Are you happy with your LED's???

[doch]

sphelps - I agree with you to some extent in regards to the timing of this poll. Unfortunately, I'm in the market today, not 4 years from now, hahaha! I'm looking specifically for info in regards to coral growth and coloration... essentially, I want to know if these fixtures are worth it.

Since I can't afford to buy an AI, or vertex fixture (read: my wife would castrate me)... one new question for those of you who have built a DIY fixture... can you still get the lightning storm effects and things like that? Can you run them off of your controller (I have an RKE)? I really like the idea of the sunrise, sunset, cloudy day, and lightning storm effects. If I can't do this, I may end up waiting until the prices come down.

[sphelps]

Originally Posted by doch

sphelps - I agree with you to some extent in regards to the timing of this poll. Unfortunately, I'm in the market today, not 4 years from now, hahaha! I'm looking specifically for info in regards to coral growth and coloration... essentially, I want to know if these fixtures are worth it.

Since I can't afford to buy an AI, or vertex fixture (read: my wife would castrate me)... one new question for those of you who have built a DIY fixture... can you still get the lightning storm effects and things like that? Can you run them off of your controller (I have an RKE)? I really like the idea of the sunrise, sunset, cloudy day, and lightning storm effects. If I can't do this, I may end up waiting until the prices come down.

Yes you absolutely can still take advantage of the features of external controllers with a DIY build, if anything it opens more options. If you're thinking of using a profilux you can get a PWM modual from them which can link up to 4 different sets of drivers to open up the full control you're looking for. However there may be a little more expereince needed as I believe some drivers such as meanwell do not have an open drain PWM input and will require the addition of a pull up resistor. This isn't hard to do but again something to be aware of as it's not aways a simple plug and play DIY project.