GOING LED

[Anonymous]

I just stained the hood today and I will screw the lights in tomorrow. I will run the new lights for an hour a day for the first week and then I will add an hour a week until they are at 11-12 hours a day, with my stunners on for 14 hours a day. My latest test shows that the Rapid LED bulbs are way brighter than the Boost LEDs and, to my eye, brighter than the MH's. I have someone to borrow a PAR meter from and will probably get it next week for some tests. I will keep you posted on any changes in algae growth.

 

[Anonymous]

I have the LEDs installed and running. I am using them for 1 hour a day for now and will go up to two hours next week.

Here they are:

Left:

Center:

Right:

 

[Anonymous]

The colors look awesome. The pics do not do them justice at all. The Rapid LEDs are IMO, brighter than the MHs(175 watters) and the Boost LEDs appear about equal. The shimmer is insane and also blows the halides out of the water. The light is not like halides and is what they are...spotlights. Halides light up the whole tank and the room, LED spots are directly down and do not blast the room.

Hopefully the growth will be great.

Hopefully soon I can get the PAR meter for tests.

 

[Anonymous]

Looks great!

Louey

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks. So far I am very happy with them. It will take a little time to adjust to them being so used to halides.

 

[Anonymous]

Looks pretty good. Seems like you have a dramatic spotlight effect going on. Is this the look you are going for?

I'm also impressed with the shimmer lines I'm getting with my new LED fixture. I wasn't expecting such a dramatic effect.

 

[Anonymous]

The spotlighting is noticable due to the stronger Rapid led in the center of each section. The shimmer lines are insane. Even the blue leds cast shimmer. I knew there would be spotlighting and it would be less with uniform bulb usage. I would suggest the Rapid LEDs over the Boost LEDs, but I am comparing PAR38 to PAR30. The LEDs seem brighter to me, but the Boosts are good none the less.

 

[Anonymous]

I went from about 600 watts down to 102 watts. I cannot wait to see my electric bill next quater.

Also, I went spotlights so that, if in the future, one of the LEDs goes I can just replace the bulb. These other fixtures require too much "hands on" to replace a burnt out LED.

 

[Ben1]

The brightness of the LED's seems to have washed out the color of the corals in the photos. In the MH photo they looked more colorful, in person how do they look compaired to what they looked like under the MH's as far as color goes?

 

[Anonymous]

The colors look really good. The greens and blues really flouresce. The reds, yellows, and oranges look good. Overall I really like it. It is different lighting and needs getting used to. We are all so used to MH and T5.

They do not wash out the colors in person. They do, by eye, look much brighter than the MH.

 

[Ben1]

Very nice, and thanks for sharing your LED adventures BTW.

 

[Anonymous]

So far so good. The Monti caps have grown a little since the LEDs were implemented. Some of the Palys and Zoanthids have burned back a little. I am guessing that the LEDs are much brighter than the Halides were. The palys at the bottom of the tank(sand) have curled up. I do not really mind because the palys were taking over anyway.

 

[billym24]

look great, where did you buy you led bulb at? I just bought a led fixture from ledwholesaler 71 white and 41 blue but might need some spots, for full coverage, what PAR are they ?

 

[Anonymous]

They are PAR38 bulbs. I currently do not have PAR measurements.

Boost LED and Rapid LED.

 

[Anonymous]

Hmm. Aqua Illumination sells LED modules with a controller to control intensity, from 1% to 100%, to control both blue and white. I'd assume this would help prevent burning. Could you not rig up a controller onto your LED system to do this?

 

[Anonymous]

No they are not dimmable. I should have used some window screening, but it's not so bad because the Palys were growing out of control.