Great write up Patrick & advise from all above!
Heh.. Glenn, you're too kind for continuing to plug that old thread
It might be time to do a new write-up.
Your post (sticky)
and all the links & replies... added - is still the best IMO RS has on the subject... we need to add your great reply above... to it too
Patrick your sticky post (So what's the deal with these leds) starting my learning curve on leds when you wrote it back in early 2011, yearend 2015 I bought my 1st leds after 4 years of study & learning - I just Love them...
your basic premises hold true today & as all above have stated save up, do research & get a quality light.
This post in cod thread has some great links...
So What's The Deal With These LEDs?
Here another great read
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2012/10/aafeature
and finally for me, this post by Jeff
@StevesLEDs ( now a RS sponsor) finally gave me to confidence to change out my 6 39 watt T5s in my 66 gallon tank to leds (I was having great success with T5 so I was slow to want to make a change)
So What's The Deal With These LEDs?
http://www.stevesleds.com/
Lots of great options in leds now in 2016, you won't go wrong with the buying quality that will last for years.
Hope something here helps... just don't get cheap under powered leds
If you can DIY - Quality can be built starting at like $149 here an just one example from Stevesleds
http://shop.stevesleds.com/SPS-Grade-LED-Retrofit-Kit-Package-10-24-tanks-8794102416.htm
This retrofit kit is designed for use in saltwater aquariums. It includes the essential components necessary for your tank to have 100% LED lighting including the superior
Tube-Style heat sinks. It is capable of supporting every fish, coral or invert (including Softies, LPS, SPS, and clams). All kits include the new Luxeon ES series 3 watt LEDs (Yes, they are better than the latest CREE LEDs!)
Total of 14 LEDs - Roughly equivalent to more than 120 watts of Metal Halide light.
This true
42W (63W Extreme SPS) LED system package includes the following items:
7 - Luxeon ES 3 Watt LEDs - Royal Blue
7 - Luxeon ES 3 Watt LEDs - Neutral White
2 - The Single Digital LED drivers (You now have control over Color Temperature!)
2 - Driver Dimming knobs
2 - Dimming Knob Caps
2 - 10"
Tubular Aluminum Heatsinks
1 - Switching Power Supply (PSU) 200W, 24V @8.3A
1 - Power supply 18 ga grounded wall plug for power supply
2 - Pressurizing Cooling Fans w/power regulators. (Plugs directly into PSU)
10ft - Solder by the foot
10ft - 20/4 GA wire (PSU to LED Drivers)
10ft - 24 Ga wire (LED Drivers to LEDs)
1 - Thermal Adhesive
1 - Thermal Paste
8 - Stainless Steel Marine Grade #6 screws with Philips head for easy installation
4 - 2" Heatsink Mounting screws for mounting anywhere
2 - Alcohol Pads for LED Cleaning
1 - Downloadable complete step-by-step instruction manual
1 - Much higher reliability and longer lifespan that the "Kessil" systems
This item is in stock and ready to ship in large quantities immediately!
*EXTREME SPS! – 50% MORE LEDs! Optional upgrade description: This option is for serious aquarists only. This option adds 50% MORE LEDs to the kit, and also includes an additional heat sink, fan, wiring, solder, rivets, drivers, dimmer knobs, power supplies, thermal adhesive and thermal paste – absolutely everything necessary to install the additional LEDs! This is an excellent option because you are able to get 50% more light at a discounted rate, versus purchasing the components individually. WARNING: This option may provide too much light for your corals, which could cause them harm, temporary zooxanthellae ejection, or death. You will need to use the dimming functions to acclimate your corals to this extreme intensity of light over the course of 6 weeks or longer. Purchasing this option, in conjunction with running them partially dimmed, is an excellent way to run the LEDs ultra efficiently with minimal heat output, and more light output than our standard SPS kit. Please specify your LED color ratios, additional LED colors, specific heatsink lengths, or any other customizations by clicking on the Customize My Kit option below (typically no extra charge!). This is also an excellent upgrade for non-standard size aquariums, such as aquariums that are custom built, cubes, deeper than 24”, or aquariums that have a distance greater than 20” from front to back.
*99% Completed System! Optional upgrade description: Your LED System will be 100% assembled and tested, effectively reducing the installation time from hours to less than 10 minutes. The only remaining work(1%) left is to use a phillips screwdriver using the included 4 screws and mount the heatsinks to your aquarium hood, no other tools are required. Each unit is proudly manufactured and assembled by a trained and experienced technician using thousands of dollars’ worth of specialty tools and equipment - right here in the USA! We use high quality irreversible Molex locking connectors for a safe and neat installation. Steve’s LEDs uses a $600 specialty machine manufactured by Molex in Sweden, to install each and every wire in each and every plug, ensuring the connection is solid and secure – not cheap $10 crimping pliers like our competitors! Each 99% Completed System pre-assembled kit is fully tested and calibrated for a minimum of 100% rated power to ensure your new LED system is PERFECT. A water splash sheild or aquarium lid is always required with the use of this system, and not included. The price is for the standard LED configuration of Neutral white/Royal Blue listed above (custom LED colors will be extra with the Full Spectrum LED Combination upgrade). This upgrade includes the drivers mounted onto the same heastink as the LEDs for a super-simple installation. Selecting the EXTREME SPS! option will increase the price of the 99% Completed System by 50%. Save time and reduce the risk of having a mishap and order your 99% Completed System above.
*Include Digital Lighting Controller? Includes the
Typhon Digital Lighting Controller. LCD display and large buttons make for simple and fast programming silky smooth sunrises and sunsets! Allows your LEDs to dim to any percentage (including completely off to 100%), set any schedule you like - fully adjustable.
CUSTOM LED COMBINATION UPGRADE:
Please be aware that no color combination of LEDs looks "perfect" to everybody. Each of us have different color preferences, and different goals for our aquariums (such as looking great, growing corals fast, focusing on natural coloration or coral iridescence/pop, simulating natural ocean environments, etc) There isnoLED combination where "one size/color combination fits all." You must decide what your goals are and choose accordingly.
*12,000K Super Full Spectrum - This provides you with a proven combination of LEDs to provide Full Spectrum Lighting (Broad Spectrum) to allow your corals to grow up to 2x faster than in the ocean, while not detracting from their natural coloration. This combination emphasizes all common coral colors and iridescence, while significantly reducing nuisance algae growth problems. If you are not sure what color combination to choose, please choose this combination. It has been proven to effectively grow corals in thousands of aquariums worldwide. LEDs included in this selection: 5X 4,000K, 2X Cool Blue, 7X Royal Blue.
*12,000K Full Specturm JMB Special - This is LED combination perfected by Nano-reef.com user JediMasterBen. It It has a very birght, crisp color with a blue tone. The result is excellent pop (iridescence) from flourescent corals, as well as boosting the natural color of nonflourescent corals, sponges, coraline algae and macroalgae. It is the brigthest LED color combination we offer for the Biocube 29 and does not look "green". LEDs included in this selection are 3x 4,000K, 3x Lime, 6x Royal Blue, 2x Cool Blue.
*14,000K Super Full Spectrum - This provides you with a proven combination of LEDs to provide Full Spectrum Lighting (Broad Spectrum) to allow your corals to grow up to 4x faster than in the ocean, while not detracting from their natural coloration. This combination emphasizes all yellow, orange, red, green, blue and purple coral colors and iridescence. It has been proven to effectively grow corals in thousands of aquariums worldwide. LEDs included in this selection: 4X 4,000K, 2X Cool Blue, 8X Royal Blue.
*13,000K Full Specturm JMB Special - This is LED combination perfected by Nano-reef.com user JediMasterBen. It It is birght, with crisp color with a bluer tone than the 12,000K. The result is better pop (iridescence) from flourescent corals, as well as boosting the natural color of nonflourescent corals, sponges, coraline algae and macroalgae. This LED combination does not have any of the bad side effects of using green LEDs, and does not look "green". LEDs included in this selection are 2x 4,000K, 2x Lime, 7x Royal Blue, 3x Cool Blue.
*16,000K Full Spectrum - This provides you with a proven combination of LEDs to provide Full Spectrum Lighting (Broad Spectrum) to allow your corals to grow up to 4x faster than in the ocean. This combination emphasizes fast coral growth and and iridescence (color POP). This provides a rich blue deepwater ocean look. It has been proven to effectively grow corals in thousands of aquariums worldwide. LEDs included in this selection: 3X 4,000K, 3X Cool Blue, 8X Royal Blue.
*Algae Scrubber - This is used exclusively on Algae scrubbers. This combo includes 12X 670-680nm Deep Red and 2X 440nm Royal Blue Luxeon ES LEDs. This packs a punch, and you will be amazing at how much growth you will be removing. You must be sure to clean your screen out weekly at a minimum because this does cause amazing algae growth.
*My Own Custom Combination That I Will Decide upgrade allows you to swap out the standard colored LEDs for any of the other color Luxeon ES LEDs. Although we recommend the standard configuration, it is difficult to find the perfect combination that every customer finds completely aesthetically pleasing. The standard configuration is a product of 4 years of testing and refinement, with proven growth rates exceeding the ocean, and we sell to large coral farmers world-wide in this particular configuration. If there was something better, then that is what would be offered as the new standard kit. The challenge has always been balancing aesthetics with maximum coral growth rates, and there is no perfect solution since every customer has different expectations. This upgrade allows you to select the combination you believe will be best for your aquarium. This upgrade allows you to select the exact color combination you believe will be best for your aquarium.
- We recommend using Lime to bring out red and orange colored corals.
- Royal blues to improve iridescence (color pop) and maximize growth rates.
-Cool blues will improve natural combinations and offsets the yellow color when using lower kelvin (2,700K, 4,000K, 5,000K) full spectrum white LEDs. Use at the rate of 2 per 5 Royal Blues.
-Deep reds are used for growing plants such as macro algae and mangroves that have green and purple chlorophyll – but also promotes nuisance algae growth – so use very sparingly if at all, corals do not use red light for growth since it is the first color absorbed by ocean water. Use at the rate of 1 per 14 other LEDs.
-Use lower Kelvin whites such as 4,000K to provide a full spectrum light for specific species of coral and clams. Use as approximately 30-50% of your total LED quantity.
-Cool Whites are not recommended for marine aquariums that have coral, as they provide very little useful wavelengths. Cool whites are an excellent choice for cichlid, FOWLER, or fish only tanks.
This item is in stock and ready to ship immediately! (Ships same day for standard configuration, custom orders only require 12 hour lead time.)
When adding the upgrade "95% Completed System!," the item "Thermal Adhesive, thermal paste, extra-long rivets" will be deducted from the included item list (because we used it to mount the LEDs to the heatsink) additionally, other items may be consumed and the remaining portion will not be sent in the package. Length tolerances of heat sinks are ± 0.5" and 6” for wire and expandable wire sleeve products. Other items will be added to the kit when selecting the “Plug and Play!” option -such as interconnecting plugs. Exact specifications are subject to change due to constant improvements in this item, every reasonable effort is made to ensure accuracy. Steve's LEDs does not guarantee that this particular light system will be able to grow all of the 5,000+ species of corals within the aquarium trade. The previous sentence is stipulated on the particular recommended kit selected vs standard aquarium dimensions, and growth based on the more popular corals available commercially, however, we have not yet found any specific species of coral that does not grow under this type of LED lighting to date. The more important factor is that there may be too much or not enough light intensity. The item you receive may not look identical to the picture due to continuous improvements to our products. Steve's LEDs, LLC is not responsible for accidental errors, omissions, and/or mistakes anywhere on this website. *Optional Upgrades.