Ecoxotic led cannon

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Pig8enis

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jun 15, 2011
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Alachua, fl
I was poking around and saw that ecoxotic unveiled a 150 watt led cannon. This product is alleged to rival metal halide lighting if not outrage it. That concept sounds appealing because I have a 75 gallon (48/18/21) an that is fairly prohibitive due to lack of heat dissipation. My question is with par. I am reading that an sps clam aquarium desires par at about 300-700. I found one website that had par listings for the 50 watt at about 200 near the surface of the water. The lights were also mounted about 24" above the water level. I was thinking that if I mount them right in my canopy and bring them about 6-10" above water level it should boost that surface rating to about 600-700 which would probably make the bottom about where I need it for some nice zoo colonies. This is all my personal conjecture though and would like some feedback as to whether this is wishful thinking or if I am being reasonable lol.

http://www.ecoxotic.com/aquarium-led-lights/cannon-pendants/cannon-led-pendants.html
Link for 50 and 100 watt pendants. The new one isn't showcased yet.
 
Light is less important to clams then people seem think IMO... they need to be fed, alot, and most people don't so they need more light to make up for lack of food, so idealy there is a balance to be had. For example I recently read an articel talking about a guy who kept a clam under T8s, for almost ten years, and oddly enough T8s have lower output then T5s... yet most people seem to think T5s aren't enough. Also most zoanthids don't need high light, infact will do better under less.

As for power of LEDs... in theory they will be far better then MH or T5s, but IMO (having read a good chunk of stuff on them) they are still to early in developent, and most pendants dont even have the lumen output per watt that a standard T5 does, though there are LEDs with double the output, they are just super cost prohibative so I have yet to see them in a fixture. SO I would say, they aren't worth the cost just yet, maybe a few more years they will be better... but thats mostly my opinion, its entirely possible that there are LED pendants capable of lighting a reef (probably some of the super expencive ones that I haven't looked at due to being to expencive).

The problem with lowering the pendants closer to the water is they tend to be quite focused, so you would need 2-3x more pendants to get the same coverage in the tank.

SO in conclusion/IMO I would just go with HO T5s not to bad in the world of heat, and should suffice for all lighting needs, now and future.
 
Kevin, I would respectfully disagree with you about the LED's being early in development and overpriced. There are many units now that are just as affordable as Metal Halides and put out as much or more PAR for the same money and without the heat issues. A few years ago I would have agreed with you, but with fixtures like the AI SOL on the market with such a low price combined with the fact that these systems are now modular, what's not to like? Another added benefit of the LED's is the ability to change you light intensity immediately, this allows for better coral acclimation and wonderful color options. There are LED systems out there now with FULL RGB capabilities, and even cheap fixtures like the SOL give you some beautiful lighting options.

If you want to stay as cheap as possible in regards to initial set-up, yes go with the T5's. However, keep in mind that those bulbs burn out and cost money to replace. You don't get the "shimmer" made famous by halides and duplicated by LED's. There is no silver bullet for lighting, the OP really has to consider everything before making a choice.

In regards to the clams, you can keep clams under just about any high intensity lighting. They really shouldn't need supplemental feedings once they reach mature size, they should be able to get all the sustenance they need through photosynthesis. While they can and will survive under T5's (Provided there are enough bulbs over them), they really thrive with as much PAR as you can give them IMO. Both the Halides and LED's would be better lighting options for them.
 
Also to the OP, for a tank your size I wouldn't opt for LED cannons. Smaller modular fixtures will work great, and won't give you a spot light effect.
 
Purevil21 said:
Kevin, I would respectfully disagree with you about the LED's being early in development and overpriced. There are many units now that are just as affordable as Metal Halides and put out as much or more PAR for the same money and without the heat issues. A few years ago I would have agreed with you, but with fixtures like the AI SOL on the market with such a low price combined with the fact that these systems are now modular, what's not to like? Another added benefit of the LED's is the ability to change you light intensity immediately, this allows for better coral acclimation and wonderful color options. There are LED systems out there now with FULL RGB capabilities, and even cheap fixtures like the SOL give you some beautiful lighting options.
Click to expand...

Hey, no problem, I did say IMO LOL everyone is entitled to their own, I also said the fixtures I have investigated personally weren't equivilent with T5, reffering to par to watt ratio LEDs where less efficient then T5s (oddly enough T5s are less efficient then MH par-watts as well), even when considering costs of bulb replacements and the like, BUT to be fair, I haven't looked into it as much in the last year or so, only sporatic curiosity readings... I'll look into it a bit more see what I can dig up, the problem I have with lighting is that it is rare for a manufacturer to post exact outputs in good terms, making the comparisons difficult to say the least. The other thing is I'm a tad biased as I'm designing a larger then average system, so its all well and good to have appropriat light for the first 2' of tank depth, but the system I'm going to build a few years down the road (assuming all goes to plan) is going to be around 5-6' deep and 8' long so my lighting requirements are far more difficult to match... so historically speaking my research into LEDs was skewed in a differnt direction so LEDs had absolutely nothing that could match the output of a MH system when it came to depth penatration.
 
Oh and just because clams can survive without supplimental feedings, doesn't mean its best, they are no different then corals, ALL living things eat in one way or another, and non-plants (corals clams etc) that have symbiosis with zooxanthellae doesn't mean they obtain 100% of their energy from them, clams are constantly filter feeding, and in most systems that aren't brutally overskimmed and ozoned to death, they can get more or less what they need but I'm seeing that more and more people are creating "hyper clean" systems, which is hard on corals/clams. It is a FACT that corals grow faster with supplimental feeding, so why shouldn't it be the same with clams?
 
SO here is an update on my opinion of LEDS, (with a more practical veiw of them, less skewed towards my extream requirements LOL). What SOL fixture are you reffering to? If it's Aqua Illumination, then yes I agree, they are up to snuff for corals and one of the few, but for a 5" x 12" modual at 400$ I wouldnt say its cheap... considering any tank over 2' long would need at least 2, if not 3 due to the tight light spread by the optics on the LEDs. Another system that in theory should be good would be the Illumagic Blaze advance series... though I'm not as confident on it's output as the SOL as I haven't seen the test data, but it has high output LEDs (same as the SOL actually). Ecotech, I would argue is basically identical to the SOL except double the cost...(though SOL has 24 LEDs and Ecotech has 32) LOL though I believe it has a slightly wider spectrum of light due to the addition of 4 green and 4 red LEDs. I'm sure there are other systems out there but I can only do so much reading about LEDs at 6am... LOL

Suffice to say, as I mentioned, there is no "cheap" LED fixtures out there that are sutable for SPS or other high light animals, though there are plenty for lower light ones, and most of the ones I looked at do NOT have the output required for a tank depth of more then 18inchs and even then only for lower light corals. Infact, less seems to be more, in other words, less LEDs per fixture (assuming still high wattage) implies high output LEDs meaning likely suitable, where as fixtures with hundreds of LEDs just don't have the output required below a few inches. Have a look at this if you don't believe me, http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2010/5/aafeature2 Sanjay is the man to go to when looking for actual lighting data, and he seems to agree with what I just said (or I should say I agree with him). That said, you could include higher light corals even in these lower power fixtures, just only at the very top, directly under the fixtures.
 
Yah I was noticing that myself. There is a website named hero led or something like that and I was thinking about getting like 4 100 watt drivers and trying to wire a system of maybe 8 LEDs that will provide not just pur but lIghting to maintain pigments in the coral. I was reading about the ai sol and the individual said almost all his sps browned out within like 3 days causing a massive alk spike due to his Dosing. He was claiming that the foes on only the zoantheloc lighting requirements has blinded us to the fact that the corals may need the broad spectrum to thrive. I would still like to go led and am looking into the fixtures as they require initial cost but overtime are much cheaper without bulb replacement and high electricity costs. As with everything research, if anyone finds a good fixture I am very open to suggestions. The diy things is new ground for me as my electrician experience is limited to modding my pc lol.
 
i dont know clams or anything, but 150W LED sounds nuts. i have 4-10W floodlights on my 500g and i think its a little too bright for me
 
Well, corals definatly need a broad spectrum, its not all about dumping maximum light possible, its about getting the right light, that said, if they browned in 3 days, chances are his light was actually TOO bright, because he switched from a less powerfull system, to an intence one (probably T5 to large multiple SOL or something similar). If they were going to die from lack of light it would take more well over 3 days likely, as they do output huge amounts in the blues (which is the most used by corals). There is more then one reef tank out there with corals of all types that are doing just fine under LEDS for over a year (assorted articels I've read) so clearly LED is doable, it comes down to cost, and filtering out the junk fiztures from the good ones.

Also Brich... 4 10W on a 500g? I assume thats not a reef? as reef tanks are always rediculusly bright compaired to other tanks. Also the high amount of light in the blues range dimms them down a bit usually.
 
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