+1. I'm thinking of DIY for a 24" deep 90 gallon. I'd like to hear from the unhappy voters.

you wont get anyone posting Mark. i bet

Very happy, so far, with my SWC Extreme led unit over my 20g tank. I,m finally getting some colour and growth from the few sps I have.

I too would like to hear from the 2 or 3 who posted they were unhappy.

I have had both MH and LED and in my opinion LED is clearly superior.

+1. Big time.

Take the poll for what it's worth guys, no point calling people out. There are many reasons why people might not be happy with LEDs. Could have been a lower grade fixture which didn't perform as expected, could have been a PFO which I don't believe many happy customers still exist, could be a little regret not waiting to buy the newest model, or maybe just maybe some people still prefer MH. Not everyone wants to drive a Prius and you're always going to find some people unhappy with a purchase no matter how strange you might think that is. There are also many reasons why people wouldn't post there experience, one is the risk of being harassed by the new followers of LED religion, I mean you're already calling them out for posting on an anonymous poll.....

ummmm what sphelps said lol i think you all scared them away lol fact of the matter is not a product in the world that every single person is going to be happy with regardless of how many that are:) and im sure everyone has their own reasons:)

It is not a matter of 'calling people out' or harrassing them. I am simply interested in the reasons and it could be for one of the reasons you stated.

The original poster wanted to hear from those who were unhappy as well. If they choose not to post their reasons that is fine with me.

I'm sticking with halides till the prices come down more. My corals do great but there's always the heat problem will switch in a few years for sure. My mom upgraded to an 800$ led unit on her cube tank and its amazing. Of corse the diff was huge as she had compacts on it b4.

I'd actually love to consider a move to LED. When I look at the options though .. and I'll give this thread as a perfect example, someone early on mentioned a unit over their size tank that is similar in size to mine - and for the briefest of instants I toyed with the fantasy of switching - so over to the vendor mentioned, find the unit listed and .... oh wow 4 grand, ok, this fantasy is over. To use the Prius metaphor .. that's like buying a Prius but paying the price of a Porsche GT4. Unless I'm overlooking something it feels to me there's a HUGE disconnect between investment and return. To me the question isn't about whether LED's can "work" or not, that's immaterial. They work well enough, I believe that without question. The problem to me is the enormous cost burden up front. With my current setup I probably spent less than $500 to get it set up but I can mix and match as time goes on or add another T5 here or a spotlight LED there .. I can buy a LOT of replacement lamps and pay the difference in electricity for many many many MANY years before I hit 4 grand. I'd love to make the plunge but until I get a huge pile of money to burn it doesn't look like it's going to happen anytime soon. :(

I'm definetly not 'calling anyone out' as you say. To me however, the purpose of this community is to share info. If that info is how to keep an animal or coral, perfect. In this case, I along with several others, am wondering about a new technology, and people's experiences with it. If it were me, I would share with you guys. If I had purchased an inferior LED fixture, I would let you guys know that it would potentially work for softies, but not for SPS. If it broke soon after purchase, I'd warn you guys.

Unless I miss my guess, most of the 'unhappy' section likely purchased a low end unit that did not work out for their tank, and their plans for their tank. If I remember correctly, there are 3 people that are unhappy with their LED, and it is their first tank, and first light. I assume that they made an uneducated decision and it didn't work out for them. We've all done it... at least I have.

All I'm saying is that it would be nice to hear from them. No big deal... ALL of the people that have written down info are in the positive column. This leads me to believe that LED's are scoring well.

That said, I'm not 100% convinced, and as said, the prices for the factory units are still very high IMO. That being the case, (and since I've already purchased my T5's) I'll be sticking with my T5's on the display, and likely purchase a cheap ebay fixture like Dez has. That fixture will go on my frag tank where I can gauge the technology and decide if I want to make the switch in the future.

To all who have shared info, I appreciate it! I feel like this poll will help many in the near future. Hopefully it doesn't get burried too deep.

Tony, Doch.

What are the dimentions of your tank?

In the meantime, take a look at www.fish-street.com under LED lighting. I have the Key model.

Wayne

I really identify with what you're saying Tony.

The costs of going LED on larger tanks is unreal. I had previously collected used mh parts as they showed up and need a reflector or two for the new tank and voila... lighting is handled. I can replace bulbs and pay the electric for many years before the costs outweigh what an LED setup may cost me.

I certainly want to try LED more all the time but I highly doubt it's going to happen.

Sphelps is right. About the insane price point. That is an obvious problem for some. But when comparing the two I find no one is throwing in the price of a decent halide fixture.

That plus bulb changes and double my hydro bill also comes to around 3-4 thousand. Over next 5 years. Same time frame of Mh usage before I'd upgrade fixture.

The led is not more powerful or better for growing corals. But it is something that is more efficient and removes the need for a chiller and fans.

Hi Wayne, my tank is 72x30x30. Looking at a single unit for that tank, I see two comparable options:

http://www.jlaquatics.com/product/vt...2+Inch%29.html (almost $5k :( )

http://www.thereefshoppe.ca/index.ph...4b84f6d9596c71 ($4k)

If I look at the Key model you mention, the largest unit I see is 78cm x 27cm at $630ish. I'm not sure what kind of coverage you get off that, in the worst case scenario though I could fit 4 of those over top of my tank and $600*4 = $2400, still a pretty respectable purchase price.

I was looking at these Orphek units that fit inside a T5/T8 socket and they look pretty neat but even then it looks like something like $160 per unit (I assume they mean one T5 replacement). I assume that it's fair to expect 5 to 10 times the longevity out of one of these over one T5 lamp so maybe that's fair but then you lose the ability to "mortgage" that part of the tank expenses over time.

I have very little doubt that with most units available today, that most people don't "regret" the jump to LED, per se. I doubt I'd regret buying a Porsche one day, although that doesn't mean I can afford to get into one. Life's funny that way.

My son's tank is 6' by 4'. He bought 2 eco exotic Cannon LED 'pendants' for just under $600.00 each from Ocean Aquatics. His tank looks spectacular. He sent Ocean a picture that they are using. I guess a techy can let you know the difference between the two you are looking at at J&L
http://www.ecoxotic.com/aquarium-led...-pendants.html

I didn't see the Cannon's on Ocean Aquatics website but looked up Eco Exotics website and it doesn't give a lot of detail. What kind of spread does a single unit cover and how high does it have to be mounted to get any descent coverage? It looks like one spot light covers a 3'x4' area on your son's tank, is it an SPS tank with only 2 units? It also looks like you can only get one color in each unit is this right also? Thanks!

See, if I did end up going LED, there's no question in my mind that I'd go DIY. From the builds that I've seen, it doesn't look like it would be all that hard. The only thing that I'm not sure if you can do with a DIY LED set up is the lightning flashes. Do I need it? No. Would it be cool to have? Likely. Also, may very well be a novelty that would get anoying after a while. For my tank (48*30*26), I priced it out in the realm of $1200-$1700, depending on what extent I would go to (I tend to go overkill). If I hadn't already bought the t5's my decision would likely leave me with about a 100 LED DIY set up. I already bought the t5's... I think I'll stick with them. For now. Come time to do a bulb swap on my 6*36" t5 (current light, soon to be temporary frag tank light), I'm going to sell it, and build a 48 LED set up for the frag tank. At that time, whether I like the LED's or not, I will certainly let you all know.

Just wait until halloween, they always have flashing LED stuff to simulate lightening and other effects. You could easily rig it up to your tank see what it looks like. And after you've had your fun and relized that it's more of a novilty it's only a few bucks down the sump and that DIY LED fixture will look even more appealing.

It is a brand new tank but he will be adding SPS a bit later on when the tank matures.
I do not have a light meter but the two units had complete coverage over the whole of the tank. In order to achieve this the pendants hang 12inches above the water line. As he likes the fluorescence the LED provides, he chose blue.
I can't comment on the technical aspects or compare this lighting to other LED lighting from a technical point of view but his tank looks great.
He chose the blue because he likes to observe them fluoresce.

A three foot tank would require one pendant at a $600.00 cost which is comparable to a MH system without the added heat and high maintenace cost.
IMO, one unit would leave the edges dimmer on a 4 foot tank.

If a reefer is starting up a new tank I could not in good conscience recommend MH.

For a reefer who has MH they may decide to wait a little longer to replace their lighting. The price of LEDs will go down a bit, there will be more selection and improvements will be made.

That's pretty amazing that only 2 of those Cannons could lighta tank that size at only 12" above the water. The picture of the units make them look like they would only produce a very focused beam of light. Thanks for the info!

Wayne his tank is 4' tall ? Wow.

When you get a chance please post some pictures, I'd love to see those. I did see those Cannons when they first came out and thought that might be a good way to get into LED's but unfortunately even at $600 versus money already spent for the existing halides it will still be a while before I pull the trigger on the switch over but I'd still love to see them in action besides just the usual promotional stuff out there. Thanks!

No, it is six feet long and four feet wide. I will try to get him to post a pic here.

orphek and Kriesel (sp?) make multi chip LED cannon that uses a mix of different colors vs. the Ecoxotic solution which uses one color. Meant to be a halide replacement (ie. strong point source light).

keep an eye out on Dave Fason of Nano Box. He's a hobbyiest doing some CRAZY custom stuff with LEDs that he's trying to bring into the mainstream market.

http://nano-box-reef.com/blog/?categ...me=nanoboxnews

the NANO Pulsar looks pretty awesome and might be something you big tank folk may want to consider vs. a $5000 fixture. He's got a pretty sweet controller (Ryujin)designed for the system as well.

I dont see many people replacing MH bulbs twice a year, i see many people replacing MH bulbs every 16-18 month.

This really is irrelevant, like I said earlier you can beet this argument to death as everyone has a different example of how much they spend on bulbs and energy and how much they would invest in a new fixture, also have to consider if they are replacing a fixture or setting up 100% as used fixtures can pull in some cash to speed up the return but regardless completely dependent on each person.

Most MH lamps will depriciate 50-60% of lumens by 50% of lamp life (dependant on brand, and yes you will find that the MFR will try to hide that and post better findings). So what one person does for lamp change will be different than another. I changed mine 6-8 months, while you do it 16-18 months, to each their own. If you look at a statement like Aquattro, he will keep his MH for 10 more years. Figure out your lamp replacement and Electric/hydro and figure out if you can pay it off in 10 years. Either you justify it or you dont.

That is really the bottom line. Each person will justify LED one way or the other. Either you see a pay off or not. Like the look or not etc.

Least we forget that it's worth paying more for a superior solution. It is not necessary to recover costs or break even. Better is simply better.

- Brad

Couldn't agree more. I have no concerns over what I'm going to spend over the next 5 years, for me, it's MH all the way. It's what I like, it works for my setup, I've had great success and I have no reason to change. Better is simply better!

I am staying with MH at this time as the LED tech is changing so fast and being still relatively new, I am still not totally convinced of it's reliabllity. Everyone says that they are good for 5 years but I do not see the warranty reflecting that. In addition, with the price of LED dropping (especially from things coming out of Asia) I am willing to wait it out.

Would you be so kind to post a reference link to your statement ?
I remember not too long ago there was a discussion on here and some good references just to the contrary. That MH bulbs only loose 20-25% in 12 months.

If the corals are still just as colorful, growing and no algae problems then I don't see the need to change a bulb at a fixed interval just because somebody says I have to. Every bulbs life is going to be different based on mfg, hour usage, temperature control, brand of fixture they're in, etc. This were I don't agree with LED mfg's using short bulb life of non-led's to help justify their high prices in their marketing schemes showing how much money you will save every year on bulb changes.

i have my Maxspect G2-160 (X 2) LED to replace the Coralife 150Wx2 mh + 96Wx2 pc for about 14 months now. no looking back whatsoever. heat,energy bill,chiller not an issue anymore. sps seems growing happy. but i did burnt a lots of them ( too close to the water!) at the beginning 2 months. tank is 72g bf with 21g sump.

+1. many of the high end units require a board replacement if an led burns out. Haven't heard the cost to replace one board but I imagines it's HUNDREDS of dollars.

The big thing too is many of us change tanks every few years or quit the hobby.6 + year payback isn't realistic IMO.

For me, though, I have to say that heat was the biggest problem I had with metal halides. LEDs fixed that problem for me. Now you can say it is poor system design etc, but in the end I kept my system exactly as it is and just replaced MH with LED and no more temp problems.

seeing yours fred opened my eyes to led i must say you have amazing growth and beautiful colour.i also learned a couple things mainly that if your gonna diy do it right the first time :) i hope youll help me with mine when i get them:)

Ikea led
 

I know this thread is about aquarium specific LED systems but I just cannot come up with the $ for a complete set up. I am currently running mh on both my systems, have a fan built into canopy on both and have no problem with temp. I am however going try some cheap led strip lights from ikea to compliment my atinics. Going with this one to see how diferent colors look in the tank, maybe as moon lights.

http://www.ikea.com/ca/en/catalog/products/50192365

Will update on my opinion of them once installed

I think I might buy a cheap LED setup from ebay to try over my nano. I took down my 90g tank due to moving of which I had 2 250W MH's over it. The tank was on the main floor and never got above 80 degrees even during the summer. No fans just open top. Evaporation was only about a gallon a day. I used a Belize Sun fixture that does a really good job of venting the heat. I see a lot of heat complaints using MH and this seems to be the biggest advantage for some over LED's but I think a well designed MH fixture won't add much heat to the tank either in my experience anyway.

Ya that is what I am thinking about i have a nano too and thinking what cheap LED would work. I want to grow my Ricordia's in the nano. Thought about those LEd screw in bulbs that you can get from Home depot they are 21w soft white thou.

Very true, I built mine in stages and it is less than optimal but I'm still happy with it. I sure will help you when you get yours.... no problem. I just love building them and seeing the end result from doing something with your own hands that everyone is happy with.