L.E.D Questions

[SleepyPirate]

Iv noticed people selling off there metal halide lights for L.E.D lights anyone have any information on them?

[HL649]

I recently set up a 2nd tank and went with LED lights. In my opinion they are nice. They give out nice light, they shimmer, intensity is dimmable, and mine have a real nice timer built into the stock controller. Less power, more light, and less heat.

[eli@fijireefrock.com]

I love the look and the extension on my corals under the LED lighting.using half the power with a longer life on the system there is actually nothing that i could think of that is bad.
If you like you could come by and see for yourself as i have half of my reef lit by LED and the other half with a 400W metal halide.

[naesco]

I have had LED on my tank for over one year. I agree with all of the above.
They use much less electricity, produce very little heat and only need replacement every five years. A slam dunk decision in my opinion

[intarsiabox]

Fortunatly LEDs are slowly coming down in price. When I compared the cost of even the cheap Maxspect LED's (not even with the cree lamps) to a Hamilton MH+T5+Moonlight set up last year for a 4' tank it would take 5-6 years of bulb changes and the cost of the fixture to add up to the price of an LED set up. Now there are some mid range models that aren't as badly priced. Even only 1-2 years ago it was either super expensive high-end or very expensive low-end units but now with a lot more manufacturers you can get a half decent fixture for the price of a good MH+T5 combo if you shop around.

[eli@fijireefrock.com]

Originally Posted by intarsiabox

Fortunatly LEDs are slowly coming down in price. When I compared the cost of even the cheap Maxspect LED's (not even with the cree lamps) to a Hamilton MH+T5+Moonlight set up last year for a 4' tank it would take 5-6 years of bulb changes and the cost of the fixture to add up to the price of an LED set up. Now there are some mid range models that aren't as badly priced. Even only 1-2 years ago it was either super expensive high-end or very expensive low-end units but now with a lot more manufacturers you can get a half decent fixture for the price of a good MH+T5 combo if you shop around.

I will have to agree on the above noted.
That is why i went with a DIY system only recommend it if you have time and the know how for DIY

[Magma]

Originally Posted by naesco

only need replacement every five years.

Why every 5 years? I have been looking into LED lights and I have read from some sites, 3 years, some say 5, others says when they burn out.

My understanding from using LED's with sign installations for commercial businesses is that LED's wont technically "burn" out but they do fade over time, most LED's I have seen are rated for 30-50,000 hrs of burn time which is well over 3 years of light if ran 24hrs a day, 7 days a week. The spectrum of the LED wont change either due to how they are made, if it is made to produce blue it can only ever produce that colour. But white LED's are made with phosphurs which turn a blue led into a white one, so the white will change to become blue over time but that doesn't seem to make me want to replace the whole unit every 5 years.


Just curious as to what everyone else thinks on replacement time?

[chandigz]

I believe the 3 year(30000 hr life, generic and cheap or lower end leds) or 5 year(50000 hr life, Cree leds and other high end leds) rating is based on the fact that at that point they will only be producing 70% of the original output not because of colour shift. Led's don't use phosphores and therefore should not go thru a colour shift like halides/flouescents. Replacement times depend on the quality of leds,heatsinks used, hours per day, types of drivers( constant/variable current drivers, or voltaged regulated drivers on low end and cheap chinese units), and how high they are driven. The higher quality units usually have replaceable or customizable leds/led panels.