LED lights

Bugsy · #1 01-31-2010, 03:22 AM

Anyone here have the new LED lights on their tanks??

I have been reading about these lights, the so called replacement oneday for MH. Just curious if anyone has them and what your opinion is using them on a reef tank.

Ron99 · #2 01-31-2010, 03:42 AM

I have some on my Pico and they are great. I have a few last parts in the mail right now and then I am starting in on building a 48" LED fixture for my 75 gallon. LEDs give you control over your lighting spectrum, excellent PAR and possibly even better penetration than MH with less energy consumption and less heat to deal with.

Bugsy · #3 01-31-2010, 04:02 AM

I have a pico as well, may i ask how many gal is your pico??

which fixture do you have??

is it the 18"??

What corals do you keep in this pico??

Do you have a picture of your tank?

I have rics, zoas gsp and anthelia and I currently have the 9" coralife 18 watt pc on this tank. I was looking at getting a new fixture the 12" coralife 36 watt pc but then these lights have been recommended by some and other say they are not strong enough for saltwater tanks with corals.

LeeR · #4 01-31-2010, 04:17 AM

im thinking about ordering one of these with my tax refund money

http://www.fish-street.com/maxspect_...ategory_id=126

the marine apprentice · #5 01-31-2010, 04:39 AM

thats a pretty cool led set up. what one you gonna get?

LeeR · #6 01-31-2010, 04:54 AM

g1 180W

its like a 250W mh.. i think the clams will be happy

lodidodi · #7 03-13-2010, 01:05 AM

Has anyone heard anything about the Maxspect led lights? It seems interesting especially for that price.

http://www.fish-street.com/maxspect_...ategory_id=118

BlueAbyss · #8 03-13-2010, 07:05 AM

Stupid Orbitech.

Sorry, just throwing that out there

Ron99 · #9 03-13-2010, 09:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BlueAbyss

Stupid Orbitech.

Sorry, just throwing that out there

I hear you brother

Quote:

Originally Posted by lodidodi

Has anyone heard anything about the Maxspect led lights? It seems interesting especially for that price.

http://www.fish-street.com/maxspect_...ategory_id=118

They look alright but I have a couple of concerns which would keep me from buying one. Firstly, they are not adjustable. You can't dim the LEDs or the blue and white separately. to adjust brightness or colour temperature. secondly, i don't really like the approach of using a few really high wattage LEDs rather than a good array of 3 watt emitters. That will lead to some really bright hotspots and areas of extremely high PAR that could bleach some corals right under those emitters and then the PAR will drop off alot more outside those hotspots. May be okay if you want to put your high light SPS right under those LEDs and then lower light stuff in other areas of the tank.

Ron99 · #10 01-31-2010, 05:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bugsy

I have a pico as well, may i ask how many gal is your pico??

which fixture do you have??

is it the 18"??

What corals do you keep in this pico??

Do you have a picture of your tank?

I have rics, zoas gsp and anthelia and I currently have the 9" coralife 18 watt pc on this tank. I was looking at getting a new fixture the 12" coralife 36 watt pc but then these lights have been recommended by some and other say they are not strong enough for saltwater tanks with corals.

My Pico is the iReef from the last nano contest; about 2 gallons for the display portion. Here is the link to the thread where you can see the DIY LED setup:

http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=53597

It's really not hard to build your own and is much more cost effective then buying a fixture. For a shallow Pico with easy corals you could probably get away with some of the cheaper fixtures using 1 watt LEDs but 3 watt LEDs are preferable. Avoid any of the fixtures using less than 1 watt emitters, especially the ones with the regular 5mm LEDs. They may look bright to your eye but they have very little usable PAR for the corals.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MacheteAvenue

im thinking about ordering one of these with my tax refund money

http://www.fish-street.com/maxspect_...ategory_id=126

The thing I don't like about the Maxspect lights is that they use a few single 30W white emitters rather than an array of good quality 3W emitters. The 30W ones are not very efficient in terms of output and heat and not a good choice for aquarium lighting. Personally I wouldn't buy one.

Quote:

Originally Posted by roblarss

I setup an array of about 60 luxeon rebel LEDs with no lenses on half of my 120gal. When I get that straightened out then I will build another for the other side. Currently have t5 bulbs on that side.
Does anyone know of a place to get larger heatsinks? I cant seem to find a dealer in canada.

Heatsinks is a problem. The few electronics suppliers I found that could get one were very expensive. I ended up buying 3 large used ones on eBay that will do the trick for me.

Maybe we should set up a local LED DIY group