LED Intensity

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by tang daddy

When are you ordering the lights up?

My Radiums expire end of June, so probably in that time frame

[StirCrazy]

I was just looking at the output models for them, at 24" they will put out a 30x30 area with 160 to 239 PAR running at 100%they are more suted to a 24x24 area which would still be a tiny bit less than your 400's (mind you I haven't seen the new tank.) at a distance of 30" they only put out a 24" area at the 160 to 239 PAR.

so lifting these lights to get away with less wont work. they do look like a nice light though...

Steve

[Aquattro]

Well, I have 3 24x24 areas in the tank, so 3 lights should work. I also have4-6 inches between the glass and the rockwork all the way around the tank, so I'm going to try three and go from there.

[RuGlu6]

Originally Posted by Nano

You get what you pay for, with anything, Honestly, and please dont take this the wrong way, but I have seen a couple of threads from you in regards to Evo Leds

yes You are right I am posting everywhere I can to find out the answer I am looking for. It is sometimes hard to motivate people to share knowledge and experience to answer in my own separate thread, so this time I have decided to highjack this thread (sorry Aquattro) and finally got better answer then just "you get what you pay for"
And the answer was: I need to know what kind of LED is used (actual coating etc), proven record of the fixtures and angle of the optics so I did learn something and thanks to the person who answerd that (StirCrazy). I will continue my own research obviously

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by RuGlu6

so this time I have decided to highjack this thread

And you're still doing it? Time to clean up my thread, me thinks

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by Aquattro

And you're still doing it? Time to clean up my thread, me thinks

you going to use soap?

Steve

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by StirCrazy

you going to use soap?

Steve

Are you back??

[wolf_bluejay]

Just getting to the original question -- and I'm amazed no one has mentioned or seem to have considered in a build, but the efficiency curve of all LED's in not a straight line. The lumens per watt is ususally calculated at a low power level (300-700mA) and it drops as you run the blubs closer to 100%.

SO when I built my 112 LED fixture, I took this into account. At the upper end (80% and up) you add 20% more electric use and you really get about 12% more light. So, adding 10% more bulbs gives the same light at a lower power bill. I know it's not a whole lot, but over the life span of the LED it does add up.

IE: Cree XPG whites:
700mA = 228 lm = 325 lm/A
1000mA = 305 lm = 305 lm/A
1500mA = 406 = 270 lm/A
So on 100 bulbs running at 100% you get 487 Watts and 40,600 lm of light.

for 130 bulbs at 1000mA (66%) you get 422 Watts and 39,699 lm of light

So, you get almost the same light at 14% less power usage (65 watts less). And if you are running the light 12 hours a day you get about $27 less a year in power costs, for the extra 30 bulbs.

considering I got the LED's pretty cheap, it pays for itself in about 5 years without factoring in the extra heat that come off at 100% and the extra A/C needed to deal with that extra heat as well.

If you consider that you can go with a smaller heat sink even tough you have more bulbs due to less power going into heat, you can almost save enough on the sinks to pay for the extra LED's anyways

So, over the expected 10 year life span, you get longer bulb life (due to lower temp), cost savings on power, better control of colour, and the wonderful ability to just turn the fixture birghter if you wanted to without having to rebuild. It's pretty much hands down better to go with more bulbs

BTW. for the number crunching I did, I found that 112 bulbs at 75% worked out to be the best cost point for what I was building.....

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by wolf_bluejay

Just getting to the original question -- and I'm amazed no one has mentioned or seem to have considered in a build, but the efficiency curve of all LED's in not a straight line. The lumens per watt is ususally calculated at a low power level (300-700mA) and it drops as you run the blubs closer to 100%.

thats cuz it really doesn't mater unless you going from a LED to another LED. if your coming from T5's MH ect.. your going to save money on power, unless you grossly overbuild. so unless you like worrying about eff and running as close as you can to it, then who cares. its the intensity and customization which are going to entice some one to go from MH to LED not the eff of the LED.

if you keep it cool its going to last just as long burning 1500ma as it would burning 1000ma, so use the extra light.. its only pennies a month more.

Steve

[Bblinks]

Originally Posted by Aquattro

A couple are, I think Rich said he was on his setup.

Hey Brad,

I run my AI's full blast for 5 hours a day with ramp up 3 hours prior and 3 hours post. My lights are hung indside the canopy about 8 inches awl. IMHO you wouldn't have any issues running AIs' at full intensity during the same photo period as your halides. Those 400W must be putting out close to a 1000 PAR just under the water line. I can tell you that's about the same or just under the AI's Par output regardless of the spectrum, any healthy SPS colony(in your case the entire tank) will tolerate the slight change in light intensity and flourish with the exception of montiporas.

When I started using AIs on the 210 last November I was in the same predicament as most of us would since xmas is right around the corner and I have exhausted all my fish funds long ago for the year. However I did come up with enough money for 3 of the AI's after explaining the benefits for them to the better half. After reading a few different stories about LED's intensity taking out prized corals I decided to hang'em 18 inches awl at 50%. In the first couple of days, I was not happy with the color of the tank, it was just way to dim for me. So in the weeks that followed I bumped it up to 100%. I did noticed some of the SPS which are directly under the led started to color up, some of them has been in the tank for months without any colors. At this point I was really impressed with these lights although it has only been a short period of time I know I have made a good choice. One thing still really bugged me was the dimness over the entire tank. Even with them at 100% I still wished that they were brighter.

By the end of 2011 when I upgraded to the 300. I told my wife the same thing I told her when I upgraded to the 210, "this will be the last tank" I knew I wanted the AIs but just didn't know how many. I contacted C2 for info and I was told 12 units for the size of my tank and on the forum I was told 6 units would be plenty, I opted for 9 unit as it is some where in the middle. Now after running them for 4 month, all the sps are keeping there colors nicely and growth rate are awesome. All the frags I got from Brad at the swap are under the led within a few days after arriving without any problems and the more importantly they are keeping there original color as they were in Brad's tank. Honestly I don't think I can keep the same coloration if my light are ran at half intensity. lately I am been contemplating on getting 3 more so I can get full coverage and even if I wanted to keep an efflo on the sandbed I wouldn't have to worry about the lighting. I blame this on Brad since it was his amazing efflo got me thinking about this.

Brad, you have a very nice SPS tank with beautiful coloration, I would think any one with such a nice tank would have a sense of trepidation changing a major component on the tank. I know 3 of them would suffice but as far as the intensity goes, if you want to keep the colors that you have I would keep them at about 8 inches awl and run them at 100% for the same duration as your Metal halide and I will pre-warn you that they will seem a bit dimmer than you halides even at full blast.