interesting take on LED
 

Just saw this post on reefbuilders. Very interesting:

http://reefbuilders.com/2012/12/19/t...ghting-secret/

They are making 6cm x 6cm led panels that can be chained together in any shape. Very nice looking design as well. There would be light absolutely everywhere in a tank running these but I'm sure they cost a fortune.

They are 3w CREE run at 1W for increased life and efficiency.. less heat (no fans).

Here's a video (they have a tiny clam in there doing quite well):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aY-qhFgNVA8

So according to their calculator I could light a 3x2 footprint for around $4500. Wow where do I sign up? :lol:

http://www.triton.de/english/product...tor/index.html

At that price point I might as well buy a 72" LED TV and mount it horizontally facing down over my tank. Think about it: the ultimate in colour configurations and one could even simulate a sun hot spot that traverses one side of the tank to the other over the course of a day .. simply by playing a video of the sun moving from one side of the frame to the other. Rainstorms? Lightning? Oh yes, and in full detail, totally trouncing the silly little LED flashes that any of the LED competitors put out.

And I bet no disco effect either ... unless one played a video of a disco, of course.

equal parts awesome and out-of-reach for this guy. i'd love to see that tank in person though!

Not to mention all the sound effects that no other source of LED can give :D The fishes can even watch animal planets :D

that's the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard! I'm pretty sure you'd get more PAR out of a 72" CRT TV hanging over your tank.

I just realized that there are probably a boat load of members here who are scratching their heads wondering what the frak a CRT TV is.. :neutral:

Cathode Ray Tube Tele Vision

(Just thought of helping :mrgreen:)

Definitely a different approach but I have a hard time understanding it. Personally I like the idea of a fixture not covering the entire tank but more importantly it seems to me that you end up using more power than you would with T5s. If my math is correct a 12"x48" tank would use 256W of these LEDs while I think you could only fit 4 T5s with reflectors over the same area which would use 216W. I guess you wouldn't have to run the LEDs at the full 1W but I kind of think you would have to for depth. Either way I don't care for it, looks like the old DIY technique of just sticking a ton of LEDs over a large area, which I've done and it doesn't replicate T5s or eliminate color blending issues.

As for the TV approach I'm not sure that LCD would produce much par and I have no idea what a CRT TV is but I'm guessing it doesn't hang on a wall.