LED's

guy · Jul 21, 2011

Thoughts on the use of LED's over MH and or T5's???? Ideas as to a combination of the 3 or ANY 2???

Irishguy · Jul 21, 2011

I've had better coral color and growth from LEDs then I ever had with mh, never really used pc for anything, but LEDs cut the heat transfer down to nothing and save on the electricity bill , I use evolution LEDs from Chris, he's the evolution LEDs sponsor on this forum, u can also check out his other stuff on www.reefkoi.com, 120 watt lights are equal or better then 250 watt mh, and a 200 watt led has better par readings and better spread then a 400 watt mh, plus they last forever

Just MHO though

rygh · Jul 21, 2011

I really like my DIY-LEDs over my old T5s. Never used MH.
But I did add a few more colors. The normal cool-white + royal blue is nice, but IMO, better with some tweaking.
Great power savings, much less heat, low profile, no bulb changes.
And a fun bonus: If you have a micro-controller PWM control, you can smoothly model a slow sunrise and sunset.
I do know of a few cases where switching from MH to LED has caused real problems. But that seems to be when PAR is too different.

Troylee · Jul 21, 2011

Moved to proper forum... I have used every lighting there is I don't like led only so I currently run all 3 and couldn't be happier sickest lighting I have ever had..250w phoenix 14k 3 blue+ and a purple+ t5 with two DIY led strips housing 36 Cree royal blue xpe LEDs.. Check my thread in my signature for more information..

secretreefer · Jul 21, 2011

same here. i'm with Troy on this. i'm running 2 giesemann pure actinic T5's, 2x 14k phoenix 250w halides and just added a 48" all blue reefbrite. i'm LOVIN IT! i'll be swapping out one of the giesemann pure actinics with a ATI purple plus saturday. i'm planning to pickup another 48" reefbrite and mount both to my giesemann neptune-pro fixture. can't wait to see the coloration then.

Troylee said:
Moved to proper forum... I have used every lighting there is I don't like led only so I currently run all 3 and couldn't be happier sickest lighting I have ever had..250w phoenix 14k 3 blue+ and a purple+ t5 with two DIY led strips housing 36 Cree royal blue xpe LEDs.. Check my thread in my signature for more information..

swannyson7 · Jul 21, 2011

+1 on a mix. I've tried just about every type of lighting over the years with the exception of plasma and I've always been happiest with a mix of lighting. I tried running LED only and I wanted to adjust the color temperature, so I added some T5s to tweak it a bit and I couldn't be happier.

guy · Jul 22, 2011

Tanx:

I domwhant the 3 and think it would be great. I currently havs a 7 by 3 foot tank at 26 inches deep and have 6 T5's and 3 20K 250 wat MH. What type of DYI LED's would you sugest and can you break it done to manufacture and sites to obtain the equitment, LED's ( Cree royal blue above, where do I get them? ), transformer and controller. I am not the sharpest tack inthe box and need some guidence LOL.

guy · Jul 22, 2011

Thanx to all and please keep the info flowing!!!

Troylee · Jul 22, 2011

Talk to bill at reef led lights " sponsor here" he has all your needs I would go with like 72 royal blue xpe crees 36 on each side....

GR808 · Jul 22, 2011

Been with all leds for about 5 weeks and love it. Still trying to find the sweet spot on intensity but Im below 50% because I cooked a couple of sticks. Love everything about leds but if I had to do all over again, I would like to do a triple threat with led, mh, and t5s. Since I dont run a chiller, im extremely happy with my leds.

guy · Jul 22, 2011

Thanx again TroyLee and have talked with bill and placed an order. Will go with your suggetion of 36 on both sides. What distance from the MH do they need to be? What is the differance o what is crees. Are they a strip and if so do you still need a Almunim "U" brace to place the LED's and hang them?