Are LEDs the wave of the future..??

[rusty]

Hey Greg why seeing as you sell them why don't you duct tape a whole wack of them together, hang them over your tank and thell us how they work! Just kidding around. In all seriousness I hope it does work not only would it be a cool thing to control the white/blue ratio but also the moneythat could be saved on power and replacement of bulbs.

[Snappy]

Originally Posted by rusty

Hey Greg why seeing as you sell them why don't you duct tape a whole wack of them together, hang them over your tank and thell us how they work! Just kidding around. In all seriousness I hope it does work not only would it be a cool thing to control the white/blue ratio but also the moneythat could be saved on power and replacement of bulbs.

It would probably save on power and the hassle of bulb replacement. I doubt they would be cheap, especially to start off with. For example the luxeon LED flashlight I was reffering to, about the size of a mag light, retails for $70.

[danny zubot]

In all seriousness I hope it does work not only would it be a cool thing to control the white/blue ratio but also the moneythat could be saved on power and replacement of bulbs.

It would take you a long time to justify purchasing an LED array. They are still quite expensive to the consumer. I don't think that the LED fixture shown in the pics above have nearly enough to compare to MH, maybe double or tripple that amount.

[TheReefGeek]

I guess we'll see once there is more testing done on them. If PFO is releasing information on their progress already, it suggests to me it has commercial viability already.

And even if for now it is just for shallower tanks, that could make a big difference for fish stores and frag grow-out tanks to save on electricity and bulb replacement cost.

Obviously this is assuming that there is some economies of scale as the technology goes from only early adopters to maintstream folk.

[Delphinus]

Just sorta in answer to the question about lux further back, the thing is lux is really just a measure of intensity but not a measure of PAR (photosynthetically active radiation). What would be really interesting to see would be the PAR outputs of that unit. e.g., a halogen bulb is really bright but wouldn't be very useful over a reef tank due to the spectrum. (You don't even see halogen's used as plant grow lights.) So I think the long-term viability of the unit will depend on what ppfd/PAR comes out of it. Anyhow that's what I think would be interesting to see.