A bunch of good points from everybody. As I see it if you want high PAR in a fairly deep tank then 400W MH is probably the best option. for tanks up to 24" deep I feel that LEDs can be set up to perform as well or better than many MH setups. The performance of MH is dependent on the bulbs and reflectors used and some are better than others. Same thing with LEDs. Depending on the LEDs used, the spacing of the emitters and the optics used you get varying performance. The thing about LEDs with good optics is that it looks like the penetration is actually better than MH because the lenses focus the light better than a reflector reflecting the light into the tank. What that means is that the drop off in PAR vs. depth can be less in LEDs than MH with the use of optics.
Of course, the real performance advantage of LEDS is in lower energy consumption and not adding heat to the tank. I am fairly confident my array will perform as well a a 2 x 250W MH setup would while using only 240W of LEDs and adding less heat to the tank then MH would or even my current 8 bulb T5HO set up which uses 432W of T5.
As for the Maxspect, they look okay but I'm not sold on the use of a few super high wattage LEDs rather than an array of 3W emitters with optics. They create some big hotspots under those LEDs while also being far less efficient in output per watt then the smaller LEDs. I would like to see some real independent PAR numbers etc. on them. Anybody in the Lower Mainland have one for testing?
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