LED Research

[ecam]

Guys.. Im trying to do some preliminary research for LED fixtures that i will be buying over the next few months.

The first lights im buying is for my 57 gallon. its 36 inches length and 21 inches deep....

The next set will be for 4' x 2' x 2' (120) gallon

The 120 will be mixed reef....

while the 57 will be SPS with possbile butterfly fishes in the tank....

Does anyone have recommendations and or articles that i can read... or do you guys recommend DIY?

Im open to all suggestions. Thanks for all the help

 

[ZoaNut]

We've done the Aquastyleonline.com kits as well as the Stevesleds.com kits. Both have their ups and downs. I like Steve's drivers much better, though the old style brick heatsink truly is nicer, IMO. Problem we're seeing is color. While a 2:1 ratio of blues to whites seems like a good combo, the reds and pinks don't "pop" the way they should. Justin is adding to his build now on his 90 gallon and is adding reds, greens, and I believe turquoise to the mix to get the rest of the spectrum to pop. The commercial units are nice, but most are quite expensive. As far as growth..... Coraline seems slower, but the rest of the corals do quite well. I've had issues with some zoas under the LED, as well as mushrooms, but everything else LPS wise loves it. I don't get into too much SPS, but Monticap and green slimer seems to do quite well under it.

 

[Chrisgarrick]

I'm pricing one off their site now. 120 LEDs. Won't buy till Christmas and b-day (right after). Color. Hmm. I like the kit idea. I'm going to look at the other site now. My order is 526.00 on aquastyle.

 

[ecam]

i just got off the phone with a guy on reef 2 reef... his company is reef breeders led... anybody heard about it

tag is anemonekeeper

 

[Chrisgarrick]

Crap! I looked over Steve's LEDs and now I'm not sure.....the LEDs are better and the pnp option is great! Hmmmmmm

 

[Chrisgarrick]

Was reading those posts. Hmmmmmm

 

[ecam]

Chris... you looking to do a DYI? or buy a finished product? I might be interested in attempting one too

 

[jpelzer]

Mine are DIY, and they look great... Too powerful, but great. But WOW I would not have done DIY if I'd known the time cost to do it right. It's by far the most time consuming part of my tank so far. I have 144x 3w Cree across 5 heat sinks all with optics, so a less ambitious project might not suck QUITE so bad. But if I did it again, I'd probably go AI. I have two of them too, great lights, not much spread though.

 

[Xavier613]

would not recommend aquastyles. have one of their kits. its not good quality. friend has one and we have the same issues. color of the leds is off, the drivers blow, pots are crap. you get what you pay for. Go with AI sols or something quality

 

[Chrisgarrick]

Ecambero I'm thinking DIY. But not sure. There is one company that uses a better led and charges 200 to put it together. 700 total. My tank is 6 x 1 1/2 x 2 so I need at least 3 heat syncs and 120 LEDs. So do I sell a kidney or DIY. Hmmm
I do have 2 ..

 

[Zippy69]

I just got a retrofit kit from Steve's for my 12 gal jbj. Works great! Pretty easy to install. I chose the option where they do most of the assembly. My only regret was to not add in some more turquoise or white to bring out more red.

 

[kevin]

i just got off the phone with a guy on reef 2 reef... his company is reef breeders led... anybody heard about it

tag is anemonekeeper

I have his 12" LED fuge light & works great. Although, not exactly what you're looking for, but he's a good guy!

 

[ZoaNut]

would not recommend aquastyles. have one of their kits. its not good quality. friend has one and we have the same issues. color of the leds is off, the drivers blow, pots are crap. you get what you pay for. Go with AI sols or something quality

Thanks for recommending them to me Xavier! LMAO. I've found the lack of color out the hard way, as well as the cheap chinese drivers flicker like crazy. I'll only hold you half responsible. Make a check for $220 payable to Zoanut! LOL

 

[Xavier613]

They were still new to me then! they worked great at first but about a week ago i started having problems, as did another friend of mine -.-

had i known it would happen like that i wouldnt have even bought them myself.

Seems like the color shifted over the past few months of use, and the potentiometers are absolute garbage now somehow. But i switched them out on my buddys tank (who still runs them) and his dont flicker anymore. Radioshack carrys new dimmers lol.

sorry shawn >.<

 

[ZoaNut]

You're forgiven! Yeah, we're running into the same issue. The drivers flicker. The Potentiometers are absolute junk! Even the replacement I've found aren't that great. The color is better than I had from my T5, but we're going to have to add Reds and Greens to give some of our corals more of a pop. Guys keep sending me pics of the Pink zoas they buy from me, and they look insane in their tanks, but look so drab here. Even in my nano under PC, they color up wonderfully. Lesson learned..... the hard way!

 

[Chrisgarrick]

So I was talking to curt. I'm gonna see what I can save by Christmas. I'm prob going to get 2 Maxspect 27 Inch Razor R420R 16,000K LED Light Fixtures. Anyone need a kidney?

 

[ecam]

Let me know how it goes. i might be going that route too in feb. but I need 3. Lol.

 

[GoIrish]

Just recieved a led from aqua traders a Green Element EVO Quad Reef LED Light Fixture 48 no problems on delevery has 2 plugs 1 for front sections and 1 for back and a rocker switch to switch from all lights to just moon lights for each section. I brand new in this hobby and on a budget so didnt want to go witheses 800 lights ,I'll keep you informed how this goes

 

[Markbb]

I am using a couple of these lights on my 90 and could not be more happy.
http://www.ledgrowlights.cn/detail.asp?id=320

The company has been awesome to deal with, my corals are responding great to the light and the price just cannot be matched by any other light.

Mark