It all depends on what you want to spend. LED's are the best Reef invention since the invention of water ( yeah I know..took that a little to far lol ) BUT the initial cost is higher.

A 6x48 T5 is more than enough for SPS. I have been running a 6x36 on my personal SPS tank for a few years. The ONLY reason why I'm swapping them out next month is because my F-series LED's are coming in.

So let's talk price.

48" F-series LED sells for $1,099.99

2 x radion LED's sell for $1650.00

6 x T5 48" TEK sells for $349.99 + 6 ATI bulbs at about $150, total of $499.99

The "problem" with T5 is you need to swap out the bulbs every 9 months....although I have gone 1 year with little browning. I have my T5's on a hanging kit so I lower them every few months, it extends the need to replace bulbs a little. With that being said, you need to dish out $150 on bulbs every 9 months.

Both are great lights, both will grow SPS. The question is $$?

Good luck with your purchase.
Ray

you could also look at the kessil's seen here:
http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/sho...threadid=85070

IMO I would only look at leds once you figure the price of bulbs every six months the leds will end up saving after about 3-5 years of use depending on which led and or t5 you chose.

(I run radions and they are incredible)

if you are looking at pendants, i would look at something 50 watt + with the depth of your tank (the kessels are only 30 if i remember correctly). Depending on what you wanna keep for coral.

alll these look good as far as pendants go:

ecoxotic has a 50 and 100 watt

orphek has a 30 and a 50 watt (a bit pricey though)

cadlights has a neat looking line of 30/50/100 watters (have not seen any tests or pics of them in use).

Thanks all - great help here.

The Kessils look great - just never considered them - they don't seem be as widely used as the other plug and play led solutions so I never thought of adding them to the list. The 350 "tuna" looks especially nice. Not sure how many I'd need - 2 or 3?

Considering the T5 route - anyone know if a 36" 6 bulb Tek light would do the trick on a 48" long tank? Or should I go 48" for sure?

Also I'm not completely against solder less DIY led kits - any recommendations going this route? The few I've priced out fast approach the cost of AIs.

The sunbrite looks like a nice option. Given that it's so new, however, there isn't a lot of feedback on its performance or quality yet

My DIY LED was in the neighbour hood of $2k, I would have needed at least 6 Radions and 7 - 8 SOL's for the 8'er so it was a no brainier for me.

You are much better off going with a 48" T5 instead of 36", small price difference.

SB USA has delivered 10 F-series in the US and there are great reviews. They love the craftsmanship and intensity of the light. One guy replaced his 3 x 250W MH with 1 x 72" F-series and he's running it at 75%, still finds it brighter.

Thanks,
Ray

Don't forget the AI sol's and DIY when you are comparing LED's

2x AI SOL = $800
LEDs=48
Controller=$80 option
Modular = Yes (3 LEDs per panel)

2x Radion $1650
LEDs=68
Controller= Yes
Modular= Yes (17 LEDs per panel)

Sunbrite f-series 48" $1100
LEDs=72
Controller= Yes
Modular= Yes (18 LEDs per panel)

Modular led 48" kit, no lenses, no dimming $609 +~$40 for fans and cords.
LEDs=84
Controller= No
Modular= Yes (2 LEDs per panel)

The main factors to consider with any unit: Initial cost, quality and number of LED's, repair/replacement/upgrade costs and ability, and control. For me control is a much smaller factor since I am still used to old fashion lighting where control was pretty much limited to actinic and moonlight timing. Being modular is much more important to me. It allows for upgrades as technology advances. But also if something breaks on this unit down the road, I want it to easily be replaced at a reasonable cost. I would guess that the larger amount of LEDs per panel jumps the replacement cost considerably. So if 3 LEDs die on a panel of 17 or 18, you are less likely to replace them. While a panel with 2 or 3 LEDs would be cheaper to replace if 3 LEDs went out.

but when you consider that bulbs last like 8-9 months, and cost $180 a pop to replace all 6 versus an ai sols 50000 hour LED module lifespan (5.7 years) and relative low cost to replace (apparently ~$25 a 'puck'), the AI sol would have itself paid off and working to your advantage in just over 3 years. take into consideration the wattage youll be saving and the time youll be saving from less frequient water top ups (LED = less heat = less evaporation), theyll be paying themselves off even sooner.

2 AI sol ($399.00 x2 = 798) - Tek6 ($250) = $548 / $180 = 3.04~

did you finance your house or pay in cash?
you kno if you had just saved the 1/2 million bux you could have saved yourself a bunch of money................

I kno in the long run LED overall costs are cheeper but its a big bill to swallow at once which was my point

If you're going the T5HO route, you have to go with full tank coverage - 48" fixture for a 48" tank
I love my ATI fixture