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Looking to buy LED's? Look here first

I was over at Aquatic Obsession this pass weekend and was talking to Wil about led's. He told/showed me this link where most of the led's on the market have been par tested. It is very informative and you will be surprised at some of the par readings. Link is below. Just click on the LED tab on the site.

Thanks Wil

http://www.manhattanreefs.com/lighting
 
AAAHHHHH, I didn't see that post from downbeach. Well, you didn't have to rub that Vid in all of AI users (including me) faces. lol.

just messing......
 

TanksNStuff

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
Haha, well, I wasn't trying to rub it in. But, since this was a tip on researching LED's before buying, I thought it might be something these shoppers would want to also see to compare.

To be fair, it's worth noting that the Apollos don't come with a controller and you need to buy that separately. They're designed to work directly with an Apex or a Profilux controller, but you can also just use a cheap/standard 0-10v potentiometer to control the dimming manually, instead of an automated controller. I'm also in the process of getting mine to work with a Reef Angel Controller. It's been a bumpy ride (due to converting PWM signals to Analog) but it works (with a mod) if you have that controller already.
 

TanksNStuff

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
I think it's more likely that Joe didn't have any samples to send him. He can't keep them in stock very long. :eek:

He didn't have any to spare to send to Reef Angel so Roberto could test his controller on them either. Although, sending one to Sanjay and having him confirm the difference would have been a smart business move IMO.
 

redfishbluefish

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
George, I’m sure you’re right on that. In fact, isn’t the controllable Apollo literally just a month or two old? I don’t think they had the controllable units at our swap?? Did they? I thought they were just talking about them.

But you’re also right about getting a unit to Sanjay. I’m sure his “report” could be easily updated, and in the end, it would be cheap advertising for Apollo.
 

TanksNStuff

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
Yea, I just sent the link to Joe at Apollo. If he wants to get his lights on there, it's up to him now. ;)
 
So I need some help understanding all this. I run a AI and no where close to running at 100%. From what I have seen from others not many people do run at 100%. So if a fixture is dimmable, wouldn't 2 units possible give out the same PAR, just at different % levels?

So if I run my AI at 100% and that is lower PAR then brand X at 75%, why would that matter if I will probably never run the AI at 100% given I'll probably have all white sps's then. Shouldn't the only thing that matters is the units to achieve the level of PAR that you feel is best? I realize that there is other factors as lens and other colors, but if I need to have xyz par at the bottem of my tank, then any unit which can achieve that should be acceptable, no?

What am I missing?
 

howze01

NJRC Member
I feel the same way too. I have an 18" deep 50g tank with 2 AI's at 50%. If I had much higher PAR my fish would need sunscreen. In the end, the Apollos, the Radions, the AIs and even the cheap Chinese fixtures are all good lights. I've never understood the arguement of "Mine is better than yours." If it works for you and you like it, then use it.
 

Tazmaniancowboy

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
I think it would be important if you have a deep tank. But I do not think that any of us have a tank deep enough for all that par?

Sent from my PG86100 using Tapatalk
 
I wish the appollos didn't have so many power cords for each unit. I would potentially need 6 of them over my tank which equals 18 cords.....that's a mess in the making.

Steve
 

redfishbluefish

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
I wish the appollos didn't have so many power cords for each unit. I would potentially need 6 of them over my tank which equals 18 cords.....that's a mess in the making.

Steve

With Apollo's covering two foot, that would put your tank at 12 foot. These aren't AI's, where they are typically one per foot. Now, is your tank 12 foot long?
 
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so after reading about their dimmable model they are saying the coverage is 32" per unit which means I might be able to get away with 3 or 4. Is anyone on here using one of these?
 
so after reading about their dimmable model they are saying the coverage is 32" per unit which means I might be able to get away with 3 or 4. Is anyone on here using one of these?

The Appollos or the AIs? I have two of the dimable Appollos over a 120 and they are very bright. I'm pleased with them.
 
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