LED Lighting---HELP!

[Bigpapa]

Ok, I have read a few of the links on here regarding LED lighting and have seen alot of sites with them for sale. To say I still feel overwealmed would be an understatement. If anyone can lead me in the right direction, suggest a product or sight, hell just put blinders on me so I can go in the right direction-it would be FANTASTIC! Specifics to the tank- I am setting up a 72"x24"x25" 180 gallon. I currently only have softies but would like to have this unit capable of any corals incase I want to move in that direction in the future. From reading I know I want to be at least 3w bulbs but after that it gets kind of hazy. My old tanks I have used MH so this is all new to me but with less heat-the canopy is going to be inclosed because the tank will be a room divider-LED's seem to be the way to go.

Thanks for the help!!

Rob

 

[Bearjohnson]

Take a look at Aqua Illuminations. I have 4 that I'm putting on my 6' 125. A great all around LED and in the right price range.

 

[jpsika08]

+1 on Mark's recommendation,

These are the brands I would look into,

1) Aquaillumination
2) Apollo
3) Orphek
4) Mazarra
5) Ecotech Radion

And of course you can look at DIY with ReefLedLights.com, these guys are RS sponsors.

 

[reefer gladness]

Everyone except Kessil is using off-the-shelf LED's you can buy and put in a DIY project. It's actually possible to be one step ahead of the manufacturers because they have to spend more time on R&D, manufacturing and distribution. By them time they're done with the R&D there's a newer/better LED on the market.

One thing to bear in mind is that LED's have a relatively narrow spectrum of light. I'm having good success with a 50/50 mix of 3 watt cool whites/royal blues but my next LED build will have a lot of changes reflecting the new LED's that have come on the market. LED's will be arranged in a 'cluster' using the following in each cluster: (1) 5 watt cool white CREE, (1) 3 watt royal blue CREE XTE, (1) 3 watt regular blue CREE, (1) 3 watt violet UV and possibly (1) 3 watt 660nm red.

Dimmer controls on each channel are mandatory.

If you're interested in DIY project I recommend sending the guys at rapidled an email with your tank specs. They will recommend a mix of 3 watt cool whites/royal blues unless you tell them specifically you want to incorporate something else as the 3 watt LED, 2-channel build is the most economical.

If you want a plug-n-play system the AI Sol units are well reviewed and look good at my LFS (but it's still just a cluster of 3 off-the-shelf LED's), if price really no object then look at the Ecotech Radions. Again, the Radion's use off-the-shelf LED's. The Radion retails for $750 and the LED's alone cost $150... so that's $600 for a heatsink, drivers and their R&D (which you can just copy).

 

[Bigpapa]

Lots of great info, thanks guys!! I think my next issue is coverage. When I use my MH's I know I use one unit for every 2 feet of width of the tank, ie for the 6' I would use three units. How do I determine this with LED? I really do not want to go DIY on this one, I have very little knowledge on it and this is the first tank I am really splurging for and would like to have stuff already built-not my version of "making due" lol. Sooo, would I be looking at say 3 24" fixtures? That kind of info...

 

[brandon]

For your size tank I would go with 4 units to Reduce the chance of shadowing. So far I've had my 2 ai sols for almost 2 months. Only negative is on the lights is my suncorals have no color under just the blue lights. Polyps zoas sps and lps are showing good growth.

 

[Built347]

+1 on Mark's recommendation,

These are the brands I would look into,

1) Apollo
2) Aquaillumination
3) Orphek
4) Mazarra
5) Ecotech Radion

And of course you can look at DIY with ReefLedLights.com, these guys are RS sponsors.

+1 great products.... Juan, i hope you dont mind but i went ahead and corrected your listing error.. Apollo first of course... lmao..jk

}}} youll only need 3 if you go with apollo.. i have 3 on a 72" tank.. Matt has 3 on his 72" 220g.. and neither of us have been able to go over 50% without bleaching corals...

 

[LEDTRiC]

Ok, I have read a few of the links on here regarding LED lighting and have seen alot of sites with them for sale. To say I still feel overwealmed would be an understatement. If anyone can lead me in the right direction, suggest a product or sight, hell just put blinders on me so I can go in the right direction-it would be FANTASTIC! Specifics to the tank- I am setting up a 72"x24"x25" 180 gallon. I currently only have softies but would like to have this unit capable of any corals incase I want to move in that direction in the future. From reading I know I want to be at least 3w bulbs but after that it gets kind of hazy. My old tanks I have used MH so this is all new to me but with less heat-the canopy is going to be inclosed because the tank will be a room divider-LED's seem to be the way to go.

Thanks for the help!!

Rob

Congratulations on moving in the right direction with LEDs. Besides saving money on electricity, bulbs, and being able to run your system at a stable, cooler temperature - the best things IMHO about LEDs is being able to fiddle with spectrums to get a pop out of all colors in your tank while still providing superb growth.

While we provide DIY kits and PAR38's, if what you are looking for is fixtures, I would recommend AI units, out of all of them that I have seen, these have been the most impressive with the most appropriate price tag.

If you are trying to be cost effective, I would definitely suggest going the DIY route. With the AI units you are going to need at least four for the best spread and effective PAR and that will run you somewhere along the lines of about $1,600. I believe you can run a DIY setup for nearly half that price and get the most bang for your buck. If you already own a controller you can do most of what an AI would do, so dimming and control would not be an issue.

Hope this helps.

 

[dianezoo]

anyone have an AI sol blue LEDs over a 65 gal tank dimentions 36 long and feel one unit it works just fine for all corals?