and lps under the solaris H4 led lighting system. Colors got better at first, but then dulled out a bit. Have gone through some fluctuations with my system, so not sure what I can attribute to the light. All in all the solaris has many great features, but never agreed with the light spacing. If if works for 10+ years I will be happy with it, but just had to send it to PFO for service. Have to say MHs mixed with T5s and a little natural sunshine thru the window is my favorite combo, and nothing compares to sunlight, followed by MHs.