LEDs - Good, Bad or just another addiction?

[caad3]

Hi all, I have seen Warren's tanks in person and all I can say is wow. Incredible growth and all LED. BTW great write up.

Wingo is upgrading my LED lights that I bought from him last year, and I am very happy with the support and product, they are intense..

 

[James983]

Thanks for the info guys. I will plan my tank and wait on lighting til fall.

 

[pecan2phat]

Alex,
I cannot DIY a paper clip :lol: Wingo is the man to speak to when it comes to buck pucks, heatsinks & soldering LED stars.

All kidding aside though, DIY are okay for some applications such as if you wish to light up a 40 breeder but what comes into question is:
Will you be content with just on & off? You can use a dimmable Meanwell driver but it would be a manual task just to control your color temp.
For medium to large tanks, it seems just more efficient to purchase a marketed light for your application.
Even Wingo can sell you a kit or rapidled has this: http://www.rapidled.com/servlet/the-36/12-Premium-LED-DIY/Detail
but you still need fans, heatsink, wire, solder and skills
Start adding the cost of how many of those kits you need for say a 120g tank and it adds up pretty quickly + the nice addition of no fancy outer case, no abilty to just turn on a few blue LEDs for moonlight simulation, no sunrise/sunset etc. :lol2:

 

[fernandokng]

Check out these LEDs:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1767811

 

[Awibrandy]

Thanks Wingo! I wish I had been able to make the LIRA meeting.;(
Yes, I know the prices won't come down enough for me to be able to afford them any time soon. Guess if I'm still alife, and still in the hobby in about 10 years I might be able to afford them.LOL

 

[cali_reef]

I can use some advice on how to stock a tank with that many angels without them killing eachother.

I think they die from other reasons more than killing each other.

 

[xlotus123x]

Good post, learned alot. Thanks all. :bagfish:

 

[Simon Garratt]

Hi Pecan.

Something ive been interested in for a while now with all the talk about energy savings with LED's is the shift in power disstribution from lights to heaters in the absence of radiated heat input from the light sources.

have you noticed or are you recording any shift in your heating requirements since switching to LED's ?

This might not be such an issue for you in your climate (which i have no grasp of living here in the UK...snow'd in at present ) but it is something ive ponderd for people living in cooler locations where there is a greater need to heat a tank than cool it.

regards

 

[NYPDFrogman]

how do you think they would do on a 30" deep tank?
presently running 3-250W 12K coralvues with lumen arc reflectors.
no issues other than a big electric bill

 

[dxmarinefish]

Excellent write-up. I will be following this one.

I never considerd the Pac Sun as I was waiting for user experience, so will add this to my LED short list.

LED without full programmable control is a no no for me, as I am unwilling to enter a long term LED-relationship (3-5yrs), without being able to simulate natural daylight/nightlight cycles, etc. Pac Sun appears to have this area cracked.

And I agree that this year will see LED lighting products flood the market, my fear is whether the consumer will see the price benefits, and with what features/reliability will that cost come with.

 

[James983]

After reading this thread I think I still feel more comfortable with a quality T-5 setup, tried and true. I think I need the big compaines to start mass production and long term use to be comfortable, but this thread was a great read. Thanks to all.

 

[dcook]

thanks pecan2phat
Q. Any updates/opinions/recomemdations on the Ecoxotic Panorama LED strips?
I'm thinking about changing to them? for my 65gal cube 25-25-24.
My 250w HQI 14k w/ 460nm powerbrite creates to much heat.....
My LFS says they are perfect for my reef????

 

[mallerly020703]

Where can I get one of those thortek led from and how much really getting hooked on these hobby

 

[pecan2phat]

Simon,
It's a bit difficult to accurately see how much heat reduction is involved with the use of an LED fixture due to our current climate/season. What I do know is that the heat factor is much less then with the MH and yes, the heater elements are getting a good workout now. The tank temperature stays within the heater preset but it is winter here and quite cold. My fishroom's ambient temperature varies from 62 degrees farenheit at night to 70 degrees during the day but the tank stays within the .5 degree preset. I run quite a few external pumps on this tank and from past experiments, I know that each pump creates about a 2 degree increase to the water temperature. I would say that you are correct in regards to your theory.

Frogman,
I do believe that the Pacific Sun modules will cover your 30" deep tank. Did you see the light spill in one of the pictures? Unless you have large colonies growing very high up and into the corners of the tank, I don't think that you will have any issues. My setup is mounted 4.75" above the water surface. Normally, I would probably mount them a bit higher towards the 6" - 7" mark but because of the 120 degree light spread, I brought them down lower to the surface. My previous setup was 250w SE bulbs on Icecaps along with 220w of VHO so my consumption went down almost 66%.

Dcook,
The Panorama strips are a great nano upgrade but I'm thinking that cost wise, maybe not that financially sound for your 65g cube. You would probably need 4 strips at a cost of $95 per strip and might want to add 2 blue Stunner strips for the sunrise/sunset feature.
We're talking $500 and then you still need to mount these strips to something since I don't see a canopy in your picture.

 

[ctxmonitor]

Great thread Warren.. Lots of good information and thoughts. Can't wait when i get a chance to take a look at these LED in person and see for my own eye..

 

[ECFENCING]

Warren:

Thanks for starting the thread. One day I will make it up to your house so I can see the tanks in person.

For me LED's are not justified since my tank is in the basement and I don't have a need to run a chiller but I've been thinking of getting on the wagon.

I figured my payback is at least three years if not four years.

 

[Aqua Pro Builder]

Warren:

Thanks for starting the thread. One day I will make it up to your house so I can see the tanks in person.

For me LED's are not justified since my tank is in the basement and I don't have a need to run a chiller but I've been thinking of getting on the wagon.

I figured my payback is at least three years if not four years.

How strong is your current light and how much it costed you initially?

 

[ECFENCING]

Wingo

I run a 48" T5 Aquactinics Constellation Fixture which consists of 7x54w bulbs for a total of 378 watts. I only run my fixture 6 hours a day.

The fixture which I purchased used was $550 but retails new for $680. Recently I put in new bulbs which ran $160 so all in I'm at $810.

If I use .25 kwh to round up at 6 hours per day x 30 days per month x 380watts (rounded) per hour=2,300 watts rounded per day x 30 days=61,000 watts or 61 kilo watts rounded x .25 kwh=$15 per month to run my lights.

If I run LEDs say 90w x 2 units I would be saving 200 watts per hour x 6 hours x 30=36,000 watts or 36 kilo watts saved or $9 per month in electrical cost.

Let's say I only really need to run the LED's at 75% then I'd save maybe $12 per month or $150 rounded per year.

Add to that $160 in bulbs per year the total saving is approximately $300 rounded per year.

If you factor in the cost of 2 new fixtures like Pacific Sun say $1600 not sure what the price on these is and I sell my fixture for $500 my incremental investment is $1100 so I would recoup it in approximately 4 years.

This is all off the top of my head so correct me if I'm wrong. Obviously my payback horizon would be shorter if I ran my photo period longer.

 

[cali_reef]

Wingo

I run a 48" T5 Aquactinics Constellation Fixture which consists of 7x54w bulbs for a total of 378 watts. I only run my fixture 6 hours a day.

The fixture which I purchased used was $550 but retails new for $680. Recently I put in new bulbs which ran $160 so all in I'm at $810.

If I use .25 kwh to round up at 6 hours per day x 30 days per month x 380watts (rounded) per hour=2,300 watts rounded per day x 30 days=61,000 watts or 61 kilo watts rounded x .25 kwh=$15 per month to run my lights.

If I run LEDs say 90w x 2 units I would be saving 200 watts per hour x 6 hours x 30=36,000 watts or 36 kilo watts saved or $9 per month in electrical cost.

Let's say I only really need to run the LED's at 75% then I'd save maybe $12 per month or $150 rounded per year.

Add to that $160 in bulbs per year the total saving is approximately $300 rounded per year.

If you factor in the cost of 2 new fixtures like Pacific Sun say $1600 not sure what the price on these is and I sell my fixture for $500 my incremental investment is $1100 so I would recoup it in approximately 4 years.

This is all off the top of my head so correct me if I'm wrong. Obviously my payback horizon would be shorter if I ran my photo period longer.

Cool Factor -> PRICELESS :biglaugh:

 

[ECFENCING]

you're right Pierce!!!

Groceries $180.....Amusement Park tickets $120....LED's $1,200 seeing the look of I'm going to get you from your wife when you spend that money on LED's priceless!!!

For everything else there's mastercard