LED compairison article

[badAZZlars]

I would have like to see more measurements at 6, 12, 18" so I would know what the mid water corals were getting.

[BigAl07]

One thing to take into consideration Re: PAR - This (in overly simplistic terms) is measuring the light photons striking the sensor. It doesn't measure WHAT type of photon (high in the spectrum, low, etc). So with that being said a MH with say 250 PAR is pretty good but a good portion of that 250 PAR is light that may not be useable by our coral. Look at a spectral graph for MH bulbs and you'll see peaks all over the place (which isn't absolutely bad but not part of this discussion). Now look at LED and see how it's spectral graph is much more defined. So in essence if the LED was putting out the same 250 PAR and it was in the correct spectrum for said coral then it's easy to surmise that more light energy that's useable for our coral is being created by the LED.

Re: Close to the water and heat up the tank for nanos - that's one of the BEAUTIES of LEDs. Their heat isn't projected down into the water from the light source. It comes from the back of the DIODE. Also unless you're using special Infrared LED (which you're not unless you've stuck your TV remote control into the tank) your LED is emitting little to no IR heat. That's why they keep the tank cooler but also why they require a massive heatsink.

[mike31154]

Good to finally see some info on the multi chip arrays. I've decided to go that route with a DIY project & am gathering the parts in the form of 10 watt arrays in royal blue & 10,000K whites. I already have 4 cool white (6,000 to 7,000K) 10 watters with some heat sinks & optics. Work quite well with a 9 volt battery. Not sure whether I'll use optics in the end or not. I have 10 each of the royal blue & 10,000K on the way and figure these should provide adequate spread over my 4 foot tank. If not, I just add a few more. I see that the multi LED arrays now also come in combinations of different colours on the same chip.

[Lampshade]

What really shocks me is the ecoray 112 - it has HUGE numbers, with 1 Watt bulbs! Everyone was nono-ing the 1 Watts, but i'm very impressed with the numbers, and the spread. The array bulbs seem to do great as well, very interesting article.

Glad someone finally shed some "light" on this.

*puts on sunglasses*

OOOOOOOOOOOH YEAH!

[MarkoD]

Originally Posted by Lampshade

What really shocks me is the ecoray 112 - it has HUGE numbers, with 1 Watt bulbs! Everyone was nono-ing the 1 Watts, but i'm very impressed with the numbers, and the spread. The array bulbs seem to do great as well, very interesting article.

Glad someone finally shed some "light" on this.

*puts on sunglasses*

OOOOOOOOOOOH YEAH!

In reality the ecoray have the worst spread I've ever seen. People are hanging them 2-3 feet above frag tanks and there's still dark spots between fixtures

[Nano]

from what I have seen, I still like AI, and Radions best I think. but thats just my opinion

[RedCoralEdmonton]

ya I still like the fixtures with even spread.... like seriously if you put a coral directly under some of those fixtures they would be toast, but move them to the side 3 inches and its all good... to me thats not a very good setup.... ill take even lower numbers any days of the week... at least I know I can mess with my tank and not burn coral....

Steve

[cale262]

Interesting article but I believe Aquarium Reef lighting is more complicated than mentioned, I didn't see any reference to PUR (Photosynthetically Usable Radiation) which is actually more important than PAR. I'm no lighting expert but from what I have read (one or two articles pertaining to Reef LED), allot of PUR light is is not produced by the lower priced emitters (1W etc.) which may appear brighter (to the human eye) and produce more PAR than higher end LED that do provide the PUR spectrums that are required by most stony corals (zooxanthellae photopigments)...

If your up for the read...

AQUARIUM LIGHTING
By Carl Strohmeyer
Updated 1/08/12






[edit] fixed link...

[fishoholic]

Originally Posted by Lampshade

What really shocks me is the ecoray 112 - it has HUGE numbers, with 1 Watt bulbs! Everyone was nono-ing the 1 Watts, but i'm very impressed with the numbers, and the spread. The array bulbs seem to do great as well, very interesting article.

Glad someone finally shed some "light" on this.

*puts on sunglasses*

OOOOOOOOOOOH YEAH!

I got the article from my Facebook link, personally I didn't understand it all but I thought others might find the info useful and helpful.

[msjboy]

Vividaquarium in usa is setting half of their 800 gallon tank mh, other with led radions...using same stock on either side...we will see which is better in a few months for growth.

Majboy