LED

[waynemah]

What do you have right now for lighting? Depending on your coral choices you may not need to change anything... Good water parameters can go a long ways.

[Dube1474]

Right now I have a 48 inch 250w metal halide with 2 T5s and led moonlights.

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by Dube1474

Right now I have a 48 inch 250w metal halide with 2 T5s and led moonlights.

So why do you want to change? I'd keep that setup.

[waynemah]

I wouldn't change a thing...

[Dube1474]

I was told by a couple people that LEDs were the way to go. Because they last longer and are more efficient. But I also have been reading lots comparing the 2. Just wanted to get opinions on what LEDs to use if I was to switch so I could read all the reviews. Read that with LEDs your heaters will run way more. Basically making no savings in the power bill. Is that true. Thanks again for all the input.

[Reef Pilot]

With my LEDs, my heater comes on occasionally at night (early in the morning, actually), but on and off for at most 3 hours. But the much bigger cost is the chiller. During the summer, of course, no heater, but the chiller still runs quite a few hours in the afternoon/evening.

I had T5s before I went LEDs, and didn't even use a heater (not even in the winter). But the chiller had to run at lot, even during the winter. So, no question, LEDs had a huge net saving in heater/chiller costs for me.

I should mention, though, I have enclosed covered tanks, so they do trap more heat. And because I have SPS, have quite a few in-tank pumps which also produce some heat.

But the bigger power savings are actually the wattage used by LEDs vs T5s (and even more with MH). No comparison there.

And then there are the pure capital costs over 5 years. LEDs cost more up front, but you save on annual bulb replacement costs. The break even depends on which LEDs you buy, of course, but with my Radions (not cheap), it is about 5 years for me.

So, I really can't see how anybody can say LEDs cost more because of heater, or other costs.

[waynemah]

My power bill went down since switching to T5. Then again, the tank is in the basement and I have central AC. My heaters (2x300w) were on frequently with LED, they almost never turn on now. My lights set my tank at 27C during the day and it drops to 26C at night.

[sphelps]

Originally Posted by Dube1474

Read that with LEDs your heaters will run way more. Basically making no savings in the power bill. Is that true.

I did some measurements before and posted results here:
http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=95643

But please note the corrections posted here:
http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/sho...4&postcount=33

[Madreefer]

Well to some on here LEDs do not save money, are not worth the money and basically in short form just junk.
I've had them for 2 years last Sept. It was a huge learning curve and well, it took me 2 years to finally get the colors I wanted out of my corals. With MHs and T5 combo I had I fought with overheating my tank in the summer months. I no longer plug my heaters in until Dec and turn them off in March. But I also have a basement sump with display a floor above. Some corals do great and some not so well. They grow pretty much anything, it's usually colors that people talk about with that. I'm quite happy with my choice to switch over and I chose low end cheap AIs. That's my experience with them and some on here have had the opposite of mine. Only thing I can suggest to you is to do your research and make your choices off of those that have actually tried LEDs long term.

[mike31154]

I built a fixture using 10 watt multi-chip LEDs and have been running them over a year & a half. It will be 2 years in April. No LED failures but it looks like the cheap little fans on the heatsinks I'm using are a weak point. Since I'm underdriving the LEDs & have spare heatsinks, it's not really an issue, they don't run that hot and the heatsinks seem to do the job even with a stalled fan.

I have a mixed tank with only a few SPS, monti caps mostly & they are growing like gangbusters. LPS & soft coral are all doing fine & my BTAs are loving the LEDs as well, puffing up huge & not sure lights are an indication, but one of them split into 4 clones a few weeks ago.

Since building my unit, choices in multi-chip LEDs have improved with chips offered that combine different colours on the same die. They are also available in larger sizes, well over 100 watts on a single chip. My next project will be a fixture with fewer but larger multi-chips with optics hung higher off the surface. Less wiring, but heatsinking & fan performance will need to be bulletproof.

If your current set up is working fine, there's really no compelling reason to switch to LEDs in a big hurry. Take your time, look around at all the options, there's a lot of stuff out there & improving constantly. Prices probably stabilized somewhat these days, so manufacturers are offering more features to promote their product. Some of the features add value, some don't.