Im pretty sceptical myself as I have to do an 8 foot tank and the costs are INSANE..... But I do know they work well and are way cheaper in the long run.... I wont be doing a diy but Im in the market for them for sure if they can be found for less than a few grand...

I'm doing a DIY fixture for my new tank and I can't find a downside to LED. For all the statements of "Where are the nice tanks"...people obviously aren't looking very hard as LED has been around a long time and some amazing tanks are represented out there.
As with all trends...people try different things until they find the one that works...I guarantee the first people using MH were running things in the 6k range and thought it was "awesome".
With the right combination of bulbs and dimming, LED's can be made to fit almost anyone's color choice.

Just my 2 cents though and I encourage everyone to follow the lighting method of their choice.

A lot of concerns I have are not to do with DIY fixture's. They are much simpler to modify or change and if there is an issue, you have put much less money into it. Thanks to modularled, you don't even have to solder anymore, which is a huge bonus if I ever did go this route. Are you planning on buying a bunch of extra LED's just in case you have bulbs burn out/break and the ones you are using go obsolete?

Im pretty sure a lot of the pre-package systems are able to be upgraded (ie remove lights/pods). I know my AI sol is, you can remove the pods from what I understand. Cant say I've taken it apart as of yet. I just thought of a point here, against the "what happens to the light in 5 /10 years" group. How many people have the same system for 10 years? Im sure there are people, but as to how many. Most of us upgrade ever other year lol

With how expensive units are, I would think you would be in the minority if you are replacing them every other year. I've had mine 7 years with no issues. Also, changing out lighting fixtures seems to go against the concept of maintaining stability to a system.

In regards to DIY...really there is no concern in my mind to them going obsolete. I'm using the latest XP-E and XP-G Cree's to get the best amount of light for my $ and everyone knows that the ML version has come out (new improved generation). If some of my LED's quit I would adjust accordingly. If enough quit that I needed to re-add lights, I would get another $25 driver and add whatever is the newest LED...total cost...around $60-80. In 5-10 years...I figure that's a good investment. I personally feel the drivers are more likely to give me issues than the LED's.

I don't have my house complete yet so the new tank is not up and running. I am in the middle of my LED build and will have to be patient about seeing it on a tank.

I seem to remember the VHO craze, the MH craze, the T5 craze, the T5HO craze and LED. All have been used successfully, all have their fans and all have advantages and disadvantages. I don't really see the point of this thread you argue anything positive mentioned and seem to fishing more for vindication against LEDs than any answers. You're never going to hear all positive responses on any lighting technology and they all can work when done properly. Maybe I'm wrong but this how it's coming off as to me.

I set up this thread as I am considering LED, but have some concerns that I don't have the answers for. There has only been one concern that has been satisfied(50,000 hours).

I realize all lights have their plus's and negatives, but this is a fairly new product, and the last time it was mass produced, the company went under. There was probably a lot learned from this but there are still issues with unanswered questions. I know what I have with MH's, PC's and T5's, but I don't with LED's, so I ask questions. I want to know exactly what the negatives and positives are before I make a change.

The bulbs may change be it better color, more efficient, etc., but the power supplies for LEDs are capable of running older or newer bulbs. Maybe not as many bulbs if you decide to change to higher wattage, but then a 250W ballast won't work so great on 400w MH's. So maybe long term a DIY system may be easier to up grade if it came to needing more drivers but a prebuilt one should have no problems if it ever needed same type bulbs replaced. I see LEDs following MH, just as there are 70,150,250,400W bulbs for different requirements (but all types of bulbs are still available), there will be 1,3,5W LED lamps available for different applications as well. LED technology is pretty old now, it's the applications of use that are new. I've seen tanks lit with LED fixtures that gave me headaches to look at and others that looked amazing. There is no clear cut answers as what is pleasing to me could be very bothersome to you.

PM me the build threads...... and anyone willing to build an 8 footer LOL ill run a test for you..... I know a fair bit about Lumens and all that jazz.... and I know LEDs are here to stay even the older tech works better than new MHs if its the right bulbs in the right color order.... I want it and need it.... Im just not shelling out that kinda cash to find out my fish eat what they were trying to grow lol