High Power LED vs T5HO

[300g]

180w led vs t5ho 8x54w = 432w
any comment ??
http://s571.photobucket.com/albums/s...LED%20Mar2010/

[RuGlu6]

Originally Posted by 300g

180w led vs t5ho 8x54w = 432w
any comment ??
http://s571.photobucket.com/albums/s...LED%20Mar2010/

All this looks good, however it always comes to PAR values under 20" or so of water.
And we still yet to se an LED's that would provide any PAR reading higher then ~50W MH bulb.

Obviously OK for Fish Only.

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by RuGlu6

All this looks good, however it always comes to PAR values under 20" or so of water.
And we still yet to se an LED's that would provide any PAR reading higher then ~50W MH bulb.

Obviously OK for Fish Only.

um.. LEDs are pumping out just as much PAR as a 250 watt MH and even up to 400 watt levels in 20" of water.. you have to use the optics to match the power you want.

Steve

[RuGlu6]

Originally Posted by StirCrazy

um.. LEDs are pumping out just as much PAR as a 250 watt MH and even up to 400 watt levels in 20" of water.. you have to use the optics to match the power you want.

Steve

Oh, thats good news.
Can you provide any reference, please?

[BlueAbyss]

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2010/2/aafeature2

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by BlueAbyss

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2010/2/aafeature2

ok there has to be some info with this to. Solarius to my understanding did not use Optics which is why the MH puts out slightly more PAR and the T5 is pretty much the same.

now optice greatly improve the output by focusing the light, but this is a slight down size also which is cost. not fo the optics as they are only about a buck each, but for LEDs. the more you focus the more you need.
I don't have the exact numbers for spacing for no optics and so one but for 40degree optics you need to be with in 2" of the next LED to reduce the "Spotlight" effect, you could get away with 2.5 to 3" with 60 degrees and probably 4ish with no optics, Ron might know the exact distances.

Steve

[Ron99]

I haven't has a chance to read the Advance Aquarist article yet but will as soon as I can. Here is what I understand to be the current thinking on LED spacing with various optics to get good blending:

40 degree - 1.5"-2"
60 degree - 2"-2.5"
80 degree - 2.5"-3.5"

With no optics you could probably go 4 or 5 inches apart but won't get much PAR deeper in the tank. Spacing of rows front to back can be a bit wider as the spotlighting effect will not be as noticeable. So maybe 3 to 4 inches between rows. Personally I would only go no optics on a nano or shallow tank (12 inches or less). I am using 60 degree optics for mine (20" deep) and have spaced the LEDs 2.25 inches apart and the rows are 3 inches apart front to back.

I should also add that I have alternated the white and blue in the row rather than go with separate rows of white and blue like the one in the pictures.

[Ron99]

Oh, yeah, forgot to add that the Solaris did use optics but they were using older generation Luxeon emitters. The newer Crees etc. have higher output than the Luxeon III emitters in the Solaris. I do not know what emitters the Eco-Lamps use but they when i emailed them about their KR91 1st Gen products they sounded like generic Chinese emitters so they may be slightly down on output compared to Crees. But even the generic Chinese ones may now outperform the Luxeon emitters used in the Solaris fixtures.

[Ron99]

And one more thing too, the Eco-Lamps fixtures appear to be using 1 watt LEDs rather than 3 watt so that will affect output. 3 watt Crees will put out alot mote PAR than the Eco-Lamps.