LED question

toxic111 · #1 02-28-2012, 06:07 PM

I think the AI's @ 1per 1' is about right. I know the Reef Shoppe has 6 over his 6' tank. I know when I was pricing out LED's for my 120, the Radions were around $200 cheaper than the SOL's as I didn't need the controller, & it needed 4 units.

Checking out tanks that are using these will go a long ways in seeing how to do it.

The Radions only have a hanging kit at the moment. The SOL's do have a tank mount bracket.

jorjef · #2 02-28-2012, 06:20 PM

I have 2 AI Sols super blue on a 48" tank. More than enough light for me.... I think 5 on a 5' tank would be throwing money out the window.

monocus · #3 02-28-2012, 06:21 PM

i was pricing out a build for someone else for a 4 1/2 foot light.framework,heatsinks,fans,120 3 watt leds,5 10watt leds and 8 dimmable drivers were $1400 for parts

mseepman · #4 02-28-2012, 06:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by monocus

i was pricing out a build for someone else for a 4 1/2 foot light.framework,heatsinks,fans,120 3 watt leds,5 10watt leds and 8 dimmable drivers were $1400 for parts

Not sure what made you pick those parts. If you were to compare, I think 3 Sol's would more than do that tank and that would only be around 72 LED's so you're really loading up the LED's on it. Also, were you doing all serial strings or some parallel strings?

My DIY has 184 3w Cree LED's, 7 drivers total and I'm looking in the neighborhood of $2400 including everything (shipping and taxes) but my elbow grease. Fixtures would have cost me a lot more.

monocus · #5 02-28-2012, 08:20 PM

parallel-he wanted to be able to dim different areas in a deep tank

Oilers · #6 02-28-2012, 08:22 PM

Dez,
Do you have a picture of your tank? How high do you hang your sols?

Bblinks · #7 02-28-2012, 08:51 PM

I run 9 AI's on my 300 and I believe I could have gotten away with 6 only but I like my tank nicely lit and with all the sps I was even contemplating on 3 more. One thing that I should mention is my AI's are mounted 6 inches above water line so I can get more intensity from them, on the other hand my buddy Peter is running 3 on his 210 with decent coverage but his lights are mounted 12-14 inches awl. It really does boil down to what suit you the best. I would get 3 and see how it looks first and then decide form there. I have a biocube with DIY 24 cree leds but I like the AI's way better. I haven't had the chance to try the radions but I can tell you they do not put out more par then the radions(reef builder dr sanjay's led write up) so if anyone tells you 1 radions = 2 ai sols I would highly dissagree with that statment.

Oilers · #8 02-29-2012, 01:16 AM

Dez,
I looked at your TOTM page and it is amazing. I wish my tank will be half as nice as your tank. How long did it take you to grow the frags into those beautiful colonies?
Also, back to the LED, how many controllers do you need for those 3 SOLs? Is there anything else I need beside the controller?

ReefOcean · #9 03-02-2012, 01:29 AM

2x2 with their wide beam optics.

unclesalty · #10 02-28-2012, 08:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by toxic111

I think the AI's @ 1per 1' is about right. I know the Reef Shoppe has 6 over his 6' tank. I know when I was pricing out LED's for my 120, the Radions were around $200 cheaper than the SOL's as I didn't need the controller, & it needed 4 units.

Checking out tanks that are using these will go a long ways in seeing how to do it.

The Radions only have a hanging kit at the moment. The SOL's do have a tank mount bracket.

That sounds right and looked right to me!