Ok, let's hear it!

[mrhasan]

Originally Posted by Aqua-Digital

Ok sorry this makes no sense, MH pump out stacks of heat to the degree you need a chiller or cooling fans, with LED the heat is minimal and they have built in fans



we all know the sunglasses are just a gimmick bit of fun i dont see how that has any relevance The packaging has also no reflection on the units ability to perform.

I would love to see a statistics about how many people with LED don't need to run chiller anymore who used to run it before. BC would be a great place to start

To my mind, if someone needed chiller while using MH, they would still need chiller if they are running LED. That's because most of the chiller users have the ambient temperature higher than favorable for the tank (unless their ambient is sitting around, say 80; in that case they won't need chiller). MH just makes it worse while LED doesn't; but in the end, they still need to run the chiller. Maybe less, but it will be there.

In the end, electricity is dirt cheap. Even if the LED eliminates chiller, the total cost benefit will probably come down by a month or so.

In the end, the whole cost thing, like i keep on saying, is just a hype. LED has its benefits and bells and whistles but no one can justify me the "less cost" thing. When costs come, I want to look at the cost-benefit return; not just a tagline of "hey you won't need to replace bulbs". Cause I am paying which is equivalent to 7 years worth of bulb replacement. That's a lot of time.....and electricity is dirt cheap

[tim the toolman]

I personally don't have the liquid cash to throw at high end led fixtures so I have opted to go with a midrange fixture. (ever grow 2080). Now I have only ordered the fixture last week so I still don't have it to say if I like the lighting or not but I had to factor cost into the equation.

My current fixture is a 14 bulb t5 fixture over a 180gallon tank. This means that at approx 20$ or more a bulb it costs me around 300$ to do a bulb change. It also means that when I turn on my lights it's drawing just under 560 watts. With this in mind I bought the led fixture.

I was due for a bulb change - 300$
Led fixture comes with a 3 year warranty
In that 3 year period I will have to do basically 3 more bulb changes 900$ more
So by the time my warranty is up I will have saved 1200$ in bulbs not to mention about 200 watts per hour running. So roughly 2 KwH per day.
Being that the 2 fixtures needed to cover my tank will only cost me 1000$ it was a risk I had to take.

[Doug]

Originally Posted by tim the toolman

I personally don't have the liquid cash to throw at high end led fixtures so I have opted to go with a midrange fixture. (ever grow 2080). Now I have only ordered the fixture last week so I still don't have it to say if I like the lighting or not but I had to factor cost into the equation.

My current fixture is a 14 bulb t5 fixture over a 180gallon tank. This means that at approx 20$ or more a bulb it costs me around 300$ to do a bulb change. It also means that when I turn on my lights it's drawing just under 560 watts. With this in mind I bought the led fixture.

I was due for a bulb change - 300$
Led fixture comes with a 3 year warranty
In that 3 year period I will have to do basically 3 more bulb changes 900$ more
So by the time my warranty is up I will have saved 1200$ in bulbs not to mention about 200 watts per hour running. So roughly 2 KwH per day.
Being that the 2 fixtures needed to cover my tank will only cost me 1000$ it was a risk I had to take.

Ditto for me. I was about to buy either the Mitras or the new hybrid t5/led for my new 3ft 50g......but figured for half the price the 2080 will do just fine. Well thats the plan at least. Im fascinated by the 3ft hybrid but not at $1500

[Aqua-Digital]

Originally Posted by mrhasan

I would love to see a statistics about how many people with LED don't need to run chiller anymore who used to run it before. BC would be a great place to start

Again simple reply, set your house AC to 71F and thats that, no extenal heat source to raise the tank temp

I live in Ontario we have sky high temps in the summer and I have no chiller or fan on my tank. No need, the AC does that for me and the LED gives off no heat.

Check out my build on my forum, no fans and no chiller. We had over 90F regularly in ottawa this year.

[mrhasan]

Originally Posted by Aqua-Digital

Again simple reply, set your house AC to 71F and thats that, no extenal heat source to raise the tank temp

I live in Ontario we have sky high temps in the summer and I have no chiller or fan on my tank. No need, the AC does that for me and the LED gives off no heat.

Check out my build on my forum, no fans and no chiller. We had over 90F regularly in ottawa this year.

You would have to have the AC irrespective of whether you are running LED or MH. If you set 71F at the AC, the tank temp without light/heater will hover around that. With MH, it will probably raise the temp by 10F max (if the lamps are raising more, you are probably keeping the lamps too close to the water). So your tank will eventually sit around 80F to 82F. With LED, your tank will need heater to get that up.

And with AC running, you won't need chiller isinit? Unless you are running like 400w MH over a 12sq. inch surface area. (some of these numbers are vague and just came from my mind; please do correct me if I am wrong).

[Madreefer]

I really don't know why those that have never tried LEDs keep posting on the topic. They blurt out all these "facts" that those of us that actually have experience with have to correct. I read or heard this means nothing.

[Proteus]

Haha. Yeah. Now I need to spend $2000 on ac to get rid of the chiller

I run a single 250w halide over my tank. While I do have fans. They have yet to turn on. While brad for example still needed his chiller with t5.

I know what your saying with profit margins on led. I recently had comversation with lfs in this. It makes it hard to make money with such small profits.

Reality is. I like halide. I'm sure I will also like led in the future. Other than operating cost. It will take 9 years of bulb replacements to cost the price of a mitras. And after that 9 years I'll buy a 2nd hand mitras for $300. Proven. Look at gen 1 radions

As for operating cost. If we really cared then things like A/C, hot tubs and personal work shops would all half to go. My hottub runs me $70ish a month. Do I use it enough to justify that? Probably not. But I haven't ****ed and moan about that yet

[mrhasan]

Originally Posted by Aqua-Digital

we all know the sunglasses are just a gimmick bit of fun i dont see how that has any relevance The packaging has also no reflection on the units ability to perform. So you are saying your purchasing choices are made based on a glossy box. Great news the GHL now has a glossy box

In regards to the price, its the technology you are buying, its up to the consumer if they wish to take that leap to the next level.

Dont take my reply the wrong way, just having a bit of light hearted banter with you on a Sunday evening.

Well when you are paying $1000 for a fixture, you would love to have fancy boxes. One thing that I did notice is that european brands don't pay much attention to boxes while american manufactures put their things in awesome boxes. Tunze pumps vs vortec pumps. Salinity salt box vs H2Ocean salt box; mitra's box vs radion's box.

Oh don't worry about that...I love debates