86 watts of LED?

[phi delt reefer]

Originally Posted by toytech

Most people say that 1 watt leds are useless , they dont have the power to keep good par numbers lower in the tank . Notice how everyone with diy is using 3 watt leds its not because they are cheap its because they work .

yeah but theres proof of growth with one watt leds. They are placed closer together and you need more but they are much cheaper than 3w LEDs. 1w LEDs are driven close to max output while the 3W leds in a lot of diy systems are barely driven over 1w and are hung a foot above the tank. Not to mention if you run a 3w at full blast you will bleach everything.

Jump on Reef2Reef and have a look at the PAR numbers. They definitely arent worthwhile for deep tanks but for most people they should be sufficient. You wont keep SPS on the bottom of a 24" tank but some creative aquascaping and you are good to go. Reefkoi can barely keep the lights in stock and hes got tons of happy customers and warranties the units himself.


I think the real question is how effective is LEDs at growing all types of corals and optimizing color. I wont get into this arguement though