Led education frustration
 

So I'm trying to learn about what is availiable, an required for led lighting. I'm usually really good at researching and understanding, things. However I find there is alot of junk trying to sell crap regarding this topic. What are the best links to learn about things such as, required watts, lumens, controllers , lenses, LEDs, etc. As well I would probably want to go DIY ( as I'm pretty good with that stuff). Were are the best sources for these parts.

you can go to rapidled.com (they have lots of good leds from cree to osram)
most people will tell you to go with cree leds as they are really powerfull
there are advantages and disadvantages to going led, the advantage is that they consume a lot less electricity and produce little to no heat
the disadvantage is that you will be looking at spending a lot of money on them
for comparison a 48 inch fixture from marineland(the reefbrite) is abour 500 dollars
they are not the best in the market but they will do real good for an average user
if you have a little more to spend you can check out the radions by ecotech. for about 900 dollars its not really a bargain but they offer a lot more options than what you would get from other companies
i cannot really point you to a site which would show you par/lux at certain depths but check out this page http://www.marineland.com/sites/mari...l.aspx?id=4632
and go to the tab specs and size there you will find a par/lux at certain depths
its not that good of a link but its something to get you started with
also check out youtube for a lot of diy builds of led they link a lot of sites that can provide you parts as well
led is still new but it is catching on
i have had my marineland reefbrites for about a year now and they are actually really good but i would advise you to not buy them right now as they are comming out with a new model that has a timer on it

just keep one more thing in mind is that you will need to make sure (if you go diy)
get a good knowledge of the lenses you will need
i am sure there are a lot of people here who can point you in the right direction (i am not that good with diy right now)
hope this helps

There are a number of people on this website running LED's and I am sure are willing to help you out. What are you planning on putting them over?

Also stay far away from marineland fixtures. sorry fido but they over priced for what you are getting. Than again it depends on what you are planning on doing in your tank. Great lights for fowlr tanks or low light corals but with their history they aren't worth it. DIY kits are great but unless you can hide them they are a bit of an eye sore.

Lights to consider right now are either the AI sol or the radion. Both great fixtures.

Martin from ModularLED is a great guy to work with and I am sure he would be more than willing to help out if you considered a DIY kit

Coral Magazine had a great aritical from sep/oct 2011 very in depth info. On all brands and lumina and such.

For LEDs it's not some much watts per gallon per say. It's more the par level and spectrum. Also if you do go DIY for a fixture I would go wel modularled over radipled just for the fact that every thing is on prefabricated board so it's quick connect. No soldiering.
As for lenses depending on the depth of your tank they are for coverage/depth. As normal led with no lenses cover I think 120 degrees.
Bottom line for more info on what you need is tank size, and what you keep or planning to keep in the tank.

There is a lot to know on this topic, depending on how in-depth you want to go into it. The best place to start, or at least where I started, is in Soundwave's thread on RC. You could probably skip the first split if you'd like since it deals with older technology now and the implementation is essentially the same. A recurring theme is new DIYers joining the thread and asking similar questions so a lot of points are reiterated and driven home. This also allows for some skimming, which helps, since the third split has over 300 pages.

Soundwave's build thread on RC:
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1587273

There was a thread dedicated to summarizing the key points from the main one but I seem to have lost the link. Links to it start to appear part way through the thirsd split.

Also, there are a few DIYers on Canreef too, including myself. I have two fixtures planned for later this year, when I have the funds. I'd be more than happy to answer what questions I can.

One thing I would not cheap out on is your lighting. It was kind of imprinted in my brain from all of my research...lol. I was going to go with the Marineland Reef capable for my 20gal, but I really wanted some control on how my lighting looked and pretty much be maintenance free once it is set up. I then found a great deal on my Mazarra LED's that are pretty neat. They will do the job for anything I would like to put in my tank, however I am going to use these for my sump in the future and get a Radion setup so I can really control the color scheme's in my tank.

I guess to make it simple just get one that is already built and ready to go, as I was in the same boat as you in Par values at certain depths and said screw it..lol

As for the DIY, there are some great looking setups that people have done and there is quite a lot of info on them, however they make me nervous as some look like a house fire waiting to happen...lol

Check. with Martin at moddularled he will help you figure everything out. Site sponsor as well

Best prices
http://www.aquastyleonline.com

The lighting and DIY forums at nano-reef.com have tons of info and wiring examples regardless of tank size.

I would concur that Soundwave's write-up (the whole thing) is the best resource around. They are not trying to sell you anything, and it's huge so just about everything you could want to know is in there.

I have built a large DIY fixture and that link has been the premise for the entire build. There is a sub-link within it under "thefishman65" which summarizes the thread and suggested options.
I personally would avoid the knock off LED's as for every good story, there is a bad one to match. ie: steve's, no name...