LED or MH

[TopNotchCorals]

And I don't know that you need dual cords. My fixtures have timers built in with them that gives you the ability to control each of the banks, which is beneficial provided that the lights are placed with all one color on a bank. Talk to Robert with Neptune and see if he can get you one with the timer on it. Mine are identical to the one that ReefFanatics sells.

I have spoke to Robert as he is local to me and he said he has the Illuminarium with dual cords on order and they should be getting them in a few weeks.

 

[TopNotchCorals]

Tanks - I have a 90W on that tank pictured here. There are two 120W fixtures on my 4'x2'x2' 120 gallon tank at home.

Bay - The 90W would honestly be enough but why compromise? The 120W will be more than enough. Pull the trigger on it and you will not be disappointed in the least.

Thanks for all your input jay,I know me and you have talked about this decision in the past and you and Kraylen are the only 2 people on here with pics/videos of your LED's in action.I will get some more input here and read a bit more before making my decision.

 

[jaytizzle]

Lol... glad to help, bud! It's a shame that NorCal is so far away from Baton Rouge otherwise I'd say come on over and check everything out for yourself.

As an aside, my Tigers are heading that way this weekend and gonna show y'all west coast boys how to play some baseball (hopefully!). Somehow we got put into UCLA's regional for the NCAA tournament.

 

[jaytizzle]

FWIW - Here's the same tank about a year prior to that picture. It grew a LOT under the MH+T5 combo!

 

[TopNotchCorals]

One more question jay,I think I asked you this before but what kind of "k" look do the illuminariums give as I really like a more blue look?I think your tigers should just miss the plane ride here too lol.

 

[TANKSALOT]

So is there a site that sells the Illuminarium LED fixture?

 

[TopNotchCorals]

So is there a site that sells the Illuminarium LED fixture?

Not that I know of but Robert at NeptuneAquatics has a thread on them and posted some par numbers and pics today.

 

[jaytizzle]

As far as the K look, it depends on the fixture's ratio of blue to white LEDs. My 90W has a 1:1 ratio. It is probably on the 18-20K level, maybe more but I may not be judging it properly. My 120W fixtures have 2:1 ratio White:Blue. They are closer to a 14K appearance. I definitely like a very blue look but keep in mind that you are going to get the majority of your PAR from the white LEDs. That is why I went with double the whites as opposed to double the blues on my 120. I have a big canopy with lots of space so I can always add in any lighting that I want (LED strips, T5 retro, whatever) in order to make it aesthetically pleasing to me. I like the 1:1 but it wasn't an option for me since I wouldn't be able to turn the whites on and off independent of the blues.

Here's how my 90W is configured - There are two panels with independent control of each. Panel 1 is Rows 1-3, Panel 2 is Rows 4-6 and they look like this:
Row 1 - 15 whites
Row 2 - 15 Whites
Row 3 - 15 Whites
Row 4 - 15 Blues
Row 5 - 15 Blues
Row 6 - 15 Blues
This fixture has 6 ROWS and 15 COLUMNS for a total of 90 LEDs.

My 120W fixtures are a bit different and have 7 ROWS and 17 COLUMNS for a total of 119 LEDs. Instead of having "ROW" panels, they have "COLUMN" panels. There are 17 columns of 7 LEDs each. The first 6 columns make up Panel 1 and they are all white LEDs, the next 5 columns make up Panel 2 and they are all blue LEDs, and the last 6 columns make up Panel 3 and they are all white LEDs. Through the controller I can turn on and off each one of the panels independently. If they had the LEDs spread out all over the board in a checkerboard pattern then I wouldn't be able to do that. They also didn't, to my knowledge, offer a 120W with a configuration similar to my 90W which would have given me independent color control in a 1:1 ratio fixture.

That is a lot of info. Let me know if any of it doesn't make sense.

 

[CoralBandit]

T5's.......

 

[Kbra]

Plasma!

 

[Just Clownin Around]

pls before making a statement like you get most par from the whites research that. you get just as much par we just do not have the tools to measure it easily, i run a diy on my bc14 12 3w crees 6b6w driven independently so i can hook up to a rke alc and get dusk to dawn lighting. i am building a fixture to light my 30x30 cube and will complete this in the next week or so. you must be very careful when running leds because those lil buggers will pu a ton of par out. must must light acclimate your corals

 

[sexycorals]

Yo skimmy..i have to agree these led are really intense. i wanted to try some so i picked one up for my 40 breeder abou 6 months ago.. some of my acans and chalice bleached out within a week cause i turn those suckers up full blast ... :cry::cry::cry: just like a kid with a new toy.. then i went online and read all the warnings about not turning them on full blast. right aways.. :tongue:

actually i think i still got it laying around in the garage somewhere.. u can borrow it if u havent gotten one yet when u come up to mobile aquatic frag swap in july..

 

[jaytizzle]

gaita, I have done my research. I should probably clarify. I haven't put a PAR meter to my lights yet but I did put a LUX meter to it. The whites put out SIGNIFICANTLY more LUX than the blues did. They maxed out the meter at 6" from the light at 2,000 LUX. The blues were only putting out about 400 or so LUX at 6". This was on a 1:1 ratio 90W fixture.

I'm not here to start an argument. This is just what my own research has told me. If you have your own research, I would be very glad to have an additional LED user provide more info to support our points here. :nerd:

 

[TANKSALOT]

Plasma!

Candle Light :xd:

 

[inactive]

pls before making a statement like you get most par from the whites research that. you get just as much par we just do not have the tools to measure it easily, i run a diy on my bc14 12 3w crees 6b6w driven independently so i can hook up to a rke alc and get dusk to dawn lighting. i am building a fixture to light my 30x30 cube and will complete this in the next week or so. you must be very careful when running leds because those lil buggers will pu a ton of par out. must must light acclimate your corals

The thing about all the "DIY" led lighting, is its guided for overkill... most people are destroying stuff with their LEDS. My low light LED frag tank is growing everything.

For example, your DIY light for your bc14 is actually more light than my RB 50/50 48" on my 48"x15x15 frag tank.

 

[Aquascaper]

Thanks Aquascaper,I would love to see some pics of your system with the LED's if possible.

I'm running the same LEDs as JT....


rebuilding the tank today so pics to come....

 

[LPAJ5280]

I would say BE SURE TO TEST LED panels BEFORE your purchase. I have tested 3 LED panels and all three of them have not been putting out the same wavelengths as MH. I have seen firsthand one of the LED panels from a coral farmer mentioned in this forum. The coral was washed out and looked like crap. I tested the light and it was clear why. I used an $80k Photo spectrometer at the university to test each of the panels. the biggest issue I have seen is not the output of the light but the correct wavelengths. It used to be that LED's would put out enough light but i believe they have fixed that issue. Also check into LEP (light emitting plasma) its the newest technology and is significantly brighter than LED. As far as i know there are no hydroponic LEP panels availble yet.

 

[TANKSALOT]

I would say BE SURE TO TEST LED panels BEFORE your purchase. I have tested 3 LED panels and all three of them have not been putting out the same wavelengths as MH. I have seen firsthand one of the LED panels from a coral farmer mentioned in this forum. The coral was washed out and looked like crap. I tested the light and it was clear why. I used an $80k Photo spectrometer at the university to test each of the panels. the biggest issue I have seen is not the output of the light but the correct wavelengths. It used to be that LED's would put out enough light but i believe they have fixed that issue. Also check into LEP (light emitting plasma) its the newest technology and is significantly brighter than LED. As far as i know there are no hydroponic LEP panels availble yet.

It is so hard.
You don't know who to trust anymore.
Everyone feels that theirs is the best.
I looked into the pieces of the puzzle to build what I thought would be a nice 48" LED light with 248 - 1w LED's. It was cost preohibative.
And yes, I know that these companies are contracting cheap labor and parts from China. But also believe that you get what you pay for.

I think I might want to go back to the Metaframe Tank with a Grow-Lux Incondesent Bulb. :squigglemouth:

So, for now, I will just watch and wait until someone can prove what they have.
If any supplier want me to be a test dummy, let me know. I will run it through it's paces and give an honest testimony.

TANKSALOT
aka - Steve

 

[TopNotchCorals]

I agree with TANKSALOT,I think the problem is that LED's have not been around the hobby long enough and at this point are pretty much trial and error.I think at this point I am highly considering just going with what I know and that is "back to MH", a 250w de in a Lumenarc Elite I think will be perfect on my 24x24x20 cubeI just dont want to deal with heat issues being that summer is just about hereand I will have to invest in a chiller but I think I can get a deal on one from a sponsor here.

 

[ReeferBen]

I just dont want to deal with heat issues being that summer is just about hereand I will have to invest in a chiller but I think I can get a deal on one from a sponsor here.

FWIW I got my chiller from ebay through premiumaquatics. PA had a bunch of brand new chillers listed on ebay at their store price but had a best offer option, I made a offer and got a steal on a brand new chiller.

It is so hard.
You don't know who to trust anymore.
Everyone feels that theirs is the best.

No one that spends a bunch of money likes to admit they did not get the right thing. I know when I set my tank up last year I spent $1200 on a 12 bulb sfiligoi T5 fixture. I ran 8 bulb T5 Tek fixture on my old tank and had a ton of success. After a year on running my 12 bulb T5 sfiligoi I feel my growth is slower than I would like it to be, and the spread sucks. My tank is 36" wide though. Would LED be better for me? I know with a 48" x 36" footprint to light up it would be hard to justify the expense. Although I did order an Aquaillumintion for my nano to give LED a shot.