This is a pretty fast moving thread.... But please don't get mad at me...LOL. I did not say or suggest that you or any non-LED users were misleading. Instead I said you were being misled,... big difference.

And in your case specifically, you are probably a good example of this. You have no direct experience with LED, yet you seem to be taking the side against LEDs and choose who you want to quote or back up your argument. If you want to talk about cost savings, why don't you go back and read my earlier post in this thread where I gave some real data on my usage and savings.

There's nothing to be mad over here. :lol: There's are all healthy arguments and thats why the forum is for. :mrgreen:

I am not taking side again't LED, I am being against the cost savings :razz:

Aha, found the numbers. Sorry I didn't notice that post :redface: Can you please let me know how many T5s were you running (including the watt and the hours of running) and how many radions (which model? that will factor in the cost) you are running over the two tanks? I will do a calculation and see how things look. Your numbers are something that I needed. Thanks for posting those btw :D

I wish I could compare the cost of MH vs LED. The week I switched over from MHs to LED there was a smart meter installed on my house. My hydro bill stayed the same at $500 for 2 months. Im getting hammered on with out getting dinner first:lol: But smart meters are a different topic all together.

Yah lets not bring any more variables :lol:

When setting up my 90 gallon I had 3 main research points. What skimmer, do I run a fuge, what kind of lighting. I guess I went budget on all those questions. I didn't know if I'd ever get into sps, but wanted a light capable of providing that. Now that I'm mostly LPS and SPS and graduated away from colt corals and mushrooms I'm glad I did.

I had 3 main reasons for going LED with the evergrow it2080. One, I didn't want to deal with changing bulbs. Two, I knew if I just wanted low light coral I could turn my light down. If I wanted sps I could cater to that too. Three, I wanted to cover my 90 gallon with one unit. I felt the AI would have an issue with the centre brace. While my unit does shadow slightly, it's very minimal.

These are my reasons and they may be wrong due to lack of hands on experience with other lighting methods. I just couldn't justify spending well over 1000 dollars on a light at the time when there was a perfectly suitable unit for half that price.

As for results, I'm very happy. Everything is growing, sps, lps and zoas. I will admit that I bought coral online and I don't have quite the coloration that the pictures depicted, but that could be more a me problem than the led unit. I am however going to keep an eye on things/tweak my channels to see If I can get better coloration and possibly add a t5 light to the equation if I don't get the results I want. I should also mention that I don't add any kinds of supplements, just water changes.

Ya, I got mine exactly at switch over time on LEDs, and bill never changed. Not even flowers....

Well, that's good (liking healthy arguments). Candor without malice, is what we used to say in the corporate world where I worked.

We used to live and die by all the numbers, and stretched and shrunk them every quarter (with the help of our creative accountants) to make our owners and shareholders happy. But I'm retired now, and have to say I hate numbers now, and do my best not to overly manage my personal finance, including how much I spend on reefing, etc. I just know it is a lot, and anything I can do to cut it back a bit (without compromising the quality and pleasure of my hobby experience) is good. So, no, I am not going to get out the meters and check my exact power usage, or calculate all my equipment cost and depreciation, etc. That would take much of the fun out of this hobby...

All I can tell you, is that my canopy (6 foot tank) was totally jammed with T5s before. They were very hot, and I know used a lot of power, incl the chiller and all the bulb costs. My LEDs on the other hand are very cool (in comparison to the T5s), and are basically maintenance free. Any adjustments are made with my computer.

Don't feel too bad we don't have smart meters but still get dinged the same way. My dad (retired, so has some spare time) kept his power bills for two years and compared the actual cost of electricity vs all the extra fees on the bill. Any time actual usage costs were down the others fees went up, when usage cost went up the fees went down. Over all the bills didn't change much regardless of electricity used. I have switched my house lights to CF bulbs, went from MH to LED's, don't leave lights on that I don't need, etc. and have yet to see any of this make any real difference to the bottom line of what I pay for electricity.

No no no you don't to take out the meters. Just the numbers of T5s, the watt of heaters T5s and the radion gen and how many. I sent you a PM for convenience. Just the name plate numbers :)

Oh, I miss this too :) Although once adjusted, they were set and forget. Although I can set the timers via computer still. I can turn my T5 off. Then on. Then off again. I can actually do this with my phone. But I haven't been that bored yet -lol

Like I said in my earlier post, I probably shouldn't have waded into this discussion....LOL. I don't have time for another "What is a corporation" debate.

:lol: I had to unsubscribe from that thread.

Then I have concerns about that LED. why would my tank running on LED be any different to the next, I dont need a chiller and never have running LED.

LED's give out heat when driven hard, if the lamp does not have enough sufficient cooling which in turn effects the lamps PAR output then its not designed correctly.

My second generation DIY light uses a lot more Aluminium bars for the heat sink and so it dissipates the heat extremely well with NO fans whatsoever. Its all passive heat dissipation and just warm to the touch, even at full blast (280w) after 8 hours. My tanks were much warmer in the summer with halides.

I wonder if Brad and the others who experienced heat issues with LEDs have them inside an enclosed canopy with not enough air movement?

Yes, I had mine in a canopy.

Okay so what's the consensus? Should I switch to LEDS? Maybe I should ask in a poll.

Okay, but it needs to be he best poll ever or it's not even worth voting. :lol:

Absolutely.

:faint2:

I'm finding the colours I'm getting with my mitras to be just as good if not better (finally) than with my radiums. tank seems to be on an upward swing which I believe has nothing to do with the lights.

one thing that still stand out to me is how much better halides look over tanks during daylight hours. my LEDs just don't look bright enough to make the tank pop when it's light in the room. once evening rolls around my tank looks so much better in a dark livingroom.

well that will explain the heat issue, unless specified otherwise LEDS are not designed for canopies.

Under energy saving option switch the lamp to high output mode and 100% max power, then go to composer and press 100% full spectrum and 100% brightness ;)

Place supplied glasses over eyes before pressing save :mrgreen:

I've always had my Radions enclosed, incl my Gen 1s, and never had any issues. They are well vented, of course, and a lot cooler than the T5s that used to be in there.

I...

... should....

... not have posted this! I've read through this thread almost all the way once again & is it just me, or are we repeating ourselves over and over and over and over? Like sphelps said, just do whatever you decide & get it over with. I think we've flogged this to death, no?

Here's what I did, I like it & won't change back. I'll just keep improving/modifying this.... or not! DIY, relatively low cost, not too many bells & whistles, been running almost two years with no issues other than the cheap fans which are starting to go. I have plenty of spares & could probably run the LEDs without fans since I'm underdriving them. Don't have the budget for $1000 light fixtures.

https://ojcrhq.blu.livefilestore.com...78e.JPG?psid=1

almost forgot, I added a couple of strips of these SMD5050 RGBs...

https://ojcrhq.blu.livefilestore.com...44e.JPG?psid=1

Perhaps. :) Ya, I'm done, I'm happy with my choices. My time is limited in the hobby, so if T5 are not available in 5 years, I'm ok with that.

And Keener, if you'd taken the job, you could have closed this yourself. Just sayin' lol

but it's so much more fun this way! :twised:

This has officially turned into a Zombie Thread :lol: .. just like the 'Corporation' one.

your saying i should bump up the zombie thread:mrgreen::mrgreen:.....it has been a while and alot of breakthroughs have happened since the last prepartion update:)

ok youve got me convinced ill get on it sorry about that:twised::twised::twised:

Huh? What's a Corporation??

Exactly! We're still working on that question.. stay tuned! We should have the answer soon*


* never.

No please don't. How's bout just keep building those tanks. Preferably the one that's goin to PG:lol:

and preferably with the correct dimensions? :lol:

I am buying LEDs tomorrow!

Awesome! You'll save tons of money :)

and your corals will never be happier:)

We all know how gross that looked. I'm sure you recall the reef builders article lol.

I have been following this thread and it is turning into another advertising campaign by aqua digital, frankly the mitras are a OK led, and if they wern't so over priced I would consider buying one, are they better than other grouped cluster LEDs nope, do they have a few more features maybe but software functions don't increase the cost of the hardware. I am really getting tired of lighting discussions turning into advertising so companies please try to keep your soap box advertising to your own forum area so the rest of us can read unbiased posts.

now it may be just me getting tired of this and if so I am sorry, but I don't think it is just me.

Steve

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