Hi Steve,
I have read alot about LEDs on nanoreef. I may get in on the current group buy which will get the prices down as low as possible. You should check out what Evill66 posts. He has tons of experience with LEDs and PAR levels and knows his stuff. LEDs are able to compete with MH and will bleach corals if you aren't careful. I think some of the older comparisons were made with products like the Solaris fixtures that used older Luxeon III LEDs etc. The newer Cree LEDs put out alot of light and alot more PAR.
Which LEDs are you looking at? If it's the MC-Es then yeah, they are a bit expensive and probably overkill. If you put tight optics on an MC-E you will probably bleach any corals directly under it unless they are deeper in your tank. Also, I don't think there are any royal blue MC-Es yet. XR-Es put out alot of light and PAR and can be had for USD $6.00 each on stars. In the group buy they will probably end up around $5.75 a piece and then optics are $1 each. Luxeon Rebels are really good too but optics are more limited. I am considering a 68 to 72 Cree XR-E LED array with 60 degree optics which should give me more than 150W MH performance. That is more than adequate for what I want to keep as I want to do a progression of higher to lower light corals from the top down. But nothing really demanding or requiring really high light.
I'm not really sure what LEDs you're looking at and what prices you are getting but those prices seem awfully high compared to what I have found at LED Supply, Cutter, ETG Tech etc. LEDs , optics and drivers/power supplies for my array would work out to about USD $650 to $700.
Assuming your tank is something like 30 by 12 inches you could probably get away with a 45 LED array (15 x 3) with 40 degree optics and you would have at least 250W MH performance. Cost of parts would be around USD $270 for LEDs, USD $45 for optics. The Meanwell drivers are a great option as they incorporate the power supply and driver in one and run off 110V. You could drive up to 13 LEDs on each one so you would need 4 of them. If you buy them yourself they would probably run around $50 to $60 each but in volume with the group buy at nanoreef they will likely come in at around USD $33 each. They are also dimmable with a few extra inexpensive components so you could run blues and whites off separate drivers and adjust your colour temperature and brightness.
Also, if the LEDs are already mounted on stars there is no need for plate soldering or anything like that. Simply mount them to the heatsink and wire the proper pads on the stars. As for heat, yes, you are right. they generate alot of heat upwards, not down into the tank. I picked up a large industrial heat sink at a salvage yard for $40 which will be more than adequate. If I bought the heatsink commercially I would probably be looking at $100 or so for that.
So the prices for DIY are not cheap but when you look at long term savings in electricity and bulbs it works out to be cheaper after a couple of years use.
Cheers,
Ron
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