LED compairison article

[fishoholic]

A must-read if you're evaluating LEDs for your tank!
Feature Article: LED Lighting Tests: Radion, Orphek, Mvava, Ecoray and Ecoxotic

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2012/1/aafeature

[MarkoD]

Wow look at the light intensity difference between the radion and the ecoray.

[lastlight]

Now I really want some PR156 action!

That MVAVAII sure pumps the light out as well. The cannon-styles seem pretty weak... highly doubt you could replace a 250w halide with one.

[slivermaster08]

After reading a few of his articles a few things pop into my mind: the data is collected through an inverted apparatus with just air and does seem to be corrected for the lack of water.... does that mean these tests are synonamous to having the LED fixture right on top of the water surface? That's what I would infer from these articles. I'm not sure many of us would mount a LED fixture right at water surface for fear of splashes, salt spray and heating up the tank for nano's.


I guess what I'm saying is take the numbers with a grain of salt and don't heavily rely on the PAR levels for picking coral (I was just about to do that because I'm still researching for the right fixture)! I think what the reader should take from these articles is the spread and (relative) intensity comparisons.


A good read and a good find! I'll have to look into these articles in greater detail when I'm not at work. If anyone does read these articles in great detail before me, let me know if the tester included any correction for hanging the fixtures 6-12" above the simulated bottom of tank/measuring point.

[lastlight]

>> LI-192SA underwater cosine corrected sensor calibrated for both air and water

[mseepman]

I think the other thing to remember is that ever since people have been trying to pin PAR numbers on LED lights, they've found that the measurement doesn't seem to represent the results in the same way that it has for MH and T5.

Also, regardless of whether it was right at water level or higher, since they are all compared the same, it just gives you some idea of what you get for the money you spend.

Those Orphek's sure did look pretty at MACNA...haha...but I'm still doing DIY.

[slivermaster08]

Yeah I saw that in his original explanation of the testing procedure but does it state anywhere what the correction corresponds to in regards to how high above the tank the LED would be mounted or does that not matter too much.

For example, does his 24" graph correspond to 24" of water; 18" of water and 6" of air; or 12" of air and 12" of water? I didn't find anything that related to that specifically but I just took a quick read of the articles.

[badAZZlars]

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

[Ryan]

Originally Posted by MarkoD

Wow look at the light intensity difference between the radion and the ecoray.

60 degree optics goes a long way. Not much spread though look how fast the numbers drop as you move away from center vs the radion.

[asylumdown]

I'm actually feeling a little underwhelmed at the showing of the Radions. I know they're more even, but they do seem to get blown out of the water in terms of PAR by a whole bunch of other fixtures. For nearly 800 bucks a pop, "is it going to be enough to grow clams on the sand bed (or anything else that I want) in a 24-26" deep tank?" shouldn't even be a question that needs answering with a months long experiments in fish stores and on reef blogs, it should have been obvious from the very first test some reefer did with their at-home meter. I was set on getting 6 of them for my tank until I saw people posting PAR numbers in the low 200s at 12 inches deep. I know people keep saying that might not be as important for LEDs, but we have to evaluate new information within our existing framework until a new framework exists, and according to what we've all been learning for the past several decades, those numbers are really not impressive.

*sigh*, more waiting while other people are the guinea pigs I guess.